Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies

4.3Irene Adler

Nevertheless, Irene Adler of the 21^st century frequently loses the spark of intelligent strong woman. In Richie’s adaptation, Adler works for Moriarty implying she is not independent and strong enough to be her own master. She is intimidated by Moriarty as Holmes points out himself in the first movie: “She [is] scared of him.” (00:35:38). Even though Watson states she is cleverer than Holmes: “She is the only adversary who ever outsmarted you. Twice.” (Sherlock Holmes, 00:32:12), she represents a textbook example of the damsel in distress. Throughout the movies, she is saved by Holmes from a certain death at least three times. For instance, he manages to unlock handcuffed Adler and save her from being cut into pieces in a slaughterhouse in Sherlock Holmes and later rescues her from being thrown into Thames. However, it is clear he does so not only to protect her but also himself as her death would affect him deeply. Watson points out Adler is “the only woman [Holmes] ever cared about” (Sherlock Holmes, 00:32:05) and the affection is mutual. In fact, it gets Adler killed as Moriarty believes “[she] had succumbed to [her] feelings for him” (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, 00:10:00) and therefore cannot provide her full services. Richie took what the Victorian reader admired about Adler, her brilliant independence, and exchanged it for her feelings that are admired by a contemporary viewer.

Although BBC’s Sherlock follows the original stories rather faithfully, the modern Adler is nothing compared to her Victorian counterpart. She is London-based dominatrix who owns compromising materials concerning influential people. She seeks the counsel of Moriarty to help her make the most of them. Though she managed to collect the information, she was not clever enough to come up with the most efficient way to use it in her advantage. Even Holmes believes she is not that smart: “You cater to the whims of the pathetic and take your clothes off to make an impression. Stop boring me and think.” (“Scandal in Belgravia”, 00:28:03). Furthermore, her feelings for Holmes make her lose even with Moriarty’s help. Holmes discovers that he is Adler’s weakness and states her defeat: “Sentiment is a chemical defect found in the losing side. … This is your heart and you should never let it rule your head. You could have chosen any number and walked out with everything you have worked for.” (“Scandal in Belgravia”, 01:20:04 – 01:21:13). Her biggest significance, that is the ability to outsmart the detective, gets lost in translation. “The woman who beat Sherlock Holmes in 1891 fails to beat Sherlock Holmes in 2012” (Poole 22). To emphasize her failure, partly because she is a woman, Moffat and Gattis let Holmes rescue her minutes before her assassination, and thus, making Adler follow the pattern of damsel in distress, too.

At first, Elementary’s Adler may seem the furthest from the original, yet the core of the character is the most faithful to it. Before the viewer meets Adler, it is hinted she has been murdered while being in a romantic relationship with Holmes. Later he finds out she has been only kidnapped and brainwashed, but otherwise physically unharmed. The first season climaxes with a revelation that Adler staged both her death and kidnapping and is, in fact, Jamie Moriarty, a villain responsible for many murders. Adler/Moriarty manages to outsmart the detective, at least for some time. By combining the ultimate villain and the woman, Doherty creates noteworthy character, who outdoes any other modern portrayal of it. She is not the victim of the story, she is very much capable of fighting for herself and protecting herself, just as the Victorian Adler, and even more so. Nevertheless, she does fall to the modern ‘failing due to emotions’ phenomenon. She cares for Holmes and is astonished by his brilliance: “[Your mind] seemed to be mind that rivaled my own, something too complicated and too beautiful.” (“Heroine”, 00:01:45). Her love for Holmes makes her visit him after she learns about his overdose. Even though Holmes’ feelings for her are deep and strong, too, his sense for justice is stronger, so together with Watson he tricks her and gets her to confess for the crimes. Moriarty’s feelings make her weaker criminal, however, at the same time they make her more approachable for audiences.

Doherty’s gender swap not only in Holmes’ villain, but also in his closest friend, helps to tear down the traditional Doyle patterns for both characters. Joan Watson is as emotionally complicated as Holmes himself, therefore she is the optimal partner for him. Her ability to learn the deductions and to lead an investigation on her own makes her equal to Holmes like any other character. While other renditions show Watson teaching Holmes to open to others and to emotions, in Elementary they work through this progress together. And as they open to each other, their feelings become essential for their decision-making. Joan Watson tries to defy the stereotype of a female victim, even though there is an occasional threat to her life that requires the help of a man. Nevertheless, her strength to fight for herself may resemble the one of a male character. It is obvious that Elementary has done the most work of all adaptations in understanding the female characters in the Holmes stories, and therefore, it has been very popular among viewers. However, this is a result of the significant digression from the original stories, which caused a controversy among Sherlockians loyal to the consulting detective.

Even though the female characters developed from plot devices into supporting roles, the majority of them still retained the image of fragile beings in a need of saving that Doyle depicted almost 130 years ago. One can see the emancipation the renditions offered in the number of lines and scenes the characters are given. Yet, the need for Holmes to be the ultimate hero of the stories often prevents them from being more than the damsels in distress. Nonetheless, this is partly the key to the popularity of Sherlock Holmes adaptations among the audience of all genders, as the viewers either want to be saved or want to be the hero that saves everyone.