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Mandy Meng
Professor Haas
WR 39B
Aug 18, 2014
The Inheritance and Change of the Classic Watson
John Watson, a war veteran and medical doctor, is the assistant and the best friend of
Sherlock Holmes in Sir Arthur Conan Doyles novel Sherlock Holmes stories. According to Zack
Handlen, a writer for the theA.V. Club website, mentions in his article, Watsons main job is to
react to Sherlock (Handlen). In the classic convention, Dr. Watson works as a representative of
the viewers and readers that he reacts to Sherlock Holmes. He leads Holmes to explain what
Holmes did and why he did it to the viewers. He controls the development of the stories and
induces Holmes actions, so the stories can be performed perfectly to the readers. In April
Toadvines "The Watson Effect: Civilizing the Sociopath", she interviews Adrian Conan Doyle
who comments that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle explained to him, Watson is no fool (Toadvine,
48). April explains that the brother-kind relationship is the true relationship that Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle wants to perform to the audience and Dr. Watson rather than working on crime
solving (48).
To many Sherlock Holmes lovers, it is very pleased to see that the BBC Sherlock series
follows lots of the obvious characteristics and good personalities that John Watson has. As Brian
Chapman claims in his article "10 Reasons Why Elementary is Better than Sherlock", He had
the limp, the background in Afghanistan; he was basically a very well rounded character with as
many quirks as Sherlock had. The BBC version of John Watson (casted by Martin Freeman)
keeps the background of Sherlock Holmes, and this information is presented to the audiences in
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Season 1, Episode 1. At the beginning, it uses a superimposition to explain to the audience that
the war has a very deep influence on him when he is sleeping. The images of the war and the
images that features on his face while sleeping overlap on the same screen. Dr. Watson is turning
his head around that he is having a nightmare till he wakes up from his dream and falls into
sorrow. After Dr. Watson is awake, the low key light on Dr. Watsons face perfectly explains
that Dr. Watson is struggling and he is in stress. When the camera moves on the tracking shot
from a feature of Dr. Watsons face to a general look of the room, it is not hard to notice a cane
leaned by the table. The scene changes and focuses on a cup from eye level, which has a badge
that might comes from the army and implies that Watson just come back from the war. However,
when the scene changes again, the blog of John Watson at eye level is empty. The doctor on the
next scene explains to Dr. Watson that he can only be cured by written everything that happened
to him out. In the first two minutes, the film introduces the background of Watson and suggests
that John Watson is going to change after he meets Sherlock Holmes. >>Need to explain why the
scene have to do with my controlling idea and how this scene is an update of the classic
convention in order to appeal to a modern day audience.<<
But, to make the film more dramatic, Sherlock has in terms cast diversity and depicting
non-male and/or non-straight peoples (Asher-Perrin). Except the brotherhood and friendship in
Sherlock, it also contains homosexual love that is not written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Mrs.
Hudson and the owner of the caf both question John Watson and Holmes if they are dating.
Sherlock follows many of the classic conventions but makes small changes to make the film
more interesting and attractive to the audiences.
Having finished talking about Sherlock, lets talk about Elementary. In order to adapt to
the modern need for TV shows and movies, the classic conventions are twisted in Elementary by
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NBC. In Elementary, Dr. Joan Watson, who is a female, is Holmes sidekick. She is an ex-
surgeon who abandoned medicine after an unfortunate incident and has morphed from
Sherlocks sober companion to his salaried crime-solving partner (Michael Starr and Sara
Stewart). This bid change about Dr. Watson gives more possibilities about Watson for character
development and for that, [the show] need(s) to have characters worth developing, as Brian
Chapman claims (Chapman). Same as Sherlock, Elementary introduces the background
information about Watson in the first episode. After the crime scene, the alarm rings at seven
oclock in the morning with a feature at eye level. With music, she wakes up in sunlight even
though the room is still in dark. Then, the scene changes to Watson running on the street in the
morning. She runs on the central line of the screen from away to close. Then with pan, which
means the camera moves horizontally on a tripod, she runs across the street and the park. Next,
with a tracking shot, she runs by the lake, and it shows that New York is in winter and the
weather is still piercing to bone. This part of the film implies that Joan Watson has a healthy life
style. However, when she arrives at the building, she receives a phone call and from that call, we
can have the information that Watson is a doctor who helps drug addicts to rehab. When Watson
arrives at the building gate of Sherlock Holmes, the synchronous sound works. The friction
sound of the metal of the door suggests Watson opens the iron gate when Watson comes close to
it and opens it. Next, as single character point of view from Watson, when Watson looks at the
wooden door of the building, we see a beautiful woman walks out and the sound of the hinges
working turns up. Following Watsons point of view, we reach the door and open it. At this time,
Watson touches the keys that are inserted in the hole, so we hear a clear sound of the keys collide
with each other. When she enters the hall, there is back light on her to make her abstract and
express that Watson doesn't know what she is going to find and see if she walks deeper into the
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building. As she walks in the hallway, the floor is old and is creaking. All these effects are trying
to make a mystery before Watson meets Holmes and tell the audiences that Watson does not
know Holmes. The audiences can have a rough understanding about Watson in the first episode.
However, in Elementary Season 1, Episode 22, after Sherlock Holmes and Watson finish the
case, Holmes gets the address from Moriarty and goes there individually without telling Watson.
However, Watson tracks Holmes via Holmes phone to the house. Holmes wants to protect
Watson, so he didn't tell Watson that he hears from Moriarty; however, Watson follows Holmes
because she is Holmes partner and doesn't want Holmes to be hurt. By making this scene, every
time when the camera changes, one of them stands on one side of the camera. The scene is cut
into three parts: left part, which is Watson; middle part, which is the brick gate; right part, which
is Holmes. When the scene moves to Watson, she is closer to the viewers and clearer; on the
contrast, Holmes is farther and blurred. When the scene changes to Holmes, Holmes is closer to
viewers and clear; however, Watson is farther and blurred. By doing this, the audiences can
follow their conversation, and feel their worries about each other. Also, because they are on the
two side of the screen, the audiences know that they cannot lose each other, or the harmony of
the screen and roles would be broken. In Elementary version, Sherlock Holmes and Watson are
more like friends, family, and partners. Unlike Sherlock, Elementary does not have a strong
romantic relationship between them, which follows the classic conventions.
In Sherlock and Elementary, they both talks about the modern Sherlock Holmes and
John/Joan Watson. Sherlock reproduces many personalities of the original characters except
changing the stories. Elementary is based on Sherlock Holmes written by Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle but developed on the original novel. No wonder Frances Roberts mentions in How
Elementary Silenced its Critics that the producer of Sherlock, Sue Vertue, thought the CBS
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Elementary is interesting: It's interesting, as they approached us a while back about remaking
our show. At the time, they made great assurances about their integrity, so we have to assume
that their modernised Sherlock Holmes doesn't resemble ours in any way, as that would be
extremely worrying. The BBC version of Watson in Sherlock is scripted that is a friend and
partner with many shortcomings, but he works well with Holmes who is always at his
excitement. They are complementary. Sherlock is good at crime solving, and John Watson
teaches him how to social with people. Sherlock Holmes is not good at expressing his feelings to
others even those he loves; Watson explains his reactions and feelings to others around Holmes.
In Sherlock, Sherlock is not very emotional, but Watson is more perceptual. In Elementary,
Sherlock is more emotional than the original, so this Sherlock is more touchable to moat people.
Because of the inheritance and changes in not only Sherlock and Elementary but also other films
and television works, the classic Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle can be preformed
on canvas and screen in this modern society. The good literature works can be known and spread
to different people.









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Works Cited
Asher-Perrin, Emily. "Battling Super-Sleuths: The Awkward Case of Sherlock, Elementary, and
Building the Better Adaptation." Tor.com, Macmillan, 24 Feb. 2014. Web. 11 Aug. 2014.
Chapman, Brian. "10 Reasons Why Elementary is Better than Sherlock." What Culture. What
Culture, LTD., 9 Jan. 2014. Web. 11 Aug. 2014.
Handlen, Zack. "It's Elementary, Sherlock: How the CBS Procedural Surpassed the BBC
Drama," A.V. Club. The Onion, 20 Jan. 2014. Web. 11 Aug. 2014.
Roberts, Frances. "How Elementary Silenced its Critics." Den of Geek. Dennis Publishing LTD.,
15 Feb. 2013. Web. 11 Aug. 2014.
Starr, Michael and Sara Stewart. "Elementary vs. Sherlock: Who's the Better Holmes?" New York
Post. NYP Holdings, Inc., 16 Jan. 2014. Web. 11 Aug. 2014.
Toadvine, April. "The Watson Effect: Civilizing the Sociopath." Sherlock Holmes for the 21st
Century. ed. Lynette Porter. Jefferson, NC: Macfarlane & Company, 2012, 47-62. Print.