(Sorry, didn't mean to drop this. It's the start of school here, and somehow that always knocks me flat on my back.)
when I read the stories where I'm torn between loving Holmes as this really, just, fun character and also being very wary of all this Great Man ideology that comes attached to him
Did you see the meta post on the myth of genius earlier this week? (What did I do with that link? Ah, here it is. Wow, last Friday. It feels like yesterday.) I didn't have time to read all the comments or reply myself, but it's worth taking a look at, if just to see the philosophical divide (and strong opinions) amongst the folks who replied.
I'm especially drawn to the way he sort of embodies all these contradictory impulses of the Victorian psyche, both highly romantic and coldly rational
Yes! Exactly. I think that's another area where the BBC version disappointed me in a way I couldn't quite articulate: Sherlock doesn't come across as embodying much of anything--the brooding is merely (post-)adolescent pique, the rationalism just a vague, fetishized "intelligence" (which is cheaply bought, considering that the show's writers can validate any of his conclusions through the manipulation of the plot). Intelligence as opposed to what? In the ACD stories, rationality held onto concrete facts in the face of social assumptions and the chaos and anonymity of modern London. In the series, there were a few good moments with forensic evidence, but very little sense of why we ordinary, non-intelligent people might not be able to deduce the answers to social problems. On the whole, intelligence was contrasted with bureaucratic ineptitude, which seems to me to be a cheap shot.
And that's a great point about Name of the Rose. Would love to see a fic taking apart the moods and the drug use.
Have you been writing at all? I'd love to read something of yours, if you're so inclined. M.
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zvi and
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Date: 2010-09-11 04:05 am (UTC)when I read the stories where I'm torn between loving Holmes as this really, just, fun character and also being very wary of all this Great Man ideology that comes attached to him
Did you see the meta post on the myth of genius earlier this week? (What did I do with that link? Ah, here it is. Wow, last Friday. It feels like yesterday.) I didn't have time to read all the comments or reply myself, but it's worth taking a look at, if just to see the philosophical divide (and strong opinions) amongst the folks who replied.
I'm especially drawn to the way he sort of embodies all these contradictory impulses of the Victorian psyche, both highly romantic and coldly rational
Yes! Exactly. I think that's another area where the BBC version disappointed me in a way I couldn't quite articulate: Sherlock doesn't come across as embodying much of anything--the brooding is merely (post-)adolescent pique, the rationalism just a vague, fetishized "intelligence" (which is cheaply bought, considering that the show's writers can validate any of his conclusions through the manipulation of the plot). Intelligence as opposed to what? In the ACD stories, rationality held onto concrete facts in the face of social assumptions and the chaos and anonymity of modern London. In the series, there were a few good moments with forensic evidence, but very little sense of why we ordinary, non-intelligent people might not be able to deduce the answers to social problems. On the whole, intelligence was contrasted with bureaucratic ineptitude, which seems to me to be a cheap shot.
And that's a great point about Name of the Rose. Would love to see a fic taking apart the moods and the drug use.
Have you been writing at all? I'd love to read something of yours, if you're so inclined. M.