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Sherlock Holmes is a more interesting character when read as a queer, neurodivergent man who used addiction as a means to cope with his boredom or over stimulation.
Any media which reduces H to just being an eccentric genius misses the point.
Any media which reduces H to just being an eccentric genius misses the point.
I have read a lot (possibly all) of the S.H stories and though it’s been a while the things that stand out to me is that to Holmes the things which he notices are described as apparent. They are observations of the mundane viewed through a focused lens then placed in order.
It really annoys me when S.H’s blueprint is reduced to Smug Smart Man. Because though he is smug he is also described as having ‘black moods’ of hiding himself from the world. Of not eating or sleeping when following up a case and of finding things interesting up to a point.
That point being where that information serves him. To parody S.H as some kind of all knowing neurotypical genius is to miss that S.H never bothered to learn astronomy because it didn’t serve him. Nor the layouts of cities outside London where he lived and worked.
There was an applied binary to the way that S.H learnt information. He refused to store info which he found pointless. He was gifted in acting (masking), the arts, fencing, and having a single minded focus. He also had only one real person who he trusted in. John.
When people distill elements of S.H and remove John they end up with a smart but dull man. It’s boring. It doesn’t fit. John loves S.H. That love is what drives him to turn S.H from addiction and follow him into endless dangers. S.H loves John. But not necessarily conventionally.
You can drag Sherlock-I’m upset you’re marrying Mary and so I’m punishing you by returning to my addiction because I’m a neurodivergent nightmare queer and I want you to pay attention to me-Holmes from my cold, dead, hands.
The man is also manic depressive when he becomes bored. That is not the behaviour of a neurotypical man. You can’t have S.H without the dysfunction. It is present in the books and it should remain present in adaptations. He isn’t just eccentric-he’s self medicating.
Anyway every time a TV show or Movie does an adaption of S.H and paints him as a self absorbed, neurotypical, straight guy who mopes around because ???I guess it’s just hard being smart??? I get a little bit closer to reaching through the screen and smacking the writers.
Write the depression and the dysfunction in you absolute cowards. Show me S.H slumped over from exhaustion. Show me J.W having to feed him. Show the cases he lost interest in-that he couldn’t solve. The impulsive spending which meant he needed J.W for rent. Give me what I DESERVE
The unfeeling genius stereotype is done. Show me a S.H who feels too much. Who is overwhelmed by information he can’t escape. Show me a man who crashes after a manic episode solving a case. Give me withdrawals. Give me overcoming personal obstacles thank to his Doctor’s aid.
Anyway.
I’ve claimed Sherlock Holmes for the neurodivergent queers now.
He is ours.
I’ve claimed Sherlock Holmes for the neurodivergent queers now.
He is ours.
