fandomhigh | Modern Shakespeare, Wednesday, Period 1 & 2

After the violent disaster that had been Jono and Hannibal's wedding (of which she had contributed much of the violence), Karla was tempted to show Ran. But she wasn't sure Peridot's reading level was up to snuff to follow the subtitles. So, instead, she had another movie that discussed violence in its many variations and the effect it has on the text. But before she could start the movie, there was something she had to clear up first.

"Okay, so everything in the documentary...forget it," Karla said, rubbing her temples. "I'm sorry. It was just...yeah, everything about it was wrong. Hilarious, but wrong." It was below her Queenly dignity to admit that she'd gone home and snickered at all the words Philomena had underlined with her finger. And then sent it to Ender, because what was the point of having friends if she couldn't troll them? "So, take it as a joke--a parody--and let's move on."

There, that done, Karla could move onto the proper lecture. "So, one of the benefits of modern adaptations is the ability to look at the plays in ways that Shakespeare and his contemporaries could never have imagined. There are new ways of looking at the text, like feminist criticism or queer theory--that is, examining the plays with an eye towards how gender or sexuality is constructed. And with that, comes a focus on minor characters. Modern adaptations can expand upon their roles or delve deeper into their characterizations, or even use them to shed new light on the text. Today, we're looking at one of the most famous examples of this, by revisiting our first play, Amleth."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Heads!

Rufus Shinra

Lucille Sharpe

Peridot

Re: Sign In (06/08)

wildandbrave - 2016-06-08 15:56 (UTC) - Expand

intotheout - 2016-06-08 16:08 (UTC) - Expand

imisscookiecat.livejournal.com - 2016-06-08 18:47 (UTC) - Expand

notamascot - 2016-06-08 19:20 (UTC) - Expand

You're all just lucky she didn't go into more detail about feminist theory! She comes from a matriarchy, after all.

Judith Butler, anyone? bell hooks?

Edited 2016-06-08 08:49 (UTC)

Lucille had never heard of either feminist or queer theory, but made notes. Perhaps she would find a book on either of them in the library and make her own opinion on how they could be related to Shakespeare.

Best. Shakespeare. Adaptation. Ever.

Tip loved this movie. She'd never seen it before -- her mom wasn't much one for philosophical rambling, which seemed to make up at least 90% of the dialog -- but the logical nonsensicality soon had her in stitches.

Now, if only there were any girls of any substance in it at all. . . .

Thoughts? Questions? Comments?

Karla's letting the class lead the discussion today.

"It is a strange story," Lucille said. "But... interesting and well written."

Edited 2016-06-08 11:14 (UTC)

"It's not even a story," Tip said happily. "It's, like, an absence of story. It's characters desperately searching for their story and hoping it won't inevitably end in death."

Which, of course, it did. Because Shakespearean tragedy.

Tip had a point, and she sounded a lot more clever than Lucille.

"It is a story in the shadow of the great tragedy," Lucille said. "About the people that are expendable."