Abstract
This chapter outlines the many rich opportunities for discussion and analysis that can be catalysed through teaching crime fiction and film. Clearly organised into three case studies, the first reconsiders the value of the ‘canon’, in terms of the complex relationship between the BBC adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles and Conan Doyle’s original text. The second focuses on the classic Hollywood version of The Big Sleep as a means to explore celebrity and commercial culture. The third moves to address film in translation, and opens up debates about industry trends through a reading of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Throughout, the chapter is attuned to student feedback and responses, and is informed by the writer’s practical experience.
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Notes
- 1.
Sherlock Holmes Baffled was directed by Arthur Marvin, but the names of the two actors are not known, and for many years the film was believed lost, until a copy was rediscovered in 1968.
- 2.
Ariane Hudelet, “Avoiding ‘Compare and Contrast’: Applied Theory as a Way to Circumvent the ‘Fidelity Issue”. Teaching Adaptations, eds. Deborah Cartmell and Imelda Whelehan, (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), p. 42.
- 3.
N.J. Schweitzer and Michael J. Saks, “The CSI Effect : Popular fiction about forensic science affects the public’s expectations about real forensic science”, Jurimetrics, 47.3 (2007) 357–364.
- 4.
Anon, “Sherlock Holmes awarded title for most portrayed literary human character in film & TV”, Guinness World Records, 14 May 2012, http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2012/5/sherlock-holmes-awarded-title-for-most-portrayed-literary-human-character-in-film-tv-41743. Accessed 5 August 2016.
- 5.
Albert Schinz “The Problem of the One-Year Literature Survey Course Again”, The Modern Language Journal, 10.1 (1926) 345–348.
- 6.
Kevin J. Wetmore Jr., “Adaptation: Review”, Theatre Journal, 66.4 (2014) 625–634.
- 7.
Vanessa Thorpe, “Sherlock Holmes is back… sending texts and using nicotine patches”, The Guardian, 18 July 2010, https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2010/jul/18/sherlock-holmes-is-back-bbc. Accessed 5 August 2016.
- 8.
Serena Davies, “Sherlock, BBC One, Review”, The Telegraph, 23 July 2010, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/7907566/Sherlock-BBC-One-review.html. Accessed 5 August 2016.
- 9.
Anne Midgette, “The Art of the Update”, The Washington Post, 10 September 2010 http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-classical-beat/2010/09/the_art_of_the_update.html. Accessed 5 August 2016.
- 10.
Neil McCraw, Adapting Detective Fiction: Crime, Englishness, and the TV Detectives, (London: Continuum, 2011) p39.
- 11.
John Teti, “Sherlock: ‘The Hounds of Baskerville’”, The AV Club, 13 May 2012, http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/sherlock-the-hounds-of-baskerville-73734. Accessed 5 August 2016.
- 12.
Linda Hutcheon, A Theory of Adaptation, (New York: Routledge, 2006) xi.
- 13.
Betsy Rosenblatt, “Sherlock Holmes Fan Fiction”, The Baker Street Journal, 62.4 (2012) 33–43.
- 14.
Tom Steward, “Holmes in the Small Screen: The Television Contexts of Sherlock”, Sherlock and Transmedia Fandom: Essays on the BBC Series, eds. Louisa Ellen Stein and Kristina Busse (Jefferson: McFarland, 2012) p141.
- 15.
James Monaco, “Notes on The Big Sleep, Thirty Years After”, Sight and Sound 44.1 (1974) 34–38.
- 16.
Deborah Cartmell, “Teaching Adaptation Through Marketing: Adaptations and the Language of Advertising in the 1930s”, Teaching Adaptations, eds. Deborah Cartmell and Imelda Whelehan, (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014) p165.
- 17.
Lisa Stead, “Letter Writing, Cinemagoing and Archive Ephemera”, The Boundaries of the Literary Archive: Reclamation and Representation, eds. Lisa Stead and Carrie Smith, (Farnham: Ashgate, 2013) p. 140.
- 18.
Anon, “Will the Goody-Goody Heroine Survive?” Picturegoer, October 1946. The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum.
- 19.
Helen Hanson, “The Big Seduction: Feminist Film Criticism and the Femme Fatale”, The Femme Fatale: Images, Histories, Contexts, eds. Helen Hanson and Catherine O’Rawe, (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010) p. 241.
- 20.
Virginia Wright Wexman, “Kinesics and Film Acting: Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep and The Maltese Falcon”, Journal of Popular Film and Television, 7.1 (1978) 42–55.
- 21.
Philip French, “The Big Sleep – Review”, The Guardian, 2 January 2011, https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jan/02/the-big-sleep-review. Accessed 5 August 2016.
- 22.
Chris White qtd. in Alison Flood, “Translated fiction sells better in the UK than English fiction, research finds”, The Guardian, 9 May 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/may/09/translated-fiction-sells-better-uk-english-fiction-elena-ferrante-haruki-murakami. Accessed 5 August 2016.
- 23.
Barry Forshaw, Death in a Cold Climate: A Guide to Scandinavian Crime Fiction, (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), p. 186.
- 24.
Karen Seago, “Crime (fiction) in translation”, The Journal of Specialised Translation, 22.1 (2014) 2–14.
- 25.
T.W. “Translating film titles: It wasn’t the dragon tattoo”, The Economist, 18 August 2010, http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2010/08/translating_film_titles. Accessed 5 August 2016.
- 26.
Alex Berenson, “Vanished”, The New York Times, 14 September 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/books/review/Berenson-t.html. Accessed 5 August 2016.
- 27.
Barry Forshaw, p9.
- 28.
For more on this topic, see Rachel Carroll, “Coming Soon… Teaching the Contemporaneous Adaptation”, Teaching Adaptations, eds. Deborah Cartmell and Imelda Whelehan, (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014).
- 29.
The course is assessed by a 2000-word critical analysis of a protagonist not studied on the course, a 20-minute group presentation, and a 3000-word final essay. The rubric for the presentation and the final essay asks that students consider at least two texts, at least one of which must be from the syllabus.
Works Cited
Anon. “Sherlock Holmes Awarded Title for Most Portrayed Literary Human Character in Film & TV.” Guinness World Records, 14 May 2012, http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2012/5/sherlock-holmes-awarded-title-for-most-portrayed-literary-human-character-in-film-tv-41743. Accessed 5 August 2016.
Anon. “Will the Goody-Goody Heroine Survive?” Picturegoer, October 1946. The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum, Exeter.
Berenson, Alex. “Vanished.” The New York Times, 14 September 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/books/review/Berenson-t.html. Accessed 5 August 2016.
Cartmell, Deborah. “Teaching Adaptation Through Marketing: Adaptations and the Language of Advertising in the 1930s.” In Teaching Adaptations, edited by Deborah Cartmell and Imelda Whelehan, 157–170. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
Davies, Serena. “Sherlock, BBC One, Review.” The Telegraph, 23 July 2010, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/7907566/Sherlock-BBC-One-review.html. Accessed 5 August 2016.
Flood, Alison. “Translated Fiction Sells Better in the UK than English Fiction, Research Finds.” The Guardian, 9 May 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/may/09/translated-fiction-sells-better-uk-english-fiction-elena-ferrante-haruki-murakami. Accessed 5 August 2016.
Forshaw, Barry. Death in a Cold Climate: A Guide to Scandinavian Crime Fiction. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.
French, Philip. “The Big Sleep – Review.” The Guardian, 2 January 2011, https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jan/02/the-big-sleep-review. Accessed 5 August 2016.
Hanson, Helen. “The Big Seduction: Feminist Film Criticism and the Femme Fatale.” In The Femme Fatale: Images, Histories, Contexts, edited by Helen Hanson and Catherine O’Rawe, 214–228. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.
Hudelet, Ariane. “Avoiding ‘Compare and Contrast’: Applied Theory as a Way to Circumvent the ‘Fidelity Issue’.” In Teaching Adaptations, edited by Deborah Cartmell and Imelda Whelehan, 41–55. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
Hutcheon, Linda. A Theory of Adaptation. New York: Routledge, 2006.
McCraw, Neil. Adapting Detective Fiction: Crime, Englishness, and the TV Detectives. London: Continuum, 2011.
Midgette, Anne. “The Art of the Update.” The Washington Post, 10 September 2010, http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-classical-beat/2010/09/the_art_of_the_update.html. Accessed 5 August 2016.
Monaco, James. “Notes on The Big Sleep, Thirty Years After.” Sight and Sound, 44.1 (1974) 34–38.
Rosenblatt, Betsy. “Sherlock Holmes Fan Fiction.” The Baker Street Journal, 62.4 (2012) 33–43.
Schinz, Albert. “The Problem of the One-Year Literature Survey Course Again.” The Modern Language Journal, 10.1 (1926) 345–348.
Schweitzer, N.J. and Michael J. Saks. “The CSI Effect: Popular Fiction About Forensic Science Affects the Public’s Expectations About Real Forensic Science.” Jurimetrics, 47.3 (2007) 357–364.
Seago, Karen. “Crime (Fiction) in Translation.” The Journal of Specialised Translation, 22.1 (2014) 2–14.
Stead, Lisa. “Letter Writing, Cinemagoing and Archive Ephemera.” In The Boundaries of the Literary Archive: Reclamation and Representation, edited by Lisa Stead and Carrie Smith, 139–156. Farnham: Ashgate, 2013.
Steward, Tom. “Holmes in the Small Screen: The Television Contexts of Sherlock.” In Sherlock and Transmedia Fandom: Essays on the BBC Series, edited by Louisa Ellen Stein and Kristina Busse, 133–148. Jefferson: McFarland, 2012.
Teti, John. “Sherlock: ‘The Hounds of Baskerville’.” The AV Club, 13 May 2012, http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/sherlock-the-hounds-of-baskerville-73734. Accessed 5 August 2016.
Thorpe, Vanessa. “Sherlock Holmes Is Back… Sending Texts and Using Nicotine Patches.” The Guardian, 18 July 2010, https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2010/jul/18/sherlock-holmes-is-back-bbc. Accessed 5 August 2016.
T.W. “Translating Film Titles: It Wasn’t the Dragon Tattoo.” The Economist, 18 August 2010, http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2010/08/translating_film_titles. Accessed 5 August 2016.
Wetmore, Kevin J. “Adaptation: Review.” Theatre Journal, 66.4 (2014) 625–634.
Wexman, Virginia Wright. “Kinesics and Film Acting: Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep and The Maltese Falcon.” Journal of Popular Film and Television, 7.1 (1978) 42–55.
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Harris, S. (2018). Teaching Crime Fiction and Film. In: Beyer, C. (eds) Teaching Crime Fiction. Teaching the New English. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90608-9_9
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