the times | Saturday November 14 2020 1GM 39
Comment
characters, is evolving, complex and
sometimes contradictory. Chopping
him up into phases and
characteristics for the purposes of
copyright is a bizarre way to
approach literature. Every character
in a written series, from Bertie
Wooster to James Bond, is slightly
different at different times, yet finally
a single imagined being.
Holmes is infinitely adaptable, and
every age crafts a Sherlock in its own
image. Over the years he has been
cartooned, lampooned and
psychoanalysed, depicted as a child,
a homosexual, an anti-Nazi hero and
a lunatic; he has been translated to
the stage, television, radio and over
100 films, played variously by Basil
Rathbone, Peter Cushing, Benedict
Cumberbatch, Robert Downey Jr
and Ian McKellen. If Cavill plays
Holmes as “emotionally connected”,
that has less to do with violating
copyright than reflecting modern
male behaviour.
The real reason for the Enola
Holmes lawsuit lies in the 1998 US
Copyright Term Extension Act,which prolonged copyright from 75
years to 95 years after publication.
This is also known as the “Mickey
Mouse Protection Act”, since it has
kept Steamboat Willie, the first
Disney film featuring Mickey, under
copyright.
The great Conan Doyle copyright
saga will end in 2023, when the last
story slips into the public domain.
But the copyright on Steamboat
Willie is due to expire the following
year. Will the anthropomorphic
mouse with the yellow shoes be
made available for adaptation by
anyone? Will Disney argue that only
the simple character portrayed in the
first cartoon is in the public domain,
while the later, more sophisticated
Mickey remains under copyright. Or
will the law step in to protect The
Mouse once again?
The game’s afoot. And it is quite a
three-pipe problem.Holmes is adaptable,
and every age crafts
him in its own image
Sherlock Holmes and a curiously cuddly case
A legal battle over the great detective’s emotions shows how fictional characters acquire a life of their own
Ben
Macintyre@benmacintyre1
E
lementary, it is not. In fact,
the Adventure of the Bizarre
Copyright may be the most
complicated Sherlock
Holmes case to date, a
baffling mystery involving an army
of copyright lawyers, a disputed
literary legacy, the psychological
profiling of the great fictional
detective and Mickey Mouse.
The estate of Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle is suing Netflix over the film
Enola Holmes, based on the young
adult novels by Nancy Springer, in
which Millie Bobby Brown plays
Holmes’s independent-minded
younger sister, solving cases
of her own.
In Britain, all of
Conan Doyle’s works
have been in the
public domain since
2000, 70 years after
his death, but in the
US, where the suit
has been filed, the
handful of stories
written between
1923 and 1927 are still
under copyright. The
Holmes portrayed in
these later works, the
estate claims, is markedly
different from his earlier
incarnation: warmer, cuddlier
and more human, in contrast to the
cocaine-fuelled, unfeeling super-
brain of the early Sherlock.
The Sherlock in Enola Holmes,
played by Henry Cavill, known for
portraying Superman, is touchy-feely
and emotionally aware, say Conan
Doyle’s heirs, and therefore the film
infringes copyright.
For amateur sleuths, the case
hinges on whether the later Holmes
really does show substantially
different character traits in the later
stories, and if so, why.
In The Greek Interpreter (1893)
Watson describes Holmes as “a brain
without a heart”. Aloof
and unemotional, he
has no time for
feelings, friendship
or women. “I am a
brain, Watson,” he
says in a later story.
“The rest of me is a
mere appendix.” He
treats his closest
companion with little
evident warmth. Holmes
does not even congratulate
Watson when he announces
he is marrying Mary Morstan.
He prefers Watson quiet and
biddable: “You have the grand gift of
silence, Watson.”
The First World War changed not
only Conan Doyle, his heirs argue,
but also his most famous character.
The author lost both his eldest son
and his brother to the conflict. He
became increasingly fascinated by
spiritualism. The complaint alleges
that in the stories written after 1923,
a very different detective emerged:
“Holmes became warmer. He
became capable of friendship. He
could express emotion. He began to
respect women.” He even displaysaffection for dogs, of the non-
Baskerville variety.
The most famous evidence used to
suggest that Holmes has developed
empathy comes in the 1924 story
The Three Garridebs, in which
Watson is shot in the leg. Holmes is
frantic with concern: “You’re
not hurt Watson? For God’s
sake, say that you are not
hurt?”
“It was worth a wound,”
observes Watson. “It was worth
many wounds, to know the depth
of loyalty and love which lay
behind that cold mask... for
the one and only time I caught
a glimpse of a great heart as
well as a great brain.”
So that, as far as the Conan
Doyle estate is concerned, is
case closed: anyone who
depicts Holmes as a
compassionate, caring, dog-
loving detective is in breach
and should cough up.
But as in all Holmes
stories, the truth is elusive.
Conan Doyle was
inconsistent in his portrait
of Holmes. The detectivedisplayed emotion long before 1923.
In The Naval Treaty (1893) he goes all
wobbly over a rose: “Its smell and
colour are an embellishment of life.”
In A Scandal in Bohemia (1891) he is
clearly smitten by Irene Adler, an
American opera singer. Watson
insists “He never spoke of the
softer passions, save with a gibe
and a sneer,” yet “to Sherlock
Holmes she is always the
woman... In his eyes she
eclipses and predominates the
whole of her sex.”
As for Watson, while
Holmes may treat
him dismissively in
the early works, he
has great affection
for his sidekick.
The detachment is
a “mask”. It is
only after he has
been shot that
Watson, who is
not very bright,
realises this, in a
“moment of
revelation”.
Holmes, like
most literaryEnola Holmes, above, shows a warmer Sherlock than Ian McKellen, left, and Benedict Cumberbatch playedSPLASH NEWSstep ahead, having signed a lucrative
deal with Specsavers promoting eye
tests, but is now contractually obliged
to change his name to Barnard Castle.
Keir Starmer says something.
Although soon after, nobody can
quite remember what it was. His spin
doctor, Lee Cain, resigns to join the
Lib Dems. Jeremy Corbyn says he
now has more than a million
signatures on his petition to be
allowed back into Labour. And
no they aren’t all in his own
handwriting. And no that’s not
compost.
Nicola Sturgeon says that
winning 100 per cent of the
vote in Scottish elections gives
her a mandate for a second
independence referendum.
Johnson refuses her request,
in part because he fears the
break-up of the Union, but
mainly because he still enjoysthe novelty of saying no to a woman.
Nigel Farage relaunches his political
party again, determined to find a way
to not become an MP for an eighth
time. Joe Biden says he is still happy
to give time for Donald Trump to
come to terms with losing before
having him removed from the White
House but is worried about the smell.
Prince Andrew has completed his
takeover of Pizza Express. Harry and
Meghan announce plans to step back
and become financially independent
from the institution of Netflix. It
follows poor ratings for their series
We Are The Way, The Truth and The
Light and Meghan missing out on the
part of Meghan in The Crown. They
will instead focus on FreshHeir, their
range of scented candles, plug-ins
and urinal blocks.
And the Queen reflects on 70
years on the throne and thinks: it
feels longer.Jubilee 2022
will be just
like Lockdown
2020, with
the same
cast of stars
I
t’s June 2022. Britain prepares to
mark the Queen’s Platinum
Jubilee with a four-day bank
holiday weekend, as announced
by ministers this week who
apparently don’t have anything more
pressing to attend to.
It is often remarked that Boris
Johnson’s administration is
excessively optimistic. There is
perhaps no greater symbol of this
than, well, how to put this delicately:
announcing a party in two years’
time for a 94-year-old woman. Still,
it’s a treat for the nation to be told to
stay at home while offices and shops
are shut. What a delightful change
that will be. What, though, will life
be like 18 months from now?
Boris Johnson will mark the start
of the long holiday weekend by
reassuring the nation that a return to
normal is possible in a few weeks. He
says he hopes everyone can enjoy
their jubilee celebrations, while
sticking to legal restrictions which
limit the number of people able to
attend street parties to just one.
The message will be delivered not
from the No 10 lectern once used for
press conferences but the One Show-
style set installed in Downing Street
to project a softer, more approachable
image. He will be joined on the Tory
blue sofa by his co-presenter/deputy
PM/ex-wife Carrie.
“Coming up on The Ten Show later,
Michael Gove will be here with some
new advice for businesses getting
ready for Brexit at the end of the post-
transitional adaptational period.”
Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak is facing
questions over his plan to tackle the
£8 trillion deficit by using his
4.5 million Instagram followers to
advertise diet supplements and
protein shakes as an influencer.
Dominic Cummings is already oneMatt Chorley
Listen to Matt Chorley
every Monday to
Thursday, 10am to 1pmcasesedly
ier
cuddlier
ontrast to thewit
an
ha
fe
o
b
sa
“T
me
tre
com
evide
dddoes no
WWWWatson w
hhhhe is marrying
He prefers WatsoEnola