The Increasingly-Fine Line Between Text and Subtext
A few years ago, when Prince Caspian hit the theatres, I was struck with a thought. The creators of the film made the interesting decision to invent a bit of a romance between Caspian and Susan which was not present in the source material. And no one really batted an eye. (Well, hardly anyone.) As someone who grew up reading the Narnia books, and who now writes fanfic, I am totally cool with this sort of non-canonical romance. But the portrayal of Caspian/Susan on the big screen made me wonder how long it would be before we would see, say, Caspian/Peter. It's just a different pairing, not present in the source material. What's the big deal? But it would be, to some.
I'm starting to think that the day may not be as far off as I once thought. Because Sherlock Holmes. The Holmes fandom is one of the oldest out there. In fact, it could be argued that it was the first true fandom, as we think of the term today. More than eighty years after Arthur Conan Doyle's death, his books and the characters he created are still enormously popular. We see them brought to life time and again on the big and small screens. In just the past few years, we have Fox's House, the BBC's Sherlock, and a pair of Guy Ritchie films. And the subtext is getting closer and closer to the surface, to the point where it's barely "sub" at all. The actors, writers, and directors talk about it. Fandom is ablaze with it. Hell, I haven't even seen the Ritchie films, or the new episodes of Sherlock (DO NOT SPOIL ME!), but there's no way to avoid hearing that Holmes/Watson is practically canon anymore.
Is this progress? What would Doyle think, and does that really matter? Will we start to see similar things happening in other popular adaptations of beloved classics? I guess we'll see.
I'm starting to think that the day may not be as far off as I once thought. Because Sherlock Holmes. The Holmes fandom is one of the oldest out there. In fact, it could be argued that it was the first true fandom, as we think of the term today. More than eighty years after Arthur Conan Doyle's death, his books and the characters he created are still enormously popular. We see them brought to life time and again on the big and small screens. In just the past few years, we have Fox's House, the BBC's Sherlock, and a pair of Guy Ritchie films. And the subtext is getting closer and closer to the surface, to the point where it's barely "sub" at all. The actors, writers, and directors talk about it. Fandom is ablaze with it. Hell, I haven't even seen the Ritchie films, or the new episodes of Sherlock (DO NOT SPOIL ME!), but there's no way to avoid hearing that Holmes/Watson is practically canon anymore.
Is this progress? What would Doyle think, and does that really matter? Will we start to see similar things happening in other popular adaptations of beloved classics? I guess we'll see.