#reverse motion

From S1 onwards Sherlock goes on an inner journey, from great man to good man, from self-declared sociopath to compassionate, mature man who cares for his family and friends, who is capable of love. This inner journey is believable and stringent and continuous. 

The outside world, however, becomes more and more dark, bizarre, and hurtful. While S1 and S2 are situated in a recognisable world close to our perceived reality, S3 and especially S4 are becoming more and more bizarre and out of this world, culminating in places like Sherrinford and Musgrave Hall. 

The same goes for the characters. From S3 onwards almost everyone starts behaving in erratic, unexpected ways: Sherlock murdering an unarmed man, Molly slapping Sherlock, John remaining with Mary, Sherlock staying friends with an assassin who wanted to kill him and saving her life, John turning against Sherlock and getting violent, a nurse endorsing drug consumption in a hospital toilet … and do not get me started on TFP.

There is an excellent example for the progression from realistic to bizarre: explosions.

TGG: The effects of the explosion opposite 221B are quite realistic - the sound, the blast wave destroying the window panes and throwing Sherlock to the floor. The next day he and John are wearing jackets and coats because of the cold. Everything as it should be. 

TEH: The explosion of Parliament does not really happen, it is just a theory presented by Sherlock, a visualisation of the effects the bomb would have. And the idea of a whole Underground car disappearing and being turned into a bomb by one aristocratic criminal is a stretch of the imagination to put it mildly. 

TFP: Well, what shall I say? A drone equipped with a “patience grenade”, Sherlock and John jumping out the window, landing on the pavement without getting hurt, Mrs Hudson and Mycroft unharmed, the house not destroyed, half the furniture and all other stuff remaining intact. 

The question is why? They could have chosen to show us Sherlock’s inner journey while letting the more or less realistic world intact. The disintegration is not imperative but a deliberate choice on the side of the creators. So, why?

It has not been done before. No SH adaptation has ever attempted to give us such a big character arc, such an inner journey, allowing us so many insights into the mind of the man himself. At least one whole episode (and more if you are an EMP theorist) take place in Sherlock’s head. This is indeed a story about a detective, not a detective story, and the very contrast between the believable inner journey and the increasingly bizarre world of the show is meant to emphasise this principle. 

It is a daring concept and many of the post-S4 reviews and reactions confirm that this is a dangerous path indeed. But it can also be a rewarding one if one day both worlds are merged, uniting the concepts of Sherlock as an emotional, compassionate human being and as a brilliant detective.  

NEW VIDEO.

I just gave my paper at the 2021 PCA/ACA Annual Conference as a video essay, and honestly I think I might do all my papers this way from now on.

Re-Reading Time: The Emergence of Reverse Motion as a Narrative Technique in Post-Classical Cinema

Type: Preferred Keyword

Category: Motion Type

Definition: Reverse motion is a keyword phrase that describes a video or film that is being shown in backwards order so that everything appears to be happening backwards in time.