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Burton Gui
Dr. Lynda Haas
Writing 39B
August 29, 14
Dr. Watson The Time Epitome
Thesis paragraph:
As the years progressed, more In the last three decades, acclaimed plays and classic
literatures have has been reinterpreted and reproduced into films and network television shows.
The mix of visual impacts impact, powerful throwing, and cinematography makes an encounter
that cannot be matched by other media; consequently, these new adaptations arousing arouse a
new round of explorations for twenty-one-century aesthetic needs and infusing vitality into these
classics explorations and presentations for these classics. The incredible Sherlock Holmes
stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are not special cases joining the trend. A convention of The
relationship between the detective and the sidekick has supported is a convention from Doyles
stories for that has lasted over a century, in which Dr. Watson has been an iconic character
complementary for the eccentric and intelligent Holmes. The brilliant creation of Dr. Watson,
according to T.J. Binyon in Murder Will Out, Murder Will Out, provides readers with the
authentic and plausible adventures by his narratives through his prosaic, stolid personality(10).
Dr. Watson as the narrator not only helps Doyle develop the stories by hiding vital aspects of
mysteries from readers but also represents the majority of Victorian middle-class men, as Panek

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supported claims in Beginning, a chapter from his book An I ntroduction to the Detective
Stories (80). His very averageness, adds literary scholar April Todavine in her article The
Watson Effect, makes him the representative of societal norm, added by April Toadvine in
Watson Effect(52). Hence, observing and analyzing the alterations of Dr. Watson within
current Holmesian adaptations provides an insight into how modern-day texts continue to use
Watson to represent and cater to its twenty-one-century 21
st
audiences. In BBCs TV series
Sherlock, directed by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, John Watson is portrayed as a former
military doctor back from Afghanistan. Throughout Sherlock, Watson still follows many Doyles
classic conventions; he is still characterized as a loyal, professional, moral and ordinary partner
of Sherlock Holmes but with distinct age epitomes time spirit, in which he reflects unique
circumstances among twenty-one 21
st
century, compared to the original context. In addition, the
relationship between Holmes and Watson becomes a cure of Watsons mental distresses. Another
TV series adaptation American Channel CBS, Elementary, transforms Mr. John into Miss. Joan,
a female former surgeon who has strong self-esteem, with which she has impacted and rewritten
which rewrite the relationship between Watson and Holmes. Among modern Holmesian
adaptations, Watson is still a representative of ordinary people but endued imbued with new
zeitgeist and adapts more modern values to accurately image of the 21
st
century; also, Watsons
relationship with Holmes has been reinterpreted into a new form, such as the new reversed
parent-child in Elementary, to fit contemporary viewing requirements. sometimes even
reversing the classic relationship.

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Fourth Paragraph:
Another update in Elementary is the parent-child relationship between Watson and Holmes
has been reversed. According to Heroism, Culture, and Dread in The Sign of Four, Kirby
Farrell suggests an interesting perspective to view the relationship between Holmes and Watson,
as a parent and a child (42). While facing the dread of death, Holmes usually reacts in calmness
and composure; in contrast, Watson, as an ordinary man, usually feels panic and shocked by the
mystery. For example, in The Sign of Four, as they approach the scene of Sholtos murder, the
main characters act as little children who are threatened by horrible situations, feeling helpless,
[and] appealing the expression of a terrified child (Doyle loc 735). Sherlock acts as a parent,
giving instructions and orders to lead them to solve the myth. However, the relationship lasting
for one century has been rewritten in Elementary, In the TV series in which Watson becomes
more like a guardian of Holmes, educating him about ordinary social manners and teaching him
how to get along with others. Even, Watson even reproaches Holmes misbehaviors when he
inappropriately others treating people. The relationship is established from the first episode
of the series in Pilot", Season 1 and Episode 1, Holmes has found a survivor from a serial
murder, Eileen Renfro, who might provide crucial clues to help them track down the murder.
When they inquiry investigate several questions related to the case, the victim avoids directly
answering Sherlocks questions and denying denies her experience. To obtain the name of the
murderer, Holmes expatiates describes the happening of the case and forces the victim to recall
her miserable memories by using aggressive words in an impolite manner. In the scene, Holmes

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is standing higher than the victim, acting as the one in control the controller of the conversation.
The director utilizes a high angle and close-up shot to portray Holmes. Within the frame, Holmes
is like a naughty boy who keeps keeping providing unreasonable requests, and the angle of the
shot gives him more aggressiveness. When depicting Watson, the shot is as the same as the
victim, a low angle and close-up shot. It seems that Watson is also enduring Holmess rudeness,
like the parent of the bad-mannered child. When the victim begins to release what she is holding,
Holmes appears to be more bellicose. Watson sits ahead and leans forward, and those actions
display the signs that a mother wants to stop the disturbance of the child. Finally, after she
throws him three warnings, Watson stands up and shouts at Holmes, asking him to leave to ask
him leaving. The scene completes the twist of the relationship. Then, Holmes angrily leaves the
room like a child who has received receives a punishment, completing the reversal of the
parent-child relationship between Holmes and Watson. Within the adaptation, the
parent-child relationship has been reversed.