why people love sherlock holmes?

[maj.wia 0]

hi! i'm doing a school project about sherlock holmes and i have to find out why people love sherlock holmes so much? would you like to explain me why you're a fan of him? where did you know him from? thank you for all answers and have a nice day!

[besleybean 1,280]

I knew him from Arthur Conan Doyle's stories.

[Arcadia 18,397]

I'm not sure, but I think my first awareness of Sherlock Holmes was from the Basil Rathbone movies.

Why do I love him? I don't think I ever "loved" any of the Holmes' except BBC Sherlock, but I always enjoyed the various movies, I think because they were clever. (Or seemed clever. ) I like smart, clever things.

Why do I "love" BBC Sherlock? I don't really understand it, but for some reason I see myself reflected in him, and I think that's why I love him. There aren't very many shows (or movies, or books) where I can say "That's the way I feel!" But that's how I reacted to BBC Sherlock.

[Hikari 1,223]

On 1/18/2019 at 9:06 AM, maj.wia said:

hi! i'm doing a school project about sherlock holmes and i have to find out why people love sherlock holmes so much? would you like to explain me why you're a fan of him? where did you know him from? thank you for all answers and have a nice day!

I first 'met' the Great Detective through two books in my middle school library when I was about 13:  The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.  I've always been drawn to mystery stories, even before this, so I liked these books well enough, though the central characters--two middle-aged Victorian gentlemen--didn't share anything in common with my life as I knew it.  I'd like to say I was a Sherlockian from that moment, but  . .not really.  It would be many  years before I picked up another Holmes story, but I did continue to follow the adventures of the Great Detective via my other favorite medium of film.  I have seen most of the popular films made since the 1970s featuring SH.  

It wasn't until BBC Sherlock drew to a close that I recommitted myself to serious Sherlockian reading.  A friend threw down the challenge to read the entire Canon, which I did, collecting along the way hundreds of other pastiche stories about Holmes and his Doctor.    

Why do I love Sherlock Holmes?  I love him for his mass of contradictions that makes him such a fascinating and ultimately human character.   Holmes has a great brain, but he's not just a reasoning machine, devoid of human emotions and frailties.  He'd like people to believe that.  He wishes it were true of himself.  To me, Sherlock's heart and his passions are quite nearly the equal of his great brain, but he has trained himself through rigorous discipline of mind and body to master his 'human' side in service to the science of deduction.  He is very good at it . . but his secret is that he actually feels as deeply as he thinks, and this humanity slips out at times despite  himself.  The character of his trusted sidekick and best friend Watson allows Sherlock to show those aspects of himself in the safety of his  home and this rock-solid companion which he keeps hidden from much of the rest of the world.   Holmes is the full range of humanity packaged in the form of a man of logic and deduction.  

Sherlock Holmes is a mystery wrapped in an enigma whom we catch tantalizing glimpses of.  He is a man of hidden sorrows and he carries  the great burden of his intellect, that quality which sets him apart and makes him without peer in the world . .(save one--his brother).  He has got faults, and Watson usually takes the brunt of them . . but on another level, SH has some Christlike tendencies.  He's more than human, and yet very human at the same time.  Has very few trusted friends, but to those he is very loyal in his own way . . and he is fundamentally Good, always choosing Justice over the law when he must choose.  For a man who says he doesn't much like his fellow man, he consistently demonstrates Love toward them in the broadest sense.

He's quite a creation . . this man who never lived and so can never die.  He's Real like the Velveteen Rabbit is Real . . because he is so beloved by so many and has been for 140+ years.   Sherlock Holmes makes me want to be a better version of myself.  What a feat for a fictional character.

[besleybean 1,280]

Actually thinking about it,  I may have at least seen the Rathbone films before I read any Conan Doyle...I think Jeremey Brett's version was later.

[HerlockSholmes 933]

I was going to comment but I can’t really do better than ‘ditto’ Hikari’s comments.

I discovered Holmes as a child through the Rathbone/Bruce movies that besleybean mentions. I still love them. I’ve got colorised ones. Ones with documentaries. Ones with commentaries. And a great book on the series by Dennis Hoey’s son. (He was the actor that played Lestrade for those that aren’t as sad as me - which is all of you basically🙂)

Besleybean those movies were between 1939 and 46. The Brett series was between 1984 and 1994 just before Brett died.

After the movies I got the Complete Sherlock Holmes as a birthday present when other kids wanted bikes. I read it cover to cover then started again. Err...and again.

Whats strange is that it’s been a considerable time since I read anything from the Canon. Like Hikari I tend to read a lot of pastiches (as well as Solar Pons stories) so the Canon has been neglected. When I finally get near the bottom of my ‘to read’ pile I’ll have to revisit the original stories.

[Carol the Dabbler 14,208]

2 hours ago, HerlockSholmes said:

I discovered Holmes as a child through the Rathbone/Bruce movies that besleybean mentions. I still love them. I’ve got colorised ones. Ones with documentaries. Ones with commentaries. And a great book on the series by Dennis Hoey’s son. (He was the actor that played Lestrade for those that aren’t as sad as me - which is all of you basically🙂)

Hey, I know who Dennis Hoey is (was?)!!!  I loved his Lestrade, and didn't think he was near the bumbler that the commentator did. 

Admittedly we just finished watching all the Rathbone/Bruce movies a few weeks ago, but I'm a credits reader, and tend to remember at least a few of the names.

2 hours ago, HerlockSholmes said:

Whats strange is that it’s been a considerable time since I read anything from the Canon. Like Hikari I tend to read a lot of pastiches (as well as Solar Pons stories) so the Canon has been neglected. When I finally get near the bottom of my ‘to read’ pile.....

Yeah, like that's gonna happen! 

[HerlockSholmes 933]

Sorry Carol,

‘of course you know who Dennis Hoey is👍

[Carol the Dabbler 14,208]

Alas, he's a "was" now.

I looked him up, and was a bit surprised to see that Hoey was a stage name.  I don't recall ever hearing it before, but apparently it's an Irish name that isn't particularly common in many parts of the US (including this one).  Is it fairly common in the UK?