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diff --git a/markley/blog/02_sherlock b/markley/blog/02_sherlock new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a818836 --- /dev/null +++ b/markley/blog/02_sherlock @@ -0,0 +1,49 @@ +ABC's Elementary and Sherlock Holmes's abnormal addiction + +Sherlock Holmes is addicted to cocaine in the Sign of Four. +He claims that he uses merely for a "mental stimulant," which is +probably partially true given Sherlock's unusual psyche. +ABC's Elementary portrays Sherlock in a similar way: he's a recovering +addict who manages to stop drugs cold turkey, mostly from his father's +behest. +The show uses drugs and medical imagery extensively in the development +of Sherlock's character. +Dr. Watson, the voice of reason for Sherlock, is an ex-surgeon and +Sherlock's sober companion, meaning that the theme of Watson's Sign of +Four speech---asking Sherlock to care for his health---is repeated +throughout the series. +She puts the focus squarely on Sherlock's internal struggle with a past +that he wants to hide. +This manifests in some of Sherlock's unhealthy habits like refusing to +sleep until a case is solved or refusing to play his violin or being +mentally absent at group therapy meetings. +Mental health, a subject mostly untouched by Doyle, is a common theme of +Elementary. + +[IMAGE: Low-Resolution Elementary Title, CAPTION: Elementary studies +Sherlock's ups and downs in terms of his habits and treatment of others, +SRC: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/69/ +Elementary_intertitle.png] + +But Elementary also tells stories about physiological health. +Like in The Sign of Four, Elementary's Sherlock follows storylines with +poisoning and medical elements. +Drugs are often the crux of the medical stories Sherlock investigates: a +heroin poisoning of a bank's executive meant to frame it as an overdose +hints at the social elements of addiction and health. +The Sign of Four also handles the social elements of health: both Major +Sholto and Captain Morstan die in events directly connected to thefts of +the treasure, and the original Sign of Four plan was motivated by +Sholto's self-inflicted poverty (gambling addiction). +The framing of both stories in Sherlock's cocaine "addiction" (I use +quotes here because it isn't exactly portrayed as such) clarifies health +as a social image because Sherlock is mostly treated as well by his +peers, being judged by the quality of his work in either story---the +image of unhealthfulness brought on by cocaine isolated as a possible +danger rather than a factor determining health on its own. + +[IMAGE: Cocaine Toothache Drops ad, CAPTION: At the time the original +Sherlock Holmes stories were written, the negative effects of drugs were +neglected by doctors, but even in modern depictions Sherlock appears as +sane and healthy despite vice, SRC: https://upload.wikimedia.org +/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Cocaine_tooth_drops.png] |