Still thinking about Sherlock, but this is a more general question...

[magnetic_pole]

I had an interesting exchange with donnaimmaculata on Monday about our frustrations with Sherlock and the way the show treats his "cleverness" as a superpower, which in turn got me thinking a bit about the various types of intelligence, and how they manifest themselves, and how you can depict them in fic.

So my question for you, flist, is this: is there someone in your life who's particularly bright in one way or another, and how can you tell? How would you go about representing that kind of intelligence in a fic? And/or, if you've written fic about a particularly bright person, how did you represent that aspect of their character?

Comments

[scarletsymphony]

I'm a bit late to this party, hope you don't mind, but this question got me thinking.

The smartest woman I know is my mother. She is cognitively -- unparalleled, basically, when I try to compare her to others I've known. She got the equivalent of straight A's in an education system where it's extremely difficult to do so and she's just quicker at what I like to call "mind tricks" (calculation in her head, stuff like that).

If I had to think of my mother as a narrative she'd probably fit your standard "intelligence has a price; it's a gift that gives and takes something away in return" trope. My mother's intelligence is probably one of the few things about her that I can speak on with unequivocal positivity.

(Actually, despite how much I cringed through the first episode -- seriously, it felt like the Iron Man 3 of the Sherlock franchise, trying way too hard, self referential on max, and not actually funny -- the bit where Sherlock talks about feeling like an idiot when he only knew his brother twanged true in a bit of my soul. :D)

Anyway, onto your question -- her intelligence manifests in disguise. She hides how smart she is. She deliberately allows herself to fall into illogical patterns of thought she's picked up from elsewhere, and we've had enough, er, heated discussions, that I know she's aware of it. I honestly can't say why she does it, but I've observed similar things in other intelligent women/girls I've known growing up. When I was younger, this kind of thing annoyed me, and being the incredibly tactful, empathetic person I was I'd say stuff like "You're smart but you're pretend you're not. It's annoying, I don't like it, you should stop." That usually led to some pretty spectacular, ah, discourse.

As I've grown, I realize I've done this myself, sometimes -- people will say more and reveal more if they assume you're not very smart. Smart makes people uncomfortable, especially smart girls. Not, for the record, that I think that I am significantly above average, but there's enough of a margin between where I am and Not Very Smart that I have room to pretend.

I knew one girl who didn't do this, who wore her loud, opinionated, smart self on her sleeve. She was perceived as obnoxious for it, but she worked with it, cultivated it and made it in your face enough to make it clear she wasn't ashamed of it. It definitely wasn't the easiest path she could have chosen, though. She always consistently got picked second for all the positions of power she'd run for.

With guys, it varies. Many seemed to have a kind of charisma, some are kinder with it than others. Arrogance is a pretty common trait that some learned could benefit them, while some seemed to realized it still made them a dick, no matter what the social benefits. Manipulation is another one such traits -- common, but less so with the more -- self aware? moral? -- ones.

One overwhelming impression I get across the board, even with the kindest and gentlest, is an annoyed "You're treating me like I'm stupid, and maybe everyone around you is about this level of intelligence, but I am not. You better recognize, and if you can't, you certainly don't have the right to be acting this superior." Which, you know, may reflect more on me than it does on them, come to think of it.

Not that I consider myself significantly intelligent -- intelligence is something I have complicated feelings on, and this post is already way way too long, yes?