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Analyzing the Relationship and Cultural Meaning of Sherlock Holmes and Batman

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Analyzing the Relationship and Cultural Meaning of Sherlock Holmes and Batman The University of Southern Mississippi The Aquila Digital Community Honors Theses Honors College Spring 5-2017 The World’s Greatest Detectives: Analyzing the Relationship and Cultural Meaning of Sherlock Holmes and Batman Emma F. Reeves University of Southern Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://aquila.usm.edu/honors_theses Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Reeves, Emma F., "The World’s Greatest Detectives: Analyzing the Relationship and Cultural Meaning of Sherlock Holmes and Batman" (2017). Honors Theses. 496. https://aquila.usm.edu/honors_theses/496 This Honors College Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Honors College at The Aquila Digital Community. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of The Aquila Digital Community. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The University of Southern Mississippi The World’s Greatest Detectives: Analyzing the Relationship and Cultural Meaning of Sherlock Holmes and Batman by Emma Reeves A Thesis Submitted to the Honors College of The University of Southern Mississippi in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Bachelor of English in the Department of English December 2016 ii Approved by _______________________________ Katherine Cochran, Ph.D., Thesis Adviser Associate Professor of English _______________________________ Luis Iglesias, Ph.D., Chair Department of English _______________________________ Ellen Weinauer, Ph.D., Dean Honors College iii Abstract The characters Sherlock Holmes and Batman represent a Gothic archetype aimed at uncovering societal fears and tensions. The thesis analyzes four Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and four Batman-centered graphic novels from DC Comics. By looking at the two in conjunction with each other, this project develops a more comprehensive understanding of the Gothic detective hero in the historical contexts of Victorian England and modern United States of America. The two characters are first explained in terms of the Gothic and as archetypal figures before being examined in terms of their similar contemporary social contexts. Finally, the project uses the characters as a timeline of social anxiety in order to predict a trajectory for the archetype. The thesis also contemplates the reasons for the popularity and staying power of the characters. Altogether, the two characters reveal more about the readers themselves than any crime committed in the plot. Key Words: Sherlock Holmes, Batman, Gothic, detective fiction, Victorian, 1980s, societal fear, cultural anxiety iv Dedication Daddy: Thanks for watching Justice League cartoons with me when I was little. Because of you I grew up knowing I could be both a princess and Batman. v Acknowledgements I would like to thank my thesis advisor, Dr. Katherine Cochran, for all her help in this project. Thank you for all your patience, as well as for always laughing with (at?) me when life got hectic. I have enjoyed these four years as your student, and I hope I can someday be half the teacher you are. I would also like to thank Dr. Eric Platt for helping me get this project started. Without our brainstorming sessions I never would have been able to see beyond the initial idea and understand why the project mattered. Thank you for all your encouragement and help along the way. vi Table of Contents Introduction: The Gothic Detective…..…………………………………………………...1 Chapter 1: Analysis of Holmes…………………………………………………………..10 Chapter 2: Analysis of Batman ….………………………………………………………27 Conclusion: The Mystery Solved.......................................................................................48 References..........................................................................................................................53 vii INTRODUCTION: THE GOTHIC DETECTIVE T.S. Eliot once claimed that “the detective story, as created by Poe, is something as specialised and as intellectual as a chess problem, whereas the best English detective fiction has relied less on the beauty of the mathematical problem and much more on the intangible human element” (377). In essence, the best sleuth stories use a presented mystery, which the reader expects to be solved, in order to focus indirectly on a far greater and far more uncertain mystery—human nature. Of course, in order to attempt to interpret humanity’s motivations, the fictitious detective must first be able to interpret the crimes around him, to deduce an answer to the problems he has wittingly approached. While Poe may have created the detective fiction genre, his hero Le Chevalier C. Auguste Dupin did not perfect the elementary science of deduction, which allows for greater inspection of the human condition. Instead, it was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who created the world’s greatest (and only) consulting detective and master of deduction, one Mr. Sherlock Holmes of 221b Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes, a moody middle-class renaissance man with a cocaine addiction, entered the world in December of 1887, and with him came an entire iconography of the ideal crime solver: the hat, the pipe, the cloak—not to mention the acuity of mind to resolve even the most impossible cases (Cox 34). Along with Holmes, Doyle also created an entire cast of characters, such as Dr. John Watson, a retired military doctor and the chronicler of Holmes’s adventures, and Inspector Lestrade, the well- intentioned but somewhat bumbling agent of Scotland Yard who worked alongside the rest of the struggling police force. Furthermore, Doyle’s stories take place in late- Victorian, early-Edwardian London, an equally quintessential setting of contrasting 1 grandeur and destitution caused by the industrialization and world-wide change associated with the period. The stories followed Holmes through the criminal underbelly of London, always following the same path from a confusing tale around a plot twist to a tidy solution. Through the Sherlock Holmes mythos, Doyle established a hero and formula that has long since been revisited. Still, a Victorian gentleman cannot appeal to all audiences; at some point readers always need novel reinvention of the basic archetype: in this case the genius yet mysterious detective. Thus, Batman was born. Created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger in 1939, Batman took up the mantle of the world’s greatest detective. In The Life and Times of the Dark Knight: The Complete History, Les Daniels, Chip Kidd, and Bob Kane include an interview with the Batman co-creator Bill Finger who says the character was based in part on Sherlock Holmes himself, though the book presents this passage as an afterthought despite the fact that the text even goes so far as to describe the specific characteristics taken from Holmes in devising Batman. Batman matches Sherlock in terms of intellect, gadgetry, and specialized training; more importantly, Batman can brood in a cave while Sherlock shoots up before they both go help their allies at the police department who definitely need it. Furthermore, Batman’s home of modern-day Gotham City matches Victorian London in terms of both extravagant wealth and degrading poverty, which often serves as the source of crime in the comics. Batman’s English butler Alfred Pennyworth, sometimes portrayed as a retired military doctor, also acts as a tagalong helper just like Watson along with the well-intentioned but faltering Police Commissioner James Gordon, the modern Lestrade, both of whom again establish 2 an iconic set of characters. Therefore, Batman serves as an extension of the character of Sherlock Holmes. Of course, the Caped Crusader does differ from Sherlock in a few ways that keep him interestingly unique. Sherlock never claims to be a superhero of any sort. Furthermore, while Sherlock does use disguises at times, he does not need a full-blown secret identity like Bruce Wayne needs the Batman alias. Baker Street in no way resembles the Batcave, the secret underground lair from which Batman works. Batman also breaks the typical pattern of the Holmes stories and does not always offer a neat little conclusion, logical with the bad guy caught. He works not as a copy of Sherlock but as a unique re-visitation of a new kind of hero with characteristics specific to his societal influences. After all, both Sherlock Holmes and Batman are products of their times and audiences. Both characters exhibited (and continue to exhibit) mass appeal despite some setbacks. Originally, no credible publisher would print Doyle’s stories, and when he was first serialized, the professionals degradingly considered them to be “‘shilling shocker[s]’ –pulp fiction for the masses” (Sutherland). Publishers never expected Sherlock Holmes to last. Similarly, Batman has historically been considered merely a comic book, labeled as a child’s interest only; as a result of the Red Scare in the 1950s, critics demonized and censored comic books almost out of print entirely (Pagliaro 32). Nevertheless, both characters resisted negativity critical response because of the overwhelming positive reception from the populace. Once Doyle found a suitable partnership with The Strand magazine and began publishing his shorter pieces, his stories “became immediately popular and once and for all established the detective . as [a] permanent [figure] in 3 literature” (Cox 48). Batman similarly has received extensive cultural attention since his inception, which, in spite of opposition, has made him one of the most recognizable and popular superheroes
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