ENGL 358: Shakespeare on Film

Course Description

The course examines the adaption of Shakespeare's play-scripts for the screen. It goes beyond a discussion of the relative merits of plays and their respective film adaptions, examining the complex exchanges between the two artistic mediums (e.g. how stage convention such as soliloquies or off-stage action are adapted to the scree; how early silent films were used to market stage productions, etc.). It will approach the issue of adaption by examining the works of key directors, multiple films of a single play, silent films, foreign lanuage adaptions, mass market and art house films, and films which deal with fictive or actual productions of Shakespeare's plays. Special emphasis will be placed on specific stage productions that are later adapted to films. In this course, students will explore a broad range of responses to and interpretations of Shakespeare's works. This class will stress the idea that each staging is an interpretation of the play, its point of view conditioned by the times, the medium, and the director's vision. (OC)