Up For Discussion...

[laurtew.livejournal.com]

Hey, everyone. Hope your week has been going well.

Our discussion from last week (well, okay, Monday really, but...) went very well. I had a great time and I adore seeing everyone else's point of view.

So, today we have a new topic. The most brilliant Scandalbaby sent me this:


The Link: http://www.entertainmentwise.com/news/140592/Benedict-Cumberbatch-On-Sherlocks-Devastatingly-Cruel-Love-Life


Benedict Cumberbatch on Sherlock’s “Devastatingly Cruel” Love Life

The series three conclusion of Sherlock was full of surprises, with fans of the reclusive super sleuth, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, even treated to a bit of romance.
His Last Vow aired in the UK last month, and aside from the return of Moriarty and the secret identity of Mrs John Watson, viewers also saw Sherlock proposing to pretty bridesmaid from episode two, Janine.

Just when we thought the confirmed bachelor had gone and got himself a girl it turned out it was all a ruse to get close to new super villain Magnussen.
In a behind the scenes interview with Benedict and show creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss on the soon to be released DVD of the series, the trio explain the the decision to have Sherlock break a woman's heart.

"In the original story, he does become engaged to Milverton's maid," MTV News report Gatiss as explaining on the DVD. "Heartlessly, which is what Steven has extrapolated into this thing."

Gatiss and Moffat go on to laugh about how Watson's (Martin Freeman) reaction to Sherlock was spot on: "But you're behaving like a human being here!" Gatiss says, laughing.

"You think it's nice, he's become humanised," Moffat continues. "He knows how to do all that, but he exploits it to terrible ends."

"It's devastatingly cruel, what he does," Cumberbatch chimes in. "He inveigles his way back into her life and impresses her, and turns his ability on to a single focus."

At a Q&A ahead of the last episode last month, Moffat explained that such scenes, along with glimpses of the detective's parents, were all about humanising the character:

"The frightening thing about Sherlock Holmes is that he has all the impulses that other human beings have, he just suppresses them in order to be a better detective and it's in those moments that he doesn't successfully suppress it that he gets into trouble.

"He believes that emotion gets in the way of his brilliant brain. On the evidence of the show so far and on the original stories, he's completely right. When he gets emotional, he gets blinded, he doesn't stop Mary as a fraud like he should have had, as she points out in the episode, ages ago."

---------------

What is your favourite part of this? Do you agree with what they say about Sherlock and emotions?

Comments

[laurtew.livejournal.com]

Autistic doesn't mean not able to understand emotions. I have a son who has Asperger's and he doesn't understand the social cues, but he gets emotions. He may not understand how what he said upset people, but he gets that he upset them. It's not the emotions themselves that are a mystery, but the social interactions that confuse him. Why would telling someone that yes, that dress looks horrible on them make them upset? They asked, he answered, he let them know they should never wear that colour, so why are they hurt? He understands they are hurt, just not why. It's the complex verbal and non-verbal back and forth and the subtle social cues that elude him. He's very straight forward. If he asks if the paper he wrote is good, he expects you to tell him, even if it's not. After all, how can he fix it if you don't say, "hey, this whole paragraph here is just horrible." Likewise, if you ask him if the paper you wrote is good, he'll tell you right out if it's not. None of this, "well, I like this part here, but maybe you could flesh out this paragraph." No, you'll get, "Seriously? Why did you think this was a good idea?"

As to Sherlock, if he is autistic, (which hasn't actually been said. In Hound, John jokingly said to Greg that Sherlock had Asperger's, but there's been no official statement he is.) I think that somewhere along the way, he learned that yes, he does upset people, but he has no clue how to fix it, so why get fussed about it. He learned that people won't like him, so getting himself in a knot trying to please people will fail. It's easier to just be himself and to heck with everyone else. (Maybe he learned that at boarding school when his parents weren't there to help him? I know with my son, if he has a day where someone is actually upset at him, he asks me to point out where he went off and how to walk it back. If he didn't have our family to consult, I could see the frustration would build up until he just shut it all down and decided people weren't worth it.)

Do I think Sherlock is autistic? I'm not sure. After all, Mycroft is not only the same way, but he does it to a further extent. He can be polite in public, he's learned to pretend to care, but he is unable to actually make any meaningful emotional connections to the point where it pains him to admit he even cares for his own brother. How could the two brothers both turn out that way if it isn't a learned behaviour? It seems even more odd when you look at their parents. They are both outwardly caring and very socially normal, so how the heck did the boys turn out so emotionally inept? (And really, what kind of brother would tell a small child he was stupid and the East Wind was going to come get him? I mean, siblings tease each other and fight, but to tell a seven year old he is just stupid is cruel. (especially when you consider Mycroft was about 14 at the time and should have had more compassion for a small child.))

Anyway, if Sherlock does have autism, that doesn't mean he can't understand emotions. It just means he has to work a bit harder to get there.

[angelachristian.livejournal.com]

You expressed it much better than I did with my short "he doesn't understand emotions" -statement.
More precisely he doesn't understand the impact of his words on people and that his behaviour is perceived as rude/mean/aggressiv and unsuitable.

I watch "The Big Bang Theroy" as well and would call Sheldon autistic and use the same "he doesn't understand emotions" -phrase when he tells somebody something mean without noticing at all. In that case, I would compare him and Sherlock to people with touret syndrom , who aren't to blame for their rudness/mean behaviour , because it's part of a disease/disability and not their intention to be mean.

But can't autism be heritable , so that siblings can have it , too ? Like in cases of other mental diseases ?
Then this has nothing to do with the behaviour of the parents. I don't know S3, yet, but Mycroft might have bullied him, because he noticed, that Sherlock was the brighter one of the two and he felt jealous ?
I don't understand that East-Wind-Expression, I'm not a native speaker of English.

But Sherlock is called a "sociopath" in the pilot, which is a clinical diagnosis that indeed means "lack of empathy" and "lack of sense of morality" and goes far beyond the idea of autism. It means he really can't feel it, not just not notice social norms.