MY TIME TO SHINE

I said it first day of class, and I'll say it again. I am 100% in love and obsessed with Elementary and now is my time to shine and discuss why I love it so much!

Obviously you can't talk about Elementary without discussing Sherlock. As they're both modern adaptions, you can't get away from comparing them. I like Elementary because it has everything that is missing from Sherlock, and none of the awful parts of it. To me, Elementary excels where Sherlock fails.

Irene Adler is speechless that the writers
thought that she was well written

To get into why I love Elementary, we need to talk about why I dislike Sherlock. The writing in it is often racist, sexist, and homophobic. The entire second episode is a train wreck of racism, the treatment of Irene Adler is sexist, and  the "queer baiting" of Sherlock and John and again the treatment of Irene Adler is homophobic. If you've never heard of "queer baiting" before, it's basically when the creators and/or writers continually hint at a homosexual romance in a joking manner and then never follow through with it or act like fans are crazy for shipping characters together. Almost every episode, if not all of them, have some kind of joke about John and Sherlock being a couple which is offensive to people who are actually queer and desperate for representation. Also, in Sherlock, Irene Adler is gay, but they still have her falling in love with Sherlock, contributing to the VERY damaging idea that a lesbian will only remain one until she meets the right man. (If you think this idea isn't damaging, please consider the fact that many lesbians are harassed and raped by straight men trying to "convert them.")

In addition to the terrible oppressive systems that the show contributes to, I also have problems with the relationship between Sherlock and John, which is very unhealthy and toxic, as well as Sherlock himself who is a complete dick that I CANNOT STAND.

SO now that I've explained all this, let's talk about why I love Elementary.

Every way that Sherlock fails to be socially progressive, Elementary excels. There are many POC in the show, and to my knowledge there hasn't been any criticisms race-wise (please let me know if I've missed anything though!) The fact that Watson is a Chinese woman is groundbreaking. There are many strong, diverse female characters and though Holmes can occasionally say misogynistic things, he's called out on it. There's even a transgender character on the show, played by a transgender woman which IS HUGE. And I am in love with Irene Adler in this version (and that's all I will say on that manner for fear of spoiling anything.)

The relationship between Sherlock and Joan is much healthier and satisfying. Their relationship grows very close and they trust each other. It is kept platonic (and I believe the writers intend to keep it that way?) which is a breath of fresh air, honestly.

I find Jonny Lee Miller's Sherlock much more human and likeable. He can be an ass and mean sometimes but he's called on it and he learns. I loooooooove Lucy Liu as Joan like I will accept no other Watson ever again.

I love the format of Elementary as well. It is an hour long procedural cop show and I love that. I think they manage to incorperate elements of the original stories as well as original stories very well together.

ALSO I REALLY LOVE EVERYONE INVOLVED IN THE SHOW LOOK AT THIS THEY'RE ALL SO CUTE:

SO to make a long story short I really really love Elementary and I hope everyone goes and watches it all also PLEASE DO NOT LOOK UP ANY SPOILERS EVEN LOOKING ON THE IMDB PAGE BECAUSE ITS SO MUCH BETTER TO NOT KNOW ANYTHING THAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN.

Please forgive my long ramblings. 

Location and Holmes

Last week in class I’d made the comment just after we had our break that may have sounded like the biggest “well, duh” moment of the semester.

“I think that part of the reason that Sherlock Holmes is more associated with English popular culture than with American popular culture is that it’s set in London.”

I’d be easy to write this off as the mad ramblings of a man who’s only half awake and only half aware of what exactly he’s saying, but I’m here to defend my rather innocuous statement.

What follows is an eight minute video from America’s first and only academic comedy website, Cracked, that I think explains what I mean fairly well.

(Fair warning, the video contains content that may not be considered suitable for work environments.)

http://www.cracked.com/video_18436_after-hours-camping-5Bplaceholder5D.html

Essentially, my argument that Sherlock Holmes is English because it is set in London is based on the premise presented in this video, rather than the more obvious connection that London is an English city.

By setting Sherlock Holmes in the city, the stories draw on the various subconscious cultural fears and concerns of the primary intended audience. The city didn’t need to be London, but London was the city most transformed by the Industrial Revolution, and thus the city that changed the most about England and the most about the minds of England’s citizens.

For comparison, modern American crime dramas also fall into the pattern noticed in this video, with a predominant focus on setting in more rural than urban environments. Although Law and Order, perhaps the archetypal American crime show, is absolutely and constantly set in the urban environment of New York City, its focus is on presenting a dramatic narrative about the investigative and legal processes involved in law enforcement. A marathon of Criminal Minds, a similar show that focuses instead on FBI Criminal Profilers and the mysteries of each case that they work on, predominantly sets its episodes in rural and suburban areas. The dramatic tension is primarily on trying to understand the mind of whoever is capable of committing that episode’s crime, and they almost always begin the same. To show the audience a glimpse of the crime that will be looked at, we see the victim or victims, who are usually isolated in some form in a wilderness type area. If not an actual forest or back road, a wide open space near suburbia like a park. Then, the crime happens. We cut to “civilization”, the FBI headquarters in Quantico, and the cast going over the details of the case. Then the game is afoot.

Like Holmes, the focus here is on the mystery, the mind, and an attempt to understand the actions of someone who is, by all accounts, human. The stories, however, are fundamentally American. Yes, they are set in America, much as Sherlock in England, which is why it’s difficult to discuss these details without sounding in some ways like an idiot. But the fact remains that the stories being told are influenced by their setting, and so too then are their characters, which in turn influences just what kind of story they really are.

Sherlock Holmes is English Popular Culture because London, which Sherlock’s adventures are primarily set in, represents so much more to England and its people than just a city.