Written by Alexander Wolf
Sherlock is a television series that originally airs on British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in the United Kingdom, and is then re-aired on Americas Public Broadcasting Station (PBS). Sherlock, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, aired its first episode in the summer of 2010, and with new seasons about every two years, Sherlock now has thirteen episodes across four seasons; spanning over eight total years. Although Sherlock airs weekly like any other episodic television show, Sherlock is slightly different then other television series episodes. The difference is the length of the show, where Benedict Cumberbatch’s interpretation of the classic Sherlock Holmes takes up a whopping two hours of airtime, with the actual run time of the show being right around 135 minuets per episode. Benedict Cumberbatch’s character makes this show so successful; a quote that I read in class by Fiske (2002) expresses “fiction is typically presented in terms of its leading characters”. This is true amongst Benedict Cumberbatch’s interpretation of the classic Sherlock Holmes. Although this is a work of fiction, Sherlock Holmes character represents realistic personality traits, and even outside of the text the audience is presented with a true “round character”. He is, in my opinion, the greatest character on modern day television and by analyzing his character through realism, we can better understand Sherlock Holmes character altogether.
Realism
Realism, in the sense of character representation, discusses how characters in text, television shows, and movies represent a real person, with real life problems that lie outside of the given text. Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock Holmes demonstrates many forms of realism that lie both within, and outside of the written script.
First, Sherlock Holmes has a family, he never talks about his brother or his parents and this directly ties into his dislike of his immediate family. Steven Moffat, Sherlocks show runner and producer did an amazing job of showing Sherlocks dislike of his family. It is never verbally said that Sherlock dislikes his immediate family, but his lack of dialogue involving them has just as much of an impact on the audience. The second form of realism is my personal favorite, Sherlock Holmes love for the “cabbie” system in downtown London. He does not own a car, so like most people who live in large cities, Sherlock Holmes loves taking “cabbies”. This form of realism is very relatable as many people do not own cars, and can relate to the idea of catching a taxi on a busy city street. This takes me to my third example, other then working on private cases and helping out the London police department, we actually only see Sherlock Holmes receive compensation one time, in the episode titled The Blind Banker. How does Sherlock Holmes actually make his money? This is also never stated and although as viewers we understand that he must be getting compensated for his hard work, we just never see it. Continuing with Sherlock Holmes income, in the very first episode A Study in Pink we see Sherlock Holmes chase down Dr. John Watson, played by Martin Freeman, in order to ask him to become his roommate, stating that it was too expensive for him to find a place on his own. My final point being analyzed takes place in the episode titled The Hounds of Baskerville, where Steven Moffat implemented psychological realism into one of his episodes. This whole episode is centered on a myth that is lived through the fear of those who have encountered a massive hound. This episode has a major twist, (spoiler) the area where this massive hound has been seen is contaminated with a strong hallucinogen, making people think they are seeing only what their mind is expecting to see. The myth of the “massive hound” spread; this lead to more people believing that they were seeing the same hound, and this was only because they were expecting to see it. Sherlock Holmes had a blast with this episode and Benedict Cumberbatch did a great job of playing the cops, Dr. Watson, their client, and the television show audience simultaneously. Sherlock allowed Dr. John Watson’s fear drive the story, and as Sherlock Holmes suspected a drug was at play, he kept that information to himself until he could be sure. Psychological realism through fear was used to drive this entire episodes plot, and the episode did a great job of making Sherlock Holmes look even more narcissistic then he already had.
Structural Approaches
We have learned about our character played by actor Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock Holmes, through accumulation of information, and also character transformation.
Accumulation
The audience gathers more information about a given character as each week passes by. The directors, producers, and writers are giving us our favorite characters in smaller segments so we learn more about these characters over time. This is true for Sherlock Holmes as he himself is a mystery. Over the timeframe of thirteen total episodes, we are given more and more information about our character. The first episodes we learned a lot about Sherlock Holmes from other characters and how they perceived Sherlock to be, this gave the audience an insight about how he is viewed in his community. As the show continues, we begin to focus less on the outside witness accounts, and we start to learn more about Sherlock through his spoken text and his actions during these episodes. As the show continues to run, we accumulate more information about our character from outside first hand witnesses, as well as learning about Sherlock, from Sherlock himself.
Transformation
Character arcs are, to me, a very important aspect of a successful long running television series, and Sherlock Holmes had both major, and minor changes over the timeframe of these eight total years. At the start of the first episode A Study in Pink, Sherlock was only in it for himself, and the thrill of the chase, it was obvious to the audience that he truly only cared about himself. Then, throughout the following episodes, Sherlock Holmes begins to open up to Dr. John Watson, building upon their friendship. This leads into Sherlock Holmes not being quite as narcissistic in the later episodes as Dr. John Watson has become more of a true partner to helping Sherlock Holmes solve these mysteries. The major transformation Sherlock Holmes whet through was in the episode The Abominable Bride, which originally aired in 2016. In this given episode we learn that Sherlock Holmes has a secret admirer, and this is major because Sherlock had always been too egotistical to even allow himself to get close to a woman liking him. This episode causes major transformation because we see him change his overall mannerisms, as he now understands why women may not have liked him at all in the past.
Conclusion
Sherlock Holmes has been around since the very early 1900s, and Benedict Cumberbatch’s portrayal of the famous detective is by far my favorite. Steven Moffat wrote a witty, brilliant, and blunt character all while Benedict Cumberbatch’s mannerisms, dialect, and rapid speech combine to create one of the greatest characters on modern television. By looking at the complex connections and relationships between Sherlock Holmes and the world around him, we can better understand and connect to these characters on many levels, outside of the given text.
Fiske, J. (2002). Television culture. Routledge
Images (2) Received from Google Images on February 4th, 2018
GIF file received from giphy.com on February 4th, 2018 (Link to GIF URL)
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