ENGL 332-01, Advanced Shakespeare: "Shakespeare in Guyland", Spring 2011

Abstract

This course combines film theory, gender studies, and Shakespeare studies. We will examine film adaptations of Shakespeare’s work from the 1940s to the present in order to analyze how the cinema appropriates early modern masculinities to modern and postmodern culture. For instance, we will examine the transition from Laurence Olivier’s Oedipal 1940s Hamlet to Mel Gibson’s 1980s action hero version to Ethan Hawke’s more recent postmodern slacker-boy interpretation. Along the way, we will test the arguments presented in an important recent book on modern masculinities, Michael Kimmel’s Guyland. You should expect to develop an attentive ear for Shakespeare’s language, a film analysis skill set, and a working knowledge of the fundamentals of sex/gender theory.