You’ve probably heard all the news of Sherlock Holmes movie projects of late. Madonna’s husband  is re-inventing Holmes as a “street-fighting man” and the guy that gave us Borat is looking at taking a turn at a comedic Holmes.  But it didn’t all really hit me until reading Scott Monty’s thoughts on it over at The Baker Street Blog.

Having been a comic book fan as well as a Sherlockian from way back,  I’ve become very familiar with what happens every time a Hollywood production company touches any comic book superhero.  The blogosphere and chatrooms light up with Sturm and Drang,  the web version of street corner preachers predicting the end of the world,  and criticisms of every little detail leaked of the upcoming film adaptation.  Reviews appear based on early script readings. Publicity shots are analyzed to a near-forensic level of detail.  And then there’s just that basic, omnipresent “This sucks” posting.

As a result, you see more and more comments about “the fans” and their reactions.  Negative fan reaction on the web has come to be expected in  every pre-release stage of any film. (In fact, one entire movie “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” was entirely based on the phenomenon.)

Back in the eighties, some friends and I had great fun over Sherlockians who would vehemently deny that we were mere “fans” of Sherlock Holmes. They’d fancy us up with words like “afficianado” or “enthusiast,” and claim we were  simply a better class of folk than “fans.” (Trekkies always seemed to come up as the sort of people we weren’t, even though there were quite a few in Sherlockiana . . . as well as comic book geeks,  science fiction nerds, bookworms, etc., etc.)  But the internet wasn’t really even moving the last time we saw a big-screen Sherlock Holmes film. Now that some high-profile projects are actually in the works, and the fans from other enthusiasms have actually gotten somewhere ahead of Sherlockians for once, we might find ourselves inadvertently sliding into the ruts they’ve already carved.

Yes, we may actually be “the fans” this time out, whether we like it or not. “The fans” never like any movie that deviates  from their personal view of a character,. “The fans” do things like vow not to buy tickets to such blasphemies.   Sometimes one has to wonder if “the fans” really even like the character whose movie they’re complaining about.  (I mean, anyone who was fond of a little comic book like Ghost Rider should just count themselves lucky that there even was a movie.) And if that’s all we can come up with, we can’t call ourselves “afficionados” and think we’re any different.

Ah, but modern culture does give us an out. If the media likes anything these days, it’s the expert.  Being an expert doesn’t have any set qualifications, require a degree, or any formal training, just a little knowledge and a bit of self-assured charm.  If we think “expert” in our responses to these upcoming movies, and not “fan,” we might just survive this thing with our mojo intact.

And before we all form our Sherlock Holmes movie lynch mobs anyway, consider a little history. Back in the seventies, a little book (and movie) call ed A Seven Per Cent Solution came out and actually did damage the reputation of Sherlock Holmes among a chunk of the general public.  While pretty well written, it did most of its business by playing the oh-so-scandalous  cocaine addiction card, skewing the Holmes legend for its own purposes and completely neutering Professor Moriarty in the process. But A Seven Per Cent Solution  also was the flagship of a Sherlock Holmes revival that we haven’t seen the likes of since.

Sure, not everything that comes out featuring Sherlock Holmes is the way we’d like it to be. But with both a “street-fighting Holmes” and a “Borat Holmes” coming out,  the casual observer is even more likely to be confused enough to check out the original Sherlock Holmes to see what’s what.  Is any publicity good publicity, as the old saying goes?  Well, if you’re dealing with a strong and solid character  as we are surely all certain  that Sherlock Holmes is (we are the fans, after all), then I suspect it is.

Your humble correspondent,

Brad Keefauver