"Alone is what I have.
Alone protects me."
"Nope, friends protect people."
The loner genius is an enduring myth in our culture.
Think: Steve Jobs,
Mark Zuckerberg,
Will Hunting,
Bobby Fischer,
and, of course, Sherlock Holmes.
“I don’t have friends."
The famous fictional detective
seems like the quintessential example of the archetype —-
he’s an arrogant, isolated brainiac
unburdened by social etiquette,
who sacrifices relationships and suppresses emotions
to get the job done.
“Sentiment is a chemical defect found in the losing side.”
But what’s interesting about the BBC series Sherlock
is that it actually rejects this loner genius myth
and proves it to be a lie.
Over the course of the show, we watch Sherlock slowly open up,
recognize that he can’t solve all problems alone,
and occasionally rest his logical brain
to exercise his empathy muscles.
“So if I didn't understand I was being asked to be best man,
it is because I never expected to be anybody's best friend.
And certainly not the best friend
of the bravest and kindest and wisest human being
I have ever had the good fortune of knowing.”
So let’s look at how this truly modern incarnation of Sherlock
challenges our society’s popular and damaging assumption
that greatness only comes in the package
of an unfeeling misanthrope.
“I play the violin when I'm thinking
and sometimes I don't talk for days on end.
Would that bother you?
Potential flatmates should know the worst about each other.”
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As a culture, we’re fascinated by geniuses,
from real-life intellects like Stephen Hawking
to fictional ones like Gregory House.
“If it weren't for my obsessions,
we wouldn't know that she has sarcoidosis.”
Not everyone agrees on what defines genius
and whether it’s genetic or created,
but many of the geniuses we see on-screen
share similar traits and capabilities
like extraordinary deductive skills,
a near-photographic memory,
and fast-paced speech
"I asked my best friend for the money
because that’s who I wanted to be partners with.”
suggesting a lightning-quick mind we mortals can’t keep up with.
“Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.”
Along with these strengths,
these genius characters also tend to have darker traits
like obsessive tendencies,
the lack of a filter,
and generally antisocial behavior.
“I’m not a psychopath, Anderson.
I’m a high-functioning sociopath.
Do your research.”
Audiences love watching geniuses
even when they’re unlikeable
because this archetype is a kind of superhero of the brain.
Like Batman responding to the bat signal in Gotham,
Sherlock steps in to save the day,
“It means when the police are out of their depth,
which is always,
they consult me.”
These geniuses perform impossible mental athletics,
solving problems and uncovering truths that we can’t access on our own.
Even their bad qualities make them entertaining to live through,
with their lack of regard for social norms,
they’ll freely say those things we think but never dare speak.
“If you’re dying, suddenly everybody loves you.”
"Mr. Zuckerberg, do I have your full attention?”
"No."
"I don’t need therapy."
"That’s enough.
Get out."
"Ahhhh..."
Portrayals of geniuses on TV typically say a lot
about the culture that produced them.
Over the past decade,
a lot of our genius depictions have come in the form of tech gurus,
like Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network
or Richard in Silicon Valley.
“I’m a coder, Jared.
So I’m gonna code.”
So what does that tell us?
Evidently, that we’re a culture obsessed with technology,
that we think of tech as a hub for high intellect and genius innovation.
Sherlock almost channels this tech guru type of our times.
But instead of operating technology, he treats his mind like a computer.
So Sherlock essentially IS the tech himself.
He takes a technical approach to thought,
using the “mind palace” memorization technique —
visualizing a complex, physical space
where he can store and access a curated set of memories.
“You plot a map with a location.
It doesn't have to be a real place.
And then you deposit memories there.
Theoretically, you can never forget anything.
All you have to do is to find your way back to it.”
Like a computer,
Sherlock has a finite amount of storage space to work with.
He stores memories from his past cases
but deletes information he deems irrelevant to his work.
“This is my hard drive
and it only makes sense to put things in there that are useful.
Really useful.”
His thought process is even visually portrayed
in a way that evokes his internet searches.
Yet Sherlock’s character journey guides him away from this loner existence
and away from viewing himself as a computer.
Instead of emulating a cyborg
by terminating his relationships and burying his emotions,
Sherlock ultimately finds success by developing human connections.
“John, I am a ridiculous man.
Redeemed only by the warmth and constancy of your friendship.”
When we first meet our detective,
he checks off all of the boxes for the loner genius archetype.
He has no real friends,
"I was wondering if you'd like to have coffee."
"Black.
Two sugars, please.
I’ll be upstairs."
he’s arrogant and intellectually superior,
“This investigation might move a bit quicker
if you were to take my word as gospel.”
has a razor-sharp eye for detail,
“Your face is tanned but no tan above the wrists.
You've been abroad, but not sunbathing."
and speaks at a rapid-fire pace.
“...suggesting it's a small dog, probably a terrier.
In fact, it is a West Highland terrier called Whisky.
‘How the hell do you know that, Sherlock?’
Because she was on the same train as us and I heard her calling its name.
And that's not cheating, that's listening.
I use my senses, John, unlike some people.”
But then John Watson enters the picture,
"Yeah, but this is more fun."
"Fun?
There’s a woman lying dead."
Watson accepts his new friend as he is
"I’m your... best –"
"Man."
"- friend?"
"Yeah, of course you are.
‘Course, you’re my best friend."
despite being advised otherwise.
"Stay away from Sherlock Holmes.”
And he ultimately makes Sherlock both a better person
"Go after her and apologize."
"Apologize?"
and a better detective.
"There at lives at stake, Sherlock.
Actual human lives.
J-just so I know, do you care about that at all?”
From there, we watch Sherlock
steadily develop his compassion throughout the series.
And as he exposes human vulnerability
“I've always been able to keep myself distant.
Divorce myself from feelings.
But, look, you see?
My body's betraying me.”
and shows that he does care for the people around him,
contrary to what the loner genius myth would have us believe,
this doesn’t hinder his work.
He continues to do what he does best –
solve problems and close cases that perplex the police.
"How did you notice that?"
"I lack the arrogance to ignore details.
I’m not the police."
Sherlock makes the best man speech at Watson and Mary’s wedding,
telling stories about the empathy and skill
that Watson brings to their cases,
how he couldn’t do the job without him.
“I will solve your murder,
but it takes John Watson to save your life.”
With Watson’s help,
Sherlock meets his goals in a more fulfilling way.
So we watch these two learn from each other
and grow into an iconic, dynamic duo.
"This is a private matter."
"John stays."
"This is family."
"THAT’S WHY HE STAYS."
And as Sherlock finds success in his career
through building meaningful relationships,
“I hope you’ll be very happy, Molly Hooper.
You deserve it."
the series subtly departs from the loner genius myth.
Then in Season 4, it goes even further,
rejecting the myth outright.
We meet Sherlock’s psychopath sister, Eurus,
whose intellectual capacity is far greater than
Sherlock’s and their brother Mycroft’s.
“I added some deductions for Sherlock.
He was quite good.
But he didn't get the big one.”
She’s also even more unfeeling.
Eurus seems to lack any semblance of empathy.
“We have evolved to attach an emotional significance
to what is nothing more
than a survival strategy of the pack animal.”
Eurus challenges Sherlock
in a series of ruthless tests with life-or-death stakes.
She forces him to choose between killing Mycroft or Watson,
“You have to choose.
Family or friend.
Mycroft or Watson.”
and his response surprises his sister.
“No, no, Sherlock.”
Self-sacrifice is not something Eurus can understand.
Before this point,
Sherlock repressed memories of his sister,
who was locked up
in the high-security facility Sherrinford
due to her history of violence.
“You killed my best friend.”
He essentially evicted her from his mind palace.
But while it may seem rational to cut difficult people out
and detach from emotional messiness,
this approach doesn’t work.
It’s only by working through his feelings
that Sherlock eventually finds a lasting solution to his dilemma.
The final problem comes
when Sherlock is put on the phone with a young girl
aboard a plane full of unconscious passengers,
headed for a crash.
Given no context, Sherlock has to help her.
“Alright.
Well, you and I are going to have to drive this plane together.”
But we eventually learn that, in actuality,
there is no young girl or crashing plane.
This simulation is a kind of metaphor for Eurus.
She’s up in the sky --
symbolic of the great heights she can reach
with her unmatched genius --
but she’s all alone with no one who can relate to her,
and this is a perilous existence.
“You're high above us, all alone in the sky,
and you understand everything except how to land.
Now, I'm just an idiot,
but I'm on the ground.
I can bring you home.”
Ultimately, Sherlock solves the problem
by empathizing with Eurus.
He’s simply there for her,
despite her past actions
and the villainous role she’s been playing.
“I’m here.
You’re not lost anymore.”
This sends the message that not only is it okay
for our detective genius to embrace his humanity,
but it’s also a vast improvement to his prowess as a detective.
Sherlock’s newfound emotional fortitude
makes him smarter than his sister ever was
because unfeeling logic ISN’T the only ingredient in intelligence.
Sometimes true genius resides in our capacity to feel.
“You were the best man,
the most human human being
that I've ever known...”
It’s hard not to notice that today’s popular depictions of geniuses
feel pretty homogeneous --
almost all are white men.
“For the record, she may look like a 34C
but she’s getting all kinds of help from our friends at Victoria’s Secret.
She’s a 34B, as in barely anything there.
False advertising.”
A 2017 New York Times article
investigated the real-life implications of the loner genius myth in tech
and it pointed out how, by rewarding loner behavior,
companies can thwart diversity.
Shortly before this, a Google engineer was fired
for writing that women aren’t suited to work in tech
because they care more about
“feelings and aesthetics rather than ideas”
and “people rather than things.”
And this sparked a conversation about our society’s false notions
about what it takes to work in tech
“I haven’t had more than two straight hours of sleep in months.
I’ve had a cold for, like, a year.”
like that you have to be able to divorce yourself from emotion,
and it’s more impressive to work alone than be part of a team.
In a society where it feels increasingly unrealistic
for one person to be able to effect change,
the myth of the loner genius becomes all the more alluring.
It plays into our desire for individual agency.
We love stories of glorious breakthroughs
by one protagonist, the genius,
instead of more realistic tales of innovation
accomplished by countless people
putting in unglamorous hard work for little credit.
As Marjorie Garber wrote for The Atlantic,
“We prefer the myth...
Edison invented the electric light bulb and the phonograph —
never mind that he worked with an extensive team
of technicians, mechanics, and scientists.”
The trademark of antisocial behavior in genius narratives
emphasizes this idea that the figure acts and innovates on his own.
“I deleted all our modules last night
and I completely rebuilt our engine from scratch.”
What better way to illustrate a character’s agency
than to make him an island?
So we look to this loner type
to fantasize about what it’s like
to be all-powerful,
in a society where we tend to feel anything but.
But all this is damaging because on-screen portrayals of geniuses
impact how we think about and label geniuses in real life.
“I sat in a [bleep] garage with Wozniak
and invented the future.
Because artists lead and hacks ask for a show of hands.”
The loner-genius stereotype perpetuates misconceptions
about how intelligent people look and act.
And the reality is that empathy, collaboration, and diversity
are crucial elements of success in the workplace
and in our personal lives.
"He’s a great man, sir."
"No, he’s better than that.
He’s a good one."
Sherlock stands out for his eventual ability
to grow beyond his cyborg, tech-bro characteristics.
“Thanks, Greg.”
Yes, this portrayal of genius
still takes the form of a white male protagonist
but the series takes a step forward
by recognizing the importance of EMPATHY in problem-solving.
While a genius doesn’t have to be socially inclined,
it’s equally true that isolating yourself
is not a prerequisite for being successful.
"All this came from you."
"No.
All this came from that."
The point is that brains come in all kinds of packages.
And so the BBC’s updated version of the genius
who’s aided by friends and his inner humanity
has the potential to inspire
far more diverse, nuanced portraits of intellect in the future.
"It’s not a pleasant thought, John,
but I have this terrible feeling from time to time
that we might all just be human."
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