Plurksourcing: Say you'd signed up for a three-part class on film history/pop culture. What does that look like to you?
(I need to get more serious about the structure of my Holmes class.)

For a start, I have three topics/categories, so I have that down.

My plan is to set it up with a brief bio, simply so they know where I come from and how that shapes my perception and how I work. Also rules for the session, where I"ll make clear I'm very interactive and invite discussion.

Then an intro to ACD and Holmes generally

But like... where I'm unsure is what exactly people will find interesting, or expect to learn.

It's billed as the history of Holmes on screen.

So what would YOU want to learn? And how?

i'd want to know not just a list of things that happened onscreen, but how they were related and how they were influenced by the cultural context they eere made in

were made*

how does an adaptation build on previous versions, what's different, why

what was going on at the time

^ Agreed. Something of a 'this is represented in x way and y way in these different adaptations because /thing/ was going on at the time'

This isn't me recommending a 1-to-1, but IMO a general good outline would be:

1. Introduction to ACD and Holmes.
2. History of Adaptations
3. Shared Themes of Adaptations
4. Key Differences in Adaptations
5. Lasting Screen Influences
6. Impact on Pop Culture.

Also maybe somewhere in there a discussion on why it is that Holmes is so adaptable.

So, okay. Here's my three sessions, in sum:

Week 1: Introduction & Canon Adaptations
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the earliest films, and the big two: Basil and Brett

Week 2: Who Is Holmes, Anyway?
The psychology of the Great Detective and what happens when it goes wrong

Week 3: The Once & Future Holmes
Modernizations, Why Holmes?, and What's Next?

So rather than go like, in order, I've grouped them. And put the part where we tie it all together in a "why is Holmes so popular/adaptable?" in the last session.

I'm sort of dancing around how much analysis to put in, I guess.

ooo, I like that organization. so it's grouped more thematically than chronologically. i like that. emphasizes the categories of adaptations and what forms they take.

how much analysis is tricky, especially if the students might range from "has watched almost every adaptation out there" to "loves Sherlock and is curious about other things"

Yeah I am gonna do a bit at the beginning where I try to gauge the level of folks. Er, I don't mean that in a pejorative sense, just, why they are here.

what they hope to get, etc.

I went thematic because there is SO MUCH you could spend hours just listing them off. But that would not, I think, lead to greater understanding.

ok here's a question: how much about each specific film or show would you want? obviously it'll vary, but like, is it interesting to know Clive Brooks' Holmes has a fiance and his Watson is doofy and the film tries to be a gangster film too?

do you care what happened in 1932 if the Holmes isn't very good?

i think it's interesting to see how much variety there is in interpretation. even if it's a bad interpretation