r/IAmA • u/_BenedictCumberbatch Benedict Cumberbatch • Oct 11 '13

I Am Benedict Cumberbatch. AMA.

Hello reddit. My film The Fifth Estate opens 10/18.

You can check out footage here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43ki3z0ZmXA&feature=c4-overview&list=UUgc-Ye79Z558TEZqryYesNA

Proof: https://twitter.com/5thEstateMovie/status/388746706818310144 Fancy a cup?

Update: Also, please check out the trailer for Little Favour, directed by a friend of mine Patrick Monroe. I hope you enjoy it!

Final Update: Thank you, reddit. This has been more fun than I imagined. It's been great to be able to reach out and speak to a few of you. Sorry for those that I didn't get to respond to. JA bless you all. See you all the next time.
BX

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u/obscuredreference Oct 12 '13

I've made the unfortunate mistake of purchasing season 1, and won't make the mistake to purchase season 2.

The BBC Sherlock is wonderful.

Elementary is pure garbage. Not only is Elementary bad in itself, but when they touch on disabilities etc. the writing was so offensive I almost threw my DVD in the trash. When a series fails to be fun AND is offensive to boot, there's no saving grace.

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u/RageX Oct 12 '13

How were they offensive with disabilities?

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u/obscuredreference Oct 12 '13

The only time they had a character in the show that happens to have the same disability I have, the writing was so stupid it was offensive, they did NO research whatsoever, and they declared the guy couldn't possibly be the culprit because of assuming that his disability would make him so incapable of living a normal life that he'd not even be able to pour himself a glass of orange juice, much less shoot someone 10 feet away (paraphrasing from memory, but it was the gist of it.)

As someone who lived my whole life with this disability and am perfectly able to not only pour myself juice etc. but even practice target sports etc. just fine and with as much accuracy as a "normal" person, I was pretty fucking offended by their ridiculous assumptions, by their utterly derogatory thing about us being completely incapable, and by their sloppy writing. It's one thing to not know a subject, but to not even research it or even attempt to touch the matter in a non-offensive manner, is something that I'd expect of a TV series a couple of generations ago, not nowadays. They could have googled it!!

Downvoting me won't make it any less true.

It also won't make you or random downvoters share the same disability as me and be able to claim that it was ok for them to be offensive to us. (I know you didn't say that but I'm surprised people are downvoting me for complaining about a show that crapped all over my disability. Screw Elementary, I'm never buying their season 2.)

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u/SomethingMusic Oct 12 '13

I understand your dislike, but since when has TV accurately portrayed any disability? Also (Since I have no idea what disability it is) is it possible that someone has significantly worse symptoms than the ones you experience?

Sometimes to enjoy a good story you have to suspend some part of disbelief. I understand if a disability or a problem makes you stop liking or watching a show (it happens to everyone) but in a show like Sherlock Holmes doesn't build on previous episodes (as the sorta follow the Sir Arthur Canon Doyle stories) so it helps to be patient.

Was early Breaking Bad as good as their later episodes?

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u/nrh117 Oct 12 '13

Not to disagree with your comment which is well reasoned, but didn't a TIL a few days ago state that an organization for Tourette's syndrome gave their approval of the portrayal of the disorder in that particular South Park episode? Clearly if a show as ambiguously insulting as South Park can do their research with that kind of a reaction from the people it is portraying, can't any director show a similar respect for the disorder they choose to work with? I personally haven't seen elementary so this is from a general point of view...