A Few Thoughts On BBC's Sherlock
Does anyone watch a show, become completely submerged into it, get that involved, that when you come away from your TV/laptop/device you find that you have become the character/s of the show? The way your mind speaks, the way you start doing things? I do this all the time, when I fall in love with a TV show (sometimes a film depending how good it is) my mind become's one of the characters from the show. Right now, I think I have vertigo, I woke up fine, decided to eat, and as I got out of bed, was flourished with all the vertigo symptoms to the point I thought I had been drugged in my sleep and was now going to die. But that's because of a new show I've been watching. And when I tried describing what had happened to my mum over text, I found I was speaking in a posh way, the way a character from this new show I've been watching speaks.
That's a useless way to get into the post, I just suddenly thought if I was the only person who did that -God I hope not or that piece of writing has suddenly become very embarrassing.
Basically, I have become utterly obsessed with Sherlock. I have never been keen on the idea of the show, because it seemed..a little geeky. Everyone knows the story of Sherlock, there's remakes every now and then -never in the from of a series though. It just didn't appeal to me. Especially when there were fanfiction created about the leading characters, who are both male. Now I am in full support of gay rights 100%, and I would watch a show about two men who fall in love, but an average show where two men fall in love didn't appeal to me because I didn't feel like the show would then be about Sherlock, it would be about the kind of people Sherlock likes. And I thought it would change the show. But it doesn't.
I was curious and bored and I love crime dramas, so I gave it a go. Next day and I've watched every episode. I won't spoil anything for people who haven't watched it. Essentially it's about a crazy, rogue man who's absolutely in love with solving crimes because he has such extensive knowledge and knows exactly how to use his brain. He meets a John, who is a very mundane person, but holds a darkness within him -he's been in war, he's seen a lot, done a lot, been through a lot, and didn't come out the same. So John and Sherlock have an underlying understanding for one another, but as John is mostly mundane, he's perfect to be led astray by a crazy man who willingly solves murders for a hobby. Except he's not really being led astray, he's finding a life that pleases his dark side by doing good in the world. Every episode is about a new mystery, and as it's a running series there's always a bigger crime going on that makes the season finale captivating like it should do.
The thing I love most about the show is Sherlock himself. Everyone loves that common story of the guy/more commonly girl who 'doesn't feel', who is one of those 'tough nuts', and that they have a secret weakness which someone -usually they're future partner, manages to tug a string at, and eventually they're walls come down and they fall in love.
Sherlock is that person, but he is truly that person -yes he cares about a select few people because he is human, but he doesn't let himself feel because he's not an idiot like a lot of characters in movies are. The one's who fall in love and their partners get kidnapped because they're head was so clouded with lust, and this person has to get them back, but it's his greatest enemy, and there's no way round the situation, until he thinks of a badass plan that saves the day. (These are actually my favourite kind of movies though..haha)
So he has friends, people he cares about, and while, yes, they are his weakness, he doesn't let his head get clouded. Which is hard to understand or explain I guess, maybe...
But that's where John Watson comes in.
Every story, film, book, show, needs to have something that the audience roots for. Everyone needs that love story, that one thing that the character will give his life for. That's what drives the audience. At the end of that day everyone knows that crime will be solved, that one guy gets shot sometimes to provoke the audience's feels, but essentially the thing that keeps the show moving, that keeps the audience captivated, is something to root for. Which is almost always a love story.
As Sherlock is a simple, but complex man, who only really cares for one thing -murderers, the audience clings onto the moments where his humanity shows through.
So when he 'let's slip' and shows his fear that John could be possibly be killed (in certain episode/s), everybody goes 'OH MY GOD HE'S HUMAN!' and they cling onto that feeling they had when Sherlock felt. And the feelings grow when more things happen to prove that Sherlock does in fact really care for John Watson. Which makes the romance part of your brain start to detect things that indicates romance. I'm not sure if the show is designed to make you root for John and Sherlock, or whether Sherlock is just shocked and happy that John has stayed by his side long enough to call it a proper friendship. I don't know if it's real or not -fans of both sides of the argument will have a lot of 'proof'' to back up both theories, but I know that whether their chemistry is real or not, I think I'm rooting for it. Because it tugged at my heart strings, it's keeping me constantly on edge and it's exciting. The most excited me, and a lot of other girls have ever been at watching a possible love story, because we just don't know how it's going to fold out. If John was a girl, ev-er-ryone knows it will end in love. But because John is male, it's so hard to know whether the producers are going to act upon the intentional, but hidden chemistry between the two, and it drives us girls (and males) who desperately root for a good romance, absolutely insane.
But the question remains as to whether we are seeing what we want to see because humans root for romance. Is it a trick of the mind because we want romance, or are we seeing the real thing? Or are the producers making the show about two different things -the romance for the romancers and the friendship for the crime lovers? The producers know what would happen if they ended the show with this theory, everyone who roots for it will be delighted, people of the LGBT community will be delighted, people who love a 'good shocker' will be delighted, but crime lovers, and people who watch the show for it's content more than the back story, may be disappointed...
I don't have a clue what they'll do with the show, but as long as it keeps me gripped it's all good.
Shaan x
That's a useless way to get into the post, I just suddenly thought if I was the only person who did that -God I hope not or that piece of writing has suddenly become very embarrassing.
Basically, I have become utterly obsessed with Sherlock. I have never been keen on the idea of the show, because it seemed..a little geeky. Everyone knows the story of Sherlock, there's remakes every now and then -never in the from of a series though. It just didn't appeal to me. Especially when there were fanfiction created about the leading characters, who are both male. Now I am in full support of gay rights 100%, and I would watch a show about two men who fall in love, but an average show where two men fall in love didn't appeal to me because I didn't feel like the show would then be about Sherlock, it would be about the kind of people Sherlock likes. And I thought it would change the show. But it doesn't.
I was curious and bored and I love crime dramas, so I gave it a go. Next day and I've watched every episode. I won't spoil anything for people who haven't watched it. Essentially it's about a crazy, rogue man who's absolutely in love with solving crimes because he has such extensive knowledge and knows exactly how to use his brain. He meets a John, who is a very mundane person, but holds a darkness within him -he's been in war, he's seen a lot, done a lot, been through a lot, and didn't come out the same. So John and Sherlock have an underlying understanding for one another, but as John is mostly mundane, he's perfect to be led astray by a crazy man who willingly solves murders for a hobby. Except he's not really being led astray, he's finding a life that pleases his dark side by doing good in the world. Every episode is about a new mystery, and as it's a running series there's always a bigger crime going on that makes the season finale captivating like it should do.
The thing I love most about the show is Sherlock himself. Everyone loves that common story of the guy/more commonly girl who 'doesn't feel', who is one of those 'tough nuts', and that they have a secret weakness which someone -usually they're future partner, manages to tug a string at, and eventually they're walls come down and they fall in love.
Sherlock is that person, but he is truly that person -yes he cares about a select few people because he is human, but he doesn't let himself feel because he's not an idiot like a lot of characters in movies are. The one's who fall in love and their partners get kidnapped because they're head was so clouded with lust, and this person has to get them back, but it's his greatest enemy, and there's no way round the situation, until he thinks of a badass plan that saves the day. (These are actually my favourite kind of movies though..haha)
So he has friends, people he cares about, and while, yes, they are his weakness, he doesn't let his head get clouded. Which is hard to understand or explain I guess, maybe...
But that's where John Watson comes in.
Every story, film, book, show, needs to have something that the audience roots for. Everyone needs that love story, that one thing that the character will give his life for. That's what drives the audience. At the end of that day everyone knows that crime will be solved, that one guy gets shot sometimes to provoke the audience's feels, but essentially the thing that keeps the show moving, that keeps the audience captivated, is something to root for. Which is almost always a love story.
As Sherlock is a simple, but complex man, who only really cares for one thing -murderers, the audience clings onto the moments where his humanity shows through.
So when he 'let's slip' and shows his fear that John could be possibly be killed (in certain episode/s), everybody goes 'OH MY GOD HE'S HUMAN!' and they cling onto that feeling they had when Sherlock felt. And the feelings grow when more things happen to prove that Sherlock does in fact really care for John Watson. Which makes the romance part of your brain start to detect things that indicates romance. I'm not sure if the show is designed to make you root for John and Sherlock, or whether Sherlock is just shocked and happy that John has stayed by his side long enough to call it a proper friendship. I don't know if it's real or not -fans of both sides of the argument will have a lot of 'proof'' to back up both theories, but I know that whether their chemistry is real or not, I think I'm rooting for it. Because it tugged at my heart strings, it's keeping me constantly on edge and it's exciting. The most excited me, and a lot of other girls have ever been at watching a possible love story, because we just don't know how it's going to fold out. If John was a girl, ev-er-ryone knows it will end in love. But because John is male, it's so hard to know whether the producers are going to act upon the intentional, but hidden chemistry between the two, and it drives us girls (and males) who desperately root for a good romance, absolutely insane.
But the question remains as to whether we are seeing what we want to see because humans root for romance. Is it a trick of the mind because we want romance, or are we seeing the real thing? Or are the producers making the show about two different things -the romance for the romancers and the friendship for the crime lovers? The producers know what would happen if they ended the show with this theory, everyone who roots for it will be delighted, people of the LGBT community will be delighted, people who love a 'good shocker' will be delighted, but crime lovers, and people who watch the show for it's content more than the back story, may be disappointed...
I don't have a clue what they'll do with the show, but as long as it keeps me gripped it's all good.
Shaan x
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