Module Information

This module introduces students to the study of film adaptations, and, specifically, film versions of the plays of William Shakespeare. Firstly we will look at a range of films which adapt the written texts. Secondly we will pay attention to films which are based more loosely on these texts, and finally we will look at some films which document the lives of Shakespearean actors and the workings of Shakespearean acting companies. We will be examining these films from a variety of critical perspectives, and will be asking key questions such as: What is adaptation? How are 'original' texts to be treated? How do we decide on the legitimacy of an 'original' text? How important is authenticity as a concept? We will also consider the reasons why Shakespeare's plays endure, and will try to determine what their 'timeless' qualities might be.

Central to this module will be the consideration of the ways in which filmmakers re-read and re-write the works of Shakespeare.

• Is it possible to critically approach the work of Shakespeare without dealing with the myth of Shakespeare?
• How far is it possible or impossible to talk about Shakespeare's authorial intentions?
• If some filmmakers have been criticised for moving away from the 'spirit' of Shakespeare's plays, what is this 'spirit' and how are we to approach it critically?
• Is it possible to think about Shakespeare's work as purely aesthetic, detached from ideology?
• How and why is Shakespearean language marked as linguistically brilliant?
• Why has Shakespeare's work been adapted again and again throughout the history of cinema and television?
• How far are Shakeseare's plays reinterpreted every time they are performed?
• How far can the languages of film develop aspects of Shakespeare's writing; or, how do filmmakers show us what Shakespeare (or his characters) can only describe?

While this module encourages students to consider different ways in which the plays of Shakespeare have been adapted on film, students will not be expected to be familiar with Shakespeare's plays. We will instead pay more attention to critical approaches to styles of adaptation.

Films Studied - indicative list

Henry V (Laurence Olivier, 1945)

Macbeth (Orson Welles, 1948)

Hamlet (Laurence Olivier, 1948)

Forbidden Planet (Fred M. Wilcox, 1956)

West Side Story (Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins, 1961)

King Lear (Peter Brook, 1970)

King Lear (Grigori Kozintsev, 1970)

The Tempest (Derek Jarman, 1979)

Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985)

Hamlet (Franco Zeffirelli, 1991)

Much Ado About Nothing (Kenneth Branagh, 1993)

Richard III (Richard Loncraine, 1995)

William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrman, 1996)

Hamlet (Kenneth Branagh, 1996)

Looking for Richard (Al Pacino, 1996)

Shakespeare in Love (John Madden, 1998)

10 Things I Hate About You (Gil Junger, 1999)

My Kingdom (Don Boyd, 2001)