Blog Post 2: A Study in Semiotics

Sherlock has a lot going for it. The casting is spot on, the writing is solid, and the jokes aren’t only well timed, but funny in the same way watching someone you don’t really like getting called out by a teacher is funny. Kind of awkward, but only if you’re at the wrong end of it.

That said, for all the things it has, there is one thing it lacks.

The show Sherlock is about as subtle as Benedict Cumberbatch’s cheekbones.

Which is to say, not at all.

So, fortunately for me, it wasn’t difficult spotting its many uses of semiotic convention, and much of the show fits very neatly into the little chart.

Signifier/Signified:

                The cane/Watson’s emotional baggage following honorable discharge

                The upturned collar/Sherlock’s social isolation from other human beings

                The lipstick/Molly’s romantic interest in Sherlock

                The umbrella/Mycroft’s very proper demeanor and prepared nature. Also he’s kind of a jerk.

Syntagmatic Analysis:

                Traditional cyclical crime drama time line. Open with a murder and work backwards from there. A bit ironic given that’s how deduction actually works, moving from the big picture to the smaller details, while Sherlock preforms induction, using small details to piece together a larger whole.

Paradigmatic Analysis:

                Almost every character is a mirror of every other character. Sherlock and the cabbie are both geniuses bored with the monotony of life, yet Sherlock chooses to channel it into something productive, while the cabbie uses it for something considerably less so, depending on who you ask. Two sides of the same, slightly sociopathic coin. Watson and Mycroft, both employed by the government for the same ends of making England stronger and safer, but one is doughy and concerned with political affairs, working from carefully detailed plans and preparations (a line of phone booths surely is not the most efficient way to contact someone), while the other acts on instinct, is battle hardened, a man of his hands and a man of action in a very physical way. Then of course there’s Watson and Holmes, the dream team, but there’s very little to say about them that hasn’t already been said for, literally, a hundred years.

Metaphor:

                Well, Hazel Grace, Sherlock is not short on metaphors. The nicotine patches are metaphors for Sherlock’s drug addiction, and less literal addiction to excitement and danger. Watson’s cane is a metaphor for his self-imposed handicaps, and his shaken confidence in himself following being shot in the line of duty. The woman in pink’s ill maintained wedding ring is a metaphor for her unhappy marriage. 221B Baker street’s state of disarray is a metaphor for Sherlock’s messy and chaotic mind. Lestrade’s grey hair is a metaphor for a very long career in a very stressful field. The list goes on.

Synecdoche:

                Lestrade stands for the authority and slight ineptitude of the police force. Mycroft is the power and polish of the government. Watson is the outsider who stands in for us, asking the questions we want answered to better understand how Sherlock, and his circle, operates.

Icons/Indexes/Symbols:

                The street signs during the taxi chase, the beeps of all the journalists’ phones receiving Sherlock’s texts, the find my mephone map, Sherlock’s mental map of London, the many signs tacked up throughout the lab, the pictures in the Cabbie’s car, the newspaper headlines.

Intertextuality:

                Barring the fact that A Study in Pink is a modern retelling of Arthur Conan Doyle’s original story A Study in Scarlet, there are plenty of call outs to other genres and time periods. The frantic violin and harpsichord of the main sting is reminiscent of the Victorian era, and the Sherlock logo has the “roughed up” sort of look to be expected in crime shows. The structure of the story calls upon CSI and other popular “who dun it” murder dramas. The use of dramatic lighting, even at times when there should be bright, less sexy fluorescent lighting, is common for procedurals, most notably House where hospital rooms are lit more like daytime soap operas than operating theaters. The two leads acting as foils is a popular trope in film, and Watson’s “straight man” is right out of a sitcom.

Codes:

                Sherlock uses many codes of the crime and mystery drama, as well as the common “genius” personality traits demonstrated in the titular character. 

I could go on and on and on about every single minute detail, but really, I'd hate to be a hypocrite.