It seemed that before we had our second class on Sherlock Holmes that the character kept cropping up in the most unexpected ways. I mean, I was looking through some K-pop videos as per usual and BAM! There he is in the form of a five member boy band. I can imagine people refuting that this music video is a representation of Sherlock because it's a music video. But why? There is a bull terrier, their playing the violin, they're solving a crime involving lost jewelry. The phantom girl and dance numbers are a twist but all and all I would agree that it is very Sherlock like. Have a look for yourselves! (ignore Taemin's hair please...it was a phase and he grew out of it.)
Wow, okay. I got lost in a youtube train of Korean pop music. I could write a thesis on the production value of Korean music videos.The world is dangerous.
But do you see what I'm hitting on? I think it only takes the bare accessories to accomplish a rendition of Sherlock. Does it cheapen it? Not in my opinion. You can do what ever you like with Sherlock [on that note there are so many Sherlock porn knock offs that I was shocked] and the canon will always be what it is/was. There are always going to be re-productions that miss the mark in comparison to others but I think the more varied the adaption the more interesting. Sticking too close to canon might to some be 'authentic' but I am interested in how the character (or even the idea of Sherlock) can exist in crazy situations that the canon Sherlock would never encounter.
I am seriously ready for the female housewife Xiaohui "Shirley" Holmes (Chinese american) whose wife is head of the police department. She might look over her wife's shoulder while she, Gita Lestrade (Indonesian american), works on a particularly hard case. From dropping the twins off at school and running to the store she pieces together the answer and the real problem is attempting to sneak the answer into her wife's head. Then! Juliet Watson (African american whose family is from Sudan) , a retired military M.D, catches Shirley on the 'case' when the woman is stalking down a man with a baby in her arms. With a team effort, Juliet tackles the man to the floor and the authorities arrive. Juliet watches as Shirley takes none of the credit and looks flustered? They become fast friends and work on cases together. Juliet is constantly trying to get Shirley to take credit for her genius. Shirley is fighting off Post-postpartum depression with these cases but will her marriage survive if she tells Gita?! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH I WANT THIS SO BADLY!
I think you're right about the bare necessities. It only takes a few primary characteristics to create any version of Sherlock while still qualifying them as Sherlock. The housewife version of Sherlock is super cool and I love the fact that you wrote a fanfic about it!
ReplyDeleteAt the end of the day, I think you're spot on Iris. The different versions of Sherlock we've dealt with in class were all English men with vastly superior intellects and egos to match. Why can't it be different? It should be. Making Sherlock a woman would both add and take away enough as to make the venture successful even in the attempt. In fact, there was one fanfiction I was reading on AO3 about a female Sherlock and it was heartbreaking in its understatement. In the fic, Sherlock (still her name) needed John off of his cane not just to reel him in but to do the night-time legwork. John deduced, quite correctly, that Sherlock had been previously assaulted while out alone on the London streets. The two don't talk about it nor do they every speak about the legwork John has to do solo but it hangs over the fic in a marvelously haunted way.
ReplyDeleteAs fans, it's our job to explore, redefine characters, push the boundaries of what it means to be Sherlock.
Go for it, Iris. And thanks for giving me K-Pop to listen to. That's definitely not a rabbit hole that I'll get lost in for hours. ;D
ReplyDeleteYour list of basic Sherlock characteristics is right on I think. Though I think any Sherlock demands a particular brand of intelligence. It needs to be observation based and deduction centered. There could be something about a human Wikipedia who can answer any question posed to them but it wouldn’t be a Sherlock. I think Sherlock has to be the person who notices little things and puts them together into something complete.
ReplyDelete