When I was younger, had the word “genius” been mentioned to me, I would have most likely thought of famous scientists such as Isaac Newton, or even great artists like Leonardo da Vinci. To me the word meant a) someone from the past, and b) someone who had done astonishing things that people hadn’t really done before in that way. This is now my definition of an “artist” (even if it’s in a scientific field), although I’ve dropped the historical criteria – if someone comes up with a way of doing something that hasn’t been achieved before, they are an artist in their field. My definition of “genius” has somewhat changed in the past couple of years, mainly as a result of my television watching habits.

I was first introduced to the modern genius in pop culture through reading the manga Death Note, which features two very intelligent young men going head-to-head in a way that makes you question what “good” and “bad” are. Both of them have moments that could definitely be classed as genius, and both of them possess certain personality traits that I came to recognise in many more characters. Light is quite solemn, with strong morals (although they don’t comply with society’s) and he is very confident of his intelligence, trusting in the fact that he will always be one step ahead; conversely, L is almost hyperactive, not seeming to take things seriously and he has some quite peculiar habits. To me, these are the two branches of “genius” that we have in pop culture: the genius with the ego and superiority complex who believes they are above social norms, and the genius whose brain moves so fast they have little connection to reality and thus can’t comply to social norms. They are almost caricatures that can be mixed in various ways to give some sense of realism.

The next exposure I had to these character types was probably in the television series House, which I have yet to actually watch straight through, but my grandmother used to watch occasionally. Dr House is almost definitely the solemn egotistical genius; he knows what is going on almost straight away at times, but will mock the rest of his medical team for not knowing. The word from intelligence was originally to do with making connections, and House embodies intelligence in that way – he is able to associate the slightest thing the patient has said to their main symptoms in order to diagnose a rare disease. Intelligence is not only about maintaining knowledge, but being able to use it out of context.

I don’t really remember encountering many other genius characters until around the end of Summer last year, when I was peer-pressured into watching Doctor Who for the first time (I don’t like aliens, so I thought I wouldn’t like it). Aside from absolutely loving it, I noticed that the Doctor manages to swing between the hyperactive and egotistical genius types, and also adds in a new one, which is a sort of self-deprecation and near-depression that can only come from extreme self-awareness and awareness of all the “badness” in the world. I’d say Eccleston and Tennant’s Doctors are mainly self-deprecating, with Tennant adding hints of hyperactivity and then Smith taking on the hyperactive role completely.

From Doctor Who, it was a long slippery pathway down to Sherlock, Castle, The Mentalist, and Fringe. I’m still working my way through Castle, The Mentalist and Fringe, but I’ve seen enough to know that their lead males could be counted as geniuses (genii?) if we’re going by the pop culture archetype – Castle might be a bit debatable, but he does have a particular talent for connecting details of crimes, and he has that whole overconfident thing going for him. I have fallen in love with the male genius archetype as a character; I find them so much more satisfying as characters than any other archetype.

Running through the “genius” characters quickly, I’d say that Sherlock Holmes is probably the egotistical genius (in the BBC series at least – in the original books and the recent movies, he’s more self-deprecating); Jim Moriarty is quite egotistical with an edge of hyperactivity in the BBC series; Richard Castle is most definitely egotistical; Patrick Jane is self-deprecating with a hint of ego sometimes; Walter Bishop is probably the hyperactive type with some genuine insanity in there somewhere; and Peter Bishop is self-deprecating in the extreme. All of these are based on what I’ve seen so far of each series, so I may be off based on back-story that’s found out later – if so, I apologise.

“essentially, there

are three ingredients

to a genius, besides

actually being

intelligent”

So essentially, there are three ingredients to a genius, besides actually being intelligent: an inflated ego, madness, and some degree of self-loathing, if simply because most geniuses are perfectionist and they know they will never be perfect themselves. And yet, despite being somewhat formulaic, these characters are so popular and probably always will be – they’ve been popular in literature for a very long time – and I think that is down to that human love of problem solving. Like when we get told the answer to a riddle and say “Oh, it’s so simple when you know the answer!”, watching these men solve the problems they find, be they homicides or scientific mysteries or problems in the space-time continuum, is so satisfying.

I have but one gripe with this archetype, and that is that it appears to be very male-dominated. Perhaps it’s my lack of exposure, but the leading female characters in these shows appear to act as rule-keepers (actually, in all but Sherlock and Doctor Who, the females are policewomen/detectives charged with managing the genius man – and heck, even Amy Pond was a police woman for a few minutes!). I think that the “manic pixie dream girl” archetype has managed to prevent the creation of a true genius archetypal female: the smart girls end up being boring or quirky, and when they become quirky, they are just changed into that being their main character trait instead of their intelligence.

Think Jess from New Girl – I love that show, but the power struggle between Jess and Nick’s lawyer girlfriend was an example of this, boring and smart versus quirky and smart. Why can’t girls do something in the middle? If anyone knows a show that has a female portrayed the same way as Sherlock or Peter Bishop, I would love to hear it. If not, count on the fact I will write one at some point.