Comparing The Twelfth Night And She's The Man

Can a play written in the 1600s be turned into a modern film, yet still share important similarities? Twelfth Night is a play written by William Shakespeare in which a female, Viola, conceals her identity and pretends to be a male, Cesario. A modern adaptation of the play is the film She's the Man in which Viola, a soccer player, disguises herself as her brother Sebastian. In the play, Viola disguises herself as Cesario in order to have a place to work and for protection as it was not acceptable to be a female traveling alone at the time. On the other hand, in the film Viola feigns that she is Sebastian in order to play soccer for the boy's team at Illyria since the Cornwall girl's soccer team has been cut. She’s the Man is a suitable representation of Twelfth Night because in both the film and the play Viola has to overcome obstacles, and Malvolio or Malcolm are overconfident.

Gender equality is one of the main focuses in the Shakespearean play Twelfth Night. The movie “She’s the Man” is inspired by this play. The movie “She's the Man” challenges traditional views of males and females in society. In the movie, Amanda Bynes’s coach informs her soccer team that there will no longer be a girl’s team throughout the rest of the year. Unhappy about her coach’s statement, Amanda suggests that the girls should collaborate with the boys and play together on one team. The boys and coach find the idea to be laughable and disagree. When Amanda’s star athlete older brother runs off to travel the country to go on tour with his band, he convinces Amanda to disguise herself as him until his return. She pretends to be him for two

She’s the Man is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.and has some common lessons we could use today. Like gender equality, misused identity, and relationship issues. Stuff like these are really good lessons we could use today.

Texts and ideas from texts are appropriated and transformed into other text forms and other compositions in a different context. An appropriation is a text that is appropriated or taken over by another composer and presented in a new way. ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is a well-known high culture text that is a tragedy about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. In the 1997 film, Baz Luhrmann has taken what is valued about the original play of ‘Romeo and Juliet’; the themes, evocative language and poetry, the timeless storyline and humour, and has placed it in a context which is accessible and

When you think of the words “famous playwright,” who is the first one to come to mind? Most people would say William Shakespeare. Shakespeare is one of the most recognized playwrights of all time, with many of his works being archetypes for many stories told today. An example of this would be Twelfth Night, a comedy about a woman who disguises herself as a man to fit in and finds herself in the middle of riotous hijinks and disorder. However, Twelfth Night is set in a time period that is found to be uninteresting to some. That is when someone bold steps up and offers an adaptation in the 21st century. This person was Andy Fickman, who helmed the 2006 film She’s the Man, a modern-day retelling of Shakespeare’s classic comedy. As with any adaptation,

The movie She’s the Man is similar to Shakespeare’s play The Twelfth Night because they both share themes focusing on gender equality, identity, and relationships.

Through great commotion it is created between the characters of the romantic drama and drives this Shakespeare’s play forward. As one of the main plot twists, it leads to the misunderstandings and the love triangle between Duke Orsino, Viola (Cesario) and Countess Olivia. The role of ‘identity’ begins when the noblewoman Viola, has just been shipwrecked near Illyria and therefore seeks employment in Duke Orsino’s court while searching for her lost (perhaps dead) brother. Duke Orsino accepts her, and soon becomes close to the male version of herself (Cesario), whom she had presented to the duke originally. Viola quickly falls for her master, and at times does not know how to act as her concealed gender, expressing words such as: “My father had a daughter loved a man, /As it might be, perhaps, were I a woman,/ I should your lordship.” (Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, 2.4.105-107) and hinting of “his” real identity. Although, Duke Orsino loves Lady Olivia, even if she does not return the love. Nevertheless, Viola is not the only character to conceal who she truly is. Lady Olivia does not love Duke Orsino because she will mourn her dead brother for seven years. She understands that the Duke is respected, handsome and rich however, cannot love him. Therefore, she hides behind a veil to refuse the Duke confessions of love. However, when meeting Cesario, the countess immediately forgets her grief and falls instantly for “him” and

Queensland Theatre’s take on one of Shakespeare’s highly renowned plays, Twelfth Night, performed at QPAC has been re-written and adjusted for a more modern audience. The classic comedy contains gender problems and identity crises. Through this play, the director Sam Strong has been able to successfully achieve his goal of proving to modern audiences exactly how incredible and robust Shakespeare’s pieces are. Strong’s creative manipulation of dramatic action and staging, as well as plentiful representation of themes such as gender stereotypes and sexuality and also the use of certain aspects of Elizabethan comedy have all come together to successfully bring Shakespeare to be enjoyed by a whole new era.

Much of the first half of the Twelfth Night is about disguised identities and general misconceptions about who is actually who. The play opens on a note of melancholy and death, Orsino grieving because Olivia refuses to love him and Viola and Olivia mourning the deaths of their brothers. It is following a shipwreck that Viola disguises herself as a male, ensuring that confusion will be part of the plot. The idea of masquerading as a member of the opposite sex is a familiar device and the “complications, artificial as they may appear, are an essential part of the play’s complete development.” (Travers 308) It is interesting to note that unlike other comedies such as “The Tempest”, Shakespeare does not create an older generation who prevent the young lovers from being together; instead it is the perplexity about gender and that keeps them apart. Sebastian, Viola’s identical twin, is the solution to all of the problems, though his appearance does add to it for a short while. Viola, dressed as Cesario, is mistaken for Sebastian by Antonio, and is asked for the money that he gave to Sebastian. However, this type of confusion adds to the comic nature of the plot as the audience is aware of the concealed identities. Order eventually comes from the chaos, disguises are shed and identities are revealed. The appearance of Sebastian ensures that the marriage will be possible for the main characters; Viola is free to marry Orsino and Olivia marries Sebastian, although she

Adapting Shakespeare for modern audiences is not only suitable, but essential for the survival of the Shakespeare legacy. When we hear Shakespeare what often comes to mind is thoughts of old language and theater performances filled with beautiful poetry and complex characters. Over the years, Shakespeare’s classical works have been transformed into modern adaptations, often stripping the original play to the bare bones of the plot. While his works continues to be transformed, it is not forgotten. With new adaptions comes new and more eager audiences.

Although written over four centuries ago, Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night successfully portrays modern social norms. Still going on today, people feel the need to change who they are due to opinions of others around them. The social aspects of the Renaissance still parallel those of the present. The paranoia of people believing they need to be someone else has stayed constant throughout the past five centuries because of society’s influence on people. Using cultural and social criticism, readers can see how in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night that people use deception to mask their identity when they are in love, they are in need and they are insecure.

Twelfth Night Contrast She’s the Man The author and playwright William Shakespeare of the play Twelfth Night, is a masterpiece written in the Renaissance era; where the poet used a variety of literary devices to convey the role of women at that time. The movie She is the Man directed by Andy Fickman, set in a modern time period; applied as well a complex number of literary devices to communicate the same theme of women, in a different manner. Shakespeare showed in his play a brave woman disguising as a man to be the Dukes’ servant; and Fickman portrayed on his film a young girl that also disguised herself as a man to play soccer on a male team. The author and director conveyed the story of women with the same difficulties at different times in history and how the perception of men toward women, had not changed.

In society nowadays, we are run by the presence of media. We define our lives by the things we see and hear in the world today. Many old movies and books have been remade to meet the standards that we have set upon ourselves. The alterations in the literary work and motion pictures from before our time are usually not major. In some cases, the artistic views of the author and director are changed immensely. An ideal example of this modification process in a literary work would be the epic poem Beowulf, written in 1000 A.D.,compared to the movie Beowulf and Grendel, produced in 2005.

Many ponder how the 21st century film “She’s the Man” could be based off of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night.” These two stories are actually very similar in many ways, but they also have their differences. The plot, characters, and setting are also similar in comparison in the two stories, but they also can differ. “She’s the Man” really modernizes “Twelfth Night” so that the audience has a better understanding of what “Twelfth Night” is about.

In the famous comedy Twelfth Night, Shakespeare dabbles with the phenomenon of love. This is seen through his various characters who are forced to deal with the aspects brought on by love. Characters like Cesario, who is Viola dressed as a boy. In the play the characters deal with their problems around love. The three major characters that love seems to impact more than the rest are Duke Orsino, Lady Olivia, and her servant Malvolio. Each of these characters is affected by love and each reacts differently when in love to out of love. Their reactions to love are based on their behavior, their speech, and their relations with other characters.