SHERLOCK: A Study in Pink (2010)

A Study in Pink (BBC, 2010)

In the three new Masterpiece films that aired in fall 2010 (A Study in Pink, The Blind Banker, and The Great Game), written by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, actor Benedict Cumberbatch plays a reimagined Holmes in contemporary London. Although he now has the power of the Internet and a smart phone, Holmes still needs only his formidable powers of deduction to determine on first meeting Watson (played by Martin Freeman) that the doctor has just returned from Afghanistan.

Whatever the century, Sherlock continues to fascinate and intrigue audiences. As the BBC notes, “Sherlock Holmes was always a modern man. It’s the world that got old. Now he’s back as he should be: edgy, contemporary, difficult—and dangerous.”

Discussion Questions

1. Who is Sherlock Holmes? Before watching A Study in Pink, think about or jot down how you would describe him. Consider his skills, personality, habits, relationships, and so on. After watching, think back to your initial description. How well do you think the screenwriters updated the character for a contemporary audience, yet kept what was essential about him?
2. What do you expect from any portrayal of this iconic character? What do you think makes this Holmes—or any Holmes—tick? In A Study in Pinkhe is called a freak, a lunatic, and a psychopath. (“I’m not a psychopath, I’m a high-functioning sociopath. Do your research,” he responds.) If you were Holmes’s therapist, what would be your diagnosis for him? In a 2009 New York Times Magazine article, a doctor suggests that Holmes is suffering from both Asperger’s syndrome and bipolar disorder. Given our contemporary understanding of psychology, how believable a character is he? At what points does A Study in Pink show the limits of cold-blooded reason divorced from emotional understanding? How does this new version use humor to make Holmes likable in spite of his limitations?
3. In many ways A Study in Pink is the story of the developing relationship between Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson. As actor Martin Freeman says, “…still at the heart of the drama is (the) relationship between Holmes and Watson. That’s pivotal.” In one of the opening scenes, Watson’s therapist notes that Watson is having “trust issues.” By the conclusion of A Study in Pink, has Watson resolved his “trust issues”? Does he place his trust in Holmes? If so, at what point does Holmes earn Watson’s trust? What common bond do these two very different characters share, and how does each of them rely on the other to compensate for personal vulnerabilities or shortcomings?
4. Steven Moffat believes that Conan Doyle’s stories “lend themselves incredibly well to a modern setting.” Unlike other writing of the era, they are much more fast-paced, so much so that they “must have given the Victorians whiplash.” Of course, Moffat was referring to the experience of reading Conan Doyle’s stories; now he has reinterpreted that frenetic experience for a contemporary film audience. From the opening credits to the film’s soundtrack, how does the direction and digital-age cinematography of A Study in Pinkreflect Moffat’s fast-paced vision of Holmes?
5. How does the availability of cell phones, GPS, and the Internet challenge the conventions of the old-fashioned detective story? How does this film use those devices to update the Holmes stories plausibly, yet still retain the central idea that any technology—whether it be the early forensic science of the original stories or a Google search in this version—is merely another tool for a detective with a superior mind? Do you think the filmmakers matched the right modern technology with Holmes’s character? For instance, why do you think they chose to have him text and create a Web site rather than a Facebook page or a Twitter account?
6. What other mysteries have you read or watched lately that use current technology? Read a brief overview of the history of the genre at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/hound/tg_mystery.html. What “commandments” does the genre still have to obey today, regardless of how society has changed?
7. Just as Holmes and Watson pursue the mystery of the “serial suicides” in A Study in Pink, viewers of the film are attempting to unravel the mystery of Holmes’s character as they watch him interact with other characters. Since A Study in Pinkis the first in a series of three films, how do creators Moffat and Gatiss entice viewers to continue watching the series? For instance, which of Holmes’s relationships seem to have an emotionally fraught backstory that has not yet been revealed? What other unanswered questions remain at the end of A Study in Pink?
8. Moffat and Gatiss have revealed that they were inspired by a number of previous film adaptations of Holmes, most notably those starring Basil Rathbone, as well as Billy Wilder’s The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. There have been dozens of film interpretations of Holmes; many popular television characters have also been modelled after Holmes, including Adrian Monk of Monk, Gregory House of House(even his name is a play on “Holmes”), Robert Goren of Law and Order: Criminal Intent, and a certain famous extraterrestrial. “What’s Mr. Spock,” Mark Feeney noted in a 2008 Boston Globe article, “but Holmes sent into space with pointy ears? There’s the same stunning intellect—and stunning lack of emotion.” Choose another Sherlock Holmes film or a television show that features a Holmesian detective. What are the essential characteristics that appear in these adaptations? What elements do Moffat and Gatiss echo? Of all the Sherlock Holmes versions you know or have viewed, which one is your favorite, and why?
9. Try your hand at Holmesian deduction at a Sherlock viewing party with one of the following simple parlor games:
   a) At some point during the gathering, ask everyone in the room to relinquish the same everyday object they’re likely to have with them—a set of keys, a wallet, or a cell phone, for instance. Have them do this in secret, perhaps by carrying the object to another room and putting it in a bag, and have them remove or conceal any aspect of the object that makes ownership obvious, such as a driver’s license. Then have the group look together at all the keys or wallets arrayed in one place and sleuth out which object belongs to which person in the room and why. In general, what clues about ourselves do we give away without knowing it?
   b) Before the gathering, cover a tray with seven to ten ordinary but varied objects, such as a mug, a book, or a scarf. Have the tray in the room where you are gathering, placed somewhere where the guests will see it but where it is unobtrusive. Do not call attention to the tray, but at some point take it out of the room. Then ask participants to write down as many objects as they noticed and remembered in as much detail as possible. Bring the tray back in to see who noticed the most and in the greatest detail.