Detective Fiction and Crime Drama as Descendants of Sherlock Holmes

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s canon of the mysteries and cases of Sherlock Holmes have become transcendent in our culture in many ways.  One obvious way Holmes’s legacy lives on is in the detective fiction and crime drama genres of the entertainment industry.

Characteristics of the Genres
Detective Fiction	Crime Drama
British	American
Whodunit? (this creates a puzzle for the audience to try to solve while the detective in the narrative story is trying to solve it)	Why did the suspect/perpetrator do it?
Upholds social order and considers law and morality	Emphasizes criminality, transgressive behavior by detectives, and is very fluid
Attempts to distinguish between right and wrong (this allows detectives to pass judgement)	Focuses on the criminal and their mind with regards to their personal background
Example:  Law and Order	Example:  Criminal Minds

** Information in this table was discussed in the University of Lynchburg's Westover Honors College in the Sherlock Holmes Colloquia course by Professor Rachel Willis in March 2019.

Law & Order:  SVU.  Image retrieved from
https://genius.com/Law-and-order-svu-opening-line-annotated

Criminal Minds (Season 8).  Image retrieved from
https://www.dvdsreleasedates.com/movies/4693/
Criminal-Minds-TV-Series-2005-.html

Check out the theme song to Law and Order:  SVU using this link:  Law & Order Theme Song

Check out the theme song to Criminal Minds using this link:  Criminal Minds Theme Song

Although these genres had been around prior to Doyle’s publishing of the canon, the character of Holmes still remains relevant in today’s society.  For this blog post, I’ve decided to focus on one example of detective fiction and one example of crime drama in examination of how their roots are descendant of the original Holmes from the canon.

It is easier to connect the detective fiction genre as being rooted to Holmes in that the canon is an example of detective fiction.  As a result, many aspects of Holmes from the canon are depicted in other more contemporary detective fiction examples.  One such example is Law and Order:  Special Victims Unit (SVU).  Comparisons between this example and Holmes in the canon are below:

	Holmes from the Canon	Law & Order:  SVU
Whodunit?	Holmes focuses on using his deductive, observational skills to determine who is at fault for the crime/mystery. - Holmes considers every possible conclusion, no matter how far-fetched, and reduces these possibilities throughout the short stories/novels.	Throughout the entirety of the episodes, the detectives (Olivia Benson being the lead) are trying to solve a criminal case regarding some type of sexual, domestic, child abuse/neglect/murder/kidnapping.  - Because the focus of the series is on how the justice side of the law interacts with the police/detective/enforcement section of the law, the investigative process feels like a puzzle
Upholds social order	Holmes was an upper middle class man. - Even though Holmes does not have a job that is considered respectable, he does hold very high moral standards as a result of his class. - He holds Victorian ideals very highly, specifically with reference to his distrust of Victorian women and constant judgement of individuals based on their respectability according to Victorian ideals.	The morality of the detectives in the series, like Benson, Stabler, etc., are focused on.  The hardship and intensity of the cases that the detectives are sent to solve is something that weighs heavily on the audience’s heart.  And, this series focuses on highlighting special victims of crime and making the detectives look like heroes who are upholding society’s ideals of disgust for perpetrators of these horrific crimes.
Considers law and morality	Holmes does not always choose to get the detectives of Scotland Yard involved in a case. - In fact, there are a few examples in the canon where this is the case.  Probably the most famous is “A Scandal in Bohemia” where Holmes feels like the situation of finding the photograph of Irene Adler and the King of Bohemia is no longer relevant now that Adler has gotten married to a lawyer and gained a lot of respectability.	The lead detectives in this series are characterized as having high moral respectability.  For example, many of the detectives in the series have come from backgrounds of low-respectability, but have worked to achieve a greater respectability by getting involved in police work and turning their lives around. - For example, Detective Rollins used to be a drug addict and a gambler, but she changed her ways and is now a primarily detective in the New York Police Department’s Special Victims Unit.
Attempts to distinguish between right and wrong	Since Holmes is private consulting detective, he is able to make his own decisions based upon what is right and what is wrong. - His morality is closely geared towards Victorian values.  As a result, most of the suspects in the canon have characteristics of groups that were “other-ed” (and seen as inferior/different) in Victorian society.  Examples of these inferior groups are anyone that is not white, British, and male.	The major point of this series is to highlight the horrific crimes in the SVU.  The series creates is able to cause the audience to have an emotional response to these stories (of the episodes).  As a result of the sheer emotion elicited with the stories, the detectives are constantly working to distinguish for themselves between what is right and wrong.  And, this causes the audience to do the same.

Along with having roots in detective fiction, some characteristics of Holmes in the canon are illustrated in crime dramas.  One notable more contemporary example of this is Criminal Minds.  Comparisons between this example and Holmes in the canon are below:

	Holmes from the Canon	Criminal Minds
Why did the suspect/perpetrator do it?	Part of Holmes deductive capabilities is being able to decipher exactly why the perpetrator committed the crime/mystery. - For example, in the “The Adventure of the Speckled Band,” Holmes determined that the father, who had spent time in India and allowed Roma gypsies to be on his land, owned a snake from India that killed his daughter in a locked room during the night.	This series focuses primarily on the reasons for the suspect/perpetrator (the unsub) to commit the crime.  Usually, the suspect/perpetrator has a personal background that elicits him/her to act in a certain way or be triggered by a certain situation.  The detectives focus on deciphering through why the suspect/perpetrator committed the crime in order to determine his/her behavior.
Emphasizes criminality	This is another example of Victorian values regarding inferiority that is apparent in the canon.  In many cases/mysteries, the perpetrator is of some Indian, foreign, or other “different” group background.	Throughout the series, there is a focus on the unsub as being “different” from the rest of society.  Usually, the unsub has a specific background that causes certain criminal behaviors/decisions to arise following triggering incidents.
Transgressive behavior by detectives	Holmes and Dr. Watson actually commit crimes while trying to solve some mysteries/crimes. - For example, in “The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton,” Holmes and Watson illegally enter a house in order to help find clues to solve the mystery (Part I, 41).	While the detectives do attempt to be gentle to the unsub as a result of their mindsets/mentalities upon arrest, it is common for Morgan, Reed, Garcia and/or the other detectives to be involved in using force or find confidential information when needed to stop the unsub.
Focuses on the criminal and their mind with regards to their personal background	Holmes uses his deductive, observational skills to delete particular possibilities/conclusions to the specific crime/mystery in order to end up with the most plausible, and most correct, conclusion.	The series is geared towards the Federal Bureau of Investigation Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) and how this unit is able to find the unsub committing heinous crimes through their behaviors as demonstrated in their crimes.

Holmes’s morality and deductive capabilities regarding crime/mystery in the canon have become common aspects of other detective fictions as well as of crime dramas. 

Word count:  379 words (excluding the two tables comparing Holmes to Law & Order: SVU and Holmes to Criminal Minds)

Works cited

Doyle, Steven and Crowder, David A.  Part 1:  Sherlock Holmes for Dummies.  Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis:  2010.

Gender in Victorian England in the BBC's Sherlock

Victorian England was a place with many societal, social, and cultural constructs, specifically with regards to gender, race, and class (Ridgeway and Kricheli-Katz, 295-296).  These constructs are dramatically apparent in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's canon.  And, interestingly enough, many of these constructs from the canon have been depicted throughout various adaptations of Sherlock Holmes and his cases.  Today, I will be discussing the Victorian cultural values of gender with the BBC's Sherlock series.

In this era, men were seen as the superior sex.  It was assumed that men had specific natural characteristics that made superior to women.  These characteristics were held to such a high value that males and females were seen as being at completely "separate spheres" of society (Hughes).  Men were characterized by being strong, hard-working, independent, rational, brave, and focused on their own self-interest while women were characterized as being passive, emotionally, submissive, dependent, and selfless (Kent).  The BBC's Sherlock has illustrated these characteristics in its episodes to an extent.

Image of Molly Hooper.  Image retrieved by
https://metro.co.uk/2013/12/09/sherlock-
writer-mark-gatiss-even-benedict-
cumberbatch-fangirls-like-molly-4223394/.

The first women that we see in the BBC's Sherlock series is Molly Hooper, who works in the morgue at St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London, England.  She is in love with Holmes, and he actually uses this to an advantage throughout the series.  She is very emotional in the series and shows dependence in that she seeks to find male companionship in spite of Holmes.  Check out this link for a good scene that shows Hooper's femininity is Molly Hooper - Christmas Scene.

Another way the BBC's Sherlock series has depicted female inferiority is by having Irene Adler, or "the woman," lose to Holmes in "A Scandal in Belgravia" (first episode, season two) when she originally beats Holmes in Doyle's canon.  And, she makes a mistake and is defeats by Holmes as a result of her love for Holmes.  For more information about Adler's defeat, check out one of my previous posts, Who is Irene Adler?.

Now, it is interesting to note that the BBC's Sherlock directing team attempts to highlight the struggles of women during the Victorian Era in the "The Abominable Bride" (Christmas special, fourth episode, season three).  Here, the episode is set in during the Victorian Era (1865 to be exact).  The storyline is that a woman commits suicide around the time of her wedding, apparently comes back from the dead, and shoots Mr. Ricoletti and other men.  This episode brings in a secret group of closely resembling the suffragette and women's rights movement.  Even though the bride originally gets away with the murders, Holmes solves the case in the end.  As a result, the series depicts that men are still superior to women even though this episode does give women's rights a platform. 

Bride about to commit suicide in "The Abominable Bride." 
Image retrieved from https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/
news/sherlock-mansplaining-feminism-to-feminists-dressed-
in-kkk-hoods-in-the-abominable-bride-has-annoyed-a6794416.html.

Moreover, Dr. Watson's new wife, Mary Elizabeth Morstan/Watson, takes on more of an independent role throughout the BBC's Sherlock series.  In the third season, it is discovered that Mary hid a very dangerous life as an assassin from her husband (John Watson) and Holmes.  Throughout this season as Mary's life is explained, the agency and independence of her previous life is apparent.  She moved to London and successfully pulled off a facade while Watson and her were dating and a few months into their marriage; however, Holmes found that she was a part of A. G. R. A., a former assassin team after being shot by her in the previous episode involving Charles Augustus Magnussen.  Unfortunately, she shows her feminine characteristics when she becomes pregnant and gives birth to a child named Rosamund and, later, selflessly gives her life by jumping in front of a bullet for Holmes in the aquarium.  Check out this link that shows Mary's dramatic death:  Mary's Death Scene.

Mary as an assassin.  Image retrieved from
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2538272/Another-fake-
death-Holmes-Watsons-wife-shoots-Holmes-
girlfriend-Moriarty-dead-Sherlock-usual-tricks-Jim-Shelley.html.

Even though the BBC's Sherlock series did attempt to show women in a more empowered role, the feminine characteristics of women in the series eventually succumbed to the traditionally inferior characteristics of the Victorian Era.

Word count:  450 words (excluding the background information on the Victorian Era, the links and citations, and the works cited sources)

Works cited

Hughes, Kathryn.  "Gender roles in the 19th century."  Gender and sexuality.  15 May 2014.  https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/gender-roles-in-the-19th-century.

Kent, Susan.  "Gender Roles of Victorian Era for Men and Women."  The Victorian Era England Facts.  Victorian-Era.org, Mar. 2019.

Ridgeway, Cecilia L. and Tamar Kricheli-Katz.  “Intersecting Cultural Beliefs in Social Relations:  Gender, Race, and Class Binds and Freedoms.”  Gender and Society, vol. 27, no. 3, 2013, pp. 294-318.
Sherlock.  BBC 2010-2016.