What aspects of Shakespeare are universal? What do we mean by this, and what active works of creative reinterpretation enable us to continue to claim such a thing? In this course, we will consider the roles that filmmakers have played in continually remaking a Shakespeare “for all time.” We will be focusing on refining skills of close textual and film analysis, and also address questions of adaptation more broadly and from a theoretical perspective. We will be focusing on a handful of Shakespeare plays and their adaptations, some of which translate Shakespeare's plays to different times, places, and languages.
The primary goal of the course will be to develop your capacity to read and analyze both dramatic and filmic texts using critical terms drawn from literary as well as film studies. You will also become knowledgeable about the canonical Shakespearean directors and auteurs (Branagh, Kurosawa, Olivier, Zeffirelli) as well as some emergent voices and visions. In the process, you will be expected begin to think through major concepts and issues of cinematic as well as serialized television adaptation. This course is research-intensive.
- Teacher: Chloe Wheatley