Rasmussen, Tyler Prof. Haas Writing 37 2 Mar.

2014 Shawn the New Sherlock This is my I Told You So room, where I like to gloat after a completely wild accusation turns out to be spot on. . . Over there is where you get gum. Free. (IMDB) This quote comes from Psych, which is a new twist on the classic mystery genre, but still contains many of the conventions of a classic mystery genre, such as the detective, the sidekick, and the clues needed to solve the case. One convention that is changed in this modern mystery genre is the detective which was originally founded in the original Conan Doyle stories of Sherlock Holmes. Some examples are House, Sherlock, Elementary, and Psych, which all act differently than the original Sherlock Holmes. Psych is a modern mystery show that is meant for people of Generation X, it aired June 7th, 2006, and was created by Steve Franks. A big difference is the attitude of the show, it is less serious and more comical than the original Sherlock Holmes. The story usually begins with a crime which the police determine as something not big, but Shawn (the detective) sees it as something different, and investigates it further to find out it was more than originally thought. Psych is a modern-day revision of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, updating genre conventions for its 21st century audience; in particular, the convention of the detective is an update of Conan Doyle's detective Holmes, with changes in the detectives emotions, family, and the era in which the detective grew up. One episode that shows Shawns abilities as a detective is from season 3 episode 16 called Mr. Yang and it is about his toughest criminal he goes against. A scene from the episode is after getting lunch they head back to the police department, when a note from Mr. Yang

appears, this is what appears to begin his most difficult task of finding the criminal. After being able to complete the first clue Shawn realizes that this criminal will be much tougher than he thought, and that is when he stops joking around (Psych 3.16). This scene demonstrates the comical parts of this show because throughout that episode it takes place at a nice and peaceful place, but what is happening is serious, which demonstrates the comedy because it is not what is expected of a normal mystery genre. In the original Sherlock Holmes there is also a criminal that is equally matched to Holmes, just like Mr. Yang, who is named Moriarty (The Final Problem), which means death in Latin. Through the use of these criminals it allows the protagonist to demonstrate his abilities, and show their knowledge which is what makes these two such great detectives. Through this it also brings out a difference in how each of these detectives got their special abilities, because in Psych it is shown that his dad, who was a police officer, trained him to become what he is, but in Doyles stories of Sherlock Holmes he already contains the three keys of a great detective which are observation, deduction, and knowledge, this makes Holmes seem superior because he already has the talent, while Shawn practiced to become that talented (Trope). Also another key part of the detective is his sidekick, which in Psych is his best friend and has been his friend for a long time. In this scene it shows the two wearing similar clothes which shows how close they are, just like Holmes and Watson. Another similarity between them is they both enjoy their jobs, and that they are not part of the police, but always help the police who are inept. By demonstrating their superiority to the police it helps to prove their talents even more, by beating those who are supposed to be the ones solving crime. Shawn makes the police seem useless through his sarcasm and jokes, while Holmes knows they are useless at catching the criminal, but he does use them to help remain less known by allowing them to take his credit. This shows the difference in the two detectives emotions, which is a representation of the time

periods that each detective grew up in, because in Psych the detective is from the eighties, and that is why he does not seem to work hard on cases, while Holmes is more serious about his work. This helps to appeal to the audience of the show because it is meant for people of Generation X (Kane). Although both of them are detectives, they still contain many differences. From the Mr. Yang episode it is easily visible that Shawn likes to date girls, while Holmes is more chivalrous, and not wanting to date, which demonstrates the changes in the attitudes of the detectives. The reason for this change is to appeal to the audiences of the time periods. This scene also connects to the audience through the sound of the episode, because the sound is fast paced, which makes the scenes fast, and that is what appeals to the audience. Another trait of Shawn is that he is lazy (Tropes), an example is that before he started his own company he would just sit on the couch and solve crime by watching the news and calling the police, while Holmes would go out and solve crimes, and would be more proactive about solving crime, such as in The Sign of the Four where Holmes goes to many different places looking for clues. Shawns traits also help to relate to the audience because many of the traits shown in the show relate to who the audience is and how they acte, just like Sherlock Holmes relates to the audience of the Victorian era by including much of the culture of the time. Lastly where the stories take place also helped to demonstrate the difference in stories because Psych takes place in Santa Barbara, which is not even close to being a crime riddled city, but watching it might give the impression that it is full of crime, but it is not, it takes place there just to add to the comedy that this show has, which is why this show is very different then the classic mystery genre of Sherlock Holmes. The Sherlock Holmes stories mostly take place in London, which during the Victorian era was full of crime, this is also why it influenced the detectives because in a city full of crime the detective is going to be busy solving

crime and does not have time to joke around. In Psych the detective does joke around because there is not that much crime, and also it is more of a comical mystery genre, less serious than the original. If Holmes were to joke around, then it might influence the people of that society to start committing crimes because it makes police work look like a joke, and that they could get away with the crime, which is not what Doyle wanted to do. Through the detective it is easy to see how the culture and audience has changed, for the mystery genre. Also it demonstrates the different attitudes of each story, because the way the detective is, is the way the story is, so since Holmes is serious the story is more serious, Shawn is more comical, the show is more comical. Although these two detectives have many different traits, they still contain similar ideas and talents which allow them to be a detective. The three traits to a great detective are observation, deduction, and knowledge, and both of these detectives possess these traits, and also they are part of the mystery genre, if these two were completely different than one would not be a mystery genre. Lastly the detective is used to allow the viewer to connect to the stories, so by having the detective relate to the audience is important and that is why many of the characteristics are different, but their basis for what they do is the same and not changed, just their attitudes.

Works Cited Doyle, Conan A. The Final Problem. London: Spencer Blackett, 1893. Print. Doyle, Conan A. The Sign of the Four. London: Spencer Blackett, 1890. Print. Goldberg, Lee, and William Rabkin. "Mr. Yang." Psych. Prod. Steve Franks. USA Network. 7 July 2006. Television. Kane, Sally. "Generation X." About.com Legal Careers. About.com, 2014. Web. 18 Feb. 2014. "Psych." IMDb. IMDb.com, 2014. Web. 20 Feb. 2014. "Troperville." RSS. TVtropes, 2014. Web. 20 Feb. 2014.