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Melody Wang
Professor Haas
Writing 39B
May 21, 2014
Relationships around Sherlock Holmes
Nobody is perfect, neither in reality nor in literature. Detective stories from the late
Victorian Era illustrate this fact, because the main characters are extremely intelligent but also
have some peculiarities that others are hardly able to understand. People love them and hate them
at the same time. In Conan Doyles Sherlock Holmes series, which are the most well-known
detective stories from that period, the imperfection just made this genre much more popular,
since it mirrored the basic situation of the whole society, especially Conan Doyles primary
audience, the growing middle class. In chapter seven of literary scholar Leroy Paneks An
Introduction to the Detective Story, he mentions that Holmes attracts readers because of the
dualism Doyle consciously manufactured for his character (93). Sherlock Holmes is an
extremely talented detective with the vast knowledge that an excellent crime solver must have;
however, he is also, according to Panek, a paradox: a brilliant drug addict and a lazy athlete
(Panek 14). Besides, Holmes is an expert boxer, marksman, and a good violin player, even
though he is lazy and he doesnt really practice. All these characteristics of Sherlock Holmes
make him more interesting and charming; even his bad habits make him more like a normal
human being, which allows the audience to feel closer to him. Panek comments on these
characteristics in the first chapter his book, An Introduction to the Detective Story: Victorian
writers like Doyle soon shaped the genius to their own down-to-earth values (10). These
conventions still exist in modern-day adaptations of the Holmes stories. Sherlock Holmes is still
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sweeping the entire world with his sexy intelligence as well as his charming defects. In the BBC
series Sherlock, a recreation of Conan Doyles stories by Steven Moffat, Holmes (Benedict
Cumberbatch) and Watson (Martin Freeman) solve all kinds of bizarre cases together.
Compared to the classic Conan Doyle stories, this series makes plenty of changes and updates to
satisfy a contemporary audience. However, one convention that is not much changed is that
Holmes is usually challenged in social situations. This inability to act normally in social
situations is often a result of genius, and as is the case in Conan Doyle, this imperfection in
Holmes somehow makes him a more likable character.
One standard convention in Conan Doyle is that Holmes does not have a friendly
relationship with most police characters. In the first episode of BBC Sherlock, A Study in Pink,
Detective Inspector Lestrade, who is a lead police inspector in charge of the case, invites Holmes
and Watson go to a crime scene to help with the investigation. However, when Sergeant Sally
Donovan sees Sherlock Holmes, she just greets him in a quite rude way: hello, freak. Then she
also asks Sherlock Holmes two times why with a dissatisfied look and a grouchy tone, even
though Holmes tells her that he had been invited to the crime scene. Here the director uses a
close-up to make her emotion of aversion much more clear. When she meets Watson, she is quite
surprised that Holmes has a colleague. There is not a whole load of light in that scene, probably
as a result of happening at night. The light on Donovans face is not as much as on Holmess and
Watsons faces, and beams of red police light are dangling around all the time. The lighting sets
up a whole serious and somewhat intense atmosphere, and also it implies the intense relationship
between Holmes and police detectives. Not only doesnt Donovan like Holmes, Anderson is also
obviously showing his discontent and aversion as soon as he shows up. However, Holmes seems
that he is not angry at all. Instead, he uses his extraordinary intelligence to fight them back. He
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deduces that Anderson has an affair with Donovan just from what he has observed on both of
them, and then he says something to imply their armour, which would embarrass them a lot.
During the conversation between Holmes and Anderson, reverse shot is used in order to make
the conversation clearer and also shows that their relationships are somehow intense. Besides,
there are some close-ups included since they are able to clearly show the characters look on his
or her face to the audience. Those big faces also bring up some sort of intension. However, in
Conan Doyles stories, there are not as many as conflicts happened between Sherlock Holmes
and police detectives in modern day television show. Their relationships were much milder in the
past. What is remained in the BBC series from classic Sherlock Holmes stories is that the
relationship between Inspector Lestrade and Sherlock Holmes is more alike how Sherlock
Holmes gets along with policemen in Conan Doyles book. In Conan Doyles first fiction, Sign
of the Four, Sherlock says to Watson, [w]hen Gregson, or Lestrade, or Athelney Jones are out
of their depths which, by the way, is their normal state the matter is laid before me (4).
This obviously shows that Sherlock just considers all policemen as useless and incompetent
detectives who have little knowledge to solve criminal cases. In the BBC Sherlock, when
Lestrade first meets Watson, he asks Sherlock who he is. Sherlock just answers Lestrade
perfunctorily, hes with me. And Sherlock even gets a little bit annoyed when Lestrade asks
the same question twice. Besides, at the crime scene, Sherlock Holmes says to Lestrade suddenly,
shut up! even though he is not even saying a word. Sherlock says, You were thinking. Its
annoying. Clearly, Sherlock is somehow pretty mean to Lestrade but Lestrade doesnt seem to
be too offended by Sherlock probably because he is expecting something out of Sherlock.
Nowadays, people are less conservative than they were in the late Victorian Era. Therefore, in
the BBC series of Sherlock, the show runner Steven Moffat puts more conflicts between
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Sherlock Holmes and some policemen into the show in order to make Sherlock Holmes a lot
more special and attractive by his sarcastic ridicule to those stupid policemen. The audience
would feel better when they see a scene that Sherlock keeps talking and mocking at an annoying
police detective who is always arrogant and doesnt like Sherlock. The comparison between
Sherlocks extremely amazing genius and other self-righteous police detectives incompetence
would quite appeal to todays audience.
Another social relationship based in the classic stories that is illustrated in
Sherlock is Holmess relationship with women. Sherlock Holmes is not really
challenged in romantic relationships; however, he just has no interest in them at all. His
problem with social relationships all comes from his one hundred percent of commitment to
being scientific and intellectual. He just doesnt consider the emotional romance to be worth his
time. In Conan Doyles stories, there are only a few lines about women related to Sherlock
Holmes. At the beginning of the short story by Conan Doyle, A Scandal in Bohemia, Dr.
Watson says, [a]ll emotions, and that one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but
admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect reasoning and observing machine
that the world has seen, but as a lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never
spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer (Doyle). It directly shows that Holmes
haa totally contributed himself into science, crime, and deduction. All the words involved in
romantic relationship seemingly does not relate to Holmes at all. In Sherlock, Holmes is once
again illustrated as having trouble with female relationships. In the fourth episode, A Scandal in
Belgravia, there is a scene that Molly, who has a crush on Sherlock Holmes, shows up in a
beautiful bare-shoulder dress with a well-wrapped Christmas gift. After she takes off her jacket,
everyones attention is on Molly, except Holmes. At this point, the camera is shooting against
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Mollys eyes so that it is pretty obvious for the audience to know that she, as a middle ground on
the left of the screen, is staring at Holmes and is eager to get his attention. Holmess careless face
acts as a hazy foreground on the right half of the frame. Molly dresses up fairly different from
what she usually looks like for the sake of Holmess attention. However, Holmes doesnt care
about this at all. He doesnt even think of it. Additionally, Sherlock just said everything straight
out about what he sees and deduces from Molly, like congratulations on getting a new boyfriend
and something that you seem to be very serious about him. In that scene, there is not a whole
load of lights, which build up a dim room and a warm atmosphere. While Holmes is showing off,
there is light piano music playing in the background which builds up an abnormal atmosphere for
Sherlock which warns the audience that something is going to happen. One close shot scene of
Molly apparently shows the audience that she is already embarrassed by what he says so far.
After he found out that the gift is for him, Sherlock just suddenly stops talking, and after a bit
while of silence, he gives a single-sentence apology, I am sorry. He has all the deductions right,
all these things about Molly being dressed up and wrapping a present specially, except he doesnt
know that its all for him. He is brilliant but stupid here, which is also one of the ways he is so
appealing to the contemporary audiences. Apparently, what he said accidentally hurt Molly
deeply on that Christmas night, but he doesnt know how to apologize or what to say to make her
feel better. Then a little blue soothing music gives audiences a sense of sadness from Molly. In
Conan Doyles stories, Sherlock Holmes doesnt even have a pursuer and if he did, he would
probably never apologize. However, in the modern day, romantic relationship around the main
character has already become an indispensable element of a story or a show. In BBC Sherlock,
some romantic factors will bring Sherlock Holmes more sense of ordinary human and make him
more approachable.
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Both in the late Victorian Era and in the modern days, Sherlock Holmes, originally
created by Conan Doyle, is challenged in different kinds of social situation, such as relationships
with police and with women. However, in order to make the show more appealing and suitable
for the contemporary audience, the show BBC Sherlock has been changed and updated in most
aspects of the classic conventions of the mystery genre. Ever though Sherlock Holmes in the
show still has some problems with social skills, he gets involved romantically with women; and
also he has some friends including Watson, Mrs. Hudson, and police Inspector Lestrade. All
those changes create a brand-new and familiar Sherlock Holmes, who deeply impresses and
attracts the contemporary audiences.