Thursday, June 4, 2015

Analyzing Sherlock Holmes


Sherlock Holmes is a prime example of how certain things can be interpreted. Holmes wears dark clothing, which signifies that he is unfriendly and that he is in control. When he goes out to solve the murders/suicides he also wears a black coat to symbolize mystery and prime the viewer for a suspenseful scene. Furthermore, Sherlock is tall and thin which can signify agile. He also lives in a “flat” or apartment, to represent that he is single and in some cases that he is unstable. The pills could signify addiction, sickness and can be used as a suicidal method. For example in the begging of the episode the audience was never not told anything about the victims , the victims were just shown with the pills. The significance of the pills and our thoughts towards the pills made us believe that they must have killed themselves.


Dark clothing
Unfriendly, power and control
Large coat
Mysterious, detective
Thin man
Quick
Apartment "flat"
Unstable, single
Pills
Sickness, addiction



After watching Sherlock Holmes for the second time I noticed that the beginning of the movie did not add up to the cap-driver version of the victims having a choice over which pill they should take. The producer of the movie made the viewer believe that the victims had a choice, when in fact the only person who had a choice was Holmes. The producer introduced the victims with the pills at the beginning to lure the viewer into watching and asking the question “Was it a murder or a suicide?”

5 comments:

  1. Yes, the message was intended to mislead the audience in order to create suspense and mystery. This technique is used by lots of film directors in order to grab the viewers attention. Pills = addiction = suicide even the music, the sound effects and the camera effects gave the impression of drugs being used as addicts rather that by choice. I hoe that makes sense.

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  2. When I saw Sherlock in all black, I took that his personality was serious. After watching it, I knew that something was off about the people dying. The tone that was created by the intense happiness coupled with the tragic endings to the victims seemed wrong. The creators of the show did a great job at keeping the audience guessing. Throughout the episode I continuously looked for out of place things and people. I never guessed the cabby though! Really good plot twist.

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  3. Very interesting associations with colors and clothing. I found it interesting that his clothes (other than his black coat) tend to be semi-formal suits, with simple colors like black and grey. Whenever he goes out, however, he dons his black overcoat and scarf. This is yet another pattern in his life. The suit he wears at home, although fairly formal, is simple; he doesn't have to think "what should I wear?" because it's just a suit. I think this is very reflective of his personality and life; his passion in life is solving problems, and so getting caught up on what to wear is a minute detail that he doesn't care about.

    Then again, maybe the fact that his clothes tend to be more formal is that it is a subtle nod to the classic Sherlock Holmes of the late 19th century. At the same time, maybe there is absolutely no significance in his clothing at all! (doubtful)

    These theories are a perfect example of how media can me interpreted differently by different viewers. Neither of us are necessarily correct or incorrect, we just absorbed the material differently.

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  4. Hey Marco!!! I agree with you and the associations you made with his dark clothing. I also associate the scarf he wears with the idea that he is really closed off and doesn't really share any information about himself with anyone.

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