SOCIOPATHIC SHERLOCK, HALLUCINOGENIC BASKERVILLES HOUND: ADAPTATIONS OF THE CLASSICAL DETECTIVE STORY FOR TELEVISION

Abstract

The story “The Hound of the Baskervilles” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is one of the classic detective plots that has been adapted many times for cinema and television since 1914. Adaptations of the 2010s: The British television series “Sherlock” and the American television series “Elementary” are remakes of the literary primary source, presenting the ultramodern world, full of cutting-edge technology. The image of Sherlock Holmes in these adaptations is deviant, which corresponds to modern trends of popular culture. Adaptation of the story “The Hound of the Baskervilles” in these series modifies the genre of the Gothic mystery towards the paranormal thriller, criminal drama and conspiratorial detective. Television versions express the phobia of a contemporary person towards military technology, genetic modifications, inventions that can fall into the hands of an immoral person and become instrumental in the crime. The investigation leads Sherlock Holmes and his assistant to a secret military base or a secret laboratory of the Innovation Foundation, which is commissioned by the military. The Gothic monster itself – the hound of Baskervilles – acquires a hallucinogenic nature. The adaptations use the plot lines, system of characters of the original literary text, but their functions and characteristics appear in a modified form. Gothic elements refer to dangerous terrain or secret object, building or base. The story line, related to the pragmatic motive of the crime, remains actually unchanged. In both adaptations there is an additional plot line that humanizes the image of Sherlock Holmes, softens his rational nature and eccentric skills. However, in modern remakes there is no love story, as in the original text of the tale. The television adaptation of “The Hound of the Baskervilles” of the 2010s proves the flexibility of the plot of the classic detective by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, that maintains psychological and moral conflicts, local coloring and intrigue.