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Jilver Mazariegos
Lynda Hass
Writing 37
November 26 2014
The Detective Super Hero

There have been many adaptations of the Holmes during the past century in the film
industry however the Robert Johnson Jr. adaptation is unique as it keeps the conventions of
Holmes but distorts it to appeal to the modern 21st century audience and fit to the film's medium.
Holmes creator Doyle had many conventions of his protagonist that defined the first true
detective, but not just any detective but the detective hero, a man of prominence, who is fearless
and strong but humble to the weak who dispenses chivalry to all women and help the
helpless, whosoever shall ask for it. (Panek 88). This hero is also shown and portrayed within
the film Sherlock Holmes played by actor Robert Johnson Jr., this adaptation keeps many of the
conventions of Holmes that Doyle created such as the intellectual minded Holmes, the down to
earth detective, the sociopath and most importantly the detective hero that is Holmes. This
convention although is kept and shown in the film is also adapted, changed into not just a simple
hero but an action super hero.

The film is plotted under the premise of a death scandal who Sherlock Holmes is trying to catch
along with Watson and the police and end this mystery once and for all. During the first scene
when Sherlock finally finds the hidden hideout of Lord Blackwood, he decides to enter the
hideout and save the woman who was going to be another victim of Blackwood. This scene

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implicates many cinematic elements that convey the conventions of the original Sherlock
Holmes. The scene uses a combination of a flash-forward and non-diegetic sound when Holmes
first fights a henchman of Blackwood. When the scene goes into a flash-forward scene we see
the outcome of the fight before it happens in essence it's the mind of Holmes and is backed up
with the voice of Holmes thoughts detailing every move he will perform before it happens. The
cinematic elements correlates to Holmes intellectual superiority that can figuratively see the
future before it happens. The scene also shows when Holmes confronts Blackwood and saves the
young lady's life from the malicious villain. Using key-light on Holmes, he is seen as the
important figure conveying his victory over the adversary, and saving those who need saving.
However this is not the only scene in which his convention is portrayed, the second scene
happens during the revival of Blackwood and Holmes is gathering clues to regarding to the
deaths lead by Blackwood. Holmes deduces the next potential crime in a butchery, once he
reaches the place Blackwood sets a trap on Holmes by placing Irene Adlar, a character who
knows Holmes, in a trap to her death luckily Holmes saves her. This scene explicitly uses many
medium close-ups to catch the expression of Holmes as he is left to figure out a strategy to save
Irene, as Holmes must think quickly the camera does extreme close ups of every object as well as
match on action that conveys Holmes quick movement and reasoning to figure out a way to save
Irene. The scene ends when Holmes gets a personal close up of his face not only showing his
relief but that he is victorious as a hero. Both these scenes eloquently provide the definition that
this scholarly author states " the hero-detective acting specifically as the champion of empirical
science....[who] demonstrates reassuringly the sufficiency of reason." (Chausson 61). The main
convention of Holmes is still portrayed in the film as an intellectual and brilliant man who uses

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his gifts as a form to help, to be the detective hero that these people need. However these
conventions although are kept the same, some are twisted, changed, adapted to suit the film.

Despite the strict correlation of the hero convention, Gus decides to twist the exact definition of
the detective hero to fit the new setting. A simple explanation of why the film was portrayed this
way was can be given by a New York Times writer, who stated that the director was a film
maker filming "cool things" using "cool people" and usually involved action (Scott). Simple but
there is much more than that, the Victorian period was where the classical mystery detective
genre bloomed because it was a thriller to the audience, a sense of entertainment to get lost into
another world. This historical context provided the detective genre to blossom and appeal to the
audience than any other detective novel before Doyle. This context however changed through the
coming century as now the convention is altered to fit the audience. Today entertainment is still
made in a similar fashion as the Victorian period but know action is mixed into the convention,
in essence the convention of the detective mystery genre turned into the action detective mystery
genre. In the first scene talked about, every aspect of Holmes deduction and helping is tied with
this new characteristic on Holmes his strong physique, when Holmes foretells the next seconds
of film he proceeds "to snap bones, gouge organs and turn flesh into pulp"(Scott). A major
difference from the traditional Holmes who was more of an intellectual individual and not of a
man of violence (Scott). This change is because the audience entertainment is on action, of guns
and explosion and of the super hero These popular genres mixed and created this modern
Sherlock Holmes who not only intellectually strong but also physically strong. This transcended
the original detective Holmes into something more than a hero, the super Hero. Guy created a

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new version of Holmes, He was a "proto-superhero, amenable to all kinds of elaboration and
variation".
This prototype-super hero was something new to Holmes that the genre has not
developed yet during its original classical period. The historical time period was a period of
incompetent police where crime was unable to be solved devastating the people of that time. This
created the original Holmes that suited for the middle class where he is seen as the hero of the
people, a detective willing to undertake the job that was of the police and solve the crimes for
those who need it the helpless. This historical context differs from the modern world today
instead it's about having a hero who is different, dramatically different who is seen as an ideal,
awesome, "cool" individual and this created the action packed Holmes, the super hero Holmes.
The context in which the type of Holmes is presented has impact of the Holmes that is seen
today and in the past, it provides the characteristics that the Holmes undertakes and embellishes
in.
These changes are made to adapt to the audience to entertain much like what Holmes did
during the Victorian Era. This new audience was fond of Action movies of super heroes and the
product of transferring Holmes from literature into the cinema altered his original conventions.
These scenes portrayed Holmes as a man of courage and bravery much as he was in Doyle's
stories, being quick minded having chivalry, strong, brave all these attributes are used in this new
Holmes throughout the film. Some of these characteristics are altered suited to this new Holmes
as a man of no fear, physically strong as he is intelligent. These new medium of Holmes do not
take away the true essence of the character Holmes, the original conventions are all still in the
film and in the later sequels as this film review writer mentions that "This returns the story
somewhat to the Conan Doyle tradition that Holmes did most of his best work in his mind"

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(Robert). This remains true to every aspect of the film. Although the historical period and
audience period have changed Holmes continues to have many of the same convention that he
original had and while some have adapted and changed, Holmes remains as the super, detective
hero.
Work Cited
Panek, Leroy. "Read An Introduction to the Detective Story". Doyle (1987): 88-89. Web. 26
Nov. 2014
Clausson, Nils. "Journal of Narrative Theory". Degeneration, "Fin-de-Sicle" Gothic, and the
Science of Detection: Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Hound of the Baskervilles" and the Emergence
of the Modern Detective Story (2005). n. pag. Web. 26 Nov 2014.
Scott, A. O. "The Brawling Supersleuth of 221B Baker Street Socks It to Em."The New York
Times. The New York Times, 24 Dec. 2009. Web. 26 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/25/movies/25sherlock.html>.
Ebert, Robert. "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows Movie Review (2011) | Roger Ebert." All
Content. Elbert Digital LLC, 14 Dec. 14. Web. 26 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/sherlock-holmes-a-game-of-shadows-2011>.