Homoerotic subtext in Sherlock Holmes?

Director Guy Ritchie did an interview with MTV (via The Playlist) recently and talked about what MTV calls the film's "tender bromance":

"Holmes and Watson have always been that couple," Ritchie told MTV News. "My intention was to get away from the slightly stuffier, quintessential Victorian concepts of men and make them warmer and more accessibly friendly and make them more into the kinds of guys I'd liked to be friends with."

"As a heterosexual couple that at moments could seem gay, they play it off very well," Ritchie said of Holmes and Watson. "These guys are sort of in love with each other. It's real mateship. It's trying to keep that balance. You have to endear yourself to them, and at times you skate on thin ice, because it's such a relationship about two men."

So they're heterosexual dudes who are in love with each other. Hmmmmm. Call me crazy if you want, but after getting halfway through the script I can understand why people would see the gay subtext. Holmes isn't exactly happy when he learns that Watson is going to be getting married and will be in fact, moving out of the living quarters they share. And so far the love interests for both Holmes and Watson have been a bit - how do I explain this? - meh. I've had more chemistry with a houseplant than these two have with their beards girlfriends. Maybe the chemistry will translate better onscreen, but I can practically see the upswing in slash coming from a mile away.

'Sherlock Holmes' trailer

Apparently 'Sherlock Holmes' isn't British (or good) enough

The Playlist gives us the rundown of reasons why Sherlock Holmes might be ten kinds of shit. Hack extraordinaire director Guy Ritchie is reportedly giving us a more American style Holmes (translation: Bob Downey's accent is horrible) and Watson. Needless to say, Ritchie will be boiled in oil by his countrymen before the year is out. The trailer was shown at ShowWest in Las Vegas and the audience loved it despite descriptions that seem to scare the crap out of the people over at Playlist. I guess when words like zany or wacky are bandied about there, is pause for concern.




I get the feeling that Sherlock Holmes purists are going to loathe this film. A fun romp does not sound like the sort of description they're inclined to welcome. For the rest of us (I know, I know - what sort of aspiring writer doesn't read Conan Doyle) we'll just have to hope this thing doesn't flat out suck. I'm over halfway through the script and so far I think it's enjoyable and fun. Which means this film is going to turn into a giant franchise and infuriate anyone who loves the books. If this turns out to be pure shit, I'll just watch it for Downey, bad accent and all.

ComingSoon gives a lengthy description of the trailer if you're interested in killing a hell of a lot of time.