Introduction to my Final Reflection Assignment on Shakespeare, Film & Media
Before taking Shakespeare, Film & Media with Shannon Murray this semester, I felt liked I had a thought a lot about Shakespeare as a writer. I never realized that watching various film adaptions and analyzing the choice’s directors made in those films would help me understand Shakespeare in an entirely different viewpoint.
Through the semester we read and watched various versions of Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, Hamlet and Henry V. A comedy, two tragedies and an historical play written or inspired by English play-write William Shakespeare.
On this website reflection, I share my thought papers with you, which were written directly following a reading or viewing of a play. A quick, one-page, thought about something that struck me from the play or movie. I give you a glance at the presentations I did this semester; a PechaKucha on 1500’s theatre-builder, James Burbage and a part of a group presentation on Laurence Olivier’s 1940’s version of Hamlet. And finally, I conclude with further learning I’ve done outside of class on William Shakespeare. In class, we viewed two drastically different remakes of a Shakespeare play, but only watched films that stuck closely to the original text. I take a look at various films, which are more inspired by Shakespeare themes as opposed to “based on” the full play. I look at movie adaptations She’s the Man (based on Twelfth Night), 10 Things I Hate About You (Taming of the Shrew), The Lion King (Hamlet) and Empire (King Lear) through a lens of having analyzed several true-to-script Shakespearian films like Laurence Olivier’s or Kenneth Branagh’s style of film.
And of course, I include a progression of my thoughts from Day 1 of this class to the present where I’ve read four Shakespeare plays and watched eight movie adaptations along with my classmates.
With our first play being Much Ado About Nothing I felt I didn’t yet have a toolbox built for how to look at Shakespeare, I was stuck with what I had created in high school – deconstructing characters and keeping my thoughts surface level. I hadn’t yet upgraded to a university level ability to creatively and individually look at a piece of Shakespeare’s work. I noticed this in my first thought paper where I wrote, “I think the most interesting character from this play is Beatrice.” I didn’t dive into something individual, instead I wrote about something anyone could notice; that Beatrice was a strong, independent witty character that I found admirable.
Next, we explored the tragedy Othello, by this point I felt like I had created a foundation of looking at original Shakespeare text in contrast with different film scripts and contrasting the idea of a work meant for a play and a work meant for a film. I applied this throughout my thought papers for this play when I first wrote about the contrast in exploring Much Ado to exploring Othello. Secondly, I wrote how The Globe presented Othello with directorial edits that changed the way we saw characters by removing the line “She’s framed as fruitful / As the free elements,” in Iago’s speech about Desdemonda. And my final thought paper was on the film technique in having Iago interact with chess pieces and lighting strike, “In this scene, I also noticed because it was on film and not in front of a live audience, capturing the silence between his lines made me more captivated in his presence.”
Next, we explored Hamlet, through more than just thought papers. Things became a little more creative and group-thinking based when a review of a live, nationally broadcast performance was thrown into the mix along with a group presentation of a Hamlet film adaptation. By having three different hats to wear when looking at Hamlet, my toolbox again expanded. With a thought paper I was looking at something everyone had interacted with in some way throughout their lives and taking my own stance on it. With the group project I was looking at a singular piece with a group of people and coming together to form one presentation. And finally with the review, I was with the world, looking at something for the first time together and having to walk away without any other influence than my own perception. In my review I wrote “I give Hamlet a 4.5/5 because of Cumberbatch and Brooke’s stunning performances and the captivating energy put into designing several aspects of the play.” I found these pieces are what made the performance stand out which was individually crafted while thousands of people crafted their own opinions at the exact same time. It also forces you to be brave in what you write because now more than ever, with the performance fresh, people are likely to have different beliefs formed and you have to defend what you say.
Finally, we worked on Henry V, where I wrote my final thought paper on Tom Hiddleston’s performance of the title character in Hollow Crown’s television adaptation. It was interesting to be able to take the tool-kit I learned throughout the semester and apply it to something new. Instead of looking at Shakespearian films, I was looking at TV-adaptations of films. While I likely wouldn’t have separated the two at the beginning of the semester, by creating this toolkit over the term, I was able to notice how a director took a play that was written 400 years ago and very well known and made it his own. In my paper I wrote “I felt in watching it in this context made it appear as if the film was just several chunks of action pieced together,” because of the inclusion of commercial breaks. I was focusing both on how the director was able be influenced by a text and how the medium through which it was expressed molded that influence.
In reflection, my mind has changed throughout the course from Day one until today. I had a belief that cutting down something like a Shakespeare play to fit a movie was simply a time-constraint and that the jist of what a character was saying could be summarized. After looking at directors like Olivier, Branagh and Parker, I see the meaning and intent behind editing, which leads to a more analytical perspective on my part.
The questions I had throughout the semester were heavily focused on director’s reasoning. For example, when I took notes while watching Olivier’s Hamlet, I noted down “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern missing – why??” And for my own thoughts I scribbled down “Rid comedic relief? Focus on Hamlet? Olivier didn’t see the value?” When in research for my presentation I discovered it was not only for time, but because the public didn’t have a familiarity with the play as we do today and wouldn’t have noticed this major cut. I think focusing on director’s reasoning helped me be a director myself when I read a play. I was able to interpret line-readings better in my head and produce my own mini-film. As well, the presentations for this project lead me to answer my own questions, which I felt was beneficial.
I don’t feel like I’m leaving the class with any significant questions weighing on my brain but I do feel like I have created a tool-kit to looking at Shakespearian films that I did not have at the beginning of the semester. And when I do encounter a new play/film and have questions, I feel I’ll be able to work through them with this kit.
With this, I did notice a development in my writing and thinking capabilities. Initially I focused on surface level or overly specific moments in a film or play, but near the end I was able to critically and creatively use my personal experience and thought to understand a play and a director’s intention and interpretation. Especially in my scene comparison assignment on Much Ado About Nothing where I take note of how the director’s portray the characters changing how the audience feels about the ending and the couple getting together.
In conclusion, I think this course helped me create my own thoughts about not only Shakespeare’s intent, but my interpretation of that intent and how as an individual my own perspective is valid. I gained the confidence to not only think my own thoughts, but the thought papers helped me in expressing them publicly. I came into this class not knowing what to expect and am leaving with the knowledge and confidence to carry what I’ve learned over to further readings of Shakespeare plays and viewings of film adaptions.