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Apr. 27th, 2014 08:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
violsvaI just thought of a problem with lots of Holmes adaptations that also explains why the Granada ones are awesome.
People want the main characters of a show to be the people things happen to. They want the show to be all about the characters and the people they know and their enemies and so on.
Sherlock Holmes is not this kind of a story. Holmes is almost never personally involved in his cases. Someone else shows up and asks him for help.
Holmes and Watson have their own lives and emotions and experiences, but they aren’t focused entirely around crime. We mostly see the crime, because the assumption is that that’s what’s interesting, [this is an important book because it deals with war. this is an insignificant book because it deals with the feelings of women in a drawing room.] but the rest is there.
The crimes do not affect them personally. They may be in danger for their lives, but it is always on behalf of someone else. Even in The Empty House, where it could easily have been all about this man who wants to kill Holmes, it isn’t. Holmes is after the murderer of Ronald Adair. He uses the other man’s vendetta to bait him, but he doesn’t seem to have much of one himself.
This is the problem with focusing so hard on Moriarty (and one of the many problems with focusing on Irene Adler) and Holmes: it makes the story about Holmes fighting Moriarty rather than Holmes fighting crime. Holmes needs to be on the side of justice, and taking down Moriarty is because of that position, rather than because of anything personal.
But if you don’t start out with “Holmes solves crimes for other people because he loves justice” as a premise, you can end up with Holmes running randomly around London after Moriarty, because he hates Moriarty personally. Or because Moriarty’s *challenging* him and he *loves* challenges. Not to name any names, Moffat.
Things don’t happen to Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock Holmes happens to them. And then he goes home and plays the violin and thinks about something else, or the next case, or bees.
#three stories about moriarty and one about adler and this is what everyone chooses to focus on #episodic narratives are not necessarily bad #monster of the week #you can do all kinds of interesting things with h or w being kidnapped #but you shouldn't have to do that to make things interesting
People want the main characters of a show to be the people things happen to. They want the show to be all about the characters and the people they know and their enemies and so on.
Sherlock Holmes is not this kind of a story. Holmes is almost never personally involved in his cases. Someone else shows up and asks him for help.
Holmes and Watson have their own lives and emotions and experiences, but they aren’t focused entirely around crime. We mostly see the crime, because the assumption is that that’s what’s interesting, [this is an important book because it deals with war. this is an insignificant book because it deals with the feelings of women in a drawing room.] but the rest is there.
The crimes do not affect them personally. They may be in danger for their lives, but it is always on behalf of someone else. Even in The Empty House, where it could easily have been all about this man who wants to kill Holmes, it isn’t. Holmes is after the murderer of Ronald Adair. He uses the other man’s vendetta to bait him, but he doesn’t seem to have much of one himself.
This is the problem with focusing so hard on Moriarty (and one of the many problems with focusing on Irene Adler) and Holmes: it makes the story about Holmes fighting Moriarty rather than Holmes fighting crime. Holmes needs to be on the side of justice, and taking down Moriarty is because of that position, rather than because of anything personal.
But if you don’t start out with “Holmes solves crimes for other people because he loves justice” as a premise, you can end up with Holmes running randomly around London after Moriarty, because he hates Moriarty personally. Or because Moriarty’s *challenging* him and he *loves* challenges. Not to name any names, Moffat.
Things don’t happen to Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock Holmes happens to them. And then he goes home and plays the violin and thinks about something else, or the next case, or bees.
#three stories about moriarty and one about adler and this is what everyone chooses to focus on #episodic narratives are not necessarily bad #monster of the week #you can do all kinds of interesting things with h or w being kidnapped #but you shouldn't have to do that to make things interesting