*NO Major spoilers ahead*
Enola Holmes is the latest Netflix release that has quickly become the talk of the town. The film captured the attention of Sherlockians when Netflix was sued by the Doyle estate for the depiction of the legendary detective being ‘too humanly’.
This consulting detective has one of the most dedicated fan bases, that almost 150 years after his first appearance, still continues to produce new content. In fact it has become difficult to keep track of the details of the original work due to the number of adaptations, inspired works and spinoffs. When they go back to the original Doyle’s books, fans of “the visual-Sherlock Holmes” are pleasantly surprised as many details are changed (for better and sometimes,worse) to suit the mass media.
An interesting review that I read about this Netflix release prompted me to write this post. It declared that this film is the solution to “The Case of the Missing Women” in Sherlockverse. It is true that despite its huge female fan-following, the world of Sherlock is devoid of any impressionable female characters and the original story’s depiction of women, despite many different adaptations and settings , still borders on blatant stereotyping and casual sexism that get easily lost amidst the audience’s awe over Sherlock’s intellect. This film is an excellent balance to the universe of Holmes and its rave response suggests the importance of representation in literature and media.
The time-period of original Sherlock Holmes narratives was at the backdrop of the late Victorian era with its advent of science ,growing industrialisation, logic vs faith – all of which was captured in Doyle’s writings. But the author seemed to focus all his energies into wilfully ignoring another historical event that formed a backdrop of his era – The Suffragist Movement. BBC’s attempt at picturing Sherlock at the backdrop of the Victorian suffragette movement seemed forced and to be honest , a mansplained version. But the latest Enola Holmes seems to address the problem with humanity and at her hands it becomes more realistic than an obnoxious speech to a room of mute protestors.
Nancy Springer is known for her feminist point of view stories that attempts to give voice to many fictional/historical women and morally grey characters. Thus Enola Holmes came from an author who has a known history on writing about fictional sisters of many literary heroes like King Arthur and Robin Hood.This imaginary addition of a woman character reminded me of an attempt by another famous writer in the past. Virginia Woolf.
Virginia Woolf was a feminist writer and modernist who put forward a thought experiment in her famous work “A ROOM OF ONE’s OWN” where she invents a character called Judith Shakespeare- an imaginary sister of William Shakespeare. She attempts to trace the life of this non-existing woman and argues that it would have been impossible for her to have been successful or even survive despite having talents to rival that of The Bard himself.
“Any woman born with a great gift in the sixteenth century would certainly have gone crazed, shot herself, or ended her days in some lonely cottage outside the village, half witch, half wizard, feared and mocked at.”
Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own
But Springer sets Sherlock’s sister at the heart of the Suffragist England and at the hands of a reformist mother. While Woolf’s imaginary sister struggles to survive, Enola Holmes not only survives but thrives. This could be seen as an ode to the changing times and growing opportunities for women but the struggles of Enola seems to suggest that society still has a long way to reach equality.
However there are criticisms about the story being cliché too-predictable to be a part of Sherlock’s world. For hardcore Sherlockians(the term is debatable) , the film could be an “Elementary , my dear Watson “ as it is neither a nail-biting thriller nor a display of high intelligence. It’s more of a coming-of-age story and a social commentary. The original written works of Doyle about Sherlock should not be taken into consideration to judge his sister. Because she is Enola Holmes, her own person and not a shadow of her brother to place ‘pure cold reason above everything’. She is a progressive young woman in search of her identity in an indifferent world. This one-liner might seem like the plot of almost every film that is referred to as “female-centric”.(which in-fact sounds absurd)But it is the stark reality of the world from then to now.
A titbit to muse about – Can you imagine what would be Arthur Conan Doyle’s response to this extension of his creation? Let me give you a hint. Doyle was an anti-suffragist and he was so horrified at the actions of the suffragettes whom he saw as “descending to the brutish ways of men in pursuit of the right to vote.”
I guess you can imagine him rolling in his grave! ;p
Link of the review referenced : https://www.radiotimes.com/news/film/2020-09-23/enola-holmes-netflix-review-women-representation/
THE TALKING QUILL 