Who Is Sherlock?: Essays on Identity in Modern Holmes Adaptations

by Lynnette Porter (Editor)

Overview

Nearly 130 years after the introduction of Sherlock Holmes to readers, the Great Detective's identity is being questioned, deconstructed, and reconstructed more than ever. Readers and audiences, not to mention scholars and critics, continue to analyze who Sherlock Holmes is or has become and why and how his identity has been formed in a specific way.

The films Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, and Mr. Holmes and television series Sherlock and Elementary have introduced wildly divergent, yet fascinating portrayals that reveal as much about current social mores and popular culture as about the detective. More than ever, fans also are taking an active role in creating their own identities for Holmes through fan fiction and art, for example.

"Who is Sherlock Holmes?" is still a viable question. The answers provided by illustrators, scriptwriters, directors, costume designers, set designers, actors, scholars, and fans provide insights into both Victorian and the modern-day Sherlock.

Like the many disguises the Great Detective has donned throughout canon and adaptations, his perceived identities may be surprising or shocking, but they continue to make us look ever more closely to discover the real Sherlock Holmes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786499076
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Publication date:	06/30/2016
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

The late Lynnette Porter was a professor in the Humanities and Communication Department at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. She wrote extensively on television and film.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

From Paget to Screen: A (Re)Vision of Sherlock Holmes for the 21st Century Clare Douglass Little 5

Modernizing Victorian Sherlock Holmes for Mr. Holmes and the BBC's Sherlock Special Lynnette Porter 18

"I made me": Narrative Construction of Identity in Sherlock's "The Abominable Bride" Felecia McDuffie 33

Inside the Mind of Sherlock Holmes Lynnette Porter 48

It's Traumatic Stress, My Dear Watson: A Clinical Conceptualization of Sherlock Jennifer Dondero Sabrina J. Pippin 70

A High-Functioning Sociopath Married to His Work: On Hegemonic Masculinity in the BBC's Sherlock Deborah M. Fratz 82

The BBC's Sherlock: A "Sociopathic" Master of the Social Game Kathryn McClain Grace Cripps 95

The Evolution of James Moriarty: How Villains Mirror Cultural Anxieties Heather Powers 111

God, Grace and Sherlock; Religious Narrative and Identity in BBC's Sherlock Felecia McDuffie 122

Chosen Families, TV and Tradition: Queering Relations in the BBC's Sherlock Linda J. Jencson 140

Fan Fiction as an Argument: Arguing for Johnlock through the Roles of Women and Explicit Sex Scenes in Sherlock Fan Fiction Alyxis Smith 156

(No) Sex and Sherlock: Asexuality, Victorian Abstinence and the Art of Ambiguity Amber Botts 169

Sherlock and the Case of the Feminist Fans Charla R. Strosser 180

#Setlock and the Power of Fandom Jennifer Woiton 194

About the Contributors 209

Index 211