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Justin Block
Lynda Haas
Writing 39B
21 May 2014
Character Profile: Sherlock Holmes
Detective genre has many unique conventions that separate themselves from other genres.
It was first written by Edgar Allen Poe and then matured by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Sir Arthur
Conan Doyles famous short stories told adventures of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. In
Doyle, Leroy Panek discusses the items that Doyle used from other writers to incorporate into
his Sherlock stories. One of the things Doyle uses from Edgar Allen Poe is the genius character.
One unique property about the detective character is his genius and deduction skills for solving
crimes. Panek talks about the genius detective as a classic convention for detective genres, when
he says with another traditional detective theme, Doyle worked the other way, towards fantasy
instead of away from it. The genius detective, from Poe onward, is supposed to be infallible
(87). The genius detective is a crucial component to the detective genre, and modern-day media
shows the unique characteristics of the genius in the same way Conan Doyles texts would have
shown it. Modern-day media, such as BBC series Sherlock or Guy Ritchies film Sherlock
Holmes, shows the deduction skills of Sherlock Holmes in a vivid image, and reflect the same
way Conan Doyle would describe it.
The deduction skills from Holmes is what makes him unique from other detectives.
Maria states in observation and inference and deduction, that we come to the heart of what it is
exactly that makes Holmes who he is, distinct from every other detective who appeared before,
or indeed, after (13). Holmes deduction skills are brilliantly exhibited in the BBC series,
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Sherlock. Sherlocks deduction skills are first introduced in A Study in Pink, where he
investigates the woman in the pink jacket. In this episode, Sherlock and John meet for the first
time and solve the case of mysterious deaths. The murderer was the cabbie and the partnership
between Sherlock and John started to emerge. In the TV series, the crime scene of the pink lady
shows the deduction skills of Sherlock. The crime scene, which is the first investigation for
Sherlock and Watson as partners, is at an apartment complex where Holmes uses his deduction
skills to provide a little background info on the victim and conclude the presence of a pink
suitcase. In this scene Sherlock concludes that the woman was unhappily married, traveled a
short distance from the hotel, and had a pink suitcase with her before she was killed. When the
camera does a close-up on the pieces of evidence, such as the ring and jacket, it gives the
audience a sense of significance. This significance later points out that Sherlock is deducing
what he sees. For example, when he was looking at the wedding ring, he came up with a
conclusion that the woman was unhappily married for ten years. When the camera went to the
medium close-up scale when Holmes was talking with the officer Lestrade, we can see the
confusing look on Lestrades face when Holmes was explaining his deduction to him. The
lighting in this scene comes from one particular source which is the back light inside the room.
This provides some shadows and light contrast in the scene. This lighting sometimes signify a
sense of seriousness into the scene, where the audience must pay attention. Holmess unique
deduction skills in the 21
st
century media are very similar to the ones in the Conan Doyle texts.
The way Sherlock Holmes observes evidence and comes up with a conclusion are still shown the
same manner as they would during the Victorian Era. The genius of Holmes still shows the
insecurity of the police force today, since the series shows that they come to Holmes for his
skills. For the purpose of historical context, the evidence Sherlock uses can come from the 21
st

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century, such as a cell phone and the latest fashion. The series Sherlock still use the deduction
skills of Sherlock from Conan Doyle texts to show the uniqueness of the favorite Sherlock
Holmes character.
The relationship between Watson and Holmes can be best described as a teacher-student
relationship, where Sherlock Holmes teaches Watsons his methods. Dove would agree of this
relationship by saying The teacher-student pattern is one Doyle could not escape Holmes
acting as the superior older boy and Watson playing the awestruck, eager fag (90). In Guy
Ritchies film, Sherlock Holmes A Game of Shadows, Sherlock and Watson must stop Moriartys
plan of world war, but it becomes difficult when Moriarty has the same intelligence level as
Sherlock. Towards the climax of the movie at the ballroom scene, Holmes is relying on Watson
to use his methods to track down the assassin. To keep Moriarty distracted, Holmes must keep
him occupied with a game of chess, while Watson and Simza finds the assassin. Watson
successfully uses Holmes methods to track down the assassin, who was Simzas brother. The
scene first starts with Simza and Watson coming up with their first deduction, which is scars
being hidden from surgery. When Watson starts talking about the hair line, the camera does a
close-up shot of the hair lines to explain what Watson is saying in the background. It shows the
audience the evidence to finding the assassin. There is a moving frame from each witness to the
next, but it is in the viewpoint of Simza. This viewpoint also shows a longshot of the witnesses
so we can see the witnesses and also creates a sense of suspense. When Simza talks about her
brothers eyes, we get an extreme close-up of each witnesses eyes to show their different eye
color, which is Simza is talking about in the background. This is another example of deduction
from the close-up shots. When we get to the extreme close-up of the eyes blinking there is a
whip pan that goes from extreme close-up to very extreme close-up to show the pace of the
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scene. When we see the eyes blinking, Watson makes a deduction that the lenses would cause
the eyes to be hurting, so there would be more blinking and eye irritation. There is also a close-
up of the man smoking with his right hand, and then the whip pan shows the transition from that
scene to a close-up of Simza as she explains that her brother is left-handed, so the smoking scene
shows importance for figuring out who the assassin is and later deduction. Sherlock Holmes
then describes in the background that the assassin would go against his usual habits so people
would not notice him right away. Some of these habits could be being left-handed or smoking.
This background helps explain to the audience that the deductions made so far could be wrong,
since the assassin may be doing something else. It feels like we are the students and Sherlock is
telling us what to expect. When we look at Simzas lips the lighting creates a serious atmosphere
and the extreme close-up of her lips shows she may find the killer. Then the director uses the
whip pan to Watsons lips, because the keyword was you think, which shows uncertainty in
the selection. Watsons statement from his close-up shot on his lips show he analyzed Simzas
statement to see if she was confident in her answer. The Whip pan effect is also used multiple to
give a sense of rush. When Sherlock is talking about the nervous tick or anxiety, the audience
sees the tick of the foot and hands movement through the eyes of Watson. The images we see
through Watson are explained from the background voice of Sherlock. Sherlocks other method
of finding an assassin was from spontaneous reaction, which is carefully exhibited from the slow
motion of the glasses falling. These falling glasses shows importance, because they will be the
main theory to use for finding the killer. When the glass hits the floor, the camera goes to a long
shot of the witnesses, and then zooms into the only person not looking at the glasses. The
camera then shows the same man dropping a cigar, which shows that he is most likely the killer.
The camera then zooms into Watson and Simzas face to show their reaction and determined
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looks that they found the killer. Throughout this scene the editing creates parallelism between
the chess scene of Holmes and Moriarty and the deduction scene with Simza and Watson. This
editing shows the deduction skills by showing the images of certain items or actions of the
witnesses and Holmes explaining in the background what each action means. The teacher-
student relationship between Holmes and Watson is clearly reflected from Conan Doyles text,
but it is now portrayed by picture rather than words. This scene shows the relationship between
Holmes and Watson. Kayley Thomas, in Sherlock Holmes for the 21
st
century, has said Jude
Law affirms, Guy wanted to make this about the relationship between Watson and Holmes.
(36).
The deduction methods of modern-day media Sherlock Holmes is very similar to the
ones described by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In Conan Doyles text, the audience cannot be able
to see what goes through Sherlocks mind since we are in the point of view of Watson.
However, in modern-media the camera acts as the point of view, so the audience now has a
chance to see what goes through Sherlocks mind. Joshua Starnes from comingsoon.net says
Holmes is more narcissistic and wears more over the top and ridiculous disguises than before;
there is more slow motion and Holmes analysis, more action sequences, and far less sense.
Joshua is stating the changes from the first to second movie, which has a lot more original ideas
from the first movie. This could mean there is more Holmes analysis, so the audience can get a
clear understanding of the Holmes character. The deduction methods have not been altered,
since it is one of his unique characteristics that have an affection toward people. The modern-
day media have a tendency to keep some classic conventions the same, since those conventions
were the main reasons why people love detective genre.

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Works Cited
Konnikova, Maria. Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes. New York:
Viking, 2013. Print.
Panek, Leroy. An Introduction to the Detective Story. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling
Green State University Popular Press, 1987. Print.
Starnes, Joshua. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. comingsoon.net, n.d., Online. 21
May 2014
Thomas, Kayley. Bromance is so passe. Sherlock Holmes for the 21
st
century. Ed. Lynette,
Porter. Jefferson, NC: Macfarland & Company, 2012, 35-47. Print.