ENGL 190-02, Shakespeare on Screen, Fall 2009

Abstract

What happens when Shakespearean dramas written for a 16th and 17 th century theatre audiences get ‘translated’ to 20 th and 21st century televisual media? What interpretative strategies shape adaptations? This course surveys Shakespeare on screen from a range of periods, directors, nations, and media in order to confront the full span of adaptation, and complicate conventional notions of “fidelity” to the “original text.” Following a close reading of each play, we will ‘triangulate’ our textual analysis by viewing two different film adaptations of that same play: three ‘major’ tragedies (Macbeth, Othello, King Lear) as well as A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a comedy that will be performed in the Memphis area this fall. Final projects require that students explore a contemporary adaptation of one play, in dialogue with earlier versions we viewed as a class as well as with academic scholarship. All ENG-190 courses are designed to introduce you to some of the methods of the English major.