Sherlock and Transmedia Fandom: Essays on the BBC Series

by Louisa Ellen Stein (Editor), Kristina Busse (Editor)

Overview

The critically-acclaimed BBC television series Sherlock (2010- ) re-envisions Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's detective for the digital age, joining participants in the active traditions of Sherlockians/Holmesians and fans from other communities, including science fiction, media, and anime. This collection explores the cultural intersections and fan traditions that converge in Sherlock and its fandoms. Essays focus on the industrial and cultural contexts of Sherlock's release, on the text of Sherlock as adaptation and transformative work, and on Sherlock's critical and popular reception. The volume's multiple perspectives examine Sherlock Holmes as an international transmedia figure with continued cultural impact, offering insight into not only the BBC series itself, but also into its literary source, and with it, the international resonance of the Victorian detective and his sidekick.

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786468188
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Publication date:	05/23/2012
Pages:	251
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Louisa Ellen Stein is an assistant professor of film and media culture at Middlebury College in Vermont. She has written previously on contemporary media culture, including film, television, the Internet and videogames. Kristina Busse teaches at the University of South Alabama and has published a variety of essays on fan fiction and fan culture. She is the founding coeditor of Transformative Works and Cultures.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Abbreviations x

Prologue: Why Sherlock? Narrator Investment in the BBC Series Lyndsay Faye 1

Introduction: The Literary, Televisual and Digital Adventures of the Beloved Detective Louisa Ellen Stein Kristina Busse 9

Part 1 Transmedia and Collective Intelligence

Sherlock's Epistemological Economy and the Value of "Fan" Knowledge: How Producer-Fans Play the (Great) Game of Fandom Matt Hills 27

Winning "The Grand Game": Sherlock and the Fragmentation of Fan Discourse Ashley D. Polasek 41

Part 2 Sherlock Then and Now

"But It's the Solar System!" Reconciling Science and Faith Through Astronomy Ariana Scott-Zechlin 56

Terror, Nostalgia, and the Pursuit of Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock Ellen Burton Harrington 70

Decoding the industrial and Digital City: Visions of security in Holmes' and Sherlock's London Anne Kustritz Melanie E.S. Kohnen 85

Part 3 Adaptations and Intertextuality

Shaping Sherlocks: Institutional Practice and the Adaptation of Character Elizabeth Jane Evans 102

Sherlock's Webs: What the Detective Remembered from the Doctor About Transmediality CB Harvey 118

Holmes in the Small Screen: The Television Contexts of Sherlock Tom Steward 133

Part 4 Interpreting Sherlock

"Good Old Index"; or, The Mystery of the Infinite Archive Roberta Pearson 150

Sherlock: Critical Reception by the Media Paul Rixon 165

Holmes Abroad: Dutch Fans Interpret the Famous Detective Nicolle Lamerichs 179

Part 5 Postmodern Sherlock

Sherlock and the (Re)Invention of Modernity Balaka Basu 196

Sherlock as Cyborg: Bridging Mind and Body Francesca Coppa 210

Conclusion: Transmedia Sherlock and Beyond Kristina Busse Louisa Ellen Stein 224

About the Contributors 232

Index 235

Editorial Reviews

essays examines the cultural intersections and fan traditions that have developed around the immensely successful BBC series Sherlock”—Reference & Research Book News.

From the Publisher

essays examines the cultural intersections and fan traditions that have developed around the immensely successful BBC series Sherlock

Reference & Research Book News