Alfonso 1 Michelle Coleen S. Alfonso Dr.

Lynda Haas Writing 37 02 March 2014 A Medical Sherlock Holmes Mystery is a genre of fiction where the plot revolves around a mysterious happening that acts as the driving question (TVTropes). According to Routman, a literary scholar, mysteries are imaginative stories dealing with the solution of a secret, problem, or crime, and involving suspense or intrigue. Some of the genre conventions in a mystery/detective story include gathering of clues, a sidekick, the pursuit of science vs. supernatural and a detective figure who uses a science called deductive reasoning. Clues move the plot forward, a sidekick who normally helps the main character solve the mystery, the idea of science vs. supernatural especially during the Victorian Era where most people strongly believes in the supernatural, and a detective figure who solves the crime in the end with his great deductive reasoning skills. One of the most important convention of Sir Arthur Conan Doyles stories that is still being used today in modern-day adaptations of Sherlock Holmes is the use of deductive reasoning which is a basic form of valid reasoning. Deductive reasoning, or deduction, starts out with a general statement, or hypothesis, and examines the possibilities to reach a specific, logical conclusion (Live Science). Comparatively, the TV show Psych depicts the use of deduction as Shawn Spencer uses his eye for detail, outside-the-box thinking, and throw-caution-to-the-wind-tofollow-a-hunch attitude that makes him excellent at following and solving cases (Psych Wiki). Another modern adaptation where Holmess deductive reasoning skill is shown is the TV show Elementary where a crime-solving duo cracks the New York Police Departments most

Alfonso 2 impossible cases (Elementary Wiki). House M.D. is an American medical drama series aired in 2004 in Fox Network starring an eccentric drug addict and a medical genius who can deduce and diagnose a great deal just by looking at a person. Mixing intrigue and mystery in the form of unusual medical cases, House M.D. is a modern-day Holmes text which conveys a great mystery genre convention through Dr. Gregory Houses brilliant deduction as he solves all the cases brought to him and makes the impossible to others possible to him. In Season Three Episode Eighteen Air Borne, Dr. House and Lisa Cuddy are travelling back to New York from a pandemic symposium in Singapore when a mysterious illness breaks out and traps them on an 18-hour flight. To explain, a man collapses and gets worse every minute while other passengers, including Cuddy, soon develops similar symptoms only to find out that it was only mass hysteria and all in their mind. House M.D. is a modern-day revision of Conan Doyles Sherlock Holmes stories, updating genre conventions for its 21st century audience; in particular, the convention of Houses methods of diagnosis is an update of Conan Doyles use of deductive reasoning, with specific revisions such as Houses methodology: he sometimes guesses, whereas Holmes is strongly against to and talks about not theorizing before having all the data. Most episodes revolve around a primary patient and the search for a diagnosis which starts with the scene that shows prior events leading to the appearance of the patients symptoms. House uses a method called differential diagnosis where he lists all the possible causes on a whiteboard and eliminates most of them after his team provides logical medical reasons that they are not a possible cause of the disease (House Wiki). However, in this moment, House deals with a case alone on a flight back from Singapore and treats a possibly contagious patient that gets worse by the minute without any medical resources available. In this particular scene, the director emphasizes the background sound that mainly focuses on the Korean man moaning as

Alfonso 3 one of the symptoms of his sickness which sets more feeling to the audience as they can hear it that enables them to imagine his pain. The intensity, direction, and quality of lighting have a profound effect on the way an image is perceived which is the reason why House is wearing a bright yellow polo; to emphasize his character as the only doctor during that situation while the other passengers are only wearing dark and neutral colors. The director uses a filming technique called shot/reverse shot, which is when two or more shots edited together that alternate characters, typically in a conversation situation to focus on the two while arguing about the possible cause of this break out (Film Analysis). The show also often uses the walk and talk filming technique that draws the viewer into a closer, more intense relationship of the audience to the actors and creates urgency and intensity at the same time. Holmes and House share a distinct characteristic of strong deductive reasoning skills. In Sir Arthur Conan Doyles novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Holmes reveals his extraordinary analytical mind as he observes and deduces information from the letter received by Sir Henry Baskerville. He uses his keen observation, creative imagination, knowledge and sensitivity to details as he tries to find out who the writer of the letter could have been. The same idea of deductive reasoning is being portrayed in the Fox TV show House M.D. as he first observes the symptoms manifested by the patients, applies his medical knowledge and uses of the process of elimination, and concludes with a medically supported diagnosis. Although Holmes and House have a lot of qualities in common, revisions of the genre convention of deductive reasoning are made in order to appeal to a modern-day audience. Holmes is a man who is theory-based and is strongly against guessing, while House deduces information from experimenting, sometimes guessing. While House is a doctor, Holmes is modeled after Conan Doyles professor named Joseph Bell due to his great deduction skills that inspired him to write

Alfonso 4 about the stories of Holmes. Some aspects of Holmes changes as it transitions to his modern day counterpart Dr. House such that of his sense of humor as there are many comical parts of the show constantly being portrayed throughout the series centering around Houses personality quirks and insults that brings comic relief to a serious medical drama. Both of them are drug addicts but Holmes uses cocaine to stimulate his mind while House uses Vicodin as treatment for his leg pain. Through this, modern-day audiences do not easily get bored by just watching a doctor solving different diseases but instead gives a twist to the character where the show basically revolves around. Holmes and Houses character are similar but are not completely the same since the directors and producers adjust the modern-text characteristics so it can be more appealing to the audience. Nonetheless, we still see all the genre conventions and characteristics of the original texts of Conan Doyle being portrayed on the modern-day shows. The idea of using a genius doctor is very appealing to everyone since most of us would want to be the best in anything we choose to do as he serves as a role model for us and an example that we draw from to be a better person. The convention of deductive reasoning is still present in all the modern-day adaptations of Holmes stories and remarkably never gets old in captivating the audiences attention because people do not find all these characteristics from anyone today. Holmes gives the audience interesting and twisted mysteries and actually solves it while in the real world, there are also mysteries but they are not completely being solved and we are still longing for the answers.

Alfonso 5 Works Cited "Exploring The Mystery Genre." Scholastic Teachers. Scholastic, 2014. Web. 19 Feb. 2014. "Film Analysis." Film Analysis. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2014. Higher Read LLC. N.p.: n.p., n.d. The Hound of the Baskervilles Read It and Know It Edition. Higher Read LLC. Web. 19 Feb. 2014. "Mystery Fiction." RSS. TVTropes, n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2014. "Polite Dissent." House Episode 18 (Season Three): Airborne. N.p., 10 Apr. 2007. Web. 19 Feb. 2014. Routman, Regie. "Genre Characteristics." Writing Essentials. N.p., 2005. Web. 19 Feb. 2014. Staff, By LiveScience. "Deductive Reasoning vs. Inductive Reasoning." LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 10 July 2012. Web. 17 Feb. 2014. "Wikia." Elementary Wiki. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2014. "Wikia." Psych Wiki. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2014.