Draft 1 | lily

Ling-Li (Lily) Yen

Writing 39B/ Draft #1

Professor Harrison

August 17, 2014

Adaptation of Dr. Watson in Moral Standard in 21st Century

In the classical detective convention initiated by Conan Doyle, the creation of Dr. Watson is a brilliant design to compensate for the extraordinary detective, Sherlock Holmes. The literature critics Binyon mentions in Murder Will Out,” The creation of Watson was, in fact, a stroke of genius. However outré the events he describes, the fact that they are mediated through his prosaic, stolid personality gives them a reality and a plausibility which they would otherwise lack” (9-10). According to Binyon, the reason Holmes is able to become successful heroic character is the existence of boring and tedious role, Dr. John Watson. As a tedious man, Dr. Watson has been given the significant role of narrator and the representation of middle-class men in Victorian era by Conan Doyle for the detective genre development. According to “Doyle” by the literature critics, Panek analyzes that, “Holmes takes a high hand with the nabobs and robber barons who come to him and, in general, concentrates on the problems of the modest middle-class” (76). Since the targeted audience is middle class gentlemen, Doyle purposely creates a model, Dr. Watson, for the middle class. Dr. Watson not only serves as the symbol of Victorian middle class gentlemen but also reflects the social and moral standards during the era. In the TV series Sherlock directed by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss and Elementary created by Robert Doherty, Dr. Watson in two TV series provides the significant role as the partner of Sherlock Holmes, yet his moral standards have been adapted to the 21 century. As a result, the characteristics and mentality of Dr. Watson have changed in order to properly reflect the society in 21 century both in the TV series Sherlock and Elementary.

In the episode 1 A Study in Pink of TV Series Sherlock, the criminal taunts Sherlock Holmes to swallow the pill. At the same time, Dr. Watson finds the location of Holmes and the criminal, shooting the criminal. While they are leaving the crime scene, Holmes and Dr. Watson burst into laughter. Although John just killed a guilty man, surprisingly, he feels relief. On the other hand, he walks normally in this scene without using a cane indicating his injury is mainly caused by psychological perspective. In contrast, Doyle’s Dr. Watson has higher moral standard, which means he would not feel comfortable after killing a man privately. In addition, instead of having psychosomatic disorder, Dr. Watson purely suffers from physical wound in Doyle’s novel.

After Holmes learns who shoot the criminal, he comes to John and reminds him to wipe off the gun powder residue on his hand. In this scene, the proximity of the camera is using medium shots which clearly display the facial expression of the two characters. While the camera gives a medium shot to John Watson, he pretends he does not know the shooter who kills the criminal. The camera shot emphasizes the emotions of Watson. In other words, John lies to Holmes, showing his morality allows him to hide the fact. In the next few scenes, the single person point of view is used in the conversation between John and Watson. By changing the camera back and forth between the face of John and Holmes, the scene shows intense interaction. In this situation, shots focus on the facial expression of their faces, especially John’s reaction when he lies. While they are about to leave the crime scene, the proximity of camera changes from medium shot to full shot, which intentionally shows John walking without using a cane. As previously mentioned, the leg injury is both psychological and physical to John in the TV series. According to “The Watson Effect” by April Toadvine, she states,"Given 21st century concerns of a difficult economy and returning from war zone, John represents economic and emotional instability familiar to many in the audience... John’s mediocrity allows him to be representation in the same way as Conan Doyle’s Watson represented his time" (55).

In order to illustrate the socially background and norm as Doyle does in his classical convention, directors of Sherlock apply the socially background of 21st century in order to fully imitate the detective convention. Last, while Holmes and John are leaving the crime scene, lighting of the full shot comes from their back. It causes their shadow darken their facial expression, which means that they are facing the dark for short moments. In other words, they are not sorrow for killing a man, showing their rebellion to morality and social norm. In today’s society, people are less likely to care about killing a guilty man because he is bad anyway. In contrast, murder is strictly prohibited, and justice only counts under laws and orders in Victorian era.

In the American TV series Elementary, audience in 21st century has different moral standard toward marriage and relationships. According to Zack Handlen, writer for the A.V. Club website, "As Joan Watson, on the other hand, Lucy Liu gives life to one of the stronger female roles on network television, a former surgeon turned sober companion who first meets Sherlock when his father hires her to help him go (and stay) drug-free.” The role of Dr. Watson not only change from a Victorian era gentleman to a modern woman but also have In season two episodes 7, Mycroft Holmes, brother of Sherlock wants to restore the broken relationship with Sherlock Holmes, so he comes to Sherlock’s apartment and cooks dinner for Sherlock and Dr. Joan Watson. Sherlock senses the unusual atmosphere between Mycroft and Dr. Joan Watson. After Sherlock’s observes and deduces, he questions Dr. Watson that if she sleeps with his brother. Dr. Watson admits that she sleeps with Mycroft while they are in London. In this episode, the story shows that audiences can accept the idea of sleeping with a man without having a relationship and marriage with the man. This social norm becomes a trend in American in 21st century, which majority of Americans allows the concept of having an intimate relationship before getting married.

In this scene, Mycroft and Dr. Watson sit at the dining table, inviting Sherlock Holmes to join the dinner with them. The composition of the scene intentionally put Dr. Watson and Mycroft together, and let Sherlock appears at the other side of the room. This design will deliver a hidden message to audiences, indicating Dr. Watson is with Mycroft instead of with Sherlock this time. Although audiences have no idea about the relationship between Mycroft and Watson, audiences would feel speculate about them. The point of view shots change from Sherlock looks at Mycroft and Dr. Watson to they look back to Sherlock. This scene also shows the connection between Mycroft and Dr. Joan Watson. In the next scene, Dr. Watson admits that she sleeps with Mycroft, which is a climax to audiences. Later, Sherlock sits on his seats while Dr. Watson stands by the table. The distance of the camera shots choose medium shot instead of close-up shot to emphasize both gesture and facial expression of Dr. Watson. In these few snapshots, she appears uncomfortable emotion by doing a lot of gesturing and frowning while she argues with Sherlock. By showing her body languages and her expression, audiences would able to notice the anxiety of Dr. Watson shows. Not surprisingly, Sherlock knows that his brother, Mycroft, sleeps with Dr. Watson.

Dr. Watson is the representation of moral standard and background in classical detective genre that created by Conan Doyle. In order to adapt and fit into the background in 21st century, both TV series Sherlock and Elementary reestablish the image of Dr. Watson to illustrate the moral standards in nowadays. In Victorian era, society have strict and high moral standard which they disagree with any crime and criminals happens. They believe person who commits crime is lack of morality instead of viewing the person is breaking the law. As a result, they condense criminals’ moral deficiency, and they used punishment that is regulated by the law. Today, people believe the concept of “an eye for an eye,” and they want to seek justice by themselves instead of through judicial process. In the Sherlock, Dr. Watson killed a man and feel relieve, which reflects the different cognition toward punishing criminals in 21st century. Furthermore, marriage is a sacred ceremony in Victorian era. Society honors and respects the relationship of marriage and family, especially women. They are expected to keep their chastity before getting married. Yet, in the TV series Elementary, Dr. Joan Watson sleeps with Mycroft without dating or knowing each other. Through these two examples of adaptation in Dr. Watson in 21st century, today’s audience can accept the show without feeling the story is too old school.

Works Cited

“A Study in Pink.” Sherlock. BBC. United Kingdom. 25 July, 2010. Television.

Toadvine, April. "The Watson Effect: Civilizing the Sociopath." Sherlock Holmes for the 21st Century. ed. Lynette Porter. Jefferson, NC: Macfarlane & Company, 2012, 47-62. Print.

Panek, Leroy. An Introduction to the Detective Story. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press,

1987. Print.

Binyon, T.J. "Murder Will Out": The Detective in Fiction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989. 9-12. Print.

Douglas, Edward. Comingsoon.net. CraveOnline, Evolve Media, 2014. Web. 3 August 2014.