All screen captures from Sherlock (2010) DVD
Continued from The Digital Man: Sherlock (2011) Part 1
I remember reading a science article about how computers will change the way we think and I also remember a BBC news article detailing how people have become too dependent on the Internet for knowledge. A relative of mine in Jersey could no longer navigate the streets without his GPS and Garmin navigator. I was reviewing my higher math recently and the Introduction to the book I was using for exercises explained that people have grown so used to calculators on their smartphones and computers that they've forgotten to add simple numbers mentally. The series Sherlock (2010) , fictional as it is and occasionally over the top and farfetched, does present a practical use of today's technology.
I was a huge fan of the original Holmes stories as a youth, but was put off by the inconsistent and annoyingly inaccurate versions of the character that followed (the stupid-Holmes/smart-Watson version riles me to no end while the homosexual take is just irrelevant to the character). Holmes is one of the few fictional characters in history that is fleshed out so efficiently by the same author. Despite Holmes being an anachronism in today's world, the arrogant sociopath Cumberbatch depicts in the show is what a contemporary version of the detective should be. Updating the detective along with arming him with the conveniences of today's mobile devices and the Internet make him an even more fascinating character.
Peter Parker (1960s-1980s), MacGyver (1980s), and Indiana Jones (1901-1960s) were from a bygone era and very difficult to bring to today's milieu. Indy is particularly difficult to reinterpret today due to the changes in the tools involved in archaelogy. MacGyver and Peter, heroes who used gumption, chemistry, and physics, would lose some of their appeal if they toted an Android tablet or iPhone (though the recent movie Amazing Spider-Man and series Spectacular Spider-Man proved successful in integrating technology with the web-spinning hero). James Bond, UK's other well-known export, has had several decades to evolve for the digital age but failed - technology is less of a tool for Bond than it is a useful toy (which by the way fits the war-weary and blunt nature of Daniel Craig's version).
What is realistic about the series Sherlock is he makes mistakes often - an update from the typically infallible Holmes in the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stories. In the series premiere, Holmes makes the error of believing Watson had a brother not a sister (who had a girlfriend). In the Hound episode, he assumed it was the coffee that was used as an instrument for administering the hallucinogenic and not the less mundane (but more practical) dispersal medium of the more's fog. It's extremely difficult to write mysteries and intelligent TV shows without making an error in today's age of IMDB.com and freely accessible science and historical archives.
I'm only slightly smarter than a sack of unpeeled potatoes (peeled potatoes have an edge) but I'm pretty sure there were dozens of mistakes and workarounds to the plot of plenty of the Sherlock episodes (American crime shows are notorious for this). Technology and the Internet should make crimes easier to solve (with GPS, cameras, smartphones and the Internet I'm surprised criminals even get away with any crime). However, let's face the truth - it also makes it supremely easier to commit a crime and remain invisible to an inept police force and government. Still, the efficient and very basic use of smartphones and laptops on the show make Holmes, despite his pseudo-superhuman powers, more relatable and human.
I'd probably be pissed off I met a pedantic know-it-all arse like Cumberbatch's Holmes in real life, but I'd definitely wish I would be as practical and as intelligent as he was in using today's technology and contributing to today's society.
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