In conclusion, modern retelling of Shakespeare universally differ than the past. Shakespeare times and modern film differentiate for many reasons; language, gender roles and venue. In today’s film language, more formal “thou and “you” are commonly used, whereas In Shakespeare’s times “thee”, “thou”, “thy”, “thine” were vivid. In Shakespeare’s times, boys and young men played the women’s roles, now with both and female performers. Nevertheless, modern films will greatly not amuse spectators as in Shakespeare’s time.
The New World Encyclopedia includes a lengthy and extensive section on Romeo & Juliet with a copious amount of information or aspects pertaining to the play. In one part, it examines the film adaptations of Romeo & Juliet and discusses the thought process when trying to adapt Shakespeare’s works cinematically. The end of the fourth act being a major focus. This material will help further my understanding and argument of the sacrifices that need to be made to have Shakespearean plays effective on the big screen; especially for modern audiences.
While many will agree that Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is critically acclaimed to be one of the most entertaining and well-liked pieces that he has written, there tends to be a discrepancy over how the characters in the play are portrayed when it comes to the importance of gender roles. After reading James C Bulman’s article over the Globe’s more recent performance of Twelfth Night and Shakespeare’s original written version, I realized that there are many ways that this famous piece has been portrayed and each has its own pros and cons.
Many of Shakespeare's works have been transposed from stage to screen, none so more than Hamlet. Two of the most unique film appropriations of the play are to be found in Rodney Bennett's 1980 film and Kenneth Branagh's 1996 blockbuster. The two films share many parallels between them in both interpretation and method, however they also have marked differences in their respective approaches to the text.
To play one of Shakespeare’s most complex roles successfully on stage or on screen has been the aspiration of many actors. William Shakespeare’s Hamlet has been the focus on various accounts throughout the 20th Century, each actor attempting to bring something unique and unmarked to the focal character. Franco Zeffirelli and Kenneth Branagh, both film directors, introduce varying levels of success on the screen through downright differences in ways of translation and original ideas. Zeffirelli’s much shorter interpretation of the film is able to convey the importance of Hamlet as a masterwork by using modern approaches to film but still capturing the traditional work behind Shakespeare’s well-known play.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet has countlessly been formatted into film depictions of the play. Each film seemed to be on one end of the spectrum of either being closely interpreted or completely remodeled a different idea of what Hamlet is. The film version of Hamlet released in 2000 seems to follow closely to the play in some aspects, yet at the same time having its own unique identity Despite there being many differences with the play Hamlet and the film adaptation of Hamlet (2000) by Michael Almereyda there are three categories that really stand out, those are the character portrayal, interrelationship between the characters, and some of the essential themes differ as well. Although there are many differences, one aspect that remains the same is the dialogue of the characters which stays true to the Shakespearean dialect.
Over the course of the past fifty years there have been many cinematic productions of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, some of which remain true to the text while others take greater liberties with the original format. Director Kenneth Branagh’s 1996 production of Hamlet was true to Shakespeare’s work in that the film’s dialogue was delivered word or word as it is presented in the text. In contrast, Franco Zeffirelli conducted his 1990 production of Hamlet in a much more liberal direction in which lines, scenes and characters were omitted from the film. I argue that from the perspective of an individual with moderate knowledge in Shakespearian literature, that the best film versions of Hamlet are those that take the most liberties from the text. I
Shakespeare has been adapted throughout the 20th and 21st century such as the 1935 version by George Cukor, Renato Castellani’s in 1954, Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 version and then to the most recent 1996 version by Baz Luhrmann, the latter being the one I plan to analyse most throughout this study.
William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is one of the most produced plays of all time. Written during the height of Shakespeare’s fame—1600—Hamlet has been read, produced, and researched by more individuals now than during Shakespeare’s own lifetime. It is has very few stage directions, because Shakespeare served as the director, even though no such official position existed at the time. Throughout its over 400 years of production history, Hamlet has seen several changes. Several textual cuts have been made, in addition to the liberties taken through each production. In recent years, Hamlet has seen character changes, plot changes, gender role reversals, alternate endings, time period shifts, and thematic alternations, to
Hamlet is a very well-known play across the world. Many students have been required to read the play in school. Although the poem has been read by many students, student usually don’t further their experience with Hamlet by watching the movie. There are many remakes of the play in movie form, new movies have been evolved since the play was originally made. There are movies that follow the play and the time period of the play and then there are newer or more modern versions of the play. The comparison being made in this paper is, the originally play versus the 2009 movie version of Hamlet.
Baz Lurhmann’s creation of the film Romeo and Juliet has shown that today’s audience can still understand and appreciate William Shakespeare. Typically, when a modern audience think of Shakespeare, they immediately think it will be boring, yet Lurhmann successfully rejuvenates Romeo and Juliet. In his film production he uses a number of different cinematic techniques, costumes and a formidably enjoyable soundtrack; yet changes not one word from Shakespeare’s original play, thus making it appeal to a modern audience.
The recurring themes in Shakespeare’s comedies are gender identity, social order, politics, and transformation. The characters in his comedies range from the very basic, such as Katherine and Petruchio in Taming of the Shrew, to more complex characters, like Feste in Twelfth Night. The three films, Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing and Twelfth Night are very diverse in the handling of these themes and the characters of the plays. This diversity of theme and characters is owed to the films’ directors, Franco Zeffirelli, Kenneth Branagh, Joss Whedon and Trevor Nunn. The directors give a different perspective to Shakespeare’s actual text and we, as the audience, see Shakespeare’s characters differently because of the film medium and theses directors’ vision.
Shakespeare's works have persistently influenced humanity for the past four hundred years. Quotations from his plays are used in many other works of literature and some common phrases have even become integrated into the English language. Most high schoolers have been unsuccessful in avoidance of him and college students are rarely afforded the luxury of choice when it comes to studying the bard. Many aspects of Shakespeare's works have been researched but one of the most popular topics since the 1960s has been the portrayal of women in Shakespeare's tragedies, comedies, histories and sonnets.
Adaptation is the process or state of changing to fit new circumstances or conditions, or the resulting change (Encarta® World English Dictionary © 1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Developed for Microsoft by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.). When something adapts, or is adapted, it retains the basic content of its former self while taking on new qualities. When a story is adapted, either to a different medium than the one originally used or to a different time or place, the adaptation shows a new interpretation of the story and gives insights into the mindset of the individual that adapted it and the society that created that mind.
The purpose of this report is to compare and contrast two movies made about Hamlet. I will present and discuss different aspects of the version directed by Kenneth Branagh to that of Franco Zefirelli. During this paper you will be presented with my opinions in reference to determining which version of Hamlet best reflects the original text by Shakespeare. I will end this paper with my belief and explanation of which movie is true to the original play.
“How would a modern audience view this play in a different way to an audience in Shakespeare’s time, particularly in relation to the role and status of women and attitudes to marriage and courtship?