It is said that Sherlock Holmes is the most screened fictional character in the world. He went far beyond the scope of detective fiction and became a cultural symbol widely circulated in various fields, representing reason, wisdom, truth and justice. From the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 21st century, a steady stream of various adaptations were basically completed on the basis of identifying with this symbol.
In 2015, director Bill Condon's film "Mr. Sherlock Holmes" made a "deconstruction" attempt. The movie fictionalizes the circumstances of Sherlock Holmes in his later years, the "last case" that made him feel guilty all the time, and the story of his relationship with the Japanese Umezaki... Everything aims to strip away the stereotypes we are accustomed to Sherlock Holmes and create a kind of introspective warmth Ordinary Beekeeper Sherlock Holmes.
1. When Sherlock Holmes
died in 1947, 93-year-old Sherlock Holmes had been living in seclusion in Sussex for more than 30 years, living the idyllic life of a beekeeper. This is a Sherlock Holmes who doesn't wear a deerstalker hat and doesn't smoke a pipe, who often mocks Watson's random imaginings of him in detective stories, while he struggles with an aging body and deteriorating memories.
Choosing to fictionalize his later life and switch the core of the story from "mind" to "body" is an excellent angle for deconstructing Sherlock Holmes: a detective who has always solved all difficulties and puzzles with his extremely smart mind, now has to tell his own The body bows its head and has to make the body the center of life.
It was the aging body that made Holmes face death, rooted in reality, and had to accept the care of others, thus establishing a close, daily life relationship with Roger and Mrs. Monroe.
In contrast, before that, as a detective, Sherlock Holmes had long been accustomed to the objectified relationships formed in his work with others: assistants, clients, suspects... At that time, his life was reduced to one content: analyzing clues, searching for the truth. And he has been at the heart or commanding heights of the relationship.
However, in his daily life in his later years, he was reduced to an ordinary old man who needed to be taken care of, needed to pass the time, and needed to chat. The former solitude, inhumanity, and the sense of superiority brought by wisdom have also been slowly changed in this life, which is mainly reflected in the changes in his relationship with Mrs. Monroe.
At the heart of this change is that Holmes slowly moved away from his rational-dominated detective mindset, leading to a richer, deeper understanding of life and human nature. This also made his difficult memories and reflections on the "last case" particularly moving.
2.
The last case The story of "The Last Case" is a completely new fiction that is completely independent of the "Detective Collection". It occurred in 1918 after the end of World War I and after Watson left. In this case, lonely Holmes meets lonely Ann, but he fails to understand Ann's loneliness. Even after he accurately analyzed Angubu's suspicions and prepared to commit suicide, Holmes indifferently rejected An's invitation as a loner. Soon, Ann committed suicide.
Sherlock Holmes could have saved a man, not just discovered a truth. The case dealt a heavy blow to Sherlock Holmes, and put him in idyllic retirement. In the last days of his life, in order to correct Watson's false account of the "glass piano case", and for the sake of his last reader, Roger, Holmes was determined to re-write the true context of the case. In the process, the elderly Sherlock Holmes was able to re-understand Ann's loneliness, as well as the complex side of human nature.
In their final conversation, Holmes said: "I've been lonely all my life, but my ability to think is a compensation." Ann asked, "But is that enough?"
As for Ann's question, Holmes in his later years had to Come up with the answer of denying yourself: it is far from enough for people to have only rationality, and human nature is a mystery that cannot be explained by logic alone. In addition to being a rational thinker, man is also a loner who always faces death, so he will despair, so he needs the comfort and companionship of lovers, friends and even the deceased, and needs more than the truth.
So far, the film has pushed deconstruction to the level of Sherlock Holmes' core symbolic meaning, and the old Sherlock Holmes is subverting the image of Sherlock Holmes itself.
3. Deconstructing Sherlock
Holmes The image of Sherlock Holmes was born in Britain at the end of the 19th century, during the reign of Victoria, the golden age after the two industrial revolutions in British history. In that era, the wave of technological invention was surging, the public believed in scientific progress, and they were full of optimism and confidence in the modern industrial world.
Sherlock Holmes was the embodiment of the beliefs of that era. In the novel, he lives in a secluded place, and in addition to handling cases, he does experiments in the house all day. He has no family and rejects women. His way of thinking is purely rational, without any emotion and prejudice, and he excludes all factors that hinder rational thinking from life. In the words of the novel, "Sherlock Holmes is a little too scientific, almost cold-blooded".
The core of the image of Sherlock Holmes is the worship of scientific reason. At the beginning of "The Evolution of Physics," Einstein likened a scientist who discovers secrets in nature to a Sherlock Holmes detective. For reading the book of nature, he writes, the scientist "is both a reader and a detective who seeks and interprets (even in part) the connections between events".
The core theme of "Mr. Sherlock Holmes" is the reflection on scientific rationality, and this reflection does not stop at the personal life insights of the old Sherlock Holmes. "The Last Case" is set in World War I, and the trip to Hiroshima is set in World War II, allowing the film's introspective theme to tap into the depths of history and politics.
In 1947, Holmes came to Hiroshima at the invitation of Umezaki in search of Iwasan pepper with anti-aging properties. He witnessed the tragedy of Hiroshima after the atomic bombing, and also felt the Japanese family relationship and attitude towards the deceased, but he also "detected" Umezaki's ulterior motives, and attacked him with his usual arrogance and ruthless truth. Umezaki's curiosity about his father.
Here, the director tries to make the audience discover that the injury suffered by the Japanese Umezaki in Sherlock Holmes is somewhat similar to the injury suffered by the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. If the spiritual connotation of people is only the intelligence of calculation and inference, and if there is only a cold rational relationship between people (pros and cons, simple calculation of authenticity), then technology can only become a tool for mutual harm, and the world will How horrible.
After learning that Hiroshima was hit by an atomic bomb, Einstein began to regret promoting the research on the atomic bomb. In July 1948, Einstein wrote to the "International Congress of Intellectual Peace": "We have learned from painful experience that reason alone is not enough to solve the problems of our social life." In the 20th century, A large number of thinkers' reflections on technological progress and rational instrumentalization have also become our valuable cultural resources.
At the end of the film, after experiencing the tension and understanding of the relationship with Mrs. Monroe and the reorganization of "The Last Case", the old Sherlock Holmes has completed a complete transformation, giving up his rational paranoia about truth and knowledge, and his spiritual The world has become richer and more delicate, becoming a real ordinary beekeeper who understands that life needs to absorb and give meaning and warmth in the community like bees. Perhaps, at last, he felt at home for the first time in the care of Mrs. Monroe and Roger.
Finally, he picked up a pen and wrote to Umezaki, making up a father's story for him. In this story, his kindness, apology, and new understanding of human nature are entrusted.
Overall, Mr. Holmes is already an excellent film, if only by its superb acting and refined narrative. The basic idea of creating an elderly version of Sherlock Holmes that deconstructs Sherlock Holmes is even more surprising, opening up a huge space for us to examine the symbolic meaning of the image of Sherlock Holmes.
2016.1.9
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