Shakespeare’s Outsiders: The Cultural Politics of Film Adaptations
Course Description
This course will explore Shakespeare’s depiction of outsiders—characters that do not fit social norms defined by class, gender, race, or religion—and their centrality to many of his plays. There is, for instance, the ambitious Bolingbroke in Richard II, the spirited Kate in The Taming of the Shrew, the jealous Moorish general in Othello, and the scorned Jewish moneylender in The Merchant of Venice. In dramatic terms, why does Shakespeare focus on outsiders? How are these outsiders different from, and similar to, each other? What does this concentration on outsiders suggest about the audiences of these plays and the culture in which they lived? We will discover answers to these questions by analyzing select dramas that cover the major genres—comedy, tragedy, and history plays—from across Shakespeare’s career. While we query the representation of outsiders, we also will situate these plays within the theatrical context of early modern London.
Besides historicizing the plays, we also will scrutinize the ways that present-day artists adapt these texts so that they continue to resonate in popular cultures across different countries. To do this, we will screen film treatments of each play we read—especially film treatments that translate Shakespeare into popular genres like teen movies or crime dramas—with the aim of reflecting on modern interpretations of Shakespeare’s outsiders, drawing out differences and similarities between the early modern past and the contemporary moment. We will scrutinize the ways that film directors and actors transform Shakespeare’s texts to speak into the cultural politics of the present, with special attention to the intersections of sexuality, race, gender, and class.
Methods of Evaluation
Film Review Paper (650 words) 20%
Response Paper (650 words) 20%
Final Paper Proposal and Annotated Bibliography 10%
Final Research Paper (2000 words) 40%
Participation 10%
Texts: The Norton Shakespeare: Essential Plays/The Sonnets, Stephen Greenblatt et alia, eds. W.W. Norton, 2015.