Jingyao Shi Professor Lynda Haas Writing 37 2/20/2014

The Growth of Forensic Science Mystery genre is a genre in which a detective solves the crime based on logic and science. Arthur Conan Doyle who wrote the Sherlock Holmes stories during Victorian Era set the foundation of the mystery genre conventions, which many can still be seen in modern-day Holmes stories such as the smart and eccentric detectives, the loyal sidekick, the clues, the ignorant police, and the science behind the crime. Back in Conan Doyles Holmes stories, with some random conclusions, the police force did poorly in solving the crimes, so they could only rely on Sherlock Holmes to do so. Similarly, even in modern Holmes series, the police are still helpless overall in solving crime, which basically follows the convention that has been established by Conan Doyle. For examples, in Psych which is another modern-text Holmes series, even though the police did not like Shawn Spencer, who was the Sherlock Holmes in Psych, they still rely on Shawn to solve the crime. Also in Sherlock TV Sherlock, Greg Lestrade needs the help from Sherlock Holmes as the end he calls Sherlock back for Jim Moriarty. However, the genre convention of police force has been updated. Since the technology is developing rapidly in modern days, the forensic science becomes matured gradually which makes the investigation easier than it is during Victorian Era. The Sherlock TV series, introduced as Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watsons adventures in 21st Century London, is a thrilling, funny, fast-paced contemporary reimagining of the Arthur Conan Doyle classic(BBC). It was

series run by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss and premiered in 2010 on British Broadcasting Corporation and later on co-funders Public Broadcasting Service. BBC Sherlock series is one of the modern-day version of Conan Doyles Holmes stories that gives the audience a new idea of genre convention about police; in particular, in both Conan Doyles Holmes stories and BBC Sherlock series, the police are quite equally ignorant, but in BBC Sherlock Series, the police can still help Sherlock Holmes solve the crime because of the development of the forensic science. The mystery genre conventions of police can be found in both modern BBC Sherlock Series, and one of Conan Doyles Holmes book The Sign of the Four. In the third episode of season two in BBC Sherlock TV series, The Reichenbach Fall, when the ambassador Rufus Bruhls children Max and Claudette was kidnapped, the police Greg Lestrade and Sergeant Donovan came to Sherlock Holmes place and asked him for help as always. When Sherlock was analyzing what the little boy would do in the room, all police could was stood there, followed Sherlock with their eyes, and asked questions. Also, in chapter six Sherlock Holmes Gives a Demonstration of The Sign of the Four, after detailed examination, Sherlock determined that two people entered from the hole in the roof and removed the treasure. However, when the police Athelney Jones arrived, he wanted to arrest Thaddeus Sholto for murdering Bartholomew Sholto just based on very few evidences. Both scenes from modern text and Conan Doyles text of Holmes stories significantly show that the police in detective stories have no idea, or cannot, solve the crime by themselves. They are ignorant overall and follower to Sherlock Holmes. In the scene of BBC Sherlock TV series mentioned previously, the police could not observe many clues in the crime scene and they are always less important than the actual detective who is Sherlock Holmes. After Sherlock talked to the house mistress Miss Mackenzie, Sherlock walked out from the camera and the focus of the camera turned to Watson with the

police being blurry at the side. This editing technique gives the audience an impression of the police being an outsider when solving the crime. Moreover, when Sherlock Holmes observed for clues and evidences, even though the police stood behind him talking about the crime, the camera always had focus on Sherlock Holmes and followed him. According to the filming techniques, the audience can see how the police are not important in solving the crime at all as even if they are talking about the crime, the camera did not focus on them which means that what they talked about were just helpless. When Sherlock tried to simulate the crime scene, the police were basically just stood aside, watched Sherlock deduced and asked few questions. This also shows how ignorant the police are when they actually need to solve the crime. However, when Sherlock Holmes found the chemical glass bottle underneath the bedside table, he said, Get Anderson, who was a forensic scientist. Sherlock needed Anderson to set up the props that might be needed to find the clue that had been left using the chemical. In this case, only the police could help him so efficiently. Later when Anderson tried to tell Sherlock Holmes that the clue from that chemical was not helpful, Sherlock described Anderson as brilliant impression of an idiot. In this whole scene in The Reichenbach Fall, the police were still ignorant as what Conan Doyle portrayed in his stories, but this convention was updated since even though they could not solve the crime directly, they were able to assist Sherlock Holmes by using forensic science. The revised convention that is shown to the modern-day audience is that with the development of forensic science, the police in mystery genre are not totally helpless. In the scene in the Sign of the Four that is mentioned before, a word pompously was used to describe police Jones actions (Doyle 74), and Conan Doyle describes, Jones usually talked to Sherlock Ho lmes in a sneering voice(Doyle 77). However, Sherlock later described Jones in Franch, Il ny a

pasdes sots si incommodes que ceux qui ont de lesprit which means it is even harder to be with a fool who has no wit (Doyle 75). Jones overconfidence, in comparison to Sherlocks harsh but accurate critique, serves as a foil to his ignorance and superficialness in drawing conclusions. The police in this story was helpless and disruptive. However, comparing to the police in Conan Doyles hand, the police in BBC Sherlock TV series were much more helpful as Anderson could actually help Sherlock gather clues by using the forensic science. During Victorian Era, Unlike today, the police of Victorian London did not have access to the type of criminal forensic investigative techniques we are used to. Instead they had to rely on simple clues, circumstantial evidence, and their past experience to solve a crime(Criminal Forensic Science in The Victorian Era). The impossible forensic investigative techniques to Victorian London police were mostly accessible to the police in modern-day detective stories. The change in forensic field has subtle influence on the convention of mystery genre. Following the footstep of the time, the convention is gradually updated. All in all, the context of one era will have some effects on the conventions of mystery genre. According to the article How safe was Victorian London?, We never tell the police, said one tradesman in the Gray's Inn Road area, it's no good(Banerjee 3). During Victorian Era, the public did not trust police and had very little confidence on them, but nowadays, people tend to go to police more when they have problems. The ability of police has been changed and developed overtime as the forensic science developed. Echoing the change of the times, the police convention of mystery genre is updated too. Even though the police are still the one who cannot solve the crime without relying on detectives and who take all the credit eventually, they could actually help the detective during the process of solving crime. The police have the all the devices, technologies, and information base to assist the detective in the mystery genre. Despite

the police are still always the seemingly outside in each case, they become more recognizable in modern-day detective stories. This new way appeals to the modern audience since it makes people feel more familiar, real, and engaged to the texts.

Work Cited 1. BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2014. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b018ttws>. 2. "Criminal Forensic Science in The Victorian Era." Forensic Science. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2014. <http://myrealms.net/otherrealms/london/forensic_science.htm>. 3. Banerjee, Jacqueline. "How Safe Was Victorian London?" The Victorian Web. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2014. <http://www.victorianweb.org/history/crime/banerjee1.html>. 4. Doyle, Conan. The Sign of the Four. United Kingdom: The Strand Magazine, 1980. Print. 5. "The Reichenbach Fall." Sherlock TV Series. BBC. United Kingdom. 25 Jul. 2010. Television.