Blog #2

I’m sorry my post has to re-appear, being that we studied semantics at the beginning of the course, I have accidentally deleted my post, so here it goes again …

Although I have watched the movies before, I had never watched the show version for the Sherlock series.  I’m really happy we were asked to watch Sherlock for our study of semantics;  I am now so in-love with the short series, it is amazing!

We start by being introduced to Dr. John Watson, we are introduced to his past and are now aware that he has been to war and now suffers from what appears to be PTSD.  Dr Watson has clearly just come back from a life that was full of constant dangers and thrill, and he is obviously now missing that part of his life.  He feels alone and finds no meaning for his life.  As he awakens, we can see that his room is simple, he appears to only own the bare necessities and everything around him symbolizes the way he feels about his life: Boring; the color palette in his room is white and beige, his room seems to be organized almost military style, and even the apple on his desk is yellow, given that apples come in so many colors, he chooses the pale looking apple, opposed to a bright red apple.  Dr. Watson is also observed to have a really classic short haircut, very neatly combed, symbolic of the plainness of his life, opposed to the curly and messy hair that Sherlock sports in the show.  Towards the beginning of the show we observe that Dr. Watson uses a cane, which he uses only as symbolism of the crutch he is imposing on himself as he tries to carry all his sorrows and bad experiences with himself, although he feels he does need it.  As the show progresses and Dr. Watson is able to find meaning in his life through Sherlock and his “insanities,” Watson gains perspective in life and is able to enjoy his new role in civilian life; Sherlock symbolizes the excitement that Watson was craving as a soldier, since before Sherlock, Dr. Watson expressed that he felt “nothing happens” to him.

Sherlock is the opposite of Watson, and surely in this case, opposites do attract.  Sherlock’s flat is messy, his books and belongings are spread throughout the place, which gives us an insight of how he is inside; his thoughts are fast and seem unorganized; he is always, as Mrs Hudson puts it, “Dashing about.”  Although Sherlock’s room is messy and his hair is unruly, which is a good symbolism for his attitude, his attention to detail is exceptional, opposed to Watson, who does not seem to be nearly as observant.

Of course, there are many more examples of semiotic concepts, I have just mentioned a few.  I love that Sherlock was chosen for this lesson, I really appreciated the show a lot more as I was being more observant towards different signifiers throughout the episode.

Sherlock	Dr Watson
Unruly hair Messy room Incredible attention to detail Disliked	Neat/Classic Hair cut Organized Room Not as observant to Detail Respected as a Military man and good friend