Group No.: S17-ENG-K11 Mikkel Hill Larsen (48842) Pelle Imlau
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Group No.: S17-ENG-K11 Supervisor: Ebbe Klitgård Mikkel Hill Larsen (48842) No. Of characters: 69093 (28,8 pages) Pelle Imlau-Jeppesen (49647) Language: English K3 English F2017 Roskilde University ABSTRACT This project investigates how the antagonist James Moriarty has been portrayed as a villain in Guy Ritchie’s motion picture Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) and the BBC TV Series Sherlock (2010-2017). Through a thematic analysis focusing on the subjects we have called “The Antagonist in Motion” and “Homoerocity and emotions in BBC’s Sherlock”, the project concludes the following: the film Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows creates a much more contrastive relationship between villain and hero, which can be seen as a way of incorporating the social class dynamics of Conan Doyle’s original text. However, in adapting this dynamic for a 21st century audience, the villain of Moriarty is first and foremost portrayed as a corrupt businessman rather than an elitist socialite or plain revengeful evildoer. In the BBC series the characters of Sherlock and Jim share an intimate relationship due to their many likenesses. Jim is a fluid character that navigates both gender, sexuality and personality. As a villain Jim is presented as a seductive psychopath that has no desire of money or power but has an ultimate goal of breaking Sherlock. Page 1 of 40 NOTE TO THE READER Throughout the project we will for convenience sake refer to Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) as A Game of Shadows and the BBC series Sherlock (2010-2017) as Sherlock (in italic). The main characters appear in both stories, so to distinguish them from each other, the characters in A Game of Shadows will be referred to as Moriarty and Holmes, and the characters in Sherlock will be referred to as Jim and Sherlock. Page 2 of 40 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ................................................................................................................................................................................ 1 Note to the reader ............................................................................................................................................................ 2 Introduction: Who is Moriarty? .................................................................................................................................. 4 Area of Investigation .....................................................................................................................................................11 Problem Formulation....................................................................................................................................................13 Cinema and Adaptation ................................................................................................................................................14 From Page to Screen .................................................................................................................................................14 Adaptation and translation ....................................................................................................................................16 Analysis ...............................................................................................................................................................................21 A Game of Shadows - The Antagonist in Motion ...........................................................................................21 Homoerocity and emotions in BBC’s Sherlock ...............................................................................................27 Conclusion .........................................................................................................................................................................36 Works cited: ......................................................................................................................................................................38 Page 3 of 40 INTRODUCTION: WHO IS MORIARTY? When Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published his first story about Sherlock Holmes in 1887 no one could have foreseen that the world’s most famous detective had just been born. Since his inception Mr Holmes has been portrayed on stage and on screen repeatedly in both plays, TV- series and motion pictures. Though Moriarty has since become a well-known figure in literature’s rogue gallery, the initial idea for this project was sparked by the wish to explore the antagonist to Sherlock Holmes, as we had already explored this protagonist in a previous project: “Modernizing Sherlock - An Adaptation Study of the BBC Series Sherlock”. That project analyzed the characters of Sherlock Holmes, Dr John Watson and their relationship, and how the BBC series had modernized Sherlock Holmes for the 21st century. Wishing to turn away from the two main characters, this project wishes to examine the central antagonist of Doyle’s stories, Professor James Moriarty. Even though Moriarty is the main focus of the project it is inevitable that Sherlock Holmes himself will play a role in any endeavour to analyze the Sherlock Holmes universe. More specifically, though, the aim of this project is to analyze the character of Moriarty in two modern adaptations of the Sherlock Holmes stories: The BBC series Sherlock (2010-2017) and the film Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011), directed by Guy Ritchie. Despite that fact that the project is mainly concerned with two adaptations of the Sherlock Holmes franchise a short introduction to Moriarty in Doyle’s original stories seems fitting to provide a small portion of background knowledge surrounding the character. Moriarty first appeared in 1893 in “The Adventure of the Final Problem”. After Moriarty pursues Holmes through continental Europe the story famously describes Holmes and Moriarty plunging to their apparent deaths by the Reichenbach Falls. Page 4 of 40 “The Death of Sherlock Holmes”. Sidney Paget, The Strand Magazine, 1893. The other story in which Moriarty plays a significant role is “The Valley of Fear”, Doyle’s final novel about the famous detective, published in The Strand Magazine between 1914 and 1915. In the story Moriarty schemes, through his various agents, to murder a Mr John Douglas of Bristol Manor, an endeavour he eventually succeeds in. Holmes afterwards determines to bring a conclusion to Moriarty’s reign but acknowledges the task will be tiresome and lengthy. Besides the one ‘in-person’ appearance in “The Adventure of the Final Problem” and his significant behind-the-scenes role in “The Valley of Fear” Moriarty is only sporadically mentioned in five other stories. Considering Moriarty’s brief appearances it is no wonder that the descriptions of the character and his personality are few and far in between. The clearest examples are found in The Adventure of the Final Problem. In this final story of the first volume revolving around the detective Doyle described Moriarty, through the eyes of Holmes, as follows: “He is the Napoleon of crime, Watson. He is the organizer of half that is evil and of nearly all that is undetected in this great city, He is a genius, a philosopher, an abstract thinker. He has a brain of the first order. He sits motionless, like a spider in the center Page 5 of 40 of its web, but that web has a thousand radiations, and he knows well every quiver of each of them. He does little himself. He only plans.” (Doyle 1893/1992, s. 437) Sherlock Holmes’ machine-like personality and iron-sharp reasoning are rivaled by none save for his criminal counterpart and nemesis - Professor Moriarty. A mathematical and criminal mastermind, his intellect measures up to even that of Sherlock Holmes, the Napoleon of Crime is as ruthless as he is brilliant. Holmes continues: “You know my powers, my dear Watson, and yet at the end of three months I was forced to confess that I had at last met an antagonist who was my intellectual equal. My horror at his crimes was lost in my admiration at his skills.” (Doyle 1893/1992, s. 437) Moriarty and Holmes share a mutual admiration at each other’s skills and intellect. However that does not stop Holmes from trying to stop or slow down Moriarty at every turn. Or Moriarty from attempting to murder Holmes at several occasions through the actions of his vast network of agents. From nature Moriarty was gifted with extraordinary mental powers, only rivaled by his criminal insanity and lack of empathy: “He is a man of good birth and excellent education, endowed by nature with a phenomenal mathematical faculty. (...) But the man had hereditary tendencies of the most diabolical kind. A criminal strain ran in his blood, which, instead of being modified, was increased and rendered infinitely more dangerous by his extraordinary mental powers.” (Doyle 1893/1992, p. 436) The true brilliance of Moriarty’s criminal empire is, according to Holmes, the complete lack of suspicion the character attracts from his surroundings. He pulls the strings from behind the curtain but never gets his hands dirty. Thusly he never arouses suspicion and charging him with criminal activities would ultimately be impossible, or at least unfruitful. “But in calling Moriarty a criminal you are uttering libel in the eyes of the law—and there lie the glory and the wonder of it! The greatest schemer of all time, the organizer of every devilry, the controlling brain of the underworld, a brain which might have made or marred the destiny of nations—that's the man! But so aloof