The one in which I get rambly and analytical but not really.
Writing this out made me feel better. There’s a bit towards the end that has some spoilers for series two of Sherlock (2010). Figured I’d say that since it’s not aired on PBS in the states yet.
I think that my whole life I’ve kind of tried to analyze myself through fictional characters simply because a) there’s a lot of fictional characters, b) it’s kind of creepy comparing yourself to someone who lived historically that you never actually met, and c) I’ve not really met anyone in real life who goes through something similar to what I go through. I tend to have very (or well fairly at least) well-adjusted friends who are either very introverted or very extroverted.
Lately, I’ve been using the lens of Sherlock (2010), because it’s full of characters and stories that caught my attention since I was first old enough to watch the TV. It all started with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce’s 1940’s Sherlock Holmes movies. I fell in love instantly, and then there was that Disney movie The Great Mouse Detective (1986) that helped push things along. I saw a few episodes of Granada’s Sherlock Holmes series one and two as well during that time in my life when I lived our first house.
What drew me to Sherlock Holmes was the same reasons that draw me to any character. He was relatable. He was familiar. I had my mom who was all nice, kind, teachery, then my dad who was hard working and goofy, and then there was my sister who was artsy and rebelliousness, and after a while there was my brother who was…well, a baby in this time frame. I could kind of relate to them all on some level, but it was Sherlock’s mishandling of other people’s emotions, the fact others felt threatened by his intelligence (after I started to nursery school), and how he clearly cared about Dr. Watson but didn’t go on and on about it, that drew me to the character in the first place. These were all relatable things. These were similar reasons I was drawn to Spock when I first watch TOS around the same time period actually, but that’s not actually a story.
Anyway. As I got older, I lost touch with the franchise for various reasons. I became reacquainted in junior high when I read some of the stories for our stupid Reading Counts program. Basically it was this system where you got points for reading books and taking tests on them but you were only allowed certain books and half the books on the list were either ineligible because they were movies (like a movie is ever like the book - hah) or you were going to read them in another grade level. This was when I really began to relate to Sherlock Holmes on a whole other level. He gets bored. He becomes stagnate. There are days in which he can’t get out of bed and then other days where Dr. Watson can barely keep up. He has passions that he pursues and he has a job that he chose himself. These were things I could relate to and/or admire about the character. It also began to help me work through some things I was going through at the time, which was part of why I got so much into anime and manga because they provided escapes full of strong characters that were outcasts, etc…another story for another time. Why do I ramble at 02:08?
Either way, I guess this is what I’m rambling on about tonight, which brings us to Sherlock (2010), which brought to me a Sherlock and a Moriarty that I could relate to very, very much, especially in terms of how they speak about boredom.
Sherlock is bored a lot. He’s waiting for the next exciting thing, the next reason to get out of Baker Street that isn’t some mundane walk around the whatever. He acts out when he’s bored. Sometimes he turns to drugs, which I admit I’ve never done, but one of the reasons I’ve never done drugs is I already know I’m given to perseveration, compulsion, and obsession. If that is not a big fat red DO NOT DO DRUGS sign, I don’t know what is. He ruins relationships with people when he’s bored, and that is something I’ve been known to do, many, many, many times. Because well, frankly, I’m an idiot.
Read More
