Above: A stock photo of a stereotypical detective.With the history of detective fiction sketched out, I would like to draw a few conclusions about the archetype of the detective character. I feel the identification of these tropes will become useful when I propose some new takes on the detective genre. Only through specific identification and analysis of any literary genre, can we best know how to utilize or undermine certain elements for our own purposes.
The most obvious feature of every detective throughout the history of the genre is their intelligence. They may not always be geniuses, but they do always display at least a relative intellectual advantage compared to the criminals they pursue. In the case of Joe Friday this meant he was often seen chasing an especially incompetent class of crooks, demonstrating that no sound thinking person would every take up a life of crime. Even the lowliest member of a C.S.I. squad knows an obscure fact or has access to an exotic device that allows them to collect evidence the perpetrator never knew they left behind. It makes sense for gifts of observation and mental acuity to define a genre based on the logical process of deductive reasoning. Yet in order to justify the story's focus on the protagonist, the detective character always holds some significant intellectual advantage which makes them a necessary part of the story's resolution.
Next, I notice that apparently every noteworthy fictional detective is, in one way or another, an outsider. This facet of the character can be expressed in any number of ways. Going back to the early days of the genre you had figures like Miss Marple and Father Brown who came from outside the traditional law enforcement fraternity. Holmes was an outsider because his mind worked on a level far beyond his contemporaries. Poirot was an outsider because of his nationality. Nero Wolfe was fat. Kojak was Greek. Alex Cross is black. Kinsey Millhone is a woman. On and on it goes. For every significant detective, you can find some reason why she is not a part of the standard justice system. In part, this recurring character trait gives the characters easy mystique, audiences love individuals who stand out. It also helps provide the sleuths a special perspective on the cases that can explain how they can find evidence and make connections when others could not. To a larger degree though, I feel it serves to demonstrate one of the fundamental assumptions of the detective genre as a whole: sometimes the legal systems that we know fail to produce the results we desire. We see this everyday in our real lives, so it would probably strike audiences as strangely false to see general issue police officers put away criminals using routine methods. The public wants to see a radical alternative to the status quo in fiction, because they are dissatisfied with it in reality.
Lastly (at least for now), I have found that detectives generally have a larger interest in solving crimes than the altruistic pursuit of justice. Often stories feature some personal stakes for the crime fighter -it reminds them of a case from their past, their partner dies working the case, they want revenge on the prime suspect. Even when the protagonist doesn't have skin in the game, she seems to derive something personal from seeing any crime solved. Holmes derived a peculiar intellectual pleasure from finding explanations. Many characters have a haunted past that compels them to find justice for others. At the very least, in examples like Law & Order or Dragnet, the cops take a personal pride in maintaining an orderly society and punishing wrongdoers. The audience needs to know their is something to gain from the story's resolution or else it rings hollow and they won't come back for more. The simplest way to achieve this is to give our hero a cause with which we can sympathize.
Now that we have identified the key components of a classic detective -namely, intelligence, outsider status, and a personal motive- I can start coming up with some new detective stories that play off the norms of the genre.
To be continued . . .
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