Comments on: A 21st Century Sherlock

By: Digital Culture Links: August 2nd 2010 « Tama Leaver dot Net

Digital Culture Links: August 2nd 2010 « Tama Leaver dot Net — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 12:17:09 +0000

[…] A 21st Century Sherlock [Antenna] – Sean Duncan's reading of the new BBC Sherlock series (which, from the first episode, at least, looks magnificent): "The Holmes and Watson of the 21st century both engage with modern technology, but unlike Rathbone/Bruce also have their inner thought processes represented in manners that remediate popular media. To be a plausible 21st century Holmes, one must be shown as thinking like a 21st century person, within a network of mobile phones, Internet-enabled devices, and even video games." […]

By: Kristina Busse

Kristina Busse — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 19:31:05 +0000

Right, but I think in both there's a very real sense of knowing and respecting the fans (as was in DW of course) and moving a path of avoiding too much and too little difference. Yes, on DW there've been extensive debates as to whether Holmes would indeed be a TV watcher, gamer, etc. I think one's answer has a lot to do with how we define popular culture and how we'd define it for Victorian society and how we translate Holmes' strengths and weaknesses to present day. I actually can see a Holmes who's never seen Princess Bride but even more so I'd like to fanwank a universe in which there *is* no Princess Bride (or at least not that scene), because there is no Study in Scarlet :)

By: Sean Duncan

Sean Duncan — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 18:10:13 +0000

The Princess Bride case is a really interesting one — on one hand, I can see Moffat just not being aware of the scene and it being an honest clueless duplication (the bit with the pills is really a riff on events from A Study In Scarlet), on the other I can see Moffat wanting to be clever about having events similar to Princess Bride but having Holmes point it out would be a bit “on the nose.” It’s an interesting conundrum, actually, as unlike Doctor Who which has thrown in random pop culture references from Ian Dury and the Blockheads through to Sharon Osbourne, Sherlock seems to be tied into a web of media but not (yet) actually talking about any narrative media. Beyond an offhand remark disparaging telly (which was sharper in the pilot, it appears).

Re: Star Trek’s reboot, that’s another interesting difference, in that Orci & Kurtzman wanted to maintain the new Trek’s “canonicity,” while in this reboot, that’s not a concern. They could have easily done this with Sherlock — have Cumberbatch play the great-great-great-grandnephew of Holmes or somesuch, but there was no real need, really. They’re certainly trying to respect the old, but, like you imply, there’s also that fun sense of the writers seeing what they can get away with due to the changed setting.

By: Kristina Busse

Kristina Busse — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 15:48:25 +0000

Great point, Sean, especially considering just how much of an impact SH has had on our collective unconscious and popular culture. My corner of fandom has been passionately debating the issues that pervade both your and my post, including the lacking reference to The Princess Bride. However, given that the film draws from Study in Scarlet, would it even exist in this Sherlock universe?

One thing I kept thinking of when reading your piece was Star Trek Reboot. And while the central trope to respecting the old yet creating more than. Just a repetition without much difference were different, I am excited at both results and the ways they update without denying or merely copying the old…

By: Liz Ellcessor

Liz Ellcessor — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 15:32:48 +0000

I like your point about “thinking like a 21st century person” and remediation within the show. I think that’s what makes this show a convincing “update” rather than an “interpretation,” like we see when a Shakespeare play is performed as if set in, say, the 1930s. The Shakespeare keeps the dialogue, the forms of communication and interaction, and the plots, many of which are incongruous with the setting at best.

In fact, the incorporation of digital media in Sherlock goes further than many entirely contemporary series, in which cell phones are still usually only used for phone calls or possibly texts (which are read aloud for the benefit of the audience). Teen series are normally the best at this incorporation, reflecting their audiences, so it’s nice to see it creep upward into all-ages drama.