Character Diversity Fall 2024

I will compare Irene Adler’s character from her original depiction in Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes books and appearances in earlier media to her role as “The Woman” in the modern retelling of the classic mysteries in BBC’s Sherlock crime series. The first publication of Sherlock Holmes was released in the late 1800s and he made his first screen appearance in 1903. Since then the classic tropes of witty and brilliant characters have been re-told for decades. Irene Adler is a character who is known for her cunning and intelligence, challenging Holmes and Watson intellectually. Adlers age and physical description hold similarities through most Sherlock Holmes-based media however there are some major changes in depiction especially from Sherlock the series. In earlier versions of Irene in books and television, she diverted expectations of a woman through her intellect. However, she was still written in the confines of patriarchal roles and lacked depth outside of her relationship with Sherlock Holmes. In the modern Sherlock series, Irene Adler is a very skilled dominatrix. Her intellectual skills focus more on psychological manipulation and dominant sexuality to control her surroundings. Traditionally her intelligence was more based on resourcefulness and wisdom, not control or complexity. Her sexuality is a huge contrast to her original depictions, personally, I think it brings reward to the character. Irene’s job as a dominatrix enhances the emotionally complex moments in her story. This layer hits the audience so much harder due to the fact most people don’t consider sex workers as complex and vulnerable, mixed with her ability to challenge and often outsmart Sherlock Holmes making the shift in the characters’ power so impactful to the story. Her contrast in ability and gender representation aside, the Sherlock series approaches the character of Irene Adler as a mysterious complex force and the originals focused a lot on her role as a woman and rooted in societal norms at the time.

Antonija Primorac writes in her journal article The Naked Truth: The Postfeminist Afterlives of Irene Adler about the trend of Neo-Victorianism. To paraphrase and relate it to my comparison Neo-Victorianism is a reinterpretation of Victorian lives (Primorac,2013). Often highlighting media that interprets the Victorian era’s sexual representation in contrast to modern sexuality. Irene’s changes show societal changes through this lens. Irene Adler signifies these shifts as a symbol of modern female empowerment and resilience. Complexity and independence accentuate her in the Sherlock series as well as show how heavy and tiresome it is for a woman to hold the power she displays. This is in comparison to the more superficial struggles of womanhood in Victorian-set stories of her told in the past. Something I see in Irene’s modernization that demonstrates construction and movement is not only that she is a sex worker but that her agency and humanization hold power just as much as domination (Pinsky and Levey, 2015). Sherlock being placed in modern times opens doors to this kind of character moving margins in terms of visibility. A contemporary display of a fem fatale overt the expectations past stories displayed.

Sherlock Holmes in Arthur Doyle’s books had a trend of dismissing women as well as never really being written around them in any way (Jann, 1990). The Woman or Irene Adler was the only one he would entertain time with. She had to prove her worth intellectually to be acknowledged seriously in the books. This is seen in older TV depictions as well. Something interesting about the character change of The Woman I’ve seen is the lack of sexualization in fandoms. Fan art made of the only female character isn’t shocking but what I see is the hyper-sexual character in the modern show has a large platonic and female fanbase online as a role model in comparison to fake and imagined sexualization of the Victorian-era depiction of the original woman. So in comparison Sherlock as a man respects her more as well as fans when she is written to have agency. The television series not only shifts her but also generally includes more women and all with build storylines, complexity, and influence. Mrs. Hudson is a famous counterpart to Sherlock and Watson. Once just a quaint landlord of 221b Baker Street flat but in the show is pretty badass. Marry Watson the wife of Jhon has a winding, dark, and complex history in the show as another incredibly intelligent woman. The series also creates original characters like Molly Hooper, a quiet lab worker who at first seems clumsy and only focused on Sherlock’s romantic attention. As the series progresses her story then unravels into another intelligent complex individual who helps Sherlock and Watson. The show modernized not one but all female characters in the show in a way that doesn’t feel like forced gender inclusion to satisfy media outlets but just organic gender representation that naturally passes the Bechdel test in quite a few episodes. I hold this show and Irene specifically in very high regard, and think her transformation into this twenty-first-century woman is done impeccably.

References

Jann, Rosemary. “Sherlock Holmes Codes the Social Body.” ELH 57, no. 3 (1990): 685–708. https://doi.org/10.2307/2873238.

Pinsky, D., and T. G. Levey. “A World Turned Upside Down: Emotional Labour and the Professional Dominatrix.” Sexualities 18, no. 4 (2015): 438–458. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363460714550904.

Primorac, Antonija. 2013. “The Naked Truth: The Postfeminist Afterlives of Irene Adler.” Neo-Victorian Studies 6 (2): 89–113. https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=4199a3dd-0d84-32d9-a196-32abac85a1f5.