Americanization of Sherlock Holmes: how bad an idea is this?

[annathepiper]

I’m seeing initial waves of nerd rage over this news that CBS is trying to develop its own pilot for a modernization of Sherlock Holmes, set in New York City. The timing of this, given that there is another active modernization of Sherlock Holmes in production with the BBC, is not a coincidence; note that this article says that the producers of Elementary apparently approached the producers of Sherlock to ask about taking their show over to the States, and were rebuffed.

I’m just full of “buh?” about this, myself. Mostly negative “buh?”, too, expanded out from the comment I just dropped on criminalelement.com’s post on the matter.

Part of it is the ongoing weariness of the trend of remaking every single idea that was ever popular in the last 50 years over and over and over and over and over. This goes for TV AND for Hollywood movies. Enough with the remakes and reboots already.

Part of it is the disgust with the idea that any fun concept out of non-American media or culture has to be Americanized in order for American audiences to actually watch and enjoy it. Certainly this doesn’t seem to be a problem at all for American geek culture–though I sadly admit that it’s a legitimate concern once you’re outside said geek culture.

Part of it is certainly the bad timing of trying to launch this show while Sherlock itself is still in active production.

But really, what it boils down to for me is just not trusting that the idea won’t suck. Mostly because of the fear that in transferring Holmes and Watson not only to the modern day but out of England entirely, too much will be lost that make these characters recognizably Holmes and Watson. And even more importantly, I’m leery of the risk of cultural appropriation, since so much of what makes these characters who they are is that they are, in fact, British.

I’m not inherently opposed to another attempt to modernize Holmes, mind you. I’m not even inherently opposed to porting Holmes and Watson over to the States–in the hands of suitably awesome writers, such a porting could be pulled off. There was a graphic novel a while back that explored an alternate history for Superman, asking the question of what would have happened if baby Kal-El’s ship had crashed in the Soviet Union instead of Kansas. solarbird, who’s read it, liked it quite a bit.

However, I’m much leerier about American TV writers, who by the very nature of their work are trying to attract as many viewers as possible and therefore have to think about things like “how much do we have to screw around with the source material to make it appeal as much as possible to our target audience?”, doing this with non-American cultural icons. Even if those icons are now in the public domain.

So yeah, I’m extremely dubious. Though I also have to admit that I’m curious enough that I’ll keep half an eye on this and see what reviews are like once the show finally shows up.

What do you all think? Does this have DO NOT WANT stamped all over it for you, or are you willing to check it out when it airs? Here, have a poll! (And if you’re reading this on LJ or DW or Tumblr, please to click over to the original post to leave your answers!)

Americanization of Sherlock Holmes: Good idea, bad idea, or wretched?

• I am ALL over this! Sign me up!
• I'm dubious, but intrigued enough that I'll watch this when it airs.
• Don't care. Holmes in any form is not my thing.
• I'm steering clear of this unless the reviews are awesome.
• There are not enough words in ANY language to express my DO NOT WANT!
• Tickie, my dear Watson. Tickie.
• ETA: Not interested, too busy watching BBC Sherlock!

View Results

Mirrored from annathepiper.org.

Comments

[framlingem.livejournal.com]

It would... it would be... like setting a spaghetti western in Dorset. It doesn't _work_.

[annathepiper]

LOL! Well said.

[kirbyk.livejournal.com]

Isn't it already called House?

[sarakate.livejournal.com]

This is why LJ needs a Like button.

[annathepiper]

*chortle* Good point, though it ain't like "the idea's already not only been done but is being done elsewhere RIGHT NOW" is a deal-breaker here!

[framlingem.livejournal.com]

... With the character of Holmes played by an Englishman. ;)

[annathepiper]

And played so very, VERY well!

We just watched "The Hounds of Baskerville" last night here at the Murk. GodDAMN, that was fun. <3 I am full of the love for Mr. Cumberbatch and Mr. Freeman!

[framlingem.livejournal.com]

Martin Freeman deserves all the BAFTAs ever. Granted, so does the man playing the possibly-insane guy (I could swear I`ve seen him in Doctor Who) - that scene in the kitchen with the lights was bonechilling and heartbreaking.

[annathepiper]

ZOMG you're right. The guy who played Henry WAS in Doctor Who! He was Alonso in "Voyage of the Damned"! Allons-y, Alonso! <3

And oh god yes give Mr. Freeman All of the BAFTAs. And queue up an Oscar for him when The Hobbit comes out, for that matter!

[thunderpigeon.livejournal.com]

Damn--that's what I was going to say.

[morgie.livejournal.com]

And possibly most telling - if the article is more about BBC's Sherlock than an americanized Sherlock - YOU FAIL! BBC WINS!

[annathepiper]

Certainly "I am totally uninterested in an American modern Sherlock Holmes because I'm too busy watching the BBC one and there is no possible way an American one could compete" should be a consideration here. I think I'll add that to the poll!

[morgie.livejournal.com]

'I am totally uninterested in an Americanized Sherlock Holmes because I'm too busy lusting after and cursing my inability to watch the BBC one!'.

[annathepiper]

Ha!

[morgie.livejournal.com]

We saw the first one before we moved. Great is the gnashing of teeth! Also, I don't get the tv here at all. Ah, teenagers...

[annathepiper]

So you've only see the first episode of Series 1, or you've seen all of Series 1? Asking since Series 1 HAS been released to DVD and Blu-ray.

[morgie.livejournal.com]

... You are an evil, evil elf-muscian.

After payday, I may have to hunt down the discs. Because we've only seen the first episode.

[annathepiper]

My work here is done. ;)

[cruisedirector]

Oddly, I trust CBS not to engage in the level of rabid misogyny that made this season's Sherlock unwatchable for me. I don't give a shit if they're not faithful to whatever crap counts as "authentic Conan Doyle" where cell phones are acceptable but competent women being treated like adults are not.

[annathepiper]

I have been seeing a lot of the reaction to the treatment of Irene Adler, to be sure. And I'm well aware that Moffat's history of portraying his female characters is checkered at best.

But damn, I wish any of the current Holmes treatments would do a better job with Irene Adler. I didn't care for her in this series of Sherlock and I didn't care for her in Game of Shadows, either.

My household liked episode 2 of the current Sherlock WAY better than the first one; we haven't watched episode 3 yet.

ETA: All of the above said, I ain't holding my breath that American network TV will do any better with treatment of female characters.

[cruisedirector]

If it had just been Irene Adler -- whom I think the movies did a vastly better job with (she was not important for sex alone) despite being set in an earlier century -- I might have been more forgiving. But I thought LAST season was pretty misogynistic, not one woman who was not a doormat, a psycho-bitch, or dead. I went from being kind of "meh, I am not sure what people see in this show" to active loathing over the course of series two. I can name ten current US TV shows off the top of my head that treat women vastly better, including a bunch of investigation/crime dramas I don't watch most of the time because they're too bloody for me.

[annathepiper]

I can't agree with you a hundred percent about every woman in the show being a doormat, a psycho-bitch, or dead--if nothing else because in the episode we watched last night, Mrs. Hudson came across as unremittingly awesome.

But I can agree with you mostly. Moffat really needs to improve his game here. He's better at it in Doctor Who, but not by much in many ways. He sticks to too narrow a set of tropes when it comes to female characters.

And sure, I watch Castle right now on ABC, and Beckett and Laney in it are also unremittingly awesome. I ain't saying American TV can't ever treat women well; Battlestar Galactica, the new edition, is another notable example. But when it comes to looking outside shows that are going to appeal to a geek audience (as Castle does), color me a lot more dubious.

I'd say I'd be willing to be surprised, except that that would mean I'd have to watch more TV, and I have barely enough mental bandwidth for the shows I do watch! But in general when it comes to popular media, I have to take this on a case by case basis. I go in expecting that unless the show is specifically set up to do otherwise, chances are very high that there are going to be gender tropes and gender politics in it that will piss me off, or at least be so utterly alien to me that I cannot relate to them at all. This is not only in regards to women, but also in regards to characters who don't fit neatly into societal expectations of gender being binary rather than a spectrum.

[arjache.livejournal.com]

Part of it is the disgust with the idea that any fun concept out of non-American media or culture has to be Americanized in order for American audiences to actually watch and enjoy it. Certainly this doesn’t seem to be a problem at all for American geek culture–though I sadly admit that it’s a legitimate concern once you’re outside said geek culture.

This. It offends me both that media producers think this of American audiences, and that it probably is, as you say, a legitimate concern :/

ETA: The most baffling result of Americanization, btw? Little Britain USA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Britain_USA). How does that even work? (To be fair, I haven't seen it - only the original.)

[annathepiper]

Huh! Clicking through to the Wikipeda page for the original show tells me that the elevator pitch concept for it appears to be exaggerations of various British classes from all walks of life, as perceived by non-Brits. So if they're presenting the humor with an assumption that their presumed 'audience' are non-Brits, I can kind of see how someone could port that over to the US and Canada.

I also see that a couple of the same people from the BBC production are involved in the US one.

[peregrine-ek.livejournal.com]

Two words: epic fail. The same thing happened to the brilliant Life on Mars.

[annathepiper]

Oh god yes. The BBC Life on Mars was a work of staggering beauty (and I finally got the full set of episodes on DVD). When I heard about what the US version did to the concept, I cringed.

It's possible to do a decent US adaptation of a BBC production--Russell Crowe's State of Play was a decent little thriller even if it wasn't nearly as complex and intelligent a work as the BBC miniseries. But wow, I'm having trouble coming up with any other examples at all. solarbird says that the US port of The Office has a substantial fandom, but neither of us have had any exposure to either version.

And the US Life of Mars all by itself would, I think, require a LOT of making up for.

[solarbird]

You really need to start editing your poll echos on LJ and DW platforms to send people back to your blog, because right now it looks like you can answer the poll here, and, of course, you can't.