Modern Shakespeare, Wednesday, Periods 1 & 2

[glacial_queen]

"So, just about every year, the island picks a day and makes you sing," Karla said with the smug smile of someone who'd been through it a million times by now and had no fear of it left. "You will sing. Likely, you will sing in public and in front of your peers. If you're lucky, you'll get away with just singing about what you're doing, little musical additions to your conversation. If you're unlucky, you'll end up singing something personal and private in front of someone--confessing your innermost thoughts and emotions to the person you're talking to. For one day, you get to experience living in a musical--almost. One of the rules of being in a musical is that the characters don't know they are in a musical and so the random outbursts into song are either not noticed, even when they happen just a few feet away, or everyone participates and it's considered normal."

Could you see where this was going yet, class? At least, those of you from modern times? "Today, we're going to watch one of the most famous adaptations of Shakespeare's work, East Side Story, which is a modern, musical take on the play, Star-Crossed. In both plays, two teens from rival factions fall in love, but their friends and families are both feuding. That feud leads several deaths, including the death of a family member of the female lead's at the hands of the male lead." Karla continued explaining the plot of Star-Crossed, going over the relationships between the characters and how young the leads were written as and the power structures between the families.

"In East Side Story, some of that narrative is complicated," Karla continued. "Rather than being two opposing wealthy families and their retainers, the musical provides a racial and economic element, with one side being the established white gang and the other the newly-arrived immigrants from Puerto Rico. Either way, the causal hatred between the two groups leads ultimately to tragedy, turning what many consider to be Shakespeare's most romantic play into his most tragic."

Comments

Sign In (05/25)

[glacial_queen]

Romantically

Re: Sign In (05/25)

[imisscookiecat.livejournal.com]

Steven Universe

Re: Sign In (05/25)

[intotheout]

Gratuity Tucci

Listen to the Lecture

[glacial_queen]

Fear the onset of OMWF.

You'll survive it. Your teacher had!

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[intotheout]

Yeah, that one had not been covered in any of Tip's intro-to-Fandom conversations, yet. She did okay just singing around being goofy with friends, but uncontrollably? In front of everybody?

Maybe she could throw fire dampening pellets when the music started and make her escape while everyone was covered in foam.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[imisscookiecat.livejournal.com]

Breaking into song was totally a normal thing for Steven, he feared it not.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[wildandbrave]

Yeah, Cosette had survived that particular Fandom event a few times already. Not that it worried her at all, for some reason.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[era_two_triangle]

Peridot didn't even see the point in singing, but she suppose she could handle the indignity, just so long as it didn't get in the way of whatever else she was doing at the time.

Watch the Musical

[glacial_queen]

Karla was already putting bets on who would react how.

Re: Watch the Musical

[intotheout]

Tip was going to have the song about living in America stuck in her head for the rest of the day.

Re: Watch the Musical

[crimson_sister]

Lucille hadn't been expecting much from yet another modern "interpretation" of Shakespeare, but she had to admit to herself that this one wasn't so bad. The music too; she enjoyed some of the songs.

Question 1

[glacial_queen]

"So, what do you think? Either about the movie as an adaptation, musicals in general, how it approaches its subject matter? Just your general thoughts."

Re: Question 1

[intotheout]

"I don't know," Tip said thoughtfully. "I mean, on the one hand, it's nice to see stuff get made about actual racism, even if it's the overt, old school version you don't really see anymore in public, today. But on the other -- I think the way that the two families hate each other for literally no reason in the original play is pretty important. They're actually exactly the same. They're not even arbitrarily separated by cultural distinctions like class and race, are they? They just hate each other because it's what they do."

Re: Question 1

[imisscookiecat.livejournal.com]

"I kinda wish they'd kept to dance competitions instead of actually shooting each other," Steven said, frowning a bit. "I mean, I'm glad that she didn't also die in the musical, but why did anyone have to? It was all so... all they had to do was talk about it, you know? It shouldn't have to come to all that."

Re: Question 1

[crimson_sister]

"In this case the modern setting does not belittle the story," Lucille said. "I know no other musicals, but some of the songs were to my taste."

Question 2

[glacial_queen]

"In the end, whose fault is it?" Karla asked. "Anita's for lying? Chino's for killing Tony? Tony's for killing Bernardo? The adults for not putting a stop to it? Someone else's entirely? Or is anyone at fault at all? Is it simply fate that they would never make it together? The title of the original play is Star-Crossed, after all, suggesting that fate and the stars decreed it would only end in tragedy."

Re: Question 2

[intotheout]

"It's everyone's fault," Tip said. "Destiny's a cop out, but it's not as easy as 'everything's all on this one character', either. They all made mistakes and stupid choices that led to the ending."

Re: Question 2

[imisscookiecat.livejournal.com]

"I don't believe in that kind of fate," Steven said, shaking his head. "We all have a choice and we can always choose to be better and to help make things better. They all didn't really choose to do that, and poor Tony shouldn't have had to pay that price for it."

Re: Question 2

[crimson_sister]

"They all make their choices. Perhaps they saw no other possibility. Isn't that what often causes tragedy?"

This was why the version they were studying today made sense to Lucille.

Question 3

[glacial_queen]

"Do you find this romantic? What's the lesson here? Is it to love fiercely and damn the consequences, or to be careful with your heart because loving unwisely and too well can lead to heartbreak? What are you taking away from this?"

Re: Question 3

[intotheout]

"Does it have to be one or the other?" Tip asked, after thinking about it for several moments. "Can't you love carefully but fiercely at the same time?"

She was honestly asking. She already knew she had too much trouble trusting anyone to let people in easily. But that didn't mean she didn't hope to find great romance in her life, too.

Hopefully without everyone dying, though.

Re: Question 3

[imisscookiecat.livejournal.com]

"I think really the lesson is to love more," Steven said. "Love your neighbor, and the old guy from the drugstore, and the people who are different than you. If you care about everyone, then you won't be bad to them on purpose."

Re: Question 3

[crimson_sister]

Lucille thought for a moment. "Love cannot be controlled."

Talk to Karla

[glacial_queen]

Before class, after class, during class. Whenever!

OOC

[glacial_queen]

I am finally free of the wedding mines that ate my last few weeks (so many apologies) so now I'll be around to ping and respond to pings.

Thanks for your patience and I'm so sorry!

Re: OOC

[imisscookiecat.livejournal.com]

Only a couple of folks get diamonds out of those mines, too, it's such a ripoff!