I don’t know about
you guys, but I am a huge fan of classic concepts being reimagined in modern,
updated ways. The ones that are most
well done find a way to retain the soul of the story while making it relatable
to a 2012 audience. Most of the time,
this occurs in movies and television series.
With the immense success of crime dramas like CSI and mystery movies, it
was only a matter of time before Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic character,
Sherlock Holmes, was reworked. Over the
last few years, Hollywood has produced two films based closely on the short
stories—though of course, high quality filming, special effects, and huge
action scenes were just a few of the major additions. The BBC has also tapped into this literary
gold, reimagining the British tale in a modern time and place setting in the
popular series Sherlock.
Not to be outdone,
American television is following in Britain’s footsteps and riding the wave of
the film’s relative success to create their own interpretation of Doyle’s
tale. Elementary premiered on CBS in
late September, presenting audiences with another Sherlock Holmes displaced
into a modern-day New York setting. They
have made some noticeably larger changes to the traditional story; I am
primarily referring to the choice to write Holmes’ partner, Dr. Watson, as a
woman.
Lucy Liu as Dr. Joan Watson and Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes
This is a decision
that I am highly torn about. As a
feminist, I support the gender-bending placement of Lucy Liu, an Asian-American
female in a leading role. On the other
hand, I have strong reservations about the reasons behind this choice. Let me explain my perspective—though casting
Liu puts a twist on the traditional concept of the gender of Dr. Watson, I feel
as if CBS may be exploiting her gender as a dramatic tool to draw an audience. In short, by writing a female as the partner
to Sherlock Holmes, I believe they are taking advantage of the opportunity to
create yet another heternormative atmosphere of sexual tension within their
television show. I am concerned about
her primary function transitioning from the necessary partner in crime-solving
to a flimsy object of sexuality and unnecessary drama. Furthermore, Sherlock Holmes is one of the
very few characters in literary history that may be identified as asexual. A community that is highly underrepresented
as it is, this identification is completely ignored in the CBS rewrite, doing a
disservice to the representation of asexual characters in literature and
television as well as the integrity of the original Holmes character. In the classic version, Sherlock reserves some
amount of affection for Ms. Hudson, his landlady, and has no other
attachments. Dr. Watson becomes his
friend after months and years of effort and closeness (even then, Sherlock
rarely admits it). One of the things I find
most enjoyable about the Holmes story is how unsure Sherlock is about his
friendship with Watson, and how it occasionally has a bit of a romantic
feel. Though this is not necessarily
representative of his asexuality, I love that what romantic tension there is, falls
under the queer umbrella.
All of these little
details (which frankly, are not central to the plot at all), are destroyed by
the gender change of Dr. Watson. Now, I
can almost guarantee that she will be used as an object of sexual attraction
for Sherlock (as well as the audience).
This is unfair to the previous representation of the queer
community. If CBS really wanted to break
gender boxes, they should have altered the gender of the main character,
Sherlock. As is, Elementary is just
another program featuring a woman in a subordinate role, exploiting her gender
for a heteronormative relationship wrought with drama to draw an audience.
Please share your
opinions on this new television show in the comments! Have you seen an episode?
Where does it seem to be going? Does the show overall benefit or hinder
feminist endeavors, in your opinion? Feel free to share!
I haven't seen the show yet as my daughter got me hooked on the BBC version. But I tend to agree that the show will most likely fall into the heterosexual abyss. Maybe we should give it a try, if we like it, we can eat our words in another good blog!
ReplyDeletewhen a woman or an american is present, the show quality drops.
ReplyDeleteis that the conclusion you draw from Sherlock vs Elementary?