Drama is a situation or story that usually involves some sort of conflict. Drama when translated across cultures, locations and nationalities varies according to what they are accustomed to. The prime example this week similarly from my last blog post is Sherlock Holmes. From its first feature in a novel in 1887, the Holmes name represents this ideal figure of an idealised Englishness and is imaginary and constructed (Frew, C 2014). The UK series Sherlock took up the idea of Sherlock Holmes character and adapted the series in a very traditional way by sticking closely to the original story in order to keep its Englishness. The American adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, Elementary, though it follows through the guideline of the original story, it has incorporated many Americanised television features and values such as the sexual tension between characters, sympathetic characters, and its set in New York. However, the series didn’t entirely changed its originality by keeping a trait of Englishness in the series as seen in the character’s accent, Holmes’s background and influences from London to give it that touch of proper-ness.
It has been presumed for a while now that the Englishmen are proper, they possess certain qualities of being more looked up to. The UK and US version of Sherlock Holmes both garnered much success in their very own way. Focusing now on Elementary, its profound difference from Sherlock (UK) was that Watson, which originally according to the story was a male and share a sort of “bromance” with Holmes, was played by a female instead. This gives viewers a more different perception as to the relationship of Watson and Holmes but it was relatable to American audiences. Another significant difference was the villain in the story, Moriarty, also originally played by a male, was played by a female and nonetheless was Holmes’s previous lovers. This created the sexual tension between characters that excites the audiences. Americans are accustomed to sexual references in American dramas.
But not all is lost in translation, there had to be traits of originality from the original story otherwise the story might instead become a joke. Holmes in Elementary still possesses his English accent and his posture are always stiff and quite direct in his remark which is similar to the British version of the series. Elementary still needed to persuade viewers that Holmes did indeed have the authority to solve crimes because of his direct personality and blunt humour that might put viewers off, it is that fine line between creating a character that is “weird” yet “wise” building up the character platform.
Drama when translated across nations are inevitably modified in order to suit the different cultures, locations, and nationalities. However, a trait from home must be adapted into the series in order to keep its originality that was what made it successful in the first place. Good Holmesians know that every adaptation is a new twist, a hopefully intriguing spin on a comfortable theme (Asher-Perrin, E 2014).
Reference:
Asher-Perrin, E 2014, ‘Battling Super Sleuths: The Awkward Case of Elementary, Sherlock, and Building the Better Adaptation’, available online at
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2014/02/battling-super-sleuths-the-awkward-case-of-elementary-sherlock-and-building-the-better-adaptation
Frew, C 2014, “Sherlock and Elementary: Representing Englishness in Drama”, Powerpoint slides, University of Wollongong.
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