Ah, the good old
days.
Yesterday, I pulled
out a t-shirt that I bought months ago on Teefury.com to wear. The gray shirt
features a silhouette of Benedict Cumberbatch’s profile on a British flag
background, with all sorts of Sherlock-stuff going on in his head. It’s not a
perfect design, but it was the first Sherlock shirt I saw on Teefury, on sale
for that single day, and I find that I’ve grown quite fond of it . . . for
nostalgia’s sake.
It takes me back to
a better, purer time, when Sherlock Holmes on television was a celebration of
Sherlockian culture and lore, a fresh, innovative attempt at pushing a
character I dearly love into the modern day, and an attempt that succeeded.
England seemed to be excitedly reclaiming its native son, and for all my
previous “Sherlock Holmes was an American” theories over the years, I was glad
to see it.
England seems to
know what to do with its legends. Merlin, Robin Hood, Dr. Who, Sherlock Holmes
– they have plenty, and treat them fondly it seems. America has bungled so many
attempts at those characters over the years, while our native legendary sons
and daughters seem to be left to the whims of the Walt Disney Company. Zorro,
Davy Crockett, Pocahontas . . . if you’re not a princess, you’re on the shelf,
and even the princesses often have a way of failing. Many corporate hands seem
to want to reach into any American icon’s development, which is one reason
Superman, a classic American legend if ever there was one, never seems to get a
solid break.
But Sherlock Holmes!
Whether it was the production values of the Brett series or the clever workings
of the Cumberbatch, Great Britain has shown us that someone over there gets
Sherlock Holmes. We could quibble about details, but on the whole, both of
those were productions that brought Sherlock Holmes fans together. Things are a little different these days.
While it might be
taking it a bit far to say a certain current production’s use of the name
“Sherlock Holmes” on its main character could be the beginnings of Sherlockian
Civil War, I wouldn’t rule it out just yet. If someone brought a cat into the
Westminster Kennel Club dog show and half of the participants called it a dog,
the serious dog-loving half might be polite and go along with the delusion for
a few minutes, but eventually trouble would erupt. And while Sherlock Holmes
fandom isn’t as strict as Westminster (at least in most quarters), I do find
myself looking at the comments of many an old comrade like they just brought a
cat into the dog show.
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