I was just as surprised as anyone else when I stumbled upon the famous South Korean boy band, SHINee performing a musical video using elements and imagery from the famous Arthur Conan Doyle series, Sherlock Holmes. Flashy dancing and pop music aside, the camera pans into a room with the members wearing clothing reminiscent of the Victorian era and imitating some of Sherlock Holmes’ iconic habits such as playing the violin, or thinking with the tips of his fingers of each hand touching. Other elements such as the letter seal and old fashioned camera reemphasize the vintage tone of the scene.
The story depicts the band members as detectives tasked with finding missing jewelry The image of the ghost aiding the gang with clues, (Jessica from a girl K-pop band, Girls Generation) evokes the famous ghost stories of the Victorian era. In 2:40 one of the members uses a camera to capture her image before she vanishes, reminding me of our class discussion of how the camera can immortalizes a person. Photography could transform the idea of memory, death, and representation.
The lyrics show a sense of urgency, the singer wants to interrogate the person who has all the answers and won’t let the person leave until the crime is solved. “You walk out from the picture at the moment..You don’t exist in front of me right now I know that for sure but I’m going to interrogate you.” All in all, it was quite enjoyable to watch this video and see how the visuals and representation of the Victorian culture were given a modern and Asian twist.
Source: YouTube and http://www.kpoplyrics.net/shinee-sherlock-lyrics-english-romanized.html
-Annie Lattner
Victorian Visual Culture 
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