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Moriaty or Sherlock?

WiredDifferently

Not sure if anyone has talked about this previously, it seems an obvious one really, apologies if its already been covered. Needless to say, this is generally meant to be a bit funny, talking about fictional characters and situations, not real people or things. 

I’m specifically referring to the BBC series staring Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock, and Andrew Scott as Moriaty.

This is my take:

They are both, clearly, autistic, and masking in different ways - Sherlock is out of the mainstream, but not so far out, economically, but he is deeply, deeply eccentric, and so he is owning more of his innately autistic tendencies and behaviours, his obsessiveness in his work, his cocaine addiction and his incredibly solitary violin playing allow him outlets, healthy or otherwise, for his natural nature. So that’s pretty clear, he’s definitely more obviously living life his way, but for me he loses a lot of points by being incredibly domineering, projecting an outwardly perfect unquestionable persona, and treating everyone around him like some kind of servant or underling.

Moriaty, on the other hand, has a much more conventional job, as an academic, where many of his traits can go unrecognised in an ocean of detail oriented, obsessive over-workers. However Moriaty is clearly bottling up something huge that demands to be recognised, that goes way beyond his already renowned abilities in whatever-he-does-for-a-living - so there’s something unknown to us that’s bothering him that he has to get out, that he can only get out by blowing things up and undertaking a clearly insane plan to become the master of the universe.

But, the thing that gets me about the BBC series is that Moriaty is infinitely cooler than Sherlock, he just has this insouciant, sort of come what may attitude, he may be the master of evil, and lonely and an utter ***, but at least he isn’t going to let it get him down - and here, I get confused slightly with the Andrew Scott priest character in Fleabag, which is basically the same guy wearing a dog collar - doesn’t Moriaty have this essential poetic vision of life, its life as tragedy, but it has an incredible beauty and a liaise faire sort of come what may attitude, that accepts life as it is, whilst going about his life as this tragic theatrical character, like Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon or Mickey and Mallory in Natural Born Killers, basically, in the most poetic, theatrical, insane, bonkers way he possibly can.

Whilst Sherlock seems equally committed to living life his way, and generally being a pain in the *** to everyone who knows him, to make the point that he is different and isn’t going to apologise for it - but he just takes himself so seriously - he’s such a bore! It’s like who would you rather spend some time with, drinking tea, one afternoon, in a pleasant cafe - clearly, its Moriaty, he’s just so much more tuned in to the innate tragedy of life, the poetry of existence, while Sherlock would just bore you to death by showing off about how he noticed you took the Bakerloo line to meet him today, because only on the Bakerloo line do you get the pungent smell of Sulphur that comes from the quarry at Marylebone that was excavated when the dug the line in … YAWN! I think Sherlock’s only redeeming feature is his love and loyalty to Watson, but does he really care that much, or to him, is Watson just a well trained Labrador? His other main plus, in comparison, is that he is not an actual killer, but given this is fiction, that's more of an incidental point rather an an actual positive character trait. 

So, though, actually, I love both characters, for me, I have to say I love Moriaty more.

  • in reply to WiredDifferently

    it's been a while since i saw it and i'm not in the mood to rewatch it.

  • in reply to Luftmentsch

    I'll give it a go, definitely agree Molly is the most sympathetic character, by far. 

  • I'm not sure that I see either of them as autistic. Sherlock says he's a "high functioning sociopath."

    I like Cumberbatch as Sherlock, but he isn't the character from the novels and short stories; I didn't like Andrew Scott as Moriarty at all. Tbh, looking back, I think Molly Hooper is the character in the TV series that I empathise with the most.

    Sherlock Holmes in the novels might well be autistic and probably also bipolar. He's also a much nicer person.

    Have you read the novel Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz? You might like it, although you have to get to the twist near the end to see why I think you might retrospectively like it.

  • in reply to Peter

    I was hyperactive, as a kid. So, I fit into the Moriarty mode.

    Probably all the dilutable orange juice I drank, as a little boy.

  • in reply to Peter

    Yes, you certainly have a good argument.  How do you think that would compare to the Moriaty played by Jared Harris in the Guy Ritchie / Robert Downy Sherlock?

  • Is Moriarty autistic though?

    He seems to have pretty well developed social skills. In fact he’s pretty adept at manipulating people. I suppose you could just say he’s an autistic person who is exceptionally good at masking. But even autistic people who are good at masking tend to find that it takes a lot out of them in terms of mental energy especially if they have to keep it up long-term and Moriarty never gives you that impression.

    He manages to get Molly Hooper to date him, granted she’s a bit atypical herself but still, he very successfully poses as an actor. Of course you see Sherlock play act him self but he doesn’t seem to be able to keep it up for very long; he’s constantly breaking character if nothing else to show off how clever he is.

    Certainly Moriarty does seem to have difficulty establishing social relationships, as far as we can tell the homes are the only people he’s ever seen as peers. but that seems almost because he doesn’t want to rather than because he can’t. But he doesn’t seem to display much in the way of repetitive behaviours or interests. Yes he is very clever and very interested in things that can be quite obscure but he doesn’t feel compelled to write about them in a blog that nobody reads about X different types of cigarette ash. And for Sherlock very often the reward of all of this investigation is solving the puzzle but the Moriarty there’s a definite financial payoff and also the pleasure of tormenting people like Sherlock and alleviating the boredom that comes of feeling like you have no peers. But with Moriarty it feels more like it’s The prize at the end of the game rather than the game itself that is the ultimate reward.

    Really if any neurodiverse condition was going to be diagnosed of Moriarty it will almost certainly be ADHD, just in terms of the level of impulsivity and the tendency to be very easily bored, it feeds naturally into his excellent playacting which is a great way for him to make himself the centre of attention. Moriarty could be ADHD leaning heavily towards the hyperactivity rather than the attention deficit. Just take a look at some of these criteria from the ICD 11

    • feelings of physical restlessness, a sense of discomfort with being quiet or sitting still.
    • Difficulty engaging in activities quietly; talks too much.
    • Blurts out answers in school, comments at work; difficulty waiting turn in conversation, games, or activities; interrupts or intrudes on others conversations or games.
    • A tendency to act in response to immediate stimuli without deliberation or consideration of risks and consequences (e.g., engaging in behaviours with potential for physical injury; impulsive decisions; reckless driving)

    I think that fits Moriarty much better than autism.