Enola Holmes: Netflix’s Exciting Feminist Period Film

We’ve all heard of Sherlock Holmes one time or another. You know, the books created by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. But we’re living in the past if males are always at the forefront of exciting characters and heroics. Netflix introduces Enola Holmes, an exciting feminist period film.

That’s why we’re super excited about the new Enola Holmes movie on Netflix. If you’re interested in why you might want to watch this fast-paced feminist film for yourself, definitely keep on reading to discover more about the plot, background, and Enola. 

A New Addition to the Sherlock Universe

Enola isn’t in the original Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The award-winning American author Nancy Springer invented Enola and added her into the Sherlock universe. 

It’s pretty sad how few and far between female protagonists were in literature. (And the Sherlock Holmes novels started coming out in the late 1800s, which really isn’t too long ago historically.)

Thankfully, Springer inserted a female voice and lead into the Sherlock universe to show other young girls and women that they don’t need to stand down so that men can shine.

Plot

Enola is a girl in the Victorian age. So everybody expects her to follow society’s standards of how women should be. But she doesn’t want to conform or fit into the box everyone else is trying to force on her.

Despite a ton of insistence that she needs to stay home and not do the things that are “just for boys” to do, she follows her own path. And after her mother goes missing, Enola has to choose between following the mysteries that her feminist mother left behind or to conform to her brother’s desires to put her into boarding school. 

So she must outsmart her brothers before they can find her so that she can solve her very own case and not be forced to become a “proper lady”. 

A Period Piece With a Firey Female Protagonist: Enola Holmes

Why watch Enola Holmes when there are so many other options out there on Netflix? 

Well, first of all, there are so many different historical dramas on there. But most of them don’t have solid female leads. Enola breaks from the norms that most characters in period pieces conform to and follows her own path.

So often, throughout history, men have tried to completely control everything about women. And, unfortunately, we still see so much of that in our society today. It’s so essential to empower younger women to be themselves and to not let men or anyone have a say in how we live.

Plus who doesn’t love Millie Bobby Brown? And she does such a fantastic job acting and never compromising her feminist attitude despite living in a time where men tried to force women into a box.

Enola Holmes: A Different Take on Sherlock

Springer seems more intent on creating a feminist voice within a long-loved popular narrative so that it’s digestible to the general public. It’s not to say that we should compare this Sherlock to Doyle’s. 

Enola’s path is very much different from her brother’s. And though she is still solving a mystery in this movie, she does it in her own way instead of following in the footsteps of her older brother. 

This is also an empowering message. Because it encourages young women to do things their own way instead of relying on others to show them how it should be done.

Whatever your age, this is undoubtedly a movie that everyone can enjoy and learn from.

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