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Kenny Matsudo

Professor Lynda Haas

Writing 37

26 November 2014

Modern Day Watson

With Conan Doyles classic Sherlock Holmes came many modern day adaptations. In
Elementary, the 21st century adaptation of Sherlock, the classic convention of Watson being
simply the conductor of light changes. Instead of Watson being of little use to Holmes, the
adaptation in "Elementary" treats them "as equals" according to Emily Asher-Perrin's Battling
Super Sleuths: The Awkward Case of Elementary, Sherlock, and Building the Better
Application, In this adaptation, Watson is treated as Holmess near equal sidekick who is more
involved in the crimes. In Panek's Beginnings he states that the Conan Doyle's Sherlock is
targeted toward the Victorian middle class man because they could read. In "Elementary", the
convention is broken by having Lucy Liu, a female, play as Watson, using it to appeal to women
as well. This breaks the convention of having Watson be a male character. Having a women as
Holmess crime-fighting partner is not the only convention Elementary breaks. Instead of
Watson being of little use to Holmes, the adaptation in Elementary treats both "as equals"
according to Emily In todays adaptation of Sherlock, two different yet connected conventions
are broken; Watsons participation in the solving of crimes improves, and the target audience for
Sherlock shifts from men to women.

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In Elementary, the conventions of Watson not being as useful in solving cases changes.
Watson is no longer used as a character to aggrandize Holmes, but is now an equal to him and
often makes his or her own observations. In the episode Pilot of Elementary, at 20:00, Watson
and Holmes are talking to Eileen Renfro, a previous victim that could have information about the
current suspect. Holmes starts to become aggressive in order to get her to answer his question
and she starts becoming uncomfortable. At this time, Ms. Joan Watson intervenes and tells
Holmes that its enough and orders him to get out and proceeds to question her in a more passive
tone which to she can keep calm while Holmes is outside. This scene ends with Watson telling
Holmes the information that she had gotten out of her, which proves to be valuable. At some
point later in the same episode, Holmes apologizes to her and admits that he was embarrassed
and that she had helped him get information a lot faster than he would have himself. This shows
Holmes acknowledgement that Mrs. Joan Watson is just as capable as he is and that she can
achieve some things better than he can himself.

This scene starts with all three characters, Watson, Holmes, and Eileen, in same room
while the victim is being questioned. Both the victim and Watson are sitting at eye level while
Holmes is standing. This shows that Holmes is still in power. When Watson talks, the camera
shot is shot from a lower angle while they stare up to him to show Holmess superiority to them.
At the same time, when the camera is pointed towards the victim, the shot is shot from below her
face, showing that when she talks, she is looking up towards Holmes, showing a position lower
than Holmes. When Holmes talks at the beginning, the shot is a close up of his face to show his
emotion while asking the questions, which show a sign of desperation since she would not
cooperate. When the victim answers one of his questions, Holmes sits down and gets in eye level
to both the victim and to Watson, showing signs of ease since she had cooperated.

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During the time the victim and Holmes are talking, the scene is shot in a tilt angle and
shot/reverse shot, which represent signs of tension between the three characters, since the victim
is once again uncooperative. The tilt shot representation of tension proves to be right when the
victim becomes uncomfortable after Holmes mentions that she is just as responsible for the
murder if she doesnt help. She then asks Holmes to leave. At this point, Watson stands and asks
Holmes to leave. When she stands, she is standing above him, showing signs of superiority like
Holmes had at the beginning and when the shot switches back to Holmes, there is a close up of
him looking up and an expression of surprise in his face.

Another scene that breaks the classical convention of Watson being less involved in the
case as compared to Holmes is at 34:42 and lasts until 38:00. This scene occurs after Watson
visits Holmes at the jail. This shot symbolizes Watsons position. While Holmes in locked up
behind a bullet-proof window, Watson is outside and free. While he is locked up, Watson goes
and investigates by herself, where she finds papers showing the murders allergies. She deduces
what was going on, and once Holmes is outside of jail, they both go to the doctor and are able to
prove him guilty. This scene specifically shows how Watson is capable of solving a crime by
herself without the help of Holmes. She was able to go out and investigate, and deduce what had
happened and ultimately solve the crime by herself.

This scene starts when Watson walks into the location where Holmes is being held. The
shot is first shot in eye line match although Holmes is caged behind a bullet-proof glass. The
scene then switches to a high angle shot to be able to see that Holmes is the one who is caged
and not Watson. While they talk, the camera changes between the two characters talking,

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using a shot/reverse shot. The scene then transitions to where Watson is in the home of the
doctor investigating through files. The film technique used here was a handheld camera causing
some kind of uneasiness. When she drops the files, there is a level of framing shot where the
camera goes low to see what she had dropped. As she picks up the files and reads through them,
diegesis comes into play as excitement inducing music plays.

During both of these scenes, the classical convention of Watson being not up to par with
Holmes is broken, and as Emily Asher-Perrin said in Battling Super Sleuths: The Awkward
Case of Elementary, Sherlock, and Building the Better Adaptation, Sherlock even recruits
Watson as an apprentice because he believes she can develop a skill set much like his own and
become a detective. This is proven during the second scene where she does become a detective
herself and is able to solve the case. These two scenes show how Watson can be just as clever as
Holmes, or even above Holmes at a certain degree, and is able to do what he couldnt.

Having a 21-century modern version of Sherlock Holmes will not only change
conventions, but change its targeted audience as well. Having a modern version of Sherlock
Holmes will change the way the detective works, especially with use of modern technology such
as the internet and phones. Several scenes in Elementary involve Holmes mentioning that he
found some information on Google. With an updated version of Sherlock also comes a
different Watson. In Elementary, Watson is a female character. According to Paneks Doyle,
the target audience concentrates on the problems of the modest middle-class (75). Unlike the
classical Sherlock Holmes by Doyle, the Elementary version of Watson is female, therefore
changing the targeted audience. Doyles Sherlock targeted the male middle class, and targeted

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them directly through Watson, as they could connect and reason with them. In Elementary, the
male middle-class can no longer connect with Watson as a male. Instead, females can now
connect to Watson.

Classical conventions never change, but can be updated to a different style. Watson will
always be Holmes sidekick and will never been at his level but can be close to it. Watson will not
always be played by a male character, but will have the same characteristics as the classical
Watson. In the modern versions of Sherlock, there are classical conventions are still kept, and
there are many who are updated to fit with todays lifestyle and audience, but the backbone of
Sherlock will still remain the way Doyle created it.

Works Cited
Panek, Leroy. Doyle. An Introduction to the Detective Story. Bowling Green, OH:
Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1987. PDF File.
"Pilot." Elementary. CBS. 27 September 2012. Television
Asher-Perrin, Emily. Battling Super-Sleuths: The Awkward Case of Elementary,
Sherlock, and Building the Better Adaptation. Tor.com, Macmillan, 24 Feb.
2014. Web. 23 Nov. 2014.
Frances Roberts. Den of Geek. February, 2013. Web. 26 Nov. 2014