Watsonian vs. Doylist

Watsonian and Doylist describe two ways to engage with canon.
The terms arise from Sherlock Holmes fandom, where the Holmes stories are presented as if they were actually written by Dr. John Watson, the fictional character. By contrast, actual authorship of the Holmesian canon is historically credited to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.A case has recently been made that Sir Arthur's first wife, Louise, was Holmes' actual creator and the primary author of his adventures, and that his second wife, Jean, authored many of the later tales. Stylometric Analysis of the Sherlock Holmes Canon by John Allen, 2018 on Louise Conan Doyle - Cyclopedia. Accessed: February 9, 2021
A Watsonian perspective tries to interpret a text from the standpoint of the story and the characters within it. This is sometimes called an in-universe perspective. Storytelling forms that follow a Watsonian model (i.e. by providing explanations within the narrative) are sometimes referred to as diegesis. An in-universe perspective may thus be termed intradiegetic.
A Doylist perspective stands outside the text, and is sometimes called a real-world, out-of-universe, or extradiegetic perspective. Such perspectives seek to understand the text through the external circumstances or person(s) involved in its creation rather than through the internal explanations provided by the text itself. In this framework, things that happen in canon are the result of decisions made by the author or TPTB, and any inconsistencies are probably authorial error. Doylist explanations are sometimes retroactively integrated into canon by creators.
==Origin==
Some have theorized that the terms "Watsonian" and "Doylist" originated with the Holmesian fan club, the Baker Street Irregulars. On LJ Fail. Fandom. Anon, several comments about this assumption were made, in a short thread titled Explain to me like I'm six in April 26, 2012 having been answered by May 3 of that same year. Different anon comments here says:
A little over a month later a new topic was created where once again the topic was addressed, this time in a comment titled Meme grievances.
It was being used in online, non-Holmesian fandom discussions on Usenet as early as the year 2000, more precisely on March 21 of that year, in a fan comment at alt.fan.blakes-7, regarding a possible continuity glitch in Blake's 7:
The terms were further spread throughout fandom by the Lois McMaster Bujold mailing list — see List Conventions, Abbreviations, and In-Jokes, #8. What is meant by "Watsonian" and "Doylist"? from the Lois McMaster Bujold List FAQ; the question regarding those terms was added in 2002.
 
They were brought to wider attention in livejournal-based media fandom in a December 14, 2005 post on LJ, entitled A Gift to Fandom: Doylist and Watsonian Explanations. Fairestcat explains about the terms and addresses their vision for their use.:
==Appeal==
Both approaches have their appeal; a fan may enjoy analyzing the text from either perspective, or both, at different times. In January 30, 2010 Racheline Maltese posted on their LJ, with the title of sundries, totally personal edition:
In subsequent months same year, various opinions on the Watsonian vs. Doylist have been added in the comments of the rm post.
Again Fairestcat added their opinion in a new post, where described a Doylist perspective as follows, while explain her reaction to an episode of Stargate: Atlantis:
When canon is particularly contradictory, attempting to devise a Watsonian explanation can lead to theories so elaborate they become fanwank.
==Examples==
A classic example of the split between Watsonian and Doylist perspectives concerns Dr. Watson's given name. In earlier Holmes stories, he is introduced as "John H. Watson," but in a later story his wife calls him "James." Doylists assert that author Arthur Conan Doyle simply forget his character's name. Watsonians have crafted various in-universe explanations for the inconsistency, including that Watson's previously-established middle initial ("H") stands for Hamish, a Scottish form of James, leading his wife to call him "James" affectionately.
Jane Leeves, the actress who played Daphne Moon on the American sitcom Frasier, became pregnant in 2000 at the point when her character began dating Niles Crane. A previous episode had established Daphne as eating compulsively when nervous and being mistaken for pregnant by family members. Leeves went through a brief episode arc in a fat suit in an unlikely plotline about Daphne gaining weight due to binge-eating. Daphne's departure for a weight-loss retreat coincided with Leeves' maternity leave, and in a subsequent episode Niles states "She's already lost nine pounds, four ounces", a clear reference to the actual weight of Leeves' newborn daughter. Leeves' second pregnancy in 2003 was able to be written into the show as Daphne and Niles' relationship had progressed to marriage by that point. Similarly, Lisa Kudrow's pregnancy was written into Friends in 1998 as her character Phoebe volunteering as a surrogate for her brother's girlfriend.
In the pilot of Starsky & Hutch, Hutch mentions his ex-wife, Nancy. In a later episode, her name is Vanessa. The Doylist explanation is that this is a continuity error. One early S&H fic writer wrote a story in which she advanced the following Watsonian explanation: Hutch's ex-wife's name was actually Nancy, but Hutch was in the habit of calling her Vanessa when she was acting a certain way.Liviapenn says: I don't remember the title of this, but I'll see if I can find it again.KTJ says: Her name was McGill, she called herself Lil, but everyone knew her as Nancy.
In Doctor Who fandom, see the UNIT Dating Controversy, which attempts to pin down the exact years in which the Third Doctor worked with UNIT.
From Sharyn McCrumb and Bimbos of the Death Sun: 
In the second half of season two of Leverage, the character of Sophie (played by actress Gina Bellman) is in very few episodes. The Watsonian explanation is that Sophie, the character, went away on a personal soul-searching journey. The Doylist explanation is that Gina Bellman, the actress, was pregnant and went on maternity leave.
With the rise of the Internet and "insider" information becoming available, many fans of Professional Wrestling view events from the Doylist perspective. If a wrestler suddenly disappears from TV without a proper storyline explanation, it will often lead to speculation that he/she is on his/her way out of the company and where he/she might turn up next. There is also the suggestion that he or she is getting "buried"/had fallen out of favor with The Powers That Be in the promotion. Sometimes that is the case, sometimes it's as simple as the wrestler is getting repackaged with a new gimmick, and the promotion took him or her off TV in order to build up to the new character's debut. Or sometimes a storyline explanation is used to cover for something more mundane.One example: The tag team The Dynamic Duo ("Gentleman" Chris Adams and Gino Hernandez) broke up in late 1985 while wrestling for World Class Championship Wrestling in Dallas. They had a match where Gino "blinded" Chris with The Fabulous Freebirds' "hair cream." The actual explanation was that Chris had requested time off so he could go back home to England to visit his family.
For more examples, see Watsonian Versus Doylist on TVTropes and Series Continuity Error for the types of continuity errors that prompt many fans to devise Watsonian explanations.
==A Third Perspective==
In her post titled Doylist or Watsonian?, damned_colonial proposed a third way of engaging with Sherlock Holmes canon, which she called Forsythian analysis, after Sherlock Holmes fic writer Katie Forsythe:
===Fans comment about the Third Perspective===
Such a proposition brought in comments, which give more insight into how other fans feel about this third term and its ramifications in other fandoms. Below are some of them:
==External links==
* fairestcat: A Gift to Fandom: Doylist and Watsonian Explanations
==Notes and References==
===Notes===
===References===
Category:Glossary
Category:Sherlock Holmes Fandom Glossary
Category:Social Media Feature-Meta Monday