FYS 1207 - Shakespeare at the Movies

Credits: 4.0
Although Shakespeare’s plays were written over four hundred years ago, they continue to serve as a source of inspiration for directors, screen-writers, and the movie-making industry. What is it about Shakespeare’s plays that makes them compelling objects of analysis for reading and film-watching audiences today? How have various actors and productions interpreted, adapted, and enlivened Shakespeare’s written works in the 20th and 21st centuries? In this class, we will examine five plays by Shakespeare, including Hamlet, Macbeth, and Much Ado About Nothing. We will read and discuss these works together as a class, with attention to character development, theme, poetic techniques, historical context, and more. For each play, we will watch (in full or in part) multiple movie productions or adaptations, including Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet, Joss Whedon’s Much Ado, and Akira Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood. By considering these works from multiple points of view and in multiple productions, we can better understand how Shakespeare remains relevant and how they can be meaningful and enjoyable to us today.
McDaniel Plan: First-Year Seminar, Textual Analysis