We will read and study a selection of Shakespeare’s plays along with their feature film adaptations, focusing on the medium specific ways in which cinema transforms the Shakespearean text and on the industrial, cultural, and historical factors that influence film versions over time.
Assignments will include quizzes on the reading assignment of the plays, two papers, and a final examination.
Attendance Mandatory.
Shakespeare’s texts: Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V, Hamlet
Choices for Film Adaptations: Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet; Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet; Roman Polanski’s Macbeth; Akira Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood (Macbeth); Kenneth Branagh’s Much Ado About Nothing; Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing; Laurence Olivier’s Henry V; Branagh’s Henry V; Olivier’s Hamlet; Grigori Kozintsev’s Hamlet; Zeffirelli’s Hamlet.