Sherlock Holmes is Not "Elementary"
Feb. 28th, 2012 11:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anthimeriaI've been watching BBC's Sherlock. It has flaws (*cough* The Blind Banker *cough* A Scandal in Belgravia *cough*), but with the callbacks to the ACD stories, Sherlock's probable nonneurotypicality, the way they handle Sherlock's complete disinterest in romance (and the commentary on the Watson/Holmes romantic pairing--"People might talk." "People do little else."), I've been enjoying it.
Which is why I was DEEPLY DUBIOUS when I heard about the new CBS proposed pilot, a modern American update called "Elementary."
Last week, a few friends and I (let's call them R, M and S) were talking about Elementary and speculating on what an American television production would do to Sherlock Holmes, especially since they have to avoid being too much like Sherlock.
Then today we had the following e-mail conversation:
Warning for heavy use of sarcasm. And no editing.
The subject line was Female Dr. Watson
R
9:49
I called it! A female, Asian Dr. Watson.
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S
9:54
You called the female, but I called minority!
BTW, is that a collective groan I hear?
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M
9:56
On the dot, R.
My personal guess was Afghan . . . i.e. Watson was “in the Afghan war” but on the other side . . . yeah, way too much overthinking.
As long as they keep her a doctor. If they don’t I think I have a duty to be rather offended.
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R
9:58
Agreed with the Dr. aspect, but I just know they’re going to ramp up the “romance or not” aspect of the relationship. One commenter predicted that if this lasts more than a season Watson and Holmes will be sleeping together by the middle of the second season and that would just irritate me. Not every male/female relationship needs to be sexual, and the interesting thing about the Holmes/Watson dynamic is that it is so complex and uncertain.
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L
9:56
. . . I’m not even sure what to do with this. I feel like we should watch it with popcorn in hand ready to throw.
(The somewhat hysterical thing is, I have no idea how I’d feel about this show if BBC hadn’t already done Sherlock. I’m prejudiced in the extreme! At some point I will think rationally about it.)
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M
10:03
I have no desire to see the pilot, really. Just like I have no desire to see the American knockoff of several excellent German films (Jakob the Liar, Bella Martha, The Lives of Others) that Hollywood decided to remake once they were successful. It’s rather a tiresome trend.
The thing about the character of Sherlock is that he cannot, cannot, cannot be in an overtly romantic relationship. It goes against his character. Read the books, people . . . eesh.
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S
10:01
Yes, but the problem is that TV seems to think that male + female partnership = hitting the sack at some point. Sadly, they even did this to Mulder and Scully eventually. Next prediction – Asian + female = high kicking kung fu expert. Just wait and see.
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R
10:02
As someone said when we discussed this over cupcakes, I’m not taking that bet.
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L
10:05
Well, of course she’s a kung-fu expert. She’s Asian, isn’t she? (*vomit*)
That said, she had better be an army doctor! It’s not like we don’t allow women in the military. And given that the very idea of a “front line” is ludicrous in Afghanistan, I’m pretty sure she could reasonably have seen combat, even if women aren’t supposed to (heck, medical personnel aren’t really supposed to!).
For as much as I’m a Watson/Holmes shipper (mind you, that’s including Sherlock fandom’s wonderful acquaintance with asexuality), I really don’t want it in any of the canon. There’s a place for canon and a place for fanfic, and JUST BECAUSE YOU CHANGE THE GENDER DOESN’T MEAN YOU CHANGE THE POSSIBLITY FOR ROMANCE, GODDAMMIT!
(Comics may have pulled this on me more than once. It may be a sore point.)
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R
10:08
Actually, since they’re American now Watson could be an Iraqi war vet, just to change things up a little.
Amen to everything you just said.
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L
10:12
. . . I wonder if what’s bothering me about this so much is because it’s Watson instead of Holmes? Because as a general rule I’m okay with genderbending and racebending in modern updates. So my reaction to this is a little weird to me.
But it feels less like they went, okay, the original was a bunch of white men and our modern day is more diverse than that, so we should have characters of multiple genders and races, and instead went—let’s get something hot for the men in the audience to look at, and it can’t be Sherlock because he’s The Guy. So they genderbent and racebent the “sidekick”.
I have no idea if that’s how it’ll actually play out, but if Watson’s the ONLY character they messed with the race/gender of, then I’m inclined to pinpoint that as my annoyance.
(And, of course, that this’ll make the romance “inevitable”, grr.)
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R
10:15
The reason I’m annoyed with it is that I have the strong feeling they’re doing the race/gender bending to differentiate the show from Sherlock, and not because they have issues and themes they want to explore through those changes. I would probably be more willing to give them the benefit of the doubt if Sherlock wasn’t on the air.
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S
10:15
Read????? Only squares read! (NB: this is in reference to M's earlier plea that people read the read the books.)
I’m willing to give the pilot a chance (and even I’ll admit that pilots are usually pretty terrible to begin with! – if only to throw popcorn at it). I couldn’t agree more with everything everyone just said. Well, I guess we shall have to wait and see. It would be awesome if she is back from Afghanistan or Iraq, but something niggles inside me saying she’ll be a police officer.
Looking over our comments, I think we’re not too happy because it does change a dynamic that just can’t be there with a male/female relationship. The one thing we always like about Holmes and Watson is their relationship and this will change if she’s a woman (even if they somehow NEVER manage to tumble into bed together – which would take a miracle for American TV). The relationship of characters is very important to the overall story, and that will change.
On an unrelated note, I never did and never will like Lucy Liu! Michelle Kwan would have been awesome, but she’s an “older” (gasp! Maybe in her late 40s or 50s now!) woman, and we just can’t have that on TV, now can we?
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R
10:19
I was thinking about having an older woman as Watson! I would have been okay with that b/c it would seriously lesson the romance issue, and the older woman/younger man dynamic is rarely seen in any nation’s tv shows. The only problem with making Watson be older is he was typically Holmes’ physical backup, and it’s hard to make a woman in her 50s take on that role.
~Sigh~ It’ll be interesting to see if this show is a train wreck, and how bad of one.
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S
10:22
You didn’t see Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, then? That was Michelle Kwan in it. See, if they had gone with an older woman, they dynamic actually would have been more interesting for exactly what you said – less romance issue.
Well, I guess we’ll just wait and see. Should we do a “collective” screening the night of the pilot? :)
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L
10:23
I kind have to disagree that there couldn’t be the Holmes/Watson relationship if they were male/female, since I’ve had a fair few close platonic male friends. I just think it’s impossible for mainstream American television to pull off.
And yeah, R, definitely—I have no trust they did it because they thought about it. They just did it to be “modern” and “edgy” and differentiate from Sherlock. I’d probably also be less incensed if Sherlock didn’t exist.
I’d be up for a collective screening, assuming we’re allowed to heckle and throw popcorn.
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M
10:24
Last prediction—Holmes and Watson aren’t getting together (at least at first)—they used to be together. Which means now they don’t like working with each other, though they have to, because (thank you, S) she’s a police officer and Holmes assists the police. Ergo she resents him. But when his brains land him in a mess, she busts them out by fighting off the bad guys.
Hm. I may have a future as a Hollywood screenwriter.
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R
10:25
I’m so sad, but I think M is right.
Definitely a group screening of the pilot w/popcorn so we can actually throw it at the tv.
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S
10:26
I think you nailed that one, M.
And absolutely comments and throwing popcorn is completely allowed! What fun would it be otherwise? :)