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JSB 287 Assessment 2: Poster presentation

Ellis, Lee, Kevin M. Beaver and John Wright. 2009. Handbook of Crime Correlates. Academic Press. Accessed April 28, 2015. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=BPlslrrgQyoC&dq=Handbook+of+crime+correlates&lr=&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Frow, John. 2015. Genre. Oxon: Routledge. Accessed March 22, 2015. http://www.tandfebooks.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/doi/view/10.4324/9781315777351

Hardy, Stephen P. 2013. “Sherlock and Sherlock Holmes: A comparative analysis. PhD diss., Masaryk University.

Harvey, Elizabeth and Linda Derksen. 2009. “Science Fiction or Social Fact?: An Exploratory Content Analysis of Popular Press Reports on the CSI Effect.” In The CSI Effect: Television, Crime, and Governance, edited by Michele Byers and Val Marie Johnson, 3-28. Lexington Books.

Rafter, Nicole and Brown, Michelle, (2011). Chapter 2 : For Money and a Woman : Rational Choice Theories and Double Indemnity. In Rafter, Nicole and Brown, Michelle,Criminology goes to the movies : crime theory and popular culture, (pp.14 - 27). New York: New York University Press.

Rooney, David. 2010. “Sherlock.” The Hollywood Reporter 416: 27. Accessed April 24, 2015.

http://search.proquest.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/docview/766165040/citation/D8A446ACEA054FB3PQ/1?accountid=13380

Reference list

Social Values

Conclusion

Australian Institiute of Criminology. 2011. “Australian crime: Facts & Figures 2011.” Accessed April 30, 2015. http://www.aic.gov.au/media_library/publications/facts/2011/facts_and_figures_2011.pdf

BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation). 2015. “Sherlock”. Accessed April 24, 2015. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3FvspTyB0YHhtN7MRns2Fm/about-sherlock

Bloustien, Gerry and Mark Israel. 2006. “Crime and the Media.” In Crime and Justice: A Guide to Criminology, edited by Andrew Goldsmith, Mark Israel and Kathleen Daly, 45-64. Sydney: LAWBOOK Co.

Campbell, Mark. 2012. Sherlock Holmes. Pocket Essentials. Accessed 20 March, 2015. http://sf5mc5tj5v.search.serialssolutions.com/?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&rfr_id=info:sid/summon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:book&rft.genre=book&rft.title=Sherlock+Holmes&rft.au=Campbell%2C+Mark&rft.series=Pocket+essentials&rft.date=2012-03-01&rft.pub=Pocket+Essentials&rft.isbn=9781903047682&rft.externalDocID=9781842438169&paramdict=en-US

Doyle, S. & Crowder, D.A. 2010, Sherlock Holmes For Dummies, For Dummies, US. Accessed May 30, 2015.

Holmes has not only been the face of multiple media portrayals, but is also one of the most recognisable figures of crime and law enforcement within the film industry. Not only has the series Sherlock been adapted to suit a contemporary and technology focused generation, but it has also incorporated and commented on a number of important social and cultural issues of modern society. Sherlock’s commentary on issues including the role of female characters and social class, allow the audience to better relate to the characters. Finally, the series provides an important criminological perspective of the depiction of crime and criminality. Whilst several key differences exist between true crime and media crime, Sherlock has provided a basis for future academics or critics to analyse the impacts in popular culture

Female Significance

Social and political significance

Gender equality

Social and cultural

significance

Clues

New crimes

Social norms

Furthermore, there are significantly more female characters in the recent adaption, which demonstrates the evolution of gender equality from the 1800s to the 21st century (Hardy 2013). For instance, Detective Sergeant Sally Donovan and pathologist Molly Harper are female in this new adaption; however, these characters were male in Doyle’s version. This demonstrates how in contemporary society it is both a social and cultural norm for females to be present and dominant in the work force, however, during the 1800s where Doyle’s version of Holmes existed, this was not the case. Therefore, these changes were necessary in depicting society’s values of time.

The recent adaption of Sherlock has been updated to be more entertaining and humorous however, still alludes to and makes references to relevant social and political issues of modern society (Hardy 2013). The fundamental aspects of Sherlock’s Holmes success comes down to his attention to both subtle and obvious clues, and his aptitude for observation and deduction (Doyle 2010, 36). His reasoning is usually the key behind solving any mystery. Despite the fact that this recent adaption maintains certain qualities from Doyle’s version of Holmes, In the BBC series Sherlock, Holmes has numerous interactions with the criminal justice system, which conveys to the audience a political context to a certain extent. The manner in which Holmes addresses the police and certain comments he makes, suggest that they are not effective at their job (Frow 2015). More often than not Holmes takes the law into his own hands. This illustrates how Holmes is under the impression that he is above and more effective than the legal system.

Text communication

Techno Age

Criminal Monster

Social structure

Social class

The plot

and it continues...

Season 1

221 Baker Street

Additionally, in Sherlock, the character of Holmes is placed in a 21st century London setting and enters the series through a text message. This immediately alerts viewers to the fact that this new version of Holmes is ‘tech-savvy’ and is updated with social norms regarding technology. This is then validated by the fact that he does rely heavily on technology to assist him and combines it with his remarkable deductive and observational skills. This use of technology is a glaringly obvious difference from Doyle’s character of Holmes, however; perhaps it is necessary to make the program more relevant to modern society.

In regards to class and societal structure, the characters of Holmes and Watson provide the audience with two different portrayals – what they aspire to be like and what they actually are. For instance, Holmes has a brilliant mind, is quick witted, however, does struggle with human interaction. Thus making him not entirely relatable to viewers. On the other hand, the majority of viewers can identify with the character of Watson. This is owing to the fact that he is middle class and struggling to find employment in the 21st century – a concept which viewers can relate to.

Co-created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, the 2010 television series Sherlock portrays a modern interpretation of Conan Doyle’s novels and short stories from the 19th and 20th centuries (Rooney 2010, 27). Sherlock, despite its contemporary setting, stays true to a number of Conan Doyle’s original plot lines and character relationships (Rooney 2010, 27). The series portrays the detection skills that Holmes, a brilliant consulting detective, utilises in order to solve crimes that occur across London that have been coordinated by Holmes’ archenemy Moriarty, played by Andrew Scott (BBC 2015). Furthermore, the series explores the tumultuous relationship between Holmes, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, and his partner Doctor John Watson, played by Martin Freeman, and in particular focuses on Holmes’ emotional incompetence and aloof nature (Rooney 2010, 27).

This modern adaption of Holmes in Sherlock, lives in 21st century London; a city filled with mystery, crime and deceit. There is no shortage of thieves, serial killers and predators all committing heinous crimes. When the police are despairing and need to catch a break on their case, they call upon Sherlock Holmes and his unconventional methods of deduction. Dr John Watson, a recently returned Afghanistan veteran, assists Sherlock. Sherlock and Watson attempt to solve some the country’s most intriguing puzzles.

This rationality shown by Holmes enforces the idea that any extensions of law are all contributing to the rationality of the criminal justice system. This consolidates the justice ideology of fairness and proportionality from the criminal justice system, which are key aspects in maintaining public consent for this use of power. Sherlock also touches on elements of social class within society, which are defied by Holmes. Holmes is often depicted respecting the disadvantaged and showing disdain towards the privileged, conceivably providing the audience with a political statement on class privilege.

Fairness

Middle Class

By: Group 09

Crystal Kowald

Samuel Long

Georgia Narayan

Tiffanie Walters

Isabel Fraser

This then leaves the portrayal of a fictional criminal monster, which at the same time can achieve criminality through rational thought (Rafter 2011, 26). This reiterates how film is more focused on entertaining the audience, than informing them and consequently results in an inaccurate depiction of crime, the criminal and the criminal justice system.

A little about Sherlock

An example of these dimensions include situational and environmental aspect such as socio-economic and employment status. Sherlock therefore lacks character development and insight into the situational and environmental influences that establish an individual’s moral compass. It therefore lacks characters that represent knowledge of good and evil, possessing a moral compass. Even though the series stays close to the rational idea of individual blame, it subtlety suggests that all explanation of crime is the result of psychopathic tendencies rather than the environmental and situational factors for each individual.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Moral Compass

Criminal Justice System

True Crime

A London based detective whose abilities border on otherworldly, the character of Sherlock Holmes is one of the most pivotal and renowned literary depictions of crime. Ever since his creation by Doyle in 1887, there has been an overwhelming fascination with the character of Holmes and subsequently has appeared in 4 novels, 56 short stories and has been portrayed by more than 70 actors in over 200 films (Campbell 2012). In fact, Guinness World Records have listed Holmes as the “most portrayed movie character” (Hardy 2013). The question this then poses, is how this character of Holmes remained so socially and culturally significant and withstood the test of time?

Martin Freeman

Benedict Cumberbatch

Steven Moffat

Mark Gatiss

Representation

Criminological theories

Influences

In contemporary Australian society, individuals gain their knowledge and experience of the criminal justice system through television and films. Despite the Medias ability to entertain audiences, they do not create a true representation of crimes, criminals and law enforcement. An example of this drawn from Sherlock is from all the offenders that he interacts with, they are likely to be middle aged, highly intellectual and uncommon. One crime that all three criminals in the series have in common is that they all murder at least one person.

While this has an entertainment value and perhaps makes the audience believe that homicide is more common than other crimes, a study conducted revealed that there has not only been a 27 percent decrease in a ten year period, but that homicide is the most uncommon and rarest crime recorded (Australian Institute of Criminology 2009, 4; Ellis, Beaver and Wright 2009, 3). According to Bloustien and Israel (2006) these crimes are commonly used in films, as they are easier to portray and adapt. Intriguingly, despite the importance of such a dramatic and criminal offence, homicide is not the main focus of the film, it’s Sherlock’s ability to solve the crime.

True Accounts

Murder

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

In additional to understanding how film portrays crime in a modern era, it is also important to identify the consequences of it on the audience. A specific criminological theory has been utilised to demonstrate the inconsistencies between criminological accounts of crime and crime depiction in films. Ellis, Beaver and Wright (2009) argue that in a self-reported study on offending, the results suggest that approximately 90 percent of people recall having committed at least one delinquent or criminal act by the time they are in their 20’s.

Controlling crime

Rational Choice Theory

Criminological Perspective

As Doyle did, Moffat and Gatiss have taken this idea of a large population having committed a small crime in their youth and exacerbate these individuals for entertainment. This demonstrates the difference between ‘true crime’ statistics and those created for entertainment. Also focusing on the criminals that have been created, it has developed a sensational perspective of crime and criminals. While the audience cannot relate to the intriguing and unusual criminals, it portrays an untouchable barrier where the audience does not feel as though they could be affected by crime.

From a theoretical criminological perspective, rational choice theory assumes human behaviour can be controlled or deterred through the anticipation and knowledge of obstacles and consequences. In effect, this theory utilises the idea of rationality to prevent and control crime (Rafter 2011, 16). This theory is prevalent in Sherlock, as it enforces the idea that the crime was committed as a result of choice and free will (Rafter 2011, 24). On the other hand, this adaption of the theory to the film fails to incorporate the dimensions that come from criminal behaviour.

Crime and criminals

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