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Saw this piece before, but hadn't had time to look at it until today.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6647927.stm
Turning the Bard's plays into cartoon style and bringing them up to date to appeal to young people.
I'm not sure it will work whatever they do. What do you think?
Well well! You know, its not the first time Shakespeare has been made into cartoons before, I think on the BBC, though some of them were pretty dire. I like what I saw of the illustrations in this article and would probably buy one of these for my son as well as have a read of it myself. What we also have to remember is that many of Shakespeares plays are based on stories that were already doing the rounds, and he updated them for his contemporary audience. So its not sacrilege, in my opinion.
I'm sure the very idea will go much against the grain with the purists.
I see no reason why the stories can't be told and appreciated manga-fashion. (I've only just learned what manga is - I got talking to a 'cool' young man in Waterstones who was searching the shelves for books on manga when I was looking at art books).
I've just ordered the Hamlet one on Amazon. So once me and my boy (who loves stories of pirates, ghosts, swashbuckling etc.) have read it I'll let you know.
Of course it can work, if it's done well enough! That's what is so great about Shakespeare; his stories are so huge and versatile that they can be adapted in a multitude of ways.
I think anything that gets kids interested in Will would be good. I was asked by my neighbours daughter today if I had Romeo and Juliet (the leonardo de caprio fiasco, I offered her the original text and she shuddered. Oh well.
Neph's child, why do you consider the di Caprio film a fiasco? It uses nothing but Shakespeare's original text, albeit with some cuts, and is the most moving and beautiful film version of the play, in my opinion. Both di Caprio and Claire Danes are superb in their roles, as is the excellent supporting cast including Pete Postlethwaite as the friar and Miriam Margolyes as the nurse. I've seen R&J on stage at the Globe and found it pale in comparison.
I wish I had the Leonardo Dicaprio version when I was studying R&J, we had to watch that ghastly version with Michael York (1968?).
Why not have Shakespeare as Manga. It is actually quite sophisticated. Take a look at the manga of Buddha's life, it's a bestseller. However, it shouldn't become a replacement for studying the original text.
Favourite adaption of Shakespeare to film?. Twelfth Night (1995/6/7, can't remember).
The problem is Leonardo de Caprio.
I grew up with the Franco Zefferelli version of Romeo and Juliet, Olivia Hussey and the other actors I can't remember- could have had Michael York in it, which would have been the right age frame.
I agree with Carol, I don't particularly like him and I dont think he was right for the role. The whole imagery of the film, the score was wonderful but to me he was a dissapointment.
My problem with Romeo, is that I don't like Romeo. He's a character who is in love with love, so I can't believe in this being a love story.
I've seen some interviews of Leonardo DiCaprio and he seems to be an intelligent young man who understands Shakespeare a hell of a lot more than the majority of scholars and academics. People don't seem to realise he was writing 'blockbusters' for a mass market audience. He wasn't trying to be clever or anything of the sort.
Okay, I think that DiCaprio was over the top, but watch some of his more recent films and he is more of an actor than a star.
Agree Shakespeare was writing for a mass market- an Eastenders scriptwriter you could say.
I'm sure Leonardo is an intelligent actor, but he just doesn't strike me as right for that role.
I have watched them films and been bored. Read the play and been bored. Seen it as a stage play which was slightly more entertaining but was not great.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking Shakespeare. IN fact when our class went to see Macbeth it quite literally turned my world upside down at aged eleven.
Just I think Romeo and Juliet is trite and very much like an overwritten and overacted soap.
I think you are either a like Shakespeare in any form person or the reverse, or perhaps it's selective.
I like him in the traditional forms. I've seen modern dress versions and it just doesn't sit well with me.
Carol, I like Shakespeare plays whenever they are done well - traditional or modern. I don't like it stilted or pretentious. Ultimately it's always down to the quality of the actors, the delivery of the lines. The language is what makes a Shakespeare play, not the stories.
Janet McTeer as Petrucchio in 'Taming of the Shrew', Josie Lawrence as Benedick in 'Much Ado About Nothing' - fantastic, hilarious. Michael Keaton as Dogberry in the film version of the same play - couldn't understand a word, totally pointless. Dustin Hoffman as Shylock - a theatre experience I'll never forget.
ST, you have every right to knock Shakespeare. Nothing wrong with that. I don't like chick-lit, Virginia Woolfe or Byron. Just because a small group of men say something is great, doesn't mean they are right.
I prefer Shakespeare live. I saw The Tempest with Patric Stewart in November and it was fabulous, and not in traditional dress either. I can't stand A Mid-Summer Night's Dream, but my sister did a performance for her HND (she played Helena) and she blew me away.
I'm not too keen on Manga myself but part of Shakespeare's enduring popularity is surely the strength of his storytelling, and hopefully that would translate into other forms well.
If it encourages kids/teenagers to read or see the plays, even better!
Actually Shakespeare went severely out of fashion after his death, and I believe it was the Victorians who picked him up again (can anyone confirm that, it's been a few years).
That was my massive gripe with the film Stage Beauty. I was studying Aphra Behn at the time, and I was really annoyed because Shakespeare was not performed during the period of Renaissance Theatre.
Stirling, yes I saw Patrick Stewart in "The Tempest", too. I loved his cloak and wish he'd worn it more throughout the play! I saw more Northern Lights in that play than I did when going to the Arctic on a special trip. You've got to laugh sometimes :O)
Comments
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6647927.stm
Turning the Bard's plays into cartoon style and bringing them up to date to appeal to young people.
I'm not sure it will work whatever they do. What do you think?
I see no reason why the stories can't be told and appreciated manga-fashion. (I've only just learned what manga is - I got talking to a 'cool' young man in Waterstones who was searching the shelves for books on manga when I was looking at art books).
Why not have Shakespeare as Manga. It is actually quite sophisticated. Take a look at the manga of Buddha's life, it's a bestseller. However, it shouldn't become a replacement for studying the original text.
Favourite adaption of Shakespeare to film?. Twelfth Night (1995/6/7, can't remember).
I grew up with the Franco Zefferelli version of Romeo and Juliet, Olivia Hussey and the other actors I can't remember- could have had Michael York in it, which would have been the right age frame.
I've seen some interviews of Leonardo DiCaprio and he seems to be an intelligent young man who understands Shakespeare a hell of a lot more than the majority of scholars and academics. People don't seem to realise he was writing 'blockbusters' for a mass market audience. He wasn't trying to be clever or anything of the sort.
Okay, I think that DiCaprio was over the top, but watch some of his more recent films and he is more of an actor than a star.
I'm sure Leonardo is an intelligent actor, but he just doesn't strike me as right for that role.
I have watched them films and been bored. Read the play and been bored. Seen it as a stage play which was slightly more entertaining but was not great.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking Shakespeare. IN fact when our class went to see Macbeth it quite literally turned my world upside down at aged eleven.
Just I think Romeo and Juliet is trite and very much like an overwritten and overacted soap.
I like him in the traditional forms. I've seen modern dress versions and it just doesn't sit well with me.
Janet McTeer as Petrucchio in 'Taming of the Shrew', Josie Lawrence as Benedick in 'Much Ado About Nothing' - fantastic, hilarious. Michael Keaton as Dogberry in the film version of the same play - couldn't understand a word, totally pointless. Dustin Hoffman as Shylock - a theatre experience I'll never forget.
I prefer Shakespeare live. I saw The Tempest with Patric Stewart in November and it was fabulous, and not in traditional dress either. I can't stand A Mid-Summer Night's Dream, but my sister did a performance for her HND (she played Helena) and she blew me away.
If it encourages kids/teenagers to read or see the plays, even better!
Ali
That was my massive gripe with the film Stage Beauty. I was studying Aphra Behn at the time, and I was really annoyed because Shakespeare was not performed during the period of Renaissance Theatre.