Introduction
A pathfinder is a document/web page that contains a bibliography of information pertaining to one particular subject. This pathfinder was made to lead researchers to information about Shakespeare's influence on popular culture, focusing on how his works have been adapted into modern popular films and books.
The resources listed in this pathfinder are both articles and book resources and were found through The College of Saint Rose Library and the SUNY Albany Library. The databases used to find the articles were Academic Search Complete and MLA International Bibliography. These resources were compiled with a college student in mind; as these resources were meant to be research for an academic paper or for further study of Shakespeare and Popular Culture. The resources available here are supposed to be a starting point for further research and ARE NOT the only resources available on this topic.
In addition to resources and theory about the topic, I have also included several adaptations of Shakespeare's works. Again, those listed here ARE NOT the only availble adaptations, only a small sampling.
Adaptations
According to thefreedictionary.com, an adaptation is "a composition that has been recast into a new form." This is a very basic definition. The criteria used to comile this list of adaptations was made a little more specific: the work had to pay homage to the Shakepseare play(s) or the work had to follow the basic story lines of the original plays. Most of the titles listed below follow the stories of the plays and often keep (or slightly modify) character's names. However, some of the titles are not generally considered an adaptation, or they are an adaptation of several different plays. These titles made this list because of the respect they pay to the famous playwright.
Borgeson, Jess, Adam Long, and Daniel Singer. The Compleat Works of Wllm Shakspr (Abridged). New York: Applause Books, 1994. Print.
This script is not an adaptation of any one Shakepseare play; it is a combination of his entire works. Written for a three man cast, this play explores and combines all of Shakespeare's works from his comedies to the tragedies and even the sonnets. Not only does it offer it's audience an abridged look at Shakespeare's work, it also celebrates the playwright and the entertainment his works have offered over the centuries.
A Thousand Acres: a novel, by Jane Smiley
Smiley, Jane. A Thousand Acres: a novel. New York: Anchor Books, 2003. Print.
This adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear is about Larry Cook, an again farmer who has decided to incorporate his farm leaving it to his three daughters: Ginny, Rose, and Caroline. When the youngest daughter, Caroline, refuses, she is taken out of the agreement. This decision sets off a chain of events that bring truths and long supressed emotions to light. It was later made into a filmof the same name.
Fiedler, Lisa. Romeo's Ex: Rosaline's Story. New York: Henry Holt, 2006. Print.
This is the tale of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet told from the point of view of Rosaline, Romeo's first love. The audience of the play doesn't really get to meet Rosaline since the love between Romeo and Juliet takes over the entire storyline.
Cooney, Caroline B. Enter Three Witches. New York: Scholastic Press, 2007. Print.
This is an adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth. This young adult novel is about the daughter of Lord Cawdor, who was the man who was hanged for betraying and killing the king of Scotland. It, like the novel above, is a retelling of the classic story from another character's eyes.
Video Adaptations:
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)
Performers: Adam Long, Austen Tichenor and Reed Martin
This is the film adapatation of the script presented above.
A Thousand Acres
Performers: Michelle Pfeiffer and Jessica Lange
Shakespeare in Love
Performers: Geoffrey Rush, Joseph Fiennes and Gwyneth Paltrow
This film depicts a love affair between William Shakespeare and Viola de Lesseps at the time of his writing Romeo and Juliet. The film is not a traditional adapataion of any one Shakespeare play; however, the plot of the film is very similar to Romeo and Juliet. Several other characters, plot devices and lines from Shakespeare's other plays make an appearance in this film. This film is fictional and should not be seen as biographical.
Shakespeare Re-Told
Performers: James McAvoy, Billie Piper, Bill Paterson and Imelda Staunton
This collection of four movies consists of Macbeth, The Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Though the films have the same titles as the plays they are adapted from, the stories and dialogue are all modernized.
Were the World Mine
Performers: Tanner Cohen, Wendy Robie and Judy McClane
This film is inspired by Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. The main character, Timothy, is an openly gay student at an all boy's private high school. He is cast as Puck in the school's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. While preparing his lines for the performance, Timothy discovers the recipe for creating the flower to make people fall in love.
The Lion King
Performers: Matthew Broderik, James Earl Jones and Jeremy Irons
Most people have seen this movie or the live stage play. However, few know that it is a loose adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet.
10 Things I Hate About You
Performers: Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles and Joseph Gordon-Levitt
This popular film is an adaptation of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. This American teen romantic comedy film is about Cameron, who is a new student at Padua Stadium High School. He falls in love with Bianca, however, Bianca is not allowed to date unless her elder sister Kat does. Knowing this, Cameron decides to try and find someone who is willing to date the ill-tempered Kat.
"O"
Performers: Josh Hartnett, Julia Stiles and Michelle Pfeiffer
This Othello adaptation takes place in a modern day high school setting. The film follows Odin (modern day Othello) who is the star of the basketball team and the only African American student at the high school. Hugo (Iago), the steroid addicted son of the basketball coach, plants seeds of doubt in Odin's mind. The events lead the characters to a dark a violent fate.
She's the Man
Performers: Amanda Bynes, Channing Tatum and Laura Ramsey
This American romantic comedy is based on Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. The story centers around Viola, who goes to her brother's school as her brother Sebastian to play on the school's boy's soccer team. The film takes a comical turn when her brother then arrives at the same school.
Resources and Theory
Articles:
Abele, Elizabeth. "Introduction: Whither Shakespop? Taking Stock of Shakespeare in Popular Culture." College Literature 31.4 (2004): 1-11. Academic Search Complete. Web. 11 Apr. 2012.
- This article traces the roots of Shakespeare's integration into U.S. modern popular culture and the challenge of defining his position while moving into the 21st century. The author of this article specializes in American culture while the co-editor is a Renaissance scholar who specializes in film. The two put together a panel to better understand Shakespeare's position in popular culture.
Lanier, Douglas. "Recent Shakespeare Adaptation and the Mutations of Cultural Capital." Shakespeare Studies 38.(2010): 104-113. Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 Apr. 2012.
- This article is from Shakespeare and Modern Popular Culture. Though I included the citation for the book in the section below, I felt that particular attention should be drawn to the introduction of the book. This introduction contains some information about the performance of Shakespeare in our time.
Cartelli, Thomas. "Doing It Slant: Reconceiving Shakspeare in the Shakespeare Aftermath." Shakespeare Studies 38.(2010): 26-36. Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 Apr. 2012.
- This article discusses the continued study of Shakespeare today and how films from the late 20th and early 21st centuries have presented Shakespeare's works to a modern audience. The main focus of this article seems to be on how film has "translated" Shakespeare into a more modern and understandable language since audiences today seem to have difficulty in understanding Shakespeare's original dialogue. This article also gives some other examples of adaptations.
Pittman, L. Monique. "Taming 10 Things I Hate About You: Shakespeare and the Teenage film Audience." Literature Film Quarterly 32.2 (2004): 144-152. Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 Apr. 2012.
- This article analyzes the relationship between Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and director Gil Junger's film 10 Things I Hate About You. It mentions the film's exploration of peer presure and high school cliques and Shakespeare's treatment of gender by raising tensions concerning the nature of individual subjectivity.
Pittman, L. Monique. "Dressing the Girl/Playing the Boy: "Twelfth Night" Learns Soccer on the Set of "She's the Man."" Literature Film Quarterly 36.2 (2008): 122-136. Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 Apr. 2012.
- This article focuses on both the film She's the Man and Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. It discusses the performanc of the actress Amanda Bynes and how her performance as both Viola and Viola's brother Sebastian blur the lines of gender identity. The portrayals of masculinity and femininity are explored and the films success as an adaptation of Shakespeare's play is analyzed.
Klett, Elizabeth. "Reviving Viola: Comic and Tragic Teen Film Adaptations of Twelfth Night." Shakespeare Bulletin: A Journal of Performance Criticism and Scholarship 26.2 (2008): 69-87. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 21 Apr. 2012. - This article discusses two Shakepseare adaptations of Twelfth Night: She's the Man (2006) and Lost and Delirious (2001). It covers the moment in both the play and the two adaptations where the Viola characters have a moment of identity crisis. The articles discusses the manners in which these characters realize and deal with this crisis and compare it to Shakepseare's soliloquies.
Thompson, Ayanna. "Rewriting the 'Real': Popular Shakespeare in the 1990s." Journal of Popular Culture 40.6 (2007): 1052-1072. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 21 Apr. 2012.
- This article covers several popular titles of adaptations from the 1990s to 2000. The author argues the reasons for why Shakespeare had suddenly become more popular in the nineties as opposed to the seveties or the eighties. The article also covers the scholarship of Shakespeare through the ages and how this has affected Shakespeare adaptations.
Aldama, Frederick Luis. "Race, Cognition, and Emotion: Shakespeare on Film." College Literature 33.1 (2006): 197-213. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 21 Apr. 2012.
- This article examines four Shakespearean film adaptations through the director's lens of race and ethnicity, and audience reactions. The article also explores how the directors stylistically and thematically use cinematic conventions to creatively reshape Shakespeare's plays and to complicate their audience's cognitive feelings about ethnic identity and experience.
Books:
Lanier, Douglas. Shakespeare and Modern Popular Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. Print.
- This book contains several essays on Shakespeare and popular culture. One particular essay in this book, "Recasting the Plays: Honage, Adaptation, Parody," pertains to adaptations and other forms in which popular culture has paid homage to Shakespeare and his works. However, this book has several other essays that discuss Shakespeare's impact on modern culture-not just specifically in film.
McDonald, Russ. The Bedford Companion to Shakespeare: An Introduction with Documents. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001. Print.
- Though the introduction of this book seems to have the best information about Shakespeare performance in modern times. However, in order to study and understand Shakespeare's influence on popular culture, the researcher needs to have an understanding of Shakespeare's influence in his own time. This book contains information about Shakespeare's plays, the playhouse, his language and performance.
Garber, Margorie. Shakespeare and Modern Culture. New York: Pantheon Books, 2008. Print.
- The author of this book looks into ten of Shakepseare's plays to explore the interrelationships between Shakespeare and the twentieth century and contemporary culture. Garber argues that Shakespeare makes modern culture while modern remakings of Shakespeare's plays remake the Bard. This book focuses on Shakespeare's influence on popular culture.
Rosenthal, Daniel. 100 Shakespeare Films. London: British Film Institute, 2007. Print.
- This book contains several listings and information about Shakespeare's films from the silent film The Tempest (1907) to Kenneth Branagh's As You Like It (2006). This is an excellent resource for someone who is looking for more performances or adaptations of Shakespeare's works.
- In the same way that Shakespeare meditated and transformed his own ideas, this book gives us license to continue Shakespeare's work in productions and adaptations extrapolated from his work. Marowitz introduces us to Shakespeare as an active contemposary collaborator who strives with us to yield a vibrant contemporary theatre.
Cartelli, Thomas and Katherine Rowe. New Wave Shakespeare on Screen. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2007. Print.
- This books draws on the developments in Shakespeare studies, performance studies, and media studies. It integrates text-based and screen based approahces in ways that will be accessible to teachers, students and scholars. This book also discusses several popular culture films.
Jackson, Russell. Shakespeare Films in the Making: Vision, Production and Reception. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Print.
- This book examines the production and reception of five feature-length Shakespeare films of the twentieth century. It focuses on the ways in which they articulate vision of the their Shakespearean originals. This book offers readings out the films.
Hindle, Maurice. Studying Shakespeare on Film. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. Print.
- This book is an introductory guide to analyzing and discussing Shakespeare on screen. The first part of the book extablishes the differences between Shakespeare on stage and on film. The second part provides an historical introduction to Shakespeare on film. Part three explores genre conventions used in Shakespeare on film. Part four contains a seris of critical essays and part five discusses Shakespeare on television.
Burt, Richard, ed. Shakespeare After Shakespeare: An Encylopedia of the Bard in Mass Media and Popular Culture. 2 vols. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2007. Print.
- This multivolume text chronicles the presence of Shakespeare in contemporary popular culture. The encyclopedia covers a full range of Shakespeare's influence in popular culture paying particular attention to film, radio and television. This work also includes a bibliography of other works on Shakespearean adapations and popular culture.
- This collection explores several Shakespearean film representations and adaptations from Almereyda's Hamlet to the BBC's Shakespea(Re)-Told which is one of the adaptations listed above. This work offers in depth analyses of productions.
- This book uses several Shakespearean adaptations to show and explain the influence of the playwright on popular culture through his adaptation to film, TV and video. This book includes a further selection of Shakespearean adaptations such as My own Private Idaho and Last Action Hero.
