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Once upon a time when i was in elementary school, a girl and i were taking turns and sharing the same racquet while playing badminton.
When it was her chance to play, she washed the racquet in front of me as she was to disgusted to use a thing that i had touched just because i had leucoderma.
Same in German. I mean for the original stories and adaptions set in Victorian England it would kind of make sense since even family members once addressed each other with the formal version of 'you', although I'm not sure if we hadn't moved past this already in the late 1800s. But for all modern adaptions, this translation makes absolutely no fucking sense. I mean come on, you can't tell me that BBC Sherlock and John who were on a FIRST NAME BASIS would have addressed each other with formal 'you' (Sie) instead of 'you' (Du) until John's wedding?! Elementary's translation is even worse in that way because Joan and Sherlock address each other with Sie (formal you) until the very last episode. I mean please, they tell each other that they love one another let them say "du" (normal/informal you)
Lowkey hate how in Russian Sherlock Holmes translations (and, by extension, in adaptations in Russian, and in, like, the whole cultural tradition in general) Holmes and Watson use formal "you" with each other. It's, like, a whole Thing, seen as a something emblematic of book canon. And it doesn't really make sense!!! Yes they use last names but that was just the normal etiquette at the time even with close friends, and it's not like you have nothing to extrapolate from in Russian, because people also mostly used last names here at the time, and they did very much combine it with the informal you with their friends! There's tons of examples??? It was absolutely the done thing! Whooooo decided to translate Holmes and Watson like that >:(((
CBS’ Elementary is everything to me.
Between the “i made you breakfast” and the “i’ll see you at home” and the “when was the last time you slept?” and the “i know you didn’t eat so i brought you your leftovers” and clyde going from “pet tortoise” to “our pet tortoise” and the “we’re two people who love each other” …
They are individuals in their own right and yet depend on each other so deeply, but it’s not co-dependency, they actively choose each other everyday all the time. They are two halves of a whole but they are not incomplete as individuals, rather they lift each other up. It’s so nice to see a holmes/watson relationship that’s so unproblematic and wholesome and loving. I love this adaptation. I just love them.
Can we talk about Elementary for a moment? Because this show is so fucking amazing I can’t. The premise is questionable, to say the least. „We’re gonna make a Sherlock Holmes adaption. But what if John is a woman called Joan and what if she is American? Oh and the whole thing is set in New York.“
Best start for a horrible American washed gender swap romance adaption but nothing could be further from the truth. Usually when the gender of a character is changed from canon it is to push some strange heteronormative romance sub plot but NO not Elementary.
The PLATONIC relationship between Joan and Sherlock is so amazingly done. It is the best portrayal of a QPR (queerplatonic relationship) I have ever seen in media. And even if we don’t take qprs into account we see a rich, deep, trusting friendship full of so much love. Elementary had the guts to use the word love in a platonic way, something other Sherlock Holmes adaptions (I’m looking at you BBC) never dared to do. And this in a show where Holmes and Watson are opposite genders, so the association with romance is done even quicker. Meanwhile, we watch Watson struggle with traditional dating and amatonormativity until she finally finds happiness in her platonic partnership with Sherlock and later as a single mum.
Elementary is also the only adaption I’ve seen that really explores Holmes's addiction. Usually, even in ACD canon, his drug addiction is treated as some personality quirk. An annoying habit but nothing more. But that is not how addiction works. Especially not with hard drugs like morphine and cocaine if we look at Canon or heroin in case of BBC and Elementary. Elementary puts great focus on Sherlock's long, presumably lifelong struggle with addiction and the great strength and effort it takes for him to stay clean. It emphasizes his need for a stable support system and doesn’t downplay addiction like a lot of Sherlock Holmes adaptions do. This is amazing.
Another great thing is the casualness of how queer people are incorporated into the story. They are just there. Their queerness isn’t the focus of their story, it is just part of who they are. Mrs. Hutson is trans but the focus is on the many influential men she has had affairs with. Victims are queer. Suspects are queer. Police are queer. Queer people just exist in this show without making it a big deal.
Even tho it isn't a perfect ACD Holmes adaption especially if we look at Sherlock's character I love this show so much.