The intersection of Shakespeare and popular culture;
an intertextual examination of some millennial
Shakespearean film adaptations (1999-2001), with
special reference to music.
Marina Gerzic
Bachelor of Arts (Hons): English – University of Western Australia
Thesis supervisor: Professor Bob White
This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the
University of Western Australia.
School of Social and Cultural Studies
Discipline of English
Year of Submission: 2008
Abstract
This dissertation analyses millennial film adaptations of five of Shakespeare‟s plays
with a specific focus on a selection of different kinds of film. These are William
Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer Night‟s Dream (1999: Dir. Michael Hoffman), 10 Things I
Hate About You (1999: Dir. Gil Junger), Hamlet (2000: Dir. Michael Almereyda), Titus
(1999: Dir. Julie Taymor), and Scotland, PA (2001: Dir. Billy Morrissette). The films
covered include both box office and independent, textually close to Shakespeare‟s
words or not, all totally different from each other. This thesis contextualises these film
adaptations within the realm of film studies, music theory, Shakespeare performance
theory, critical theory and popular culture. Rather than analysing each Shakespearean
film adaptation purely on an aesthetic level, my dissertation will identify and analyse
each director‟s “reading” of the specific play that is the basis of the cinematic
interpretation. The analysis of the filmic adaptation of a literary text always reveals
something through what directors put into film as well as what they leave out. The focus
of this dissertation is not on how faithful a film is to Shakespeare‟s text, but lies in how
the differences between the film and text illuminate what a director perceives as
“meaning” in Shakespeare‟s texts. My analysis looks at these Shakespearean film
adaptations as representations of specific film genres and styles, products of a specific
historical and cultural context, and in some cases with a specific target audience in
mind. In my exploration of William Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer Night‟s Dream, 10
Things I Hate About You, Hamlet, Titus and Scotland, PA my dissertation examines the
motivation and agenda involved in each of these adaptations. Each director has adapted
into film one of Shakespeare‟s plays to convey both a certain interpretation of the play
and its cultural relevance to their audiences. Traditionally the study of adaptation in film
has focused on the question of fidelity between a film and its source text. More recently
the focus of film adaptation has shifted towards the analysis and reception of
intertextuality. The term intertextuality, as it is used in this dissertation, refers to the
ways in which texts are built out of and draw upon prior texts, genres and discourses, a
subject which has received comparatively little attention in studies of Shakespeare on
film. In particular my thesis builds upon the analysis of popular culture in cinematic
3
adaptations of Shakespeare‟s work, and dissects and analyses each film‟s intertextual
layers and use of music. Since the emergence of the medium of film, music has been
associated with cinema. With the development of film technology, sound and music are
now considered equally important components of films. However, few critics have
explored music in Shakespeare on film. This dissertation examines the eclectic musical
styles present in Shakespeare on film, which includes such diverse styles as high opera
and popular contemporary music. My analysis looks at how music functions in a variety
of ways in each film, from conveying emotions through tone, lyrics and placement, to
its role in marketing strategies employed by filmmakers.
4
Table of contents
Title page
1
Abstract
3
Table of contents
5
Acknowledgements
7
Statement of candidate contribution
9
Introduction
11
Chapter One
William Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer Night‟s Dream
(Dir. Michael Hoffman, 1999)
25
Chapter Two
10 Things I Hate About You (Dir. Gil Junger, 1999)
53
Chapter Three
Hamlet (Dir. Michael Almereyda, 2000)
87
Chapter Four
Titus (Dir. Julie Taymor, 1999)
121
Chapter Five
Scotland, PA (Dir. Billy Morrissette, 2001)
163
Conclusion
185
References
1. Primary Sources
191
2. Secondary Sources
193
3. Filmography
213
5
Acknowledgments
There are many people I would like to thank who have helped me, both directly and
indirectly during the time it took me to write this thesis. These are just a few of them.
I would firstly like to thank Professor R.S. White, whose hard work and brilliant
supervision has been the keystone to my candidature.
Thanks also to Dr. Steve Chinna, whose impromptu chats over the last four years have
been comforting, and kept me sane and grounded.
I would also like to thank Dr. Gail Jones, whose career continues to inspire me.
Finally very special thanks to my good friends for their support, encouragement and
feedback over the last four years.
This dissertation is dedicated to my family, Mum, Dad and my brother Erik, without
whose support both financially and emotionally I could not have completed such an
immense challenge. Volim te puno.
7
Statement of candidate contribution
This thesis does not contain work that I have published, nor work under review for
publication.
9
Introduction
I totally respect Shakespeare's language. That's where I began but the films that are made based
on his work, and I know they're not „Shakespeare‟ -- who on earth ever said it was -- but the
films based on his language are not properly understood if all you do is criticise them on the
grounds that they do not reflect the Quarto or Folio texts. It's irrelevant. In a film you have to
make a scenario. You have to establish new ways of framing it, new methods of continuity. You
can't just rely on the Shakespearean text. If you want to read the text you can do it in the library.
- Russell Jackson, “An Interview with Russell Jackson,” Early
Modern Literary Studies 6.1 (2000).
Shakespeare films are not simply adaptations of a Shakespeare play but are allusions to and
commentaries on the play they adapt.
- Michael Anderegg, Cinematic Shakespeare (2004).
This dissertation analyses millennial film adaptations of five of Shakespeare‟s plays - A
Midsummer Night‟s Dream, The Taming of The Shrew, Hamlet, Titus Andronicus, and
Macbeth, with a specific focus on a selection of different kinds of film. The films
covered include both box office and independent, textually close to Shakespeare‟s
words or not, all totally different from each other. This thesis contextualises these film
adaptations within the realm of film studies, music theory, Shakespeare performance
theory, critical theory and popular culture. My analysis looks at these Shakespearean
film adaptations as representations of specific film genres and styles, products of a
specific historical and cultural context, and in some cases with a specific target audience
in mind. In my exploration of William Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer Night‟s Dream
(1999), 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), Hamlet (2000), Titus (1999) and Scotland,
PA (2001), my dissertation examines the motivation and agenda involved in each of
these adaptations. Each director has adapted into film one of Shakespeare‟s plays to
convey both a certain interpretation of the play and its cultural relevance to their
audiences. My thesis dissects and analyses each film‟s intertextual layers, and explores
the use of music in these films,1 which like references to popular culture, conveys
subtextual meaning.
1
This dissertation is not an analysis of the history of music in cinematic Shakespeare, but an examination
of how music is used in several filmed Shakespearean adaptations released during the period 1999-2001.
11
Ever since the silent era of film, William Shakespeare's works have been a popular
source for cinematic adaptations. The earliest surviving example of Shakespeare on film
is a segment from Herbert Beerbohm Tree‟s version of King John from 1899. The
eighty-four foot segment of film comes from Act 5 Scene 7 of the play where the
poisoned king lies dying. Kenneth Rothwell explains that the film was released as a
visual report on the opening of Tree‟s production, staged at Her Majesty‟s Theatre in
September of 1899.2 At the time no one would have considered filmed Shakespeare as a
rival to performing his work on stage. Familiar stories and characters such as those from
Shakespeare became a popular source for film narratives. Film makers at the time chose
to use Shakespeare because his work was in the public domain, and therefore avoided
copyright issues. Robert Hamilton Ball notes that an additional drive toward
Shakespeare stemmed from the need for respectability in cinema.3 When the silent film
industry began to develop in America and Europe, film was originally considered a
novelty because it moved, and few people „cared what it said or implied.‟4 By 1908 film
had become wide-spread, with over four thousand “Nickelodeons” or small cinema in
the United States alone. Within the next decade, the technical resources and popularity
of narrative cinema had grown substantially. Narratives involve people, conduct and
morality, and favourite film subjects at the time were crude realistic portrayals of crime
and risqué subject matter.5 Following the revocation of “moving-picture” licences by
New York City mayor George B. McClellan, in 1909 movie theatre owners and film
distributors joined together to form the National Board of Censorship of Motion
Pictures.6 The mayor believed that the new medium of film degraded the morals of the
community. The National Board of Censorship was established in order to endorse films
of merit. Producers had to submit their films to the Board before making release prints,
and cut out any footage that the Board found objectionable. Shakespearean narratives
became a popular source for film as Shakespeare brought a sense of cultural
respectability to a medium that was becoming immersed in the rise of what some
considered as vulgar subject matter. In „The Moral Development of the Silent Drama‟
(Edison Kinematogram, 15 April 1910) Frank L. Dyer, President of the Motion Pictures
2
Kenneth S Rothwell, Early Shakespeare Movies: How the Spurned Spawned Art (Chipping Campden:
International Shakespeare Association, 2000): 2.
3
Robert Hamilton Ball, Shakespeare on Silent Film: A Strange Eventful History (London: 1968): 39.
4
Ball, 39.
5
Ball, 39.
6
The National Board of Censorship of Motion Pictures would later become the National Board of Review
of Motion Pictures.
12
Patents Company, confirmed producers‟ assumptions that no one would object to
Shakespeare on film:
When the works of Dickens and Victor Hugo, the poems of Browning, the plays
of Shakespeare and stories from the Bible are used as a basis for moving
pictures, no fair-minded man can deny that the art is being developed along the
right lines.7
Dyer encouraged the classic adaptation as a way of uplifting both the cultural and moral
status of cinema.
The growth and evolution of film technology and culture encouraged the continuing
popularity and reworking of Shakespeare on film. Directors adapting Shakespeare for
the screen moved away from more theatrical and “faithful” adaptations of the Bard‟s
work8 and began replacing words with images and sounds such as music.
Shakespearean narratives were adapted into other genres, for example musicals: Kiss
Me Kate (1953) (based on The Taming of the Shrew), West Side Story (1953) (based on
Romeo and Juliet), and science fiction: Forbidden Planet (1956) (based on The
Tempest). The development of the Shakespeare film auteur also emerged during this
time.9 In the last decade there has been a particular explosion of Shakespeare on film.
The study of Shakespeare on film is a relatively new area which has attracted serious
academic attention only since the 1990s. Of particular note is Stanley Wells‟ seminal
volume of Shakespeare Survey (Vol. 39 1987) devoted entirely to Shakespeare on film
and television, later republished as Shakespeare and the Moving Image: The Plays on
Film and Television (1994).10 Kenneth Branagh‟s film adaptation of Henry V (1989)
sparked a renewed interest in Shakespeare on film, which culminated in the
Shakespeare film “boom” of the 1990s. The popularity of Shakespeare on film is
typified by the popularity and box office success of Baz Luhrmann‟s daring approach to
Romeo + Juliet (1996). Branagh astutely summarises the popularity of Shakespeare on
7
Frank L. Dyer cited in William Uricchio and Roberta E. Pearson, Reframing Culture: The Case of the
Vitagraph Quality Films (Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 1993): 48.
8
Shakespeare himself was an adaptor of others‟ works.
9
Examples include, and are not limited to such directors as Laurence Olivier: Henry V (1944), Hamlet
(1948), Richard III (1955), Orson Welles: Macbeth (1949), Othello (1953), Chimes at Midnight (1965),
Akira Kurosawa: Throne of Blood (1957), Ran (1985), Franco Zeffirelli: The Taming of the Shrew (1966),
Romeo and Juliet (1967), Hamlet (1990), and more recently Kenneth Branagh: Henry V (1989), Much
Ado About Nothing (1993), Hamlet (1996), Love‟s Labour‟s Lost (2000), As You Like It (2006).
10
Shakespeare and the Moving Image: The Plays on Film and Television, Anthony Davies and Stanley
Wells, eds (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994).
13
film in the 1990s; Shakespeare was suddenly making Hollywood executives a lot of
money.11 Following the immense success of Luhrmann‟s film, the millenary period of
1999-2001 was a particularly fruitful time for Shakespeare on screen, with over forty
filmed Shakespeare adaptations released to varying degrees of box office achievement
and popularity. These “new generation” Shakespearean films, termed „PostShakespeares‟12 by Michael Anderegg, are modernised renditions of Shakespeare‟s
plays which have reconfigured Shakespeare for a modern audience and re-popularised
Shakespearean works into popular culture. Shakespeare in film is now a genre with
recognised sub-genres of its own; for example the “teen” Shakespeare film, the
“Branagh” Shakespeare film, the “straight full-length” Shakespeare film, the “non
Shakespeare-speak” Shakespeare film. With this increased interest by audiences for all
things “Bard,” came an increase in critical studies not only of Shakespeare‟s plays but
also of Shakespeare on film, for example Tom Stoppard‟s successful film Shakespeare
in Love (1998). Yet despite this increased interest in Shakespeare and filmed
adaptations of his work, to date there has not been a study devoted entirely to the
exploration of intertextual reference and music in Shakespeare on film. Other critics
have incidentally examined some intertextual references in these adaptations; however,
the focal point of their analysis is predominantly other areas, for example Kenneth S
Rothwell‟s focus on plot in his filmography of twentieth century adaptations,
Shakespeare on Screen (1990). Any mention of intertextuality is usually only brief.
Even fewer critics have explored music in Shakespeare on film, and therefore my
analysis of music, in particular, sets my dissertation apart from other work done in the
field.
The term intertextuality as it is used in this dissertation refers to the ways in which texts
are built out of and draw upon prior texts, genres and discourses. The term
intertextuality was first introduced by French theorist Julia Kristeva. Kristeva‟s
invention of the word intertextuality has its context in her work on semiotics and
literature in the 1960s. Through this work she introduced the work of Mikhail Bakhtin,
the Russian linguist and literary critic, which was little-known of at the time. In
particular she focused on Bakhtin‟s account of the “dialogic” in language. For Bakhtin,
all language (and all thought) appears dialogic. By this, Bakhtin posits that everything
11
In her interview with Kenneth Branagh, Ilene Raymond questions him on why Hollywood is currently
so enamoured with Shakespeare, to which Branagh quips: „They're only interested in things that make
money.‟ Ilene Raymond, “Adapting the Bard: An Interview with Kenneth Branagh,” Creative
Screenwriting 5.2 (1998): 23.
12
Michael Anderegg, Cinematic Shakespeare (Rowman & Littlefield, 2004): 177-202.
14
anybody ever says exists in response to things that have been said before. So a person‟s
utterance „refutes, affirms, supplements, and relies on the others, presupposes them to
be known, and somehow takes them into account.‟13 Therefore a dialogic work carries
on a continual dialogue with other works of literature and other authors; it both informs
and is continually informed by previous work. The dialogic understanding of language
is a major starting point for the concept of intertextuality. Building on the work of
Bakhtin, Kristeva refers to a text in terms of two axes. A “horizontal axis” connects the
author and reader of a text and a “vertical axis” connects the text to other texts.14 Every
text is therefore double, both „an absorption and a transformation of another.‟ 15 Uniting
these two axes are shared interpretive frameworks which are used by both producers
and interpreters of texts. Every text and every reading of these texts depends on these
codes. Kristeva argues that every text is „from the outset under the jurisdiction of other
discourses which impose a universe on it.‟16 Rather than confining our attention to the
structure of a text, Kristeva suggests that we should study how the structure came into
being. This involves situating the text „within the totality of previous or synchronic
texts‟17 of which it was a transformation. Kristeva argues that signifying systems are
created by the manner in which they transform earlier signifying systems. A text is not
simply the product of a single author, but of its relationship to other texts, and to the
structures of language itself. What Kristeva suggests is that a text should be analysed
with regard to its multiple influences.
Inspired by Kristeva‟s work on Bakhtin, Roland Barthes provides some important ideas
on intertextuality. In his essay „Death of the Author‟ (1967) Barthes criticises the
tendency of readers to consider aspects of the author‟s identity in order to extract
meaning from their work. Barthes argues that a text does not consist of a line of words
releasing a single meaning, „the “message” of the Author-God.‟18 Abolishing both the
notion of an author and of origins, Barthes defines a text as a „tissue of quotations
13
M.M Bakhtin cited in: The Bakhtin reader: selected writings of Bakhtin, Medvedev and Voloshinov,
Pam Morris, ed (London: E. Arnold, 1994): 85.
14
Julia Kristeva, Desire in Language: A Semiotic Approach to Literature and Art, Leon S. Roudiez, ed
Thomas Gora, Alice Jardine, and Leon S. Roudiez, trans (New York: Columbia University Press, 1980):
69.
15
Kristeva, Desire in Language, 66.
16
Kristeva cited in Jonathan Culler, The Pursuit of Signs: Semiotics, Literature, Deconstruction (London:
Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981): 105.
17
Kristeva cited in Rosalind Coward, Language and materialism: developments in semiology and the
theory of the subject, Rosalind Coward and John Ellis, eds (London; Boston: Routledge and Paul, 1977):
52.
18
Roland Barthes, Image, Music, Text, Stephen Heath, trans (London: Fontana, 1977): 146.
15
drawn from the innumerable centres of culture.‟19 Barthes argues that a text is a
„multidimensional space in which a variety of writings, none of them original, blend and
clash.‟20 For Barthes, the author is not as important to the meaning of a work as are
cultural context and intertextuality, each of which allows the text to come into being:
Any text is a new tissue of past citations. Bits of code, formulae, rhythmic
models, fragments of social languages, etc., pass into the text and are
redistributed within it, for there is always language before and around the text. 21
Both Kristeva and Barthes replace the concept of an author who “creates” a text, with
that of intertextuality, a mosaic, blending or intersecting of various texts. What an
author intends does not matter since only other texts, and not an author, can supply
“meaning” which is multiple. Power shifts from the author, who becomes a scriptor
who combines pre-existing texts in new ways, to the reader, whose scope of
interpretation is opened up.22 The notion of subject as author can be applied when
talking about cinema, as film is a collaborative medium. The director plays a leading
role, but others are also influential, for example the film‟s composer, production
designer, and actors starring in the film. Auteur theory offers a possible resolution to the
reading of film as collaborative medium. In auteur theory the role of the director is the
equivalent to the role of the author. Robert Stam addresses auteur theory in his ideas on
intertextuality.
Later refinements to the term intertextuality by theorist John Fiske make a distinction
between different levels of intertextuality.23 In his work Television Culture (1987) Fiske
was one of the first scholars to discuss intertextuality within media studies. Fiske draws
upon concepts introduced by Kristeva and distinguishes intertextuality into two types,
vertical and horizontal:
19
Barthes, Image, Music, Text, 146.
Barthes, Image, Music, Text, 146.
21
Roland Barthes, “Theory of the Text,” Untying the Text: a post-structuralist reader, Robert Young, ed
(London: Routledge, 1981): 39.
22
Barthes, Image, Music, Text, 145-147.
23
French theorist Michael Riffaterre had made a distinction between two types of intertextuality, weak or
“aleatory” and strong or “obligatory,” prior to John Fiske‟s work in 1987. Riffaterre‟s ideas on
intertextuality have their context in the study of poetry, and so I have chosen to highlight Fiske‟s work on
media culture as it relates closer with the medium of film. For more detailed description of Riffaterre‟s
ideas on intertextuality see Michael Riffaterre, The Semiotics of Poetry (Bloomington: Indiana University
Press, 1978).
20
16
Horizontal relations are those between the primary texts that are more or less
explicitly linked, usually along the axes of genre, character, or content. Vertical
intertextuality is that between a primary text…and other texts of a different type
that refer explicitly to it.24
While Fiske‟s work is predominantly focused on the sphere of television, his analysis of
different forms of horizontal intertextuality, such as genre and character, can be applied
to film studies. Furthermore, in Fiske‟s discussions on vertical intertextuality he
distinguishes between secondary texts that refer to the primary text (such as studio
publicity and film criticism - both academic and journalistic) and tertiary texts that refer
to the primary text (Fiske refers to a viewer's conversations about a film, including
gossip and letters to the press25). The distinction between the two is commonly used in
the study of media culture, and is particularly useful in analysis of film.
This dissertation focuses on film adaptations of Shakespeare‟s plays; therefore the work
of Robert Stam is of particular relevance. Stam has published numerous works on film
theory and history, and is a recent example of someone who discusses intertextuality as
it relates to film, in particular film adaptations. Traditionally the study of adaptation in
film has focused on the question of fidelity between a film and its source text. More
recently, the focus of film adaptation has shifted towards the analysis and reception of
intertextuality. The focus of critical studies of Shakespeare on film has equally shifted
away from the issue of fidelity between Shakespeare‟s text and cinematic interpretations
of his work. However, the analysis of intertextuality has received comparatively little
attention in studies of Shakespeare on film. Stephen M. Buhler highlights the lack of
study of intertextuality in cinematic adaptation of Shakespeare‟s work in his statement
that „too often, Shakespeare films have been considered in isolation from other
cinematic works and from each other.‟26 This dissertation attempts to address the lack of
significant analysis of intertextual references in cinematic adaptations of Shakespeare‟s
works. In his studies on intertextuality, Robert Stam argues that film is constructed out
of a web of intertextual relations, in which features such as genre, historical references,
actors‟ “stardom,” and auteurs‟ penchants and choices compete with the source text in
24
John Fiske, Television Culture (London and New York: Routledge, 1987): 108.
Online reviews and discussion by users at websites such as the Internet Movie Database
<http://www.imdb.com> are a perfect example of such tertiary texts.
26
Stephen M. Buhler, Shakespeare in the Cinema: Ocular Proof (Albany: State University of New York
Press, 2002): 8.
25
17
determining meaning. For Stam, film is conceived as part of an ongoing dialogical
process and bears the traces of multiple intertexts:
Filmic adaptations get caught up in the ongoing whirl of intertextual reference
and transformation, of texts generating other texts in an endless process of
recycling, transformation, and transmutation, with no clear point of origin.27
Through combination with other texts in the intertextual exchange, previous text
material loses its special status. All intertexts therefore become of equal importance in
the intertextual process. Stam borrows Bakhtin‟s concept of dialogicism and proposes
the idea of dialogic intertextuality, which he characterizes as:
the infinite and open-ended possibilities generated by all the discursive practices
of a culture, the entire matrix of communicative utterances within which the
artistic text is situated, and which reach the text not only through recognizable
influences, but also through a subtle process of dissemination.28
For Stam, intertextuality is not reduced to matters of influence or source of a text, but
„allows for dialogical relations with other arts and media, both popular and erudite.‟29
Intertextuality is therefore a valuable theoretical concept precisely because it does not
limit itself to one medium.30 Intertextuality relates a text to other systems of
representation, and as such, Stam sees it as a possible answer to the limitations of
textual analysis and genre theory in the study of film.31
More recent analysis of intertextuality has come from Linda Hutcheon, who discusses
the term as it relates to postmodern theory. Hutcheon‟s preferred term is parody, which
she sees as synonymous with „ironic quotation, pastiche, appropriation, or
intertextuality.‟32 Graham Allen notes that in the index to Hutcheon‟s work The Politics
of Postmodernism (2002) the entry for „Intertextuality‟ simply directs the reader to the
entry for „Parody.‟33 Allen argues that this substitution leads to unhelpful
27
Robert Stam, Literature Through Film: Realism, Magic and the Art of Adaptation (Malden, MA:
Blackwell Publishing, 2005): 5.
28
Robert Stam, Film Theory: An Introduction (Malden, Mass.; Oxford: Blackwell, 2000): 202.
29
Stam, Film Theory: An Introduction, 203.
30
Stam, Film Theory: An Introduction, 203.
31
Stam, Film Theory: An Introduction, 202.
32
Linda Hutcheon, The Politics of Postmodernism, 2nd ed (London; New York: Routledge, 2002): 89.
33
Graham Allen, Intertextuality (London: Routledge, 2000): 189.
18
complications.34 Hutcheon‟s oversimplification of the term parody does not fully take
into account both its ridiculing or humorous potential. Hutcheon further defines parody
as a text which „paradoxically both incorporates and challenges that which it
parodies.‟35 A parodic text imitates convention with critical difference. For Hutcheon
parody is „not nostalgic; it is always critical,‟36 and as such does not fit in with how
certain references are used by directors in their cinematic interpretations of
Shakespeare. I have chosen not to refer to Hutcheon‟s idea of parody in this dissertation,
as not all the intertextual references I highlight are cited in order to be made fun of. That
is not to say the use of parody is completely absent in these films, and therefore any
instance where a director does use intertextuality in a critical or ironic way shall be
noted.
The first major sources for this dissertation are the five film adaptations of
Shakespeare‟s plays. These are William Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer Night‟s Dream
(1999: Dir. Michael Hoffman), 10 Things I Hate About You (1999: Dir. Gil Junger),
Hamlet (2000: Dir. Michael Almereyda), Titus (1999: Dir. Julie Taymor), and Scotland,
PA (2001: Dir. Billy Morrissette). All are recently released films from the period 19992001 and are available as a Digital Video Recording (I shall refer to the abbreviated
term of “DVD”). Within the realm of film studies a close reading of a film is a detailed
examination of the film itself. Rather than analysing each Shakespearean film
adaptation purely on an aesthetic level, my dissertation will identify and analyse each
director‟s “reading” of the specific play that is the basis of the cinematic interpretation.
The analysis of the filmic adaptation of a literary text always reveals something through
what directors put into film as well as what they leave out. The focus of this dissertation
is not on how faithful a film is to Shakespeare‟s text, but lies in how the differences
between the film and text illuminate what a director perceives as “meaning” in
Shakespeare‟s texts. My thesis will take a detailed look at both Shakespeare‟s texts and
film, and how each director looks at both text and film. I have chosen to use current
editions (all from New Cambridge Shakespeare editions) of each play-text I refer to, as
these editions reflect ideas that would have been familiar to the directors at the time of
34
Allen suggests that at times Hutcheon would „fare better if she used the term intertextuality rather
than…reshape and redirect notions of parody.‟ Allen, 190.
35
Linda Hutcheon, A Poetics of Postmodernism: History, theory, fiction (New York : Routledge, 1988):
11.
36
Hutcheon, The Politics of Postmodernism, 89.
19
filming.37 The majority of critical material in this dissertation will come from journal
articles and books, especially those on Shakespeare on film. I am indebted to the work
of Kenneth Rothwell, whose filmography of twentieth century adaptations of
Shakespeare on film has been a useful source of information, particularly those films
which are currently out of print. A more updated filmography is found in Shakespeare
into Film (2002), by James M Welsh, Richard Vela, and John C Tibbets.38 Expanding
the work of Rothwell, Shakespeare into Film provides both valuable commentary on
each play and its filmic interpretations. Of particular interest is the information on films
released since the publication of Rothwell‟s Shakespeare on Screen, which was
published at the beginning of the explosion of Shakespeare on film in the 1990s. All but
one film addressed in this thesis is mentioned in Shakespeare into Film.39
My dissertation is chiefly influenced by recent critics such as Kathy Howlett in Framing
Shakespeare on Film (2000), who have moved away from issues of fidelity between
Shakespeare and cinematic interpretations of his work. Taking on the premise of “is it
Shakespeare?,” Howlett demonstrates the flexibility of Shakespeare on film, and how an
audience‟s understanding can be manipulated by a director‟s cinematic technique. This
dissertation shall highlight the way in which music and intertextual references fit into
this “manipulation of understanding” in Shakespeare on film. The connection between
intertextuality and a director‟s technique in Shakespeare on film is something which
Samuel Crowl highlights in his book Shakespeare Observed: Studies in Performance on
Stage and Screen (1992). Crowl‟s work focuses on the intertextual dialogue between
contemporary film and stage versions of Shakespeare‟s plays. His discussion of the
Dieterle/Reinhardt version of A Midsummer Night‟s Dream (1935) is useful to my
analysis of Michael Hoffman‟s William Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer Night‟s Dream,
which is heavily influenced by the Dieterle/Reinhardt film.40 Samuel Crowl has written
many articles on performance aspects of Shakespeare, and Shakespeare Observed
predominantly focuses on how intertextuality relates to performance in Shakespearean
37
I have made note where a director has been influenced by another (possibly older) edition of
Shakespeare‟s play-text.
38
Shakespeare into Film, James M. Welsh, Richard Vela and John C. Tibbetts, eds (New York:
Checkmark Books, 2002).
39
The exception Scotland, PA, ran in limited theatre release in 2001 and was not released onto DVD until
late 2002, well after the publication of Shakespeare into Film that same year.
40
Samuel Crowl has also written on Hoffman‟s adaptation (“Michael Hoffman‟s film of A Midsummer
Night‟s Dream” Shakespeare Bulletin 17.3 Summer (1999): 41-42) as well as Michael Almereyda‟s
Hamlet (“Michael Almereyda‟s film of Hamlet” Shakespeare Bulletin 18.4 Fall (2000): 39-40) and Julie
Taymor‟s Titus (“Julie Taymor‟s Film of Titus” Shakespeare Bulletin 18.1 Winter (2000): 46-47), all of
which I analyse in this dissertation.
20
adaptations on stage and screen. My dissertation differs from Crowl‟s work, as
performance is only one aspect of my analysis of cinematic Shakespeare; others include,
but are not limited to a film‟s score and soundtrack and production design. This
dissertation takes a similar approach to the work of Mark Thornton Burnett and Ramona
Wray in Shakespeare, Film, Fin de Siècle (2000) which reads Shakespeare films of the
1990s as a device with which directors confront the millenary anxieties associated with
the transition from one century to another. My analysis of Shakespeare on cinema
centres on recent criticism of millenary film adaptations, such as that from Burnett,
Wray, Courtney Lehmann, Elsie Walker, Michael Anderegg in Post Shakespeare and
both volumes of Shakespeare the Movie (1997 and 2003) edited by Richard Burt and
Lynda E Boose.41 This recent criticism is valuable to my dissertation as it engages with
and analyses the sociology of popular culture in Shakespeare on film. My thesis builds
upon this analysis of popular culture in cinematic adaptations of Shakespeare‟s work,
and highlights the impact of music and its importance along with that of intertextuality
in understanding these films. Along with academic journals and books, this dissertation
refers to film reviews, interviews with directors and cast and other online media. The
„digitalization and globalization‟42 of Shakespeare on film has led to an increase in the
availability of such tertiary sources online. Film reviews are an invaluable source of
information about the popular culture surrounding a film‟s release. Interviews with the
cast and director of a film can also offer great insight into the production of a film.
Often these online sources of information are the only source of critical material about a
film. These reviews and interviews are intended to supplement critical material found in
journals and books on Shakespeare and each film adaptation, and as such are not the
focus of my analysis.
Since the emergence of the medium of film, music has been associated with cinema.
During the days of silent film, music was the only source of sound in theatres.43 With
the development of film technology, sound and music are now considered equally
41
Shakespeare the Movie: Popularising the Plays on Film, TV, and Video, Lynda E. Boose and Richard
Burt, eds (London; New York: Routledge, 1997). Shakespeare the Movie II: Popularising the Plays on
Film, TV, and Video and DVD, Lynda E. Boose and Richard Burt, eds (London; New York: Routledge,
2003). The articles in Shakespeare the Movie II are particularly useful as several focus on films which I
address in this dissertation, the exception being Julie Taymor‟s Titus.
42
Richard Burt and Lynda E. Boose, “Introduction: Editors‟ cut,” Shakespeare the Movie II: Popularising
the Plays on Film, TV, Video and DVD, Richard Burt and Lynda E. Boose, eds (London; New York:
Routledge, 2003): 2.
43
For a detailed examination of the history of sound in silent film see Rick Altman, Silent Film Sound
(New York: Columbia University Press, 2004).
21
important components of films. There are various kinds of music in films, defined
according to their placement during the film‟s production and also their placement
within the diegesis in the film. By diegesis I refer to what Michel Chion calls the „point
of hearing,‟44 the effect of positioning the sound source in film in relation to the point of
view of the camera.45 In this dissertation I will not focus on all types of music used in
film, and therefore I will only give the definitions of the types of film music that are
relevant to the particular films. Music in film falls under two main types, diegetic and
nondiegetic. Diegetic music is sound that occurs on screen, such as when an actor sings
or plays an instrument, whereas nondiegetic music is sound clearly not produced within
the screen space, such as a film‟s score or soundtrack, which is added to the film in
post-production. Each of these types of film music tends to be split into two further
categories,46 redundant music and contrapuntal music. Robert Stam defines redundant
music as film music which „simply reinforces the emotional tone of the sequence.‟47
Redundant music underlines the significance of emotional scenes in a film.
Contrapuntal music is described as music which goes against the dominant emotion of a
scene or sequence.48 Stam notes that the main role of music in film is directing our
emotional responses and regulating our sympathies.49 This dissertation shall show that
certain scenes in each of the five cinematic interpretations of Shakespeare‟s plays are
reinforced through the presence of music. As well as the film adaptations of
Shakespeare‟s plays, where relevant I shall refer to a film‟s soundtrack and score. The
majority of the music from the cinematic adaptations analysed in this dissertation has
been released on Compact Disc (I shall refer to the abbreviated term of “CD”). Often
the booklet that accompanies the CD soundtrack to a film contains linear notes from the
composer, musical artists, and occasionally the director of the film. These notes reveal
how and why certain music was chosen to be used in the film; as such both the
soundtrack and booklet are an invaluable source in my analysis of how music is used to
44
Stam, Film Theory, 218.
Robert Stam, New Vocabularies in Film Semiotics: Structuralism, Post-structuralism, and Beyond,
Robert Stam, Robert Burgoyne and Sally Flitterman-Lewis, eds (London; New York: Routledge, 1992):
62.
46
Michel Chion distinguishes between three possible types of film music. Empathetic music „participates
in and conveys the emotions of the character.‟ A-empathetic music is defined as „music that displays an
apparent indifference toward dramatically intense incidents, simply pursuing its rather mechanical course,
providing a distanced perspective on the individual dramas of the diegesis.‟ Finally, didactic contrapuntal
music „deploys music in a distanciated manner in order to elicit a precise, usually ironic, idea in the
spectators mind.‟ Stam, New Vocabularies in Film Semiotics, 63.
In this dissertation I shall only focus on the use of empathetic and didactic contrapuntal music in the five
film adaptations of Shakespeare‟s plays.
47
Stam, New Vocabularies in Film Semiotics, 63.
48
Stam, New Vocabularies in Film Semiotics, 63.
49
Stam, Film Theory: An Introduction, 221.
45
22
convey subtextual meaning. In the case of Billy Morrissette‟s Scotland, PA (2001) there
is no official soundtrack release for the film. I have made note throughout this
dissertation where I reference songs that are not present on a film‟s soundtrack or score,
but which are used during a scene. The reason behind a song‟s omission in a film can be
just an important as another song‟s inclusion in establishing “meaning.”
23
Michael Hoffman’s William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s
Dream (1999)
Michael Hoffman sets his film William Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer Night's Dream
(1999) is in late nineteenth century Tuscany. The various musical selections present in
Hoffman‟s film include a classically inspired score by Simon Boswell as well as a
choice of operatic arias from the Bel Canto tradition and incidental music from A
Midsummer Night‟s Dream by Felix Mendelssohn (1842). These references and echoes
not only serve to complement the fin-de-siècle Tuscan world in which the film is set,
but are used as a signifier, a means to guide the audience through Hoffman‟s reading of
the play. Following on from my discussion here of the use of music in William
Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer Night‟s Dream, I intend to demonstrate that intertextual
references are used in a similar fashion in Hoffman‟s film in order to navigate the
audience through his interpretation of the play. William Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer
Night‟s Dream is constructed from various references including allusions to other films,
both as direct references and associations that come from the actors cast in the film, as
well as styles of art and specific artists that were the inspiration for the visual design of
the film. These associations are, in some cases, mediated through other films of A
Midsummer Night‟s Dream, such as those directed by William Dieterle/Max Reinhardt
(1935), and to a lesser extent Celestino Coronada (Sueño de noche de verano, 1985),
both of which also use music functionally in conveying meaning.
Through the use of the operatic arias Verdi‟s „Brindisi,‟ Donizetti‟s „Una furtiva
lagrima,‟ Bellini‟s „Casta Diva,‟ and Mascagni‟s „Intermezzo‟ in Hoffman‟s film, the
comedy of A Midsummer Night‟s Dream transforms into what can be considered a
tragic-comedy, emphasising the tragic story of Nick Bottom, who is now a principal
character. Even for those spectators with no opera knowledge the mere presence of
opera music during the film suggests a connection to a sense of both “high” culture and
“theatricality” associated with opera. Douglas Lanier suggests that from its opening
scene, Hoffman‟s film „situates itself firmly within the conventions of heritage
25
cinema.‟50 This is a somewhat limited argument, since through this Lanier
underestimates Bottom‟s role in Hoffman‟s film. Lanier goes on to argue that Bottom
acts (within the conventions of heritage cinema) as a way to qualify Theseus‟ position in
the film as governor of all he surveys. Bottom becomes a figure that is representative of
what Lanier sees as the desires that heritage cinema are calculated to prompt, that is an
aristocratic life of leisure and “high” culture.51 Bottom also becomes representative of
the recognition that these desires, what Lanier terms „the governing fantasy‟52 of the
film (represented in the figure of Theseus), are simply that, a fantasy. By relegating him
to the status of „aristocratic wannabe‟53 and figure of „masculinist nostalgia,‟54 Lanier
does not take into account Bottom‟s specific realignment to central character and focus
of Hoffman‟s film, something which I will argue is tied in with the use of music within
William Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer Night‟s Dream.
Lanier defines a major characteristic of heritage cinema as „nostalgia for an upper-class
lifestyle and its material accoutrements,‟55 and so in Hoffman‟s film the presence of
opera both on the soundtrack and as a physical object (the vinyl records) suggests opera
as an example of “high” aristocratic culture. Sarah Mayo elaborates on this argument,
noting that the operatic arias used in Hoffman‟s film are fairly recognisable and are
divorced from their original context, and furthermore are performed by relatively “big
named” operatic stars such as Luciano Pavarotti and Cecilia Bartoli. As a result, the
presence of the arias in the film act not only as exemplars of “high” culture and
accompany the time and place in which Hoffman has chosen to set his film, but also act
as an opera‟s „greatest hits.‟56 This marketing strategy is reinforced by the soundtrack‟s
packaging where on the back of the soundtrack CD case attention is drawn to the
presence of what are referred to as “operatic superstars” within the soundtrack, their
names printed in bold on the track-listing.57 The inner sleeve of the booklet that
50
Douglas M. Lanier, “Nostalgia and theatricality: the fate of the Shakespearean stage in the Midsummer
Night‟s Dreams of Hoffman, Noble, and Edzard,” Shakespeare the Movie II: Popularising the Plays on
Film, TV, and Video and DVD, Lynda Boose and Richard Burt, eds (London; New York: Routledge,
2003) 155.
51
Lanier, “Nostalgia and theatricality,” 156.
52
Lanier, “Nostalgia and theatricality,” 156.
53
Lanier, “Nostalgia and theatricality,” 156.
54
Lanier, “Nostalgia and theatricality,” 158.
55
Lanier, “Nostalgia and theatricality,” 155.
56
Sarah Mayo, “„A Shakespeare for the People?‟ Negotiating the Popular in Shakespeare in Love and
Michael Hoffman's A Midsummer Night's Dream,” Textual Practice 17.2 Summer (2003): 305.
57
William Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer Night's Dream: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, Simon
Boswell, Twentieth Century Film Corporation/ Monarchy Enterprises B.V/Regency Entertainment (USA)
Inc/The Decca Record Company, AUDIO CD, US/UK, 1999.
26
accompanies the soundtrack also informs the listener as to the original Decca58
recording from where the tracks present can be originally found. Included with this is an
advertisement for other releases by Decca artists who are on the film‟s soundtrack, such
as Renee Flemming. Mayo‟s suggestion that the soundtrack is an opera list of “greatest
hits” also works with what Linda Charnes terms „the cultural commodity of casting.‟59
The focus of the advertising and merchandise of Hoffman‟s film adaptation William
Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer Night‟s Dream are “bankable”; well-known (read: mostly
American) cast members of the film, with Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, Stanley
Tucci, Callista Flockhart, and Rupert Everett gracing promotional material for the film.
The casting of “stars” in this film acts as a way of bringing allusions to other roles these
“stars” have played, and thus this example of intertextual referencing in Hoffman‟s film
acts, like music, as a signifier. Mayo suggests that the original context of the operatic
arias used in Hoffman‟s film may be divorced to some extent from their original
context. However, the original context of the arias, the operas the individual arias come
from and the place and meaning of each aria in that opera, bears some relation to the
new context in which the song is used. This idea is especially true to those viewers who
may have more than a rudimentary knowledge of opera.
Michael Hoffman explains his decision to make use of operatic arias in his film
adaptation William Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer Night‟s Dream on the inner sleeve of
the booklet that accompanies the soundtrack. Hoffman states that his decision to use
these arias came from a search to discover the “popular music” of late nineteenth
century Italy, the choice of setting for his film. This popular music, Hoffman reveals,
was opera.60 Hoffman‟s choice of operatic arias therefore comes from operas by various
Italian composers from the Bel Canto tradition. Bel Canto, literally meaning „beautiful
singing,‟61 is specifically an Italian style of opera singing that has a light, bright quality,
and its use melds with the nineteenth century Italian setting of the film. Hoffman‟s
reasoning for his choice of music combined with his reading of A Midsummer Night‟s
Dream as a story „about love and the obstacles people face‟62 and his subsequent visual
58
Decca is the recording company who published the soundtrack to Hoffman‟s A Midsummer Night‟s
Dream.
59
Linda Charnes, “Dismember me: Shakespeare, paranoia, and the logic of mass culture,” Shakespeare
Quarterly 48.1 Spring (1997): 7.
60
Michael Hoffman quoted on the inner sleeve of the booklet accompanying the soundtrack. Boswell,
1999.
61
“The Art of Bel Canto and the Romantic Generation,” Opera World, 27 Jul 2004
<http://www.operaworld.com/belcanto/artof.shtml>.
62
Mayo, 297.
27
rewriting of Bottom‟s history, transforming him into a „hopeless dreamer‟63 and tragic
figure central to the story of A Midsummer Night‟s Dream, alters what was once
considered a comedy into the tragic story of Nick Bottom the weaver. In Hoffman‟s
William Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer Night‟s Dream the character of Bottom is
privileged over all other characters. This change in focus comes from Hoffman‟s
anxiety over there being no central figure in previous film versions of A Midsummer
Night‟s Dream.64 Hoffman himself saw the absence of a central figure in A Midsummer
Night‟s Dream, considered as more of an ensemble affair, as contributing to a lack of
cinematic focus in previous films versions of the play, compared to film versions of
plays such as Hamlet and Macbeth. Interestingly Hoffman refers to plays that are
tragedies, and this can be considered as indicative of his choice to use operatic arias in
order to present his film adaptation of as the tragic story of Bottom the weaver rather
then simply as straight comedy. A similar realignment, this time of Puck as central
character, is seen in the 1985 filmed version of the production of the play by Celestino
Coronada, and in many stage productions of A Midsummer Night‟s Dream.
Hoffman‟s reading of A Midsummer Night‟s Dream as a “proto-tragedy” has its basis in
the similarities that exists with another of Shakespeare‟s plays the tragedy Romeo and
Juliet. These similarities include themes of order and disorder, two “star-crossed lovers”
whose parents disapprove of them being together.65 The story of Pyramus and Thisbe
can also be taken as a parody of Romeo and Juliet. A Midsummer Night‟s Dream is a
comedy in the sense that it is a play in which the major characters undergo various
misfortunes, which are put right near the end of the play, and the play has more or less a
happy ending. In A Midsummer Night‟s Dream the problems of the young lovers are
“put right” relatively early in the play. At the end of act three Puck promises that „all
shall be well‟ (III, iii, 47-48)66 and remedies his earlier mistake of enchanting Lysander.
The beginning of Act IV sees Titania also remedied of her infatuation with Bottom (IV,
i, 70-74), who is restored to his proper self. The remainder of Act IV and all of Act V
acts as a celebration of true love (and of true selves) restored and a celebration of the
marriages that follows this restoration. Romeo and Juliet is similar to A Midsummer
63
Mayo, 298.
Michael LoMonico, “„Is All Our Company Here?‟ An Interview with Michael Hoffman,” Shakespeare:
A magazine for Shakespeare teachers and enthusiasts 3.2 Summer (1999): 9-13.
65
In A Midsummer Night‟s Dream only Hermia‟s father is present.
66
Line citations from A Midsummer Night‟s Dream refer to the 1984 edition, edited by R.A Foakes.
William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night‟s Dream, R.A Foakes, ed (Cambridge; New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1984).
64
28
Night‟s Dream in that it is a play in which the major characters undergo various
misfortunes, and these are also more or less resolved. Though there has also been a
marriage in Romeo and Juliet, this comes much earlier in the play (II, v) and instead of
being a celebration is the cause of further problems and conflict. Romeo and Juliet
differs from A Midsummer Night‟s Dream, because there is no happy ending here,
rather the death of the major characters. The similarities between the two plays show
how easily a comedy can become a tragedy by a few changes in circumstance. The story
of Romeo and Juliet, and, for that matter, Pyramus and Thisbe,67 demonstrate how the
story of Hermia and Lysander could have potentially ended.68
The connection between the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night‟s
Dream is reflected in Michael Hoffman‟s film by the transformation of the character of
Bottom. Taking Romeo and Juliet as an example, a marriage earlier on in Shakespeare‟s
play foreshadows a tragedy of some sort will occur later in the play. Hoffman‟s film
opens with Bottom as the only character, besides Titania and Oberon, who is married.
Past performances of A Midsummer Night‟s Dream both on stage and film, such as
Adrian Noble‟s production of the play for the Royal Shakespeare Company (1996),69
have used a “doubling up” of actors portraying Theseus and Hippolyta and Oberon and
Titania in order to establish a connection between the two “worlds” presented in the
play. However, in Hoffman‟s film a connection is instead established between the two
married couples, Titania and Oberon and Bottom and his wife. The marital strife in the
fairy world is mirrored in the unhappy marriage of Bottom and his wife. While Titania
and Oberon reconcile, Hoffman implies in the ending of his film that Bottom‟s marriage
will now come to an end, signalled by Bottom‟s removal of his wedding ring. No death
has occurred as in Romeo and Juliet; however, Hoffman‟s William Shakespeare‟s A
Midsummer Night‟s Dream ends on the tragic break-up of a marriage, rather than on its
usual “happy ending” or comic resolution of the various marriages. By making William
Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer Night‟s Dream more like a tragedy and casting Kevin
67
Hoffman associates Pyramus and Thisbe with other tragedies further through a visual gag in the film.
As the other performers are rehearsing while the Mechanicals are waiting for word from the Duke the
audience sees one group of players is rehearsing the Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex and another pair of
players is rehearsing a scene from Shakespeare's play Othello.
68
In his filmed adaptation Sueño de noche de verano (1985) director Celestino Coranada explicitly
connects A Midsummer Night‟s Dream and Romeo and Juliet. During their rehearsals in the woods, a play
script copy of Romeo and Juliet is clearly visible. The Mechanical‟s production of Pyramus and Thisbe
becomes a performance of Romeo and Juliet on stilts; Pyramus is referred to as Romeo and Thisbe is
called Juliet.
69
Adrian Noble‟s Royal Shakespeare Company production of A Midsummer Night‟s Dream was
originally staged in 1995, and later filmed and released on video and DVD in 1996. A Midsummer Night‟s
Dream, Dir. Adrian Noble, Buena Vista Home Video, VHS, 1996.
29
Kline, a well known actor (who plays Bottom as the central figure of the film) the lack
of “cinematic focus” is overcome. Hoffman invites the audience to read his film as
“Bottom‟s Midsummer Night‟s Dream.”
Russell Lack notes that music „is capable of, and indeed usually does succeed in,
stimulating emotional responses that lie beyond language itself.‟70 In Hoffman‟s
William Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer Night‟s Dream operatic arias are used primarily
to lead the audience towards conclusions about the emotional state of the character who
is presented as the central character of the film, Nick Bottom. For much of the film we
are encouraged to sympathise with the character of Bottom. The focus on, and sympathy
for the character of Bottom is firstly achieved through director Hoffman‟s addition of a
shrewish wife figure for Bottom. There is no corresponding play-text to justify her
inclusion in the film, and therefore her presence is purely an invention by Hoffman. The
decision to include a wife character to explain Bottom‟s motivation is not limited to
Hoffman‟s film adaptation. Dieterle/Reinhardt used a similar device in their film
adaptation of A Midsummer Night‟s Dream but later cut this from the final film. This
“shrewish” disapproving wife figure, unlike Titania, does not appreciate what Bottom
has to offer, and Bottom‟s marriage is presented as the source of his disillusionment and
the cause of Bottom‟s delusions of grandeur and his dreams of being an aristocratic
„lady killer,‟71 a dream that is realised through his encounter with Titania. Director
Hoffman alters the “relationship” that Bottom has with Titania from what Megan
Matchinske suggests is „clearly coded as monstrous,‟72 into a relationship that is a viable
alternative to his unhappy marriage.73 The audience of Hoffman‟s film empathises with
Bottom as he represents „the hopeful romantic in all of us,‟74 and his disillusionment
with life and love is presented as the site of the film‟s tragedy. This disillusionment is
aurally illustrated through the use of four specific operatic arias during the film, Verdi‟s
„Brindisi,‟ Donizetti‟s „Una furtiva lagrima,‟ Bellini‟s „Casta Diva,‟ and Mascagni‟s
70
Russell Lack, Twenty four frames under: a buried history of film music (London: Quartet Books, 1997)
287.
71
Megan M. Matchinske, “Putting Bottom on Top: Gender and the Married Man in Michael Hoffman's
Dream,” Shakespeare Bulletin 21.4 Winter (2003): footnote 21, 55.
72
Matchinske, 45.
73
Putting aside Titania‟s bewitchment, her relationship with Bottom could also be considered an
alternative relationship to a marriage between Titania and Oberon that is in strife. Titania is displeased
with Oberon as he only wants one thing from her, the changeling boy, whereas Bottom wants nothing
from her, except her love.
74
Courtney Lehmann, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Agenda: How Shakespeare and the Renaissance are
Taking the Rage out of Feminism,” Shakespeare Quarterly 53.2 (2002): 269.
30
„Intermezzo,‟ and this use of various operatic arias „infuses nearly everything Bottom
does with a certain pathos.‟75
The first of the arias used in William Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer Night‟s Dream is a
relatively upbeat and spritely aria, „Brindisi‟ from Giuseppe Verdi‟s opera La Traviata.
La Traviata76 tells the tragic love story between Violetta, a reformed prostitute and
Alfredo. Violetta throws a party to celebrate her release from hospital, where she had
been treated for consumption.77 When Alfredo appears, he performs a drinking song for
the assembled partygoers. Alfredo sings the aria, „Brindisi,‟ a drinking song. „Brindisi‟
is initially heard during the opening sequence of Hoffman‟s film set in the piazza of
Mount Athena. Here the audience is introduced to the various Mechanicals before
finally being given its first glimpse of Bottom. Kenneth Rothwell suggests that this use
of „Brindisi‟ echoes „the lighteheartedness of the citizens as they stroll the
exhibitionistic hour of the promenade.‟78 More specifically this aria serves to bring the
focus of this opening scene on the character of Nick Bottom, and it becomes an audio
cue to Bottom‟s overblown and ostentatious character. In the original context Alfredo
sings the aria „Brindisi‟ after he is convinced by Gastone (a party guest) and Violetta to
show off his voice. Hoffman‟s use of the aria accompanies Bottom‟s “showing off” to
the villagers. Visually and aurally Bottom is presented as the centre of attention as he
sits at a café in the piazza. He is the last to arrive at the Mechanicals‟ meeting where
they distribute parts for the “competition” of performances that has been organised as
part of Theseus‟ wedding celebration. Bottom stands out from the other Mechanicals,
various artisans and traders, in his crisp white suit, more appropriate attire for a “manabout-town” than a weaver. Hoffman has moved this scene to the public space of the
piazza, and the preparations and dividing up of parts for the performance becomes a
public spectacle where Bottom (and Kevin Kline) can “perform” and impress the locals
(especially the ladies) with his acting abilities. As with the original aria in La Traviata
that points to a tragedy to be, the use here of „Brindisi‟ is also tinged with a sense of
underlying pathos. Scenes of Bottom preening in front of a store window and flirting
with local women, are inter-cut with images of a braying donkey, foreshadowing
75
Josh Cabat, “Michael Hoffman‟s A Midsummer Night‟s Dream,” Shakespeare: A magazine for
Shakespeare teachers and enthusiasts, Last updated May 31 2004, 7 Feb 2005
<http://www.shakespearemag.com/reviews/midsummer.asp>.
76
Summary of Verdi‟s La Traviata from “Stories of the Operas: La Traviata,” The Metropolitan Opera, 2
Aug 2004 <http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/discover/stories/synopsis.aspx?id=85>.
77
Although the nature of Violetta‟s disease is not revealed until the last act of the opera.
78
Kenneth S. Rothwell, “Shakespeare Goes Digital,” Cineaste 25.3 (2000): 51.
31
Bottom‟s later “translation,” and also the attitude of Bottom‟s angry wife, the source of
his disillusionment, as she searches for her „worthless dreamer of a husband.‟79
„Brindisi‟ is again heard as the Mechanicals enter the forest to rehearse for the
competition,80 shifting from its earlier nondiegetic presence to one that is diegetic as the
various players sing the aria. Diegetic sound is sound that occurs naturally on screen,
such as when an actor speaks, sings or plays an instrument, whereas nondiegetic sound
clearly not produced within the screen space, such as voice-over or added music.81 The
transition between diegetic and nondiegetic sound naturalises the use of opera within the
screen space and thus illustrates Hoffman‟s assertion that his use of opera in the film
was influenced by the “fact” that it was the popular music of the time, therefore the
Mechanicals would be singing along to opera as modern people sing along to Pop
songs. Another example of naturalising the use of opera within the film is when
„Brindisi‟ is also played by the band during the celebrations at Theseus‟ wedding feast.
The band‟s performance leads onto Theseus‟ toast to the wedding party „Joy, gentle
friends - joy and fresh days of love/Accompany your hearts‟ (V, i, 28-29) an appropriate
usage of the aria since „Brindisi‟ is a celebratory drinking song. The last instance in
Hoffman‟s film where „Brindisi‟ is heard is when the Mechanical‟s performance of
Pyramus and Thisbe ends to applause from the audience of assembled married couples
and wedding guests. The use of „Brindisi‟ bookmarks the story of the Mechanicals, first
heard when they meet in the Piazza, is used again in a celebratory context (like the
wedding), that of the Mechanicals‟ triumphant performance. Its celebratory and jovial
tone illustrates their triumph at being „very notably discharged.‟
Following on from the use of the aria „Brindisi,‟ is the use of the aria „Una Furtiva
Lagrima‟ from Gaetano Donizetti‟s L‟elisir d‟amor. L‟elisir d‟amor82 translated means
“the elixir of love,” and is a comedic opera that tells of the misadventures of a young
villager named Nemorino, in his attempts to win over Adina, a wealthy owner of a local
79
The only additional “non-Shakespearean” text in Hoffman‟s film comes from Bottom‟s wife who
speaks in Italian. Quotations of the dialogue are my own transcriptions based on the DVD release of the
film. William Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer Night's Dream, Dir. Michael Hoffman, Fox Searchlight
Pictures/ Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, DVD, US, 1999.
80
Brindisi also plays over the inter-cut scenes of the Mechanicals preparing for their production of
Pyramus and Thisbe and as they enter onto Theseus‟ estate. Heard during the preparations, just before and
after their production, the aria is therefore representative of the Mechanicals performance.
81
Susan Hayward, Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts 1st edt (New York: Routledge, 1996): 67-68.
82
Summary of Donizetti‟s L‟eliser d‟amor from “Stories of the Operas: L‟eliser d‟amor,” The
Metropolitan Opera, 2 Aug 2004
<http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/discover/stories/synopsis.aspx?id=72>.
32
farm, with whom he has fallen in love. The aria „Una Furtiva Lagrima‟ (meaning a
sudden furtive tear) is from the second act of the opera. Nemorino, who has just taken a
dose of what he believes, is a love potion,83 which is in fact nothing more than wine, is
unaware that he has just inherited a fortune from his uncle, who has passed away.
Flocked by women, Nemorino thinks that this is due to the “love potion” he has just
consumed and ignores both the women and Adina, who is hurt by this and leaves.
Nemorino notices Adina‟s unhappiness and realises that she truly cares for him and
sings of his joy in finding out that she loves him. In William Shakespeare‟s A
Midsummer Night‟s Dream the aria „Una Furtiva Lagrima‟ is heard as Bottom wanders
off dejectedly from the Mechanicals‟ meeting in the piazza. Having had his pristine
white suit ruined by some boys‟ prank involving a bottle of Chianti, Bottom is publicly
humiliated mid-performance in front of local assembled villagers, including some
women with whom he had been earlier flirting. The audience „feel(s) more deeply for
Bottom‟s inability to gain respect as a ladies‟ man than we do about his failure as a
labourer performing badly before his social betters.‟84 Through the melancholy tone of
the music (though the lyrics are anything but melancholy), the audience is positioned to
express sympathy about Bottom‟s ridicule at the hands of the boys and villagers, more
so than during the latter scene where the wedding party mock his and the Mechanicals‟
performance of Pyramus and Thisbe. „Una Furtiva Lagriama‟ continues to play over the
next wordless scene where Bottom returns home to his disapproving wife. Not a word
passes between them as Bottom shrugs sheepishly at his wife when she notices his
ruined suit, after which she leaves the room in anger and annoyance and he sighs
unhappily as it appears his wife does not love him. There is a juxtaposition between the
lyrics of the aria, „M'ama; sì, m'ama; lo vedo, lo vedo‟/ She loves me; yes, she loves me;
I see it! I see it!‟ and what action is seen on the screen, which is the unhappy home and
love life of Bottom.
The musical centrepiece to Hoffman‟s William Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer Night‟s
Dream is the aria „Casta Diva‟ from Vincenzo Bellini‟s opera Norma. Set in Roman
occupied Ancient Gaul, Norma85 tells the story of Pollione, a Roman Proconsul, and
Norma, the Gallic high priestess and daughter to Orovonse the high priest of the Druids.
Pollione has been the secret lover of Norma, and she, having broken her sacred vow of
83
The use of this particular aria is Michael Hoffman‟s way of foreshadowing what happens in the forest
where several people will be under the spell of the juice from a magical flower.
84
Matchinske, 47.
85
Summary of Bellini‟s Norma from “Stories of the Operas: Norma,” The Metropolitan Opera, 2 Aug
2004 <http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/discover/stories/synopsis.aspx?id=67>.
33
chastity, has borne him two children. Pollione, however, has become infatuated with the
temple virgin Adalgisa, and he confesses this to his confidant but their conversation is
interrupted by the commencement of druidic rites. Norma performs the rite of cutting
the sacred mistletoe with her golden sickle and then advises the Gauls the time is not
favourable for an attack on the Romans, and adds that the Romans‟ days of dominance
are numbered anyway. In the aria „Casta Diva,‟ Norma calls upon the “casta diva,” the
chaste goddess of the moon, for peace. Hoping to save Pollione‟s life through this
message she prays to the chaste goddess of the moon to end all the warfare between the
Romans and the Gauls. In Hoffman‟s film this aria is specifically heard during scenes
involving Bottom and Titania and her entourage of fairies in Titania‟s bower. „Casta
Diva‟ is first heard in William Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer Night‟s Dream when
Bottom and Titania are being attended by her entourage of fairies. Bottom “enlightens”
the clueless fairies on the “proper” use of records that had been pilfered from the early
wedding preparations on Theseus‟ estate and brought to the fairies as gifts. Douglas
Lanier refers to this as a „postmodern moment,‟86 where the objects from Theseus‟
palace (including the records) have only aesthetic value, since to the fairies their use is
foreign. This moment also draws attention to the power of the music,87 and Lanier goes
on to suggest that in this moment „the phonograph exerts a romantic power capable of
enthralling women.‟88 While Lanier argues that within the film this “power” is „not
securely in the control of men,‟89 I disagree. This “power” is literally very much in the
hands of one man in particular; Bottom, since he is the only one who knows how to
operate the gramophone. During this scene Hoffman‟s realignment of Bottom as central
figure in William Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer Night‟s Dream comes to fruition and he
is now the romantic lead, though it is in a parodic context as Titania is enchanted. The
music Bottom plays is not only crucial in winning over Titania, but also in both her and
her fairies‟ declaration of „Hail Mortal‟ we see that Bottom has garnered the admiration
and adoration of all (the females) who are present, something that was earlier denied
86
Lanier, “Nostalgia and theatricality,” 156.
In opera the type of singer and their voice is instrumental in conveying a sense of feeling for the
listener. A soprano is the highest voice in opera and considered by many to be the most powerful voice in
opera as well. As such a soprano has always had a place of prominence in the vocal hierarchy in opera.
The heroine or protagonist in opera is almost always portrayed by a soprano, because the high, bright
sound of the soprano voice is indicative of innocence, youth and virtue. The role of Norma is played by a
soprano, and calls for a tremendous vocal control of range, flexibility, and dynamics, as is demonstrated
in the song „Casta Diva,‟ which ranges from F4 to C6, and calls for a tessitura (the most musically
acceptable and comfortable timbre for a given voice) of between G4 to B6. One of the most famous
soprano‟s to have played Norma is opera singer Maria Callas. Details about „Casta Diva‟ taken from
“Casta Diva,” The Aria Database, 1 May 2008 <http://www.aria-database.com/cgi-bin/ariasearch.pl?aria=casta>.
88
Lanier, “Nostalgia and theatricality,” 158.
89
Lanier, “Nostalgia and theatricality,” 158.
87
34
during his performance in the piazza. The choice of music here, an aria about a chaste
goddess is ironic considering that Titania soon acts as anything but chaste.90 However,
the bel canto voice „fits the moment in its ravishing and romantic intensity,‟91 and
„Casta Diva‟ is not the song that plays as Bottom and Titania consummate their
relationship, but rather a version of composer Simon Boswell‟s „Love Theme.‟ Thus the
act itself is presented with more romantic sentiment, rather than simply a physical
encounter.
The final instance where „Casta Diva‟ is heard in Hoffman‟s film is during the final few
inter-cut scenes in the forest. The aria plays as Oberon watches Titania and Bottom
sleep, before remedying Titania of her bewitchment. Inter-cut with this is Puck curing
Lysander of his enchantment. When Puck reassures that „and now all shall be well‟ (III,
iii, 47-8), his words are reinforced not only by the images of fairies fixing the bicycles
of the now sleeping lovers and washing their muddy clothes, but also by Oberon and
Titania having sexual union. While this may be considered another ironic use of an aria
about a “chaste” goddess, the aria is also a call to peace, and this scene demonstrates a
restoring of balance and peace. Given that Hoffman has coded the relationship between
Bottom and Titania as an alternative not only to Bottom‟s marriage, but potentially to a
marriage in strife between Titania and Oberon, this sexual act can be read as a physical
restoration of their relationship. Titania and Oberon have overcome their differences92
and leave together as a couple from the bower. „Casta Diva‟ continues to play as the
sleeping lovers are discovered in the morning by Theseus‟ hunting party. Once again the
music choice here, a prayer for peace by Norma to the “chaste” goddess is ironic given
that the couples are found naked in what Celia Daileader terms „post-coital
exhaustion,‟93 though such action is neither specified in the play-text nor the film.
However, while ironic in that sense, the use of this aria is appropriate in another, given
that peace has been achieved through the happenings in the forest.
90
Lehmann, „Crouching Tiger, Hidden Agenda‟, 268.
Crowl, “A Midsummer Night's Dream,” 42.
92
The film leaves the matter of the changeling boy unresolved. The last time Oberon mentions the
changeling boy is „I‟ll to my queen and beg her Indian boy;‟ (III, iii, 37) which we do not see. In the playtext, although the audience is never witness to the resolution of this matter, they are informed of it when
Oberon tells Puck: „I then did ask of her her changeling child/Which straight she gave me‟ (IV, i, 58-59).
93
Celia R. Daileader, “Nude Shakespeare in Film and Nineties Popular Feminism,” Shakespeare and
Sexuality, Catherine M.S Alexander and Stanley Wells, eds (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University
Press, 2001) 194.
91
35
As well as a number of operatic arias, in William Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer Night‟s
Dream Michael Hoffman makes use of the „Intermezzo‟ a purely orchestral piece from
Pietro Mascagni‟s opera Cavalleria Rusticana. Mascagni‟s opera Cavalleria
Rusticana94 tells the story of Lola and Turiddu, who were once sweethearts, but when
Turiddu goes to do his military service Lola marries Alfio. When Turiddu finds out on
his return, he wanted to make Lola jealous by starting a casual affair with Santuzza, a
more homely girl than Lola, but genuinely in love with him. Turiddu attempts to woo
Lola, and spends the night with her while Alfio is away on business. Santuzza finds out
and attacks Turiddu. After being rejected by Turiddu, she tells Alfio, in a fit of jealousy,
of Lola's illicit affair with Turiddu. Alfio swears revenge for both himself and Santuzza,
and Santuzza cries out in remorse for she realises what is about to happen. They both
leave the stage while the orchestra plays the „Intermezzo.‟ All the tension that has
accumulated up to this point is channelled into the „Intermezzo,‟ which is played with
the curtain up, but the stage remains empty. In Hoffman‟s film the „Intermezzo‟ plays
predominantly in the last few scenes involving Bottom, as he awakens from his “dream”
and returns to his former life. Rather than functioning as it does in Cavalleria Rusticana
as an intermission between scenes and a representation of tensions that have built up, in
Hoffman‟s film the „Intermezzo‟ becomes a subdued melancholic ending to Bottom‟s
story. The „Intermezzo‟ is heard as Bottom awakens from his night in the forest all
alone, unsure if what has happened is a dream. He has been abandoned by the woman
he had fallen in love with, and the melancholic tone of the music intends to compel the
audience to feel for him. The same song is again heard as Bottom and the Mechanicals
enter the grounds of Theseus‟ estate and Bottom sees a statue that reminds him of
Titania. The music changes from the upbeat „Brindisi‟ to the more subdued
„Intermezzo,‟ signalling Bottom‟s recognition of the statue‟s appearance and the sorrow
that he feels at having lost that which he had for a moment, Titania, a woman, who
unlike his wife, loved him passionately and appreciated him, although under the
influence of a drug.
Simon Boswell‟s song „A Most Rare Vision‟ from his score for Hoffman‟s film is based
on Mascagni‟s „Intermezzo,‟ and is an example of the point at which the opera and
score meld. „A Most Rare Vision‟ borrows heavily from Mascagni‟s piece, so much so
that Mascagni is given co-writer credits on the soundtrack‟s sleeve. The two songs are
94
Summary of Mascagni‟s Cavalleria Rusticana from “Stories of the Operas: Cavalleria
Rusticana/Pagliacci,” The Metropolitan Opera, 2 Aug 2004
<http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/discover/stories/synopsis.aspx?id=10>.
36
very similar, so that whenever the song from Boswell‟s score is heard one cannot help
but immediately think of the original Mascagni piece. „A Most Rare Vision‟ starts off
with Mascagni‟s „Intermezzo‟ from Cavalleria Rusticana and this is followed by a
reprise of Boswell‟s own „Love Theme‟ for Bottom and Titania, initially heard during
the song „The Course Of True Love‟ from Boswell‟s score. „A Most Rare Vision‟ is
heard in the film as Titania and Oberon go through the room of the lovers to bless them,
and continues on over the following scene, as the Mechanicals leave the palace
triumphant and Bottom goes home alone to be visited briefly by Titania in fairy form.
There is no supporting play-text that indicates a return visit by Titania, it is purely
Hoffman‟s invention, and combined with the melancholic combination of the
„Intermezzo‟ and the „Love Theme,‟ this moment strengthens the pathos the audience is
compelled to feel for Bottom, and reinforce the tragedy of the love that he has lost.
As well as operatic arias from the Bel Canto tradition, some of Felix Mendelssohn‟s
incidental music from an 1843 production of the play A Midsummer Night‟s Dream is
also used throughout Hoffman‟s film. This incidental music has been „virtually
imbedded‟95 in productions of A Midsummer Night‟s Dream since it was first used in
1843, and thus cements Hoffman‟s film in a long line of performances of A Midsummer
Night‟s Dream. Its connection to the history of the performance, staging, and
“theatricality” of the play on stage, melds with the use of opera and also becomes
another exemplar of “high” culture within the film. The presence of Mendelssohn‟s
incidental music is in addition an allusion to the William Dieterle/Max Reinhardt
adaptation of A Midsummer Night‟s Dream,96 which also used Mendelssohn‟s music
extensively. This feature places Hoffman‟s film within a history not only of adaptations
of Shakespeare on film, and adaptations of A Midsummer Night‟s Dream on film, but
specifically a certain type of Hollywood film, that of the epic studio film. The
connection is further reinforced through other similarities to the Dieterle/Reinhardt film
that I will highlight in my analysis of intertextuality in Hoffman‟s film. Felix
Mendelssohn‟s incidental music from A Midsummer Night‟s Dream further functions in
Hoffman‟s film as a framing device as well as a leitmotif, a recurring musical theme, for
the characters of the aristocratic world, heard throughout the film at significant points
that involve these aristocratic characters. The incidental music frames the action of the
95
Kenneth S. Rothwell, “The “[Trans] Textuality” of Kevin Kline‟s Bottom: A Modest Proposal,” The
Poor Yorick Shakespeare Catalogue - Featured Articles Feb 3 2004, 7 Dec 2004
<http://www.bardcentral.com/article_info.php?articles_id=4>.
96
Mayo, 304.
37
aristocratic characters and opens and closes the celebrations to Theseus‟ wedding.
Opening the film is Mendelssohn‟s „Overture,‟ playing as the film‟s title appears, and as
the preparations for the upcoming nuptials of Theseus and Hippolyta are seen on screen.
This moment is interesting as the use of Mendelssohn‟s incidental music shifts from a
nondiegetic presence to a diegetic one. The source of the music that had been playing
over the credits is revealed to be a gramophone, with Hippolyta listening to a
Mendelssohn record, as preparations for her wedding to Theseus are going on in the
background. Hippolyta is more interested in listening to the music than to her „husbandto-be‟s erotic overtures.‟97 This shift from nondiegetic sound to a diegetic sound draws
attention not only to the power of the music, but also, like the operatic aria „Brindisi,‟
the classical music of Mendelssohn is here historicized, acting as an example of the type
of music that would potentially have been listened to at the time period in which the
film is set.
The song next used in Hoffman‟s film from Mendelssohn‟s incidental music is „Fair
Lovers You Are Fortunately Met;‟ a short piece heard when Theseus and his hunting
party discover the young lovers at the edge of the forest. Theseus overrules Egeus‟
decision regarding his daughter‟s marriage to Lysander, and tells the lovers they are
„fortunately met‟ (IV, i, 176), and invites the young couples to be married alongside
himself and Hippolyta. The line spoken by Theseus signals the music and establishes a
connection between the action on screen and the music. The strong orchestration and
regal sounding horns of this song punctuate Theseus‟ mandate regarding Helena and
Lysander‟s relationship, and announce the resolution of the issues involving the
aristocratic characters.
Closing the major action of the aristocratic characters in Hoffman‟s film,
Mendelssohn‟s „Wedding March‟ is heard as the four lovers, Hermia, Lysander, Helena
and Demetrius, as well as Theseus and Hippolyta, enter the theatre as married couples
and sit down to watch the Mechanicals‟ performance of Pyramus and Thisbe. Through
this piece, a universally recognized piece of music used in weddings throughout the
Western World in the past century, the music has become a „signifier…devoid from its
context and…composer.‟98 Given that the „Wedding March‟ for the most part is now
associated with wedding celebrations, its use is fitting in this scene within Hoffman‟s
97
98
Lanier, “Nostalgia and theatricality,” 156.
Mayo, 305.
38
film. Regardless of original context, the use of the „Wedding March‟ is a thematic
conclusion to the world of the aristocratic characters, and to A Midsummer Night‟s
Dream as a comedy, since comedies usually end on a happy note (and usually a
marriage) and the resolution of the various misfortunes which the major (aristocratic)
characters have undergone through the duration of the play and film.
Commissioned by director Michael Hoffman to create a score for his adaptation William
Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer Night‟s Dream, Simon Boswell has created music that is
an amalgam of varied styles and influences. Hoffman himself describes the score as a
cross between “traditional” music from countries such as India, Bulgaria and Syria and
classical music in the tradition of Mozart, Stravinsky and Ravel.99 This classical element
of the music complements both the use of operatic arias and Felix Mendelssohn‟s
incidental music for A Midsummer Night‟s Dream. Boswell‟s score works in a number
of ways. Firstly it includes an ever present „Love Theme.‟100 This love leitmotif is first
introduced in the song „The Course of True Love‟101 and is a constant presence
throughout the music, being also heard in the songs „Forgeries of Jealousy,‟ „Between
the Cold Moon and the Earth,‟ „What Fools These Mortals Be‟ and „A Most Rare
Vision.‟ The music is therefore infused with a sense of love and is mostly heard during
the film in conjunction with the action that occurs in the fairy world, understandable
since this is a big part of the action in Hoffman‟s film. The forest is where the lovers
flee, where they are united, and where Bottom finds love with Titania. Boswell‟s score
comes to be representative not only of love but also of the different elements and styles
that make up this fairy world. The music manages to become aurally symbolic of the
fairies‟ duality, reinforcing the difference between Titania and Oberon and their
entourages. This duality is something that is also visually illustrated through allusions to
Pre-Raphaelite and Symbolist paintings, and also through different types of lighting
used in each fairy space, both of which I shall refer to when addressing intertextuality.
While the score reinforces the duality of the fairy world through melding its influences
the music also becomes representative of the fairy kingdom as a whole. The fairy world
99
Michael Hoffman quoted on the inner sleeve of the booklet accompanying the soundtrack. Boswell,
1999.
100
The term „Love Theme‟ is used by Martin Provost in his review of the William Shakespeare‟s A
Midsummer Night‟s Dream soundtrack.
Martin Provost, “A Midsummer Night's Dream by Simon Boswell (Cinemusic Online Soundtrack
Review),” Cinemusic: Film Music and Soundtracks, Feb 22 2005, 27 Feb 2005
<http://www.cinemusic.net/reviews/1999/midsummer.html>.
101
The names of each of the songs in Boswell‟s score, as per what is noted on the film‟s soundtrack,
come directly from lines in Shakespeare‟s play, connecting the music directly to the play-text. Here the
title comes from Lysander‟s speech to Hermia (I, i, 134).
39
is introduced in the song „Between the Cold Moon and the Earth.‟102 This piece, with its
subtle strings, woodwind instruments and “tinkling” percussion,103 is both ominous and
brooding, like Rupert Everett‟s characterisation of Oberon, and at the same time
mystical and magical, like Michelle Pfeiffer‟s interpretation of Titania, and perfectly
exemplifies the mysterious enchanted forest where most of the action of the film takes
place. Boswell‟s score then segues into a more “world music” feel of „Hot Ice‟ and
„Strange Snow.‟104 Both songs, which are heard back-to-back in the film (though they
are separated on the soundtrack), have a distinctive middle-eastern feel and complement
the earthy, mystical, and Etruscan inspired design of the “fairy bar” as seen when Puck
is introduced. Boswell has gathered together a vast array of unusual sounding “ethnic”
instruments and combines them with various other percussive and woodwind
instruments, which are played in unison and accompany the lively antics of the
mischievous woodland spirits seen on screen. The score continues in the song „The
Forgeries Of Jealousy,‟105 which starts with an Indian sounding orchestra,
corresponding with Titania‟s arrival on screen with her “changeling boy”, who is now a
blue Indian child resembling Krishna, and continuing the middle-eastern sound of „Hot
Ice‟ and „Strange Snow.‟ The second part of this song is a rendition of the „Love
Theme,‟ heard earlier in „The Course Of True Love,‟ which then weaves back to the
Indian style to close the song, as Titania once again disappears with her “changeling
boy.”
Following on from „The Forgeries Of Jealousy‟ is the song „I Know A Place Where The
Wild Thyme Blows.‟106 It contains both a version of the „Love Theme‟ and a reprise of
the earlier song from Boswell‟s score, „Between the Cold Moon and the Earth.‟ In
Hoffman‟s film the song „I Know a Place Where the Wild Thyme Blows‟ initially
appears in a diegetic form. When Titania instructs her fairies to „Sing me now asleep‟
(II, ii, 7) the song the fairy attendants play is the beginning of Boswell‟s „I Know a
Place Where The Wild Thyme Blows.‟ Classical sounding stringed and woodwind
instruments and flutes as well as some tinkling percussion play a version of the „Love
Theme‟ as Titania falls asleep. Shifting to a nondiegetic presence the song then
102
Taken from the line spoken by Oberon: „Flying between the cold Moon and the earth‟ (II, i, 156).
This “tinkling” sound is coincidentally the sound Puck makes when he leaves and returns from
Oberon‟s errands.
104
The song titles come from Theseus‟ line: „That is, hot ice and wondrous strange black snow‟ (V, i, 59).
105
Taken from the line spoken by Titania: „These are the forgeries of jealousy‟ (I, ii, 81).
106
Taken from Oberon‟s line, when describing the place that Titania sometime sleeps when in the forest:
„I know a bank where the wild thyme blows‟ (II, i, 249).
103
40
continues to play over the scene that follows this. A reprise of „Between the Cold Moon
and the Earth‟ with its mysterious sounding woodwinds, strings and accompanies
Oberon‟s equally mischievous and devious action as he enchants Titania whilst she
sleeps. The end of „I Know a Place Where the Wild Thyme Blows‟ is heard in a later
scene in Titania‟s bower, where Bottom first encounters Titania. Once again,
mischievous tinkling percussion, flutes and strings are used, with the song abruptly
ending as vines spring out from Titania‟s bower and capture Bottom as he attempts to
flee.
„What fools these mortals be‟ (III, ii, 115), a statement by Puck about the four lovers,
initiates the similarly named song from Boswell‟s music and establishes a connection
between the action on screen and the music. The sprightly and whimsical sounding
woodwind and stringed instruments accompany the actions of the four lovers as
everyone chases and fights each other in the confusion of love that has occurred because
of Puck‟s error in enchanting Lysander. „What Fools These Mortals Be‟ then moves
onto a version of Boswell‟s subdued „Love Theme,‟ signalling that all shall soon be
well as the lovers fall asleep side-by-side and Puck remedies the situation, before ending
the song with the same upbeat tone and music of the beginning of „What Fools These
Mortals Be.‟ The last song from Boswell‟s score to be heard both on the soundtrack and
in Hoffman‟s film is „A Most Rare Vision.‟107 As referred to earlier, „A Most Rare
Vision‟ is a melding of Mascagni‟s „Intermezzo‟ and a version of Boswell‟s „Love
Theme.‟ Heard over the final scenes of the film the song emphasises Bottom‟s tragedy
of losing the woman that he loves, and being left stuck in a marriage to a “shrewish”
woman who does not love nor appreciate him.
As well as the various musical selections, Michael Hoffman uses intertextual references
as a system of signification through which he presents his “reading” of the A
Midsummer Night‟s Dream. These intertextual references take various forms including
allusions to other films, both direct references and those that come through associations
with the actors cast in the film, and also to styles of and specific pieces of art that form
the basis for the design of the film. Simply by being a film adaptation of A Midsummer
Night‟s Dream, Hoffman‟s film has an automatic allusion to other filmed adaptations of
the play, such as those by William Dieterle/Max Reinhardt, Celestino Coronada, and
107
Taken from Bottom‟s line as he awakens to find himself alone: „I have had a more rare vision‟ (IV, i,
202).
41
Adrian Noble. Through creative appropriation Hoffman integrates fragments of these
films, as well as other filmed adaptations of Shakespeare‟s plays (such as those by
Kenneth Branagh) within his film, and engages in a „filmic conversation with earlier
film versions of the play.‟108 One of the most prominent “shadows” in Hoffman‟s film
adaptation is the William Dieterle/Max Reinhardt film A Midsummer Night‟s Dream.
The connection to the Dieterle/Reinhardt film is a stylistic device used by Hoffman that
places his film within a history of both adaptations of Shakespeare on film and of
adaptations of A Midsummer Night‟s Dream on film. As I have noted earlier, the
connection between the two is implied through Hoffman‟s use of Mendelssohn‟s
incidental music from an 1843 production of A Midsummer Night‟s Dream. Both the
Hoffman and Dieterle/Reinhardt films make use of this incidental music, though the
latter‟s use of this music is more liberal. The similarity between the films continues in
the addition in both films of a character not found in the “original” play-text, that of
Bottom‟s wife. In his discovery of the shooting script for the Dieterle/Reinhardt film,
Russell Jackson brings light to a similar device of giving the character of Nick Bottom
the weaver a wife, which was intended to be used in Dieterle/Reinhardt film but was
later cut.109 This wife character in Dieterle/Reinhardt film‟s shooting script functions in
a similar fashion to the wife that is present in Hoffman‟s film. As the shooting script for
Dieterle/Reinhardt film indicates, Bottom‟s wife „is a virago of a woman, with a face
like fury. She stands glaring at Bottom‟110 after he has been caught playing with a mask.
We can infer from this description she is presented as a similar “shrewish” disapproving
figure to Bottom‟s Italian wife in Hoffman‟s film. Hoffman almost mirrors this shot in
his film when Kevin Kline‟s Bottom returns to his house, his white suit ruined with red
wine, to his wife‟s wrath and disapproving looks. An earlier scene in Hoffman‟s film, in
which Bottom‟s wife searches for him in the piazza, is also similar to a later shot in
Dieterle/Reinhardt film where Bottom‟s wife drags Bottom away from the craftsmen
and subsequently he escapes from his room which is noticed by his wife and she „shakes
her fist as she calls after him.‟111
108
John R. Ford, “Translating Audiences and Their Bottoms: Filming A Midsummer Night's Dream,”
Publications of the Mississippi Philological Association (2000): 2.
109
Russell Jackson, “A Shooting Script for the Reinhardt-Dieterle Dream,” Shakespeare Bulletin 16.4
(1998): 40.
110
Jackson, “A Shooting Script for the Reinhardt-Dieterle Dream,” 40
111
Jackson, “A Shooting Script for the Reinhardt-Dieterle Dream,” 40.
42
Hoffman also alludes to the Dieterle/Reinhardt film adaptation of A Midsummer Night‟s
Dream in filming his “fairy world” on a soundstage.112 Reminiscent of Reinhart‟s film,
which was predominantly filmed like a “backstage musical” on a soundstage at Warner
Brothers Studios, complete with fake painted trees and sophisticated ballet sequences
choreographed by Bronislawa Nijinska, Hoffman‟s film was partly filmed on a
soundstage at Cinecittà film studios in Rome. Oliver Stapleton the cinematographer of
Hoffman‟s film reveals in an interview that he was influenced by the effects employed
by Hal Mohr, cinematographer for the Dieterle/Reinhardt113 film adaptation of A
Midsummer Night‟s Dream.114 Stylistically the fairy world in Hoffman‟s film looks
“fake.” Though real trees and plants were used on stage to give the illusions of a magic
forest, the real trees and their real leaves absorbed the light from the studio and looked
dull on screen. Pieces of glass, tinsel and other reflective objects were therefore hung on
the plants so the “magical forest” would catch the lights from the studio and sparkle,115
giving the forest an unrealistic look. Hal Mohr used a similar technique on
Dieterle/Reinhardt film, spraying the trees with aluminium paint116 and covering them
with tiny metal particles to reflect the light,117 especially important considering the
Dieterle/Reinhardt film was shot using black and white film. The use of these lighting
effect can especially seen in the entrance of Oberon, played by Victor Jory, where
sparkles on screen and a slight unfocussed look give an unrealistic and magical feel to
the picture. Although the films are in some respect stylistically similar, Stapleton
remarks that the decision to film the forest scenes of William Shakespeare‟s A
Midsummer Night‟s Dream in a studio was a move that was predominantly influenced
by the impracticality associated with filming in real woods, predominantly the problems
faced with lighting the film outdoors and spending forty nights filming in freezing
conditions.118 The usage of a soundstage as stylistic element in Hoffman‟s film could
112
Celestino Coronada‟s adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream is in some ways a parody of
Reinhardt‟s film and the “backstage musical” production style. As with both Reinhardt‟s and Hoffman‟s
films, Coronada‟s adaptation is filmed on a soundstage, and combines ballet, pantomime and opera in a
choreographed “high camp” musical style performance.
113
Reinhardt, a refuge from Nazi occupied Germany, in turn came from the German surrealist movement
and a background and theatre and was also probably influenced by director and musical choreographer
Busby Berkeley.
114
Chris Pizzello, “Enchanted Forest,” American Cinematographer Online May 1999, 20 April 2005
<http://develop.studeo.com/asc/magazine/may99/forest/pg2.htm>.
115
For a full description of the design of the Magic Forest in Hoffman‟s film see: John Calhoun, “A
Midsummer set in Fellini‟s backyard,” Entertainment Design 33.5 May (1999) and Pizzello, “Enchanted
Forest.”
116
Gary Jay Williams, Our Moonlight Revels: A Midsummer Night's Dream in the Theatre (Iowa City:
University of Iowa Press, 1997): 124-125.
117
Pizzello, “Enchanted Forest,” 2.
118
Pizzello, “Enchanted Forest,” 2.
43
also be considered an homage to Federico Fellini, since the soundstage that was used in
the filming of Hoffman‟s film was Stage-Five the “Fellini stage” at Cinecittà.119
If Hoffman‟s allusion to the Dieterle/Reinhardt film adaptation of A Midsummer Night‟s
Dream situates his film in the history of Shakespearean adaptations on film, then the
allusions to Kenneth Branagh‟s film adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing (1993)
cements Hoffman‟s film‟s position in the history of the Shakespeare on film “boom” of
the 1990s. This “boom” was initiated by the release and commercial success of
Branagh‟s Henry V (1989) and includes such diverse films as Branagh‟s Much Ado
About Nothing and Hamlet (1996), Franco Zefferelli‟s Hamlet (1990), Richard
Loncraine‟s Richard III (1995), Baz Lurhmann‟s Romeo + Juliet (the most successful
Shakespearean adaptation on film during this period), and Gil Junger‟s 10 Things I Hate
About You (1999). Of these, Branagh‟s Much Ado About Nothing is the most prominent
film “shadow” that haunts Hoffman‟s William Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer Night‟s
Dream. A connection between the two films was widely noted in reviews at the time of
the release of Hoffman‟s film. Both Douglas Lanier and Samuel Crowl suggest that the
opening of Hoffman‟s film is reminiscent of the opening of Branagh‟s Much Ado About
Nothing,120 with both films sharing a „lush Tuscan setting.‟121 By setting his film in the
Tuscan countryside Branagh was himself playing on the popularity of Tuscany as a
holiday destination for English tourists. A similar motivation can be inferred from
Hoffman‟s setting his film in fin-de-siècle Mount Athena, a fictional town in the Tuscan
countryside. Josh Cabat notes that after a screening of Hoffman‟s film he attended:
everyone stayed through the very end of the credits, not to see who was involved
in the production but to jot down the names of the towns used in the filming for
immediate vacation planning.122
119
Calhoun, 38.
The allusion to Fellini continues in the figure of Bottom. Played by Kevin Kline as a sort of “man about
town” and “wannabe ” ladies‟ man and actor, Kline‟s performance is reminiscent of Marcello
Mastroianni‟s style of acting, most notably in Fellini‟s La Dolce Vita (1960) where he portrays an Italian
playboy. Samuel Crowl also makes this connection, noting: „There‟s not a trace of the weaver in Kline‟s
Bottom but often a sweet suggestion of Marcello Mastroianni a bit lost in one of Fellini‟s cinematic
dreams.‟ (Crowl, “A Midsummer Night‟s Dream,” 41). Parodying this type of playboy character, Kline‟s
Bottom struts about the Piazza in his crisp white suit only to be humiliated by some local boys‟ prank.
120
Lanier, “Nostalgia and theatricality,” 155.
121
Crowl, “A Midsummer Night‟s Dream,” 42.
122
Cabat, “Michael Hoffman‟s A Midsummer Night‟s Dream.”
44
Hoffman himself explains the choice of setting was also in part influenced by the time
spent in „his early twenties living and working in Tuscany,‟ and his observation of the
daily lifestyles and relationships of the small villages inhabitants.123
The similarity between Hoffman and Branagh‟s films is further highlighted through
both films‟ Anglo-America cast, which mixes stage “pros” with film and television
stars.124 Both films cast well known “bankable” actors next to virtual unknowns,
something which also occurred in “odd” casting choices in the Dieterle/Reinhardt
adaptation of A Midsummer Night‟s Dream. Hoffman‟s film makes especial use of the
celebrity of the cast as a marketing tool in order to draw audiences in, a point which I
will elaborate on in my analysis of the film‟s casting. From a marketing standpoint by
associating one film with another a film maker can attract a similar type of audience
with the proviso “if you liked that film then you‟ll like this film.” Through the
association with Branagh‟s film by means of both a similar setting and type of casting,
Hoffman‟s film works to attract a similar audience. This has been recently argued by
Stephen M Buhler, who states that Hoffman‟s film is „Shakespeare according to
Kenneth Branagh.‟125 Both Hoffman and Branagh present “safe” uncontroversial films
that work to prevent offending potential audience members, especially women. A clever
marketing strategy, Hoffman does not wish to give audiences any reason to stay away
from his film and is therefore „dully inoffensive‟126 and avoids alienating women in the
potential audience. He achieves this through „eliminating the play‟s male attitudes and
behaviours that could produce justifiable outrage,‟127 and by also giving female
audiences an familiar identifiable “pop-feminist” figure to relate to,128 through casting
Callista Flockhart as Helena, who now becomes a more central figure in Hoffman‟s
film.
Keith A. Reader refers to the concept of a film star as an intertextual one.129 Reader‟s
assertion is especially true of how casting is used in the film adaptations of A
Midsummer Night‟s Dream by both Hoffman and Dieterle/Reinhardt. Each film makes
123
Pizzello, “Enchanted Forest,” 2.
Crowl, “A Midsummer Night's Dream,” 42.
125
Stephen Buhler, “Textual and Sexual Anxieties in Michael Hoffman‟s Film of A Midsummer Night‟s
Dream,” Shakespeare Bulletin 22.3 Fall (2004): 49.
126
Buhler, “Textual and Sexual Anxieties,” 50.
127
Buhler, “Textual and Sexual Anxieties,” 50.
128
The character Ally McBeal was featured on the cover of Time Magazine 151.25, June 29 (1998) under
the heading, „Is Feminism Dead?‟ 23 April 2005
<http://www.time.com/time/magazine/0,9263,7601980629,00.html>.
129
Keith A. Reader quoted in Allen, 175.
124
45
use of a “star system” of casting, a tactic that is also employed by Kenneth Branagh in
Much Ado About Nothing. Like Branagh‟s „stunt casting,‟130 Michael Hoffman‟s
eclectic cast is also made up of both American and British actors from film and
television. This casting decision is used by Hoffman in an attempt to overcome the
stigma that is often attached to Shakespeare and adaptations of his works on film.
Hoffman‟s film provides „recognisable stars‟131 of varying professional backgrounds
and therefore attracts „an audience looking for Callista Flockhart, or Rupert Everett, or
Michelle Pfeiffer, or Kevin Kline.‟132 The casting in Hoffman‟s film is an example of
celebrity being used as character in order to draw audiences in; a marketing strategy
used in order to overcome any hesitation an audience might have in seeing a
“Shakespearean” film. In Hoffman‟s film the cast also brings allusions to other roles
each actor has played, in this way Hoffman‟s casting strategy resembles that of William
Dieterle and Max Reinhardt in the film adaptation of A Midsummer Night‟s Dream.133
Dieterle/Reinhardt worked with relatively unknown actors at the time, such as Olivia de
Havilland and Mickey Rooney, as well as Warner‟s stock company that included
popular actors of the time such as Joe E. Brown and James Cagney. The cast in the
Dieterle/Reinhardt film worked in such a way that the actors were allowed „to define
their Shakespearean roles in ways that either reinforced or undercut each actor‟s popular
image,‟134 such as the casting of James Cagney as Nick Bottom the weaver. Cagney at
the time of filming A Midsummer Night‟s Dream was known for his “tough guy”
persona which he had developed over several “gangster” type films such as The Public
Enemy (1931). This persona was translated to the character of Bottom. Cagney‟s
Bottom covers his vulnerability with a good humoured tough guy performance.135
Cagney later went on to star in several “good tough guy” roles, such as that of James
"Brick" Davis in „G‟ Men (1935), before returning to “gangster” roles in films such as
Angels With Dirty Faces (1938) and White Heat (1949).
In Hoffman‟s film the casting of Kevin Kline as Nick Bottom and Callista Flockhart as
Helena works in a similar way to casting in the Dieterle/Reinhardt film. At the time of
filming William Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer Night‟s Dream both Kevin Kline and
130
Cabat, “Michael Hoffman‟s A Midsummer Night‟s Dream.”
Buhler, “Textual and Sexual Anxieties,” 49.
132
Ford, 3.
133
Ford, 3.
134
Ford, 3.
135
Russell Jackson, “Shakespeare‟s Comedies on film,” Shakespeare and the Moving Image, Anthony
Davies and Stanley Wells, eds (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994): 103-104.
131
46
Callista Flockhart were well known recognisable actors. Kline is known for his versatile
filmic roles, such as those in the comedies Dave (1993) and A Fish Called Wanda
(1988), for which he won an Academy Award, and critically acclaimed drama The Big
Chill (1983). He was still in the media spotlight following his successful comedic role
as closeted teacher Howard Brackett in director Frank Oz‟s film In and Out (1997)
when cast in Hoffman‟s film. With the realignment of Bottom‟s character as leading
man, Kevin Kline, who is known for his ability to be equally facile in comedic and
dramatic roles, fits the role of a Bottom, who is now both a figure of pathos and of fun.
Callista Flockhart‟s presence in Hoffman‟s film acts both as a marketing tactic and
gives extra dimension to the character of Helena. Flockhart at the time of filming was
known predominantly for her role as Ally in David Kelley created television
“dramedy”136 Ally McBeal (1997). By associating a film with another established
television show a filmmaker can attract a similar type of audience to that show. Through
its association with the show Ally McBeal, Hoffman‟s film can be argued to be
appealing to similar demographics as Ally McBeal. Premiering on America‟s Fox
network in 1997, Ally McBeal was a mix of comedy and legal drama. The character of
Ally McBeal was defined particularly by her status as single woman, passion for her job
as a lawyer, overactive imagination, and yearning for her child-hood sweetheart Billy,
who married someone else. As a result the show had a particular appeal to those who
could relate to Ally‟s life, specifically the demographic of 25-39 year old women with a
high disposable income. Hoffman‟s film adaptation William Shakespeare‟s A
Midsummer Night‟s Dream markets to a similar audience through the casting of Callista
Flockhart in the role of Helena, and the audience is encouraged to relate the character of
Ally to that of Helena.137 Courtney Lehmann refers to Callista Flockhart as having an
„intertextual presence‟138 in Hoffman‟s film adaptation. Known at the time for her role
of Ally McBeal, Flockhart acts as „pop-cultural icon of how love makes fools of women
in particular.‟139 Flockhart‟s presence in William Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer Night‟s
Dream informs her performance of Helena with a sense of desperation and
independence as she pursues the uninterested Demetrius. Ally McBeal, who is single
and none too happy about it, is painfully honest and emotionally vulnerable. Like Ally,
Helena is also defined by her honesty as she lays everything on the line with her words
to Demetrius (especially in II, i, 195-244), emotional character, unstable love life
136
A contraction of the terms drama and comedy, a dramedy is a genre of movies and television in which
the lines between these very different and distinct genres are blurred.
137
Lehmann, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Agenda,” 267.
138
Lehmann, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Agenda,” 267.
139
Lehmann, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Agenda,” 267.
47
(controlled by Puck in the forest who enchants both Lysander and Demetrius to fall in
love with Helena) and her yearning and dogged pursuit of someone who is unavailable,
Demetrius.140 The film‟s focus on marketing to a specific demographic, highlighted
through allusions to Ally McBeal, is reinforced through advertising141 and product tieins. On the release of Hoffman‟s film make-up manufacturer Max Factor released a line
of cosmetics in association, which were created by the make-up artist who worked on
Michelle Pfeiffer's makeup in the film. The company Classico Pasta Sauce also released
their own product tie-in, putting out a cookbook of recipes “inspired by the film” that
use Classico sauces, offering rebates with the purchase of Classico products and a ticket
stub from the film, and sponsored a sweepstakes, the prize of which was a trip to the
Tuscan region of Italy shown in the film.142 Both Max Factor and Classico capitalised
on the film‟s target audience‟s gender, predominantly women, and high disposable
income, in order to best advertise their products.
As well as references to various films, the design of Michael Hoffman‟s film adaptation
William Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer Night‟s Dream alludes to a “bricollage” of
various styles of art and architecture and specific paintings by artists such as Gustave
Moreau and J.W. Waterhouse. The allusions to art work in Hoffman‟s film range from
the classical sculpture found in Theseus‟ estate to the Pre-Raphaelite and Symbolist
influenced set and costume designs of the fairy kingdom. Complementing the fin-desiècle Tuscan setting, the art along with the film‟s use of opera and classical music are
exemplars of “high” culture. The references to art in Hoffman‟s film are also used as a
thematic way in which to differentiate between the two different worlds of the human
and fairy kingdom, as well as within the fairy kingdom itself, visually setting apart
Oberon and Titania‟s kingdoms. The opening of Hoffman‟s film reveals to the audience
the preparations for the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta as well as the expanse of
Theseus‟ estate. The orderly maintained gardens and grounds of Theseus‟ estate, in
reality the Palazzo Fornazzi in the town of Caprolla, are tended to by gardeners, some of
whom are seen cleaning and repairing a fountain in preparations for the upcoming
wedding festivities. Amidst these ordered and somewhat constrictive gardens, mirroring
140
As with Ally McBeal‟s ex-boyfriend Billy, Demetrius is betrothed to someone else (Hermia).
Futhermore, Demetrius is also disinterested in Helena‟s advances.
141
Callista Flockhart, as well as the other well known stars of the film, Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer,
Stanley Tucci and Rupert Everett are all the focus of the film‟s promotional material. For an example see
the film‟s promotional poster.
142
T.L Stanley and Stephanie Thompson, “Classico, Food Net mangia with „Dream‟,” Brandweek 40.8
Feb 22 (1999): 53.
48
what Hoffman notes in the film‟s opening cue card as the attitudes of the time, are
several classical sculptures. These sculptures are examples of both the decadence and
wealth of the “upper-class” lifestyle of the “humans” in the film and also the mythic
past and the inspiration behind the characters of Theseus and Hippolyta. Whereas in
Hoffman‟s film the “mythical” couple are now more reserved and Victorian in
appearance and attitude in order to fit in with the change in setting and time, the use of
classical sculptures invites the audience to make the connection between the characters
and their former mythic nature. These sculptures also remind the audience that although
the setting is ostensibly Victorian, the Tuscan setting is in fact steeped in a vast history
and mythology of its own, which influenced the design of Hoffman‟s film.
Hoffman‟s decision to set his film in the Tuscan countryside facilitated his desire to get
away from the „Celtic notion of the forest‟143 in Shakespeare‟s play. He instead looked
towards the history and mythology associated with his Tuscan setting, particularly
Etruscan and classical mythological elements, for inspirations for his film‟s design, and
more specifically for the design of his fairy world. This led Hoffman in the direction of
symbolist painters at the turn of the century such as Gustave Moreau, and to Etruscan
culture.‟144 Hoffman further reveals that the influence of the Etruscans on the design of
the fairy world was particularly important in differentiating it from the world of the
humans:
Their [the Etruscans] interest in beauty, music, magic, divination, sensuality,
their unapologetic vanity, and their reverence for the feminine made them
excellent models for the fairy world. This was especially true in contrast to the
uptight, conventional world of the court.145
The inspiration for the fairy world was not limited to simply Etruscan culture and
Symbolists painters such as Moreau, but as production designer Luciana Arrighi
elaborates, the design of the fairy world in William Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer
Night‟s Dream was also inspired by „Renaissance painters Raphael, Brill, the Landscape
Fresco painters, the sculptures of Bernini, [and] the drawings of Piranesi.‟146 The
design, inspired by all these very different styles of art, is symbolic of the fairy
143
Calhoun, 38.
Calhoun, 38.
145
Michael Hoffman, William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (London: Harper Collins,
1999): 21.
146
Hoffman, 25.
144
49
kingdom‟s duality, and Hoffman‟s forest becomes a wild, unordered and eclectic place
of escape.
Hoffman‟s elaborate indoor fairy world set, filmed on Stage-five in Cinecittà, was split
into two very different areas, each with its own particular design and lighting
schemes.147 Hoffman explains in the screenplay for William Shakespeare‟s A
Midsummer Night‟s Dream that the inspiration for Oberon was drawn directly from
Gustave Moreau‟s The Muses Leaving their Father Apollo to go and Enlighten the
World (1868). The brooding Apollo from Moreau‟s painting is translated on screen into
the figure of Rupert Everett as Oberon, sitting atop his throne, moody and
contemplative, „more melancholy than mischievous.‟148 Complementing Oberon‟s
change in demeanour, his kingdom is a „starker, cool and less accommodating‟149 place
inhabited by satyrs, centaurs and Etruscan style temples, overgrown and menacing. 150
Contrasting with Oberon‟s kingdom, Titania‟s world is a warmer and more densely
wooded, complete with classical temple.151 Hoffman himself describes Titania‟s realm
as „soft and gentle and green, and the light is warm.‟152 Specific lighting was also
designed by Oliver Stapleton to “light” actress Michelle Pfeiffer in order to highlight
her role in the film as „leader of the magical people.‟153 Given both a strong-edged
backlight and noticeably diffused close-ups, the lighting gives Pfeiffer‟s Titania an
„unreal, magical, over the-top‟154 look. In the screenplay to his film adaptation Hoffman
reveals that the appearance of Titania and her section of the forest were directly
influenced by the works of Burne-Jones, G.F Watts and the Pre-Raphaelites.155 Titania‟s
section of the forest is inhabited by various „female archetypes both light and dark‟156
drawn from mythology, such as the gorgon Medusa and the nymphs swimming in a
pond, an explicit allusion to the well known work of Pre-Raphaelite painter J.W
Waterhouse‟s work Hylas and the Nymphs (1896). With the character of Bottom, who is
part of Titania‟s world for much of the film, Michael Hoffman noted it was important
147
Pizzello, “Enchanted Forest,” 2.
Rob Blackwelder, “Dream Manipulation,” SPLICEDwire, 1999, 20 Jan 2005
<http://splicedonline.com/99reviews/midsummer.html>.
149
Calhoun, 39.
150
Cinematographer Oliver Stapleton reveals that for the “male world” of Oberon‟s kingdom, a much
cooler feeling lighting scheme was used. Pizzello, “Enchanted Forest,” 2.
151
Stapleton also remarks that although the background and trees in Titania‟s world were on the cooler
side (though they were given “life” through stuck on reflective surfaces that caught the light), the faces in
foreground were given a warmer look. Pizzello, “Enchanted Forest,” 2.
152
Calhoun, 39.
153
Pizzello, “Enchanted Forest,” 3.
154
Pizzello, “Enchanted Forest,” 3.
155
Hoffman, 27.
156
Hoffman, 34.
148
50
that Bottom‟s costume design needed to suggest an ass, something which served the
comedy of his situation but that also remained somewhat sensual. Given the importance
of Bottom‟s relationship to Titania, Hoffman stressed it was integral to the film that
Bottom the “man” couldn‟t be lost.157 A small figure of the mythological figure Pan
found by Hoffman in Moreau‟s canvas of Jupiter and Semele (1895) was translated into
a design by Gabriella Percussi that „emphasised his [Bottom‟s] humanity.158 In terms of
a marketing strategy, a costume that did not totally consume Kevin Kline but suggested
the “star” underneath was important. Being presented as the central character in
Hoffman‟s adaptation Kline was one of the main draw cards for the film and if he
disappeared behind an obtrusive mask or costume the power of such casting would be
diminished. Humanising Bottom during his translation to beast also reinforces
Hoffman‟s alteration of the relationship that Bottom has with Titania, one that is no
longer monstrous but an alternative to his unhappy marriage.
Director Michael Hoffman remedies a perceived lack of central figure in previous
productions of A Midsummer Night‟s Dream, and re-imagines his adaptation as the
tragic story of Bottom. Through casting well known actor Kevin Kline in the role,
Hoffman realigns Bottom as central figure in his film. Hoffman reinterprets Bottom‟s
traditionally comedic character into one that is now tragic. Operatic arias, music by
Felix Mendelssohn as well as a classically inspired score by composer Simon Boswell
are used as a way to convey a sense of melancholy and nostalgia in the character of
Bottom, and situate the film within the conventions of heritage cinema. Hoffman‟s film
also gives emphasis to the character of Helena. Helena is played by actor Callista
Flockhart, who was known at the time for her starring role in the television show Ally
McBeal. Flockhart‟s earlier role as single lawyer Ally informs her performance of
Helena with a sense of anxiety and emotional vulnerability. Hoffman invites his
audience to relate the character of Ally with Helena, as both are portrayed as “victims of
love.” Together with cleverly marketed advertising campaign, Hoffman‟s film targets a
similar demographic to those who can relate to Ally‟s life, namely middle-aged women
with a high disposable income. Stylistically, Hoffman‟s film evokes the influence of
references to art and architecture, Etruscan culture, and most significantly to film. Both
the Dieterle/Reinhardt adaptation of A Midsummer Night‟s Dream, as well as Kenneth
Branagh‟s film version of Much Ado About Nothing are prominent influences for
Hoffman‟s film. As with Branagh‟s film, Hoffman‟s adaptation contains a diverse “star”
157
158
Hoffman, 72.
Hoffman, 72.
51
cast of both Anglo and American actors, a marketing strategy employed to attract an
audience that may be hesitant in seeing Shakespeare on film. Through the allusions to
the Dieterle/Reinhardt film, director Hoffman situates his film in the history of
adaptations of Shakespeare on screen, in particular film versions of A Midsummer
Night‟s Dream. Of particular note is Hoffman‟s appropriation of a device found in the
Dieterle/Reinhardt film, a wife-figure for Bottom; a character absent from
Shakespeare‟s play-text. Through this wife figure, the character of Bottom is given a
depth and understanding, and with the use of operatic arias, is a method by which the
film conveys a sense of Bottom‟s tragedy and empathy to the audience.
52
Gil Junger’s 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
Gil Junger‟s film 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) has what Richard Burt describes
as a „post-hermeneutic relation to Shakespeare‟s plays.‟159 The work, be it a
performance on film, television or stage, is so far removed from the “original”
Shakespearean work that it isn‟t immediately recognised or interpreted as
Shakespearean. Rather than being considered strictly a “remake” of William
Shakespeare‟s The Taming of the Shrew, Junger‟s film 10 Things I Hate About You
„borrows an approximation of The Taming of the Shrew‟s plot‟160 and uses
Shakespeare‟s story in order to comment on issues relating to the teenage audience to
which the film is predominantly marketed. Ariane M Balizet argues that we „look at the
conventions of Shakespeare‟s comedy to view [Junger‟s] message on contemporary
youth culture.‟161 The target audience influences the way in which 10 Things I Hate
About You is constructed and marketed. Music and intertextual references are used both
as marketing tools and as a way to convey Junger‟s comments on the youth culture he is
representing in his film. In general, thematic approaches to the adaptation of The
Taming of the Shrew have been „dominated, consciously or not, by a desire to „soften‟ it
and make it more acceptable.‟162 Glossing over the gender and power dynamics of The
Taming of the Shrew, Junger‟s film adaptation is „stripped of most of the play‟s male
bravado and authority over women.‟163 The most obvious shift in the gender politics of
10 Things lies in the characterisation of Katerina Stratford, the play‟s Katherina Minola.
159
Richard Burt, “Shakespeare in Love and the End of the Shakespearean: Academic and Mass Culture
Constructions of Literary Authorship,” Shakespeare, Film, Fin de Siecle, Mark Thornton Burnett and
Ramona Wray, eds (Houndmills, Basingstroke: Palgrave, 2000): 226.
160
Melissa Jones, ““An Aweful Rule”: Safe Schools, Hard Canons and Shakespeare‟s Loose Heirs,”
Almost Shakespeare: Reinventing His Works For Cinema and Television, James R Keller and Leslie
Stratyner, eds (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company Inc, 2004): 138.
161
Ariane M Balizet, “Teen Scenes: Recognizing Shakespeare in Teen Film,” Almost Shakespeare:
Reinventing His Works For Cinema and Television, James R Keller and Leslie Stratyner, eds (Jefferson,
North Carolina: McFarland & Company Inc, 2004): 129.
162
William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, Ann Thompson, ed, (Cambridge; New York:
Cambridge University Press, 1995): 30.
163
Richard Burt, “Afterword: Te(e)n Things I Hate about Girlene Shakesploitation Flicks in the Late
1990s, or Not-So-Fast Times at Shakespeare High,” Spectacular Shakespeare: Critical Theory and
Popular Cinema, Courtney Lehmann and Lisa S. Starks, eds (Madison, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson
University Press and London: Associated University Presses, 2002): 213.
53
In The Taming of the Shrew Katherina is characterised as a “shrew,” a bad-tempered or
aggressively assertive woman. Her first appearance in the play (I, i, 57)164 offers no
evidence to support this characterisation and does not anticipate her later outspoken
nature and fiery conversations with male characters. Irene G Dash argues that Kate is
defined by her actions and speeches,165 and suggests we only know what Katherina is
like through what other characters know about her and reveal at the beginning of the
play.166 However, in the beginning of Act II, stage actions reveal the extent of why
Katherina is considered to be a shrew. She binds her sister Bianca‟s hands and refuses to
release her, striking Bianca when she does not reveal which of her suitors she loves
best. Hortensio, her musical tutor, also states that Katherine strikes him over the head
with a lute during a lesson (II, i, 145-150). The abuse of her sister and Hortensio‟s
“witness statement” suggest that earlier descriptions of Katherina as an unruly and
untamed shrew may have some merit. Rather than simply being disruptive or
destructive forces within the play, Kate‟s lack of restraint, temper, and assertiveness
define her as an example of indiscipline within the play. Her outspoken and boisterous
nature is motivated by her circumstance. In a play set in an age where aristocratic
marriages were often arranged predominantly for economic reasons, Kate speaks out
against the authority of her father Baptista, who sees his daughters as his possession, to
do with as he pleases. Katherina explicitly states her lack of intent to marry (I, i, 61-62),
and is outspoken in her rejection of her father‟s choice of husband for her, Petruchio (II,
i, 274-278). However, her father, who marries her off to Petruchio anyway, ignores both
these instances of indiscipline.
In 10 Things I Hate About You, Kat Stratford is transformed from the obnoxious,
violent, shrew of Shakespeare‟s Katherina into a modern, outspoken, independent,
feminist “outsider” seen as having an „attitude problem.‟167 In fact, as Richard Burt
notes, the film makes her „literally a feminist critic,‟168 especially in the scene of her
debate with Mr. Morgan on the syllabus of her high school English class. While Kat‟s
164
Line citations from The Taming of the Shrew refer to the 1995 New Cambridge edition, edited by Ann
Thompson, first published in 1984.
165
Irene G. Dash, Wooing, Wedding and Power: Women in Shakespeare‟s Plays (New York: Columbia
University Press, 1981): 34.
166
Katherina has no soliloquies, and when she first appears in the beginning of the play offers no reason,
other than speaking her mind, for the description of her as like „hell‟ (I, i, 121) or title as „Katherine the
curst‟ (I, ii, 122).
167
Mary Elizabeth Williams, “One Shrew Thing,” Salon April 1 1999, 18 July 2004
<http://archive.salon.com/ent/movies/reviews/1999/04/01review.html>.
168
Burt, “Afterword,” 212.
54
„feminist bitchiness most closely corresponds to the shrewishness of…Katherina in that
both women converse freely with men,‟169 the difference in the characters lies in the
political dimension. Not only does Kat use her bitchery, wit and intelligence to put
down those who mindlessly follow the ethos of the popular clique, but also, as Michael
Friedman notes, when Kat speaks out it is „not only against the authority of particular
men, but on the inequities of patriarchal culture.‟170 This hard-line feminism makes her
„a little tough to take.‟171 Kat‟s political rhetoric becomes predictable and is parodied by
others, as seen when Bianca and her friend finish Kat‟s rant about their attending a
schoolmate‟s party. Kat‟s best friend Mandella emphasises this with her sarcastic
response to Kat‟s reasoning for opposition to the school prom. When Kat tells
Mandella: „We‟re making a statement‟ by not attending the prom, Mandella replies with
the sarcastic retort: „Oh goody, something different for us.‟172 Her reaction to Kat‟s
statement „paints Kat‟s rejection of the prom as a typically stale and doctrinaire
response.‟173 Kat‟s feminism „comes to look more like a personality disorder than a
viable political position.‟174 Her feminism is simply quoted but not dealt with in any
depth, and is used as a way to make Kat intolerable and hard to take. As I will argue
later, the film‟s approach to Kat‟s feminism in 10 Things mirrors the tokenistic use of
both Riot Grrl music and the culture and politics surrounding the Riot Grrl movement.
Unlike Katherina, Kat‟s outspokenness and hostility, particularly towards boys, is not
motivated by her circumstance, but by a bad sexual experience with Joey Donner, Kat‟s
former boyfriend and a member of the popular clique at school. This event prompts her
rejection of seeking popularity, and the film presents Kat as a girl with a grudge, whose
indiscipline is limited to not being in the “in” crowd at her high school.
Along with the characterisation of Kat, 10 Things I Hate About You also differs from the
gender politics of The Taming of the Shrew in the transformation of the character of
Petruchio. Richard Burt argues that 10 Things I Hate About You inverts the account of
gender relations in The Taming of the Shrew.175 An example in the film of this approach
is the modernisation of the character of Petruchio. In the tradition of the performance of
169
Michael D. Friedman, “The Feminist as Shrew in 10 Things I Hate About You” Shakespeare Bulletin
22.2 Summer (2004): 51.
170
Friedman, 51-52.
171
Jay Carr, “„Teen „Taming‟ offers at least 10 things to like,” Boston Globe Mar 31 1999: F.4.
172
Quotations of the dialogue from 10 Things I Hate About You are my own transcriptions based on the
DVD release of the film. 10 Things I Hate About You, Dir Gil Junger, Touchstone Pictures/Buena Vista
Pictures, DVD, US, 1999.
173
Friedman, 59.
174
Jones, “An Aweful Rule,” 142.
175
Burt, “Afterword,” 214.
55
The Taming of the Shrew on stage and screen, actor Heath Ledger is much younger than
the character Petruchio is normally played. At the time of the film‟s release, Ledger was
twenty years old. This makes him one of the youngest actors to have played Petruchio
on screen.176 In Franco Zeffirelli‟s The Taming of the Shrew (1967), Richard Burton
(Petruchio) was forty-two at the time of filming. However, this production was
predominantly considered a “star vehicle” for actors Burton and Elizabeth Taylor and
thus did not focus on the characters‟ ages, but rather on the widely publicised
relationship of the actors that played them.177 In 10 Things the casting of “teen” idol
Heath Ledger is indicative of the concession to the marketing towards a teenage
demographic. Through having a good-looking teenage Patrick/Petruchio (nowhere in
the play is Petruchio described as handsome)178 the film offers someone for the
audience to identify with, and teenage girls to idolise. The shift in the age of Petruchio
and other main characters also fits in with moving the plot of the play to the locale of a
suburban American high school. In 10 Things I Hate About You Petruchio‟s „outlandish
behaviour,‟179 such as his antics at his wedding to Katherina (III, ii, 77-228) is removed.
Petruchio‟s wild actions are both transformed into Patrick‟s bad reputation and
„legendary character,‟180 and transferred to Kat,181 such as demonstrated when she
flashes a teacher to get Patrick out of detention. Richard Burt argues that 10 Things
„tells the story of the taming of teen boy desire.‟182 Teenage boys are tamed either
through having their „private parts symbolically cut down to size‟183 as seen in the literal
ball-kneeing of Joey Donner at the prom, or they are forced to change their “wicked
ways.” Patrick is tamed in that he is forced to clean up his act in order to win Kat over.
He both gives up smoking and has to do things he doesn‟t want to, such as go to Club
Skunk. Patrick is the one required to change, not Kat. In 10 Things I Hate About You
Patrick also differs from Petruchio in that he doesn‟t attempt to overpower or dominate
176
The gap between the ages of Patrick and Kat is also much smaller than in other adaptations of The
Taming of the Shrew. Julia Stiles was eighteen at the time of the film‟s release, and therefore is one of the
youngest actors who has portrayed Katherina. Elizabeth Taylor was thirty-two (a ten year age difference
with Richard Burton) and Mary Pickford was thirty-seven (a nine year age difference with Douglas
Fairbanks).
177
Director Sam Taylor‟s adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew (1929) was also focussed on the
dynamics between husband and wife acting team Douglas Fairbanks (Petruchio) and Mary Pickford
(Katherina). Fairbanks was forty-six at the time of the film‟s release. More recently played by actor Rufus
Sewell in the BBC television adaptation ShakespeaRE-Told (2005). He was thirty-eight at the time.
178
This seems to be a trend with portraying Petruchio on screen. Both Burton and Fairbanks were also
considered screen idols in their own time.
179
Monique L. Pittman, “Taming 10 Things I Hate About You: Shakespeare and the Teenage Film
Audience,” Literature/Film Quarterly 32.2 (2004): 147.
180
Pittman, “Taming 10 Things,” 147.
181
Burt, “Afterword,” 214.
182
Burt, “Afterword,” 214.
183
Burt, “Afterword,” 214.
56
Kat in any way but rather his behaviour arises out of his „gentle concern for Kat‟s wellbeing.‟184 Unlike Petruchio, who prevents Katherina from sleeping and eating in order
to tame her, Patrick woos and serenades Kat in order to win her over. In 10 Things the
physicality of Petruchio and Katherina is instead „transformed into a playful paintball
match.‟185 Katherina‟s final declaration of her obedience and submission to Petruchio
(V, ii, 146-54) is softened. Kat is not required to make a speech about wifely obedience.
Her submission instead comes from her declaration of her feelings for Patrick in her
poem read aloud during English Class. Her love for Patrick is that which Kat submits to.
Love “tames” her, not Patrick.
As well as Petruchio‟s transformation into the milder Patrick, in 10 Things the
representation of patriarchal authority over women that is prevalent in The Taming of
the Shrew is also softened. This is accomplished through the change in the
characterisation of Kat and Bianca‟s father. In The Taming of the Shrew mercantile
Baptista Minola is a man who obviously favours his younger child, Bianca. As
Katherina notes, Bianca is Baptista‟s „treasure‟186 (II, i, 32) and is therefore treated more
favourably than she is. This feature is carried over to 10 Things, with Kat‟s assumption
that her father wants her to be more like Bianca. However, in the end of the film Bianca
punches Joey out, and behaves more like Kat than her previous amiable and docile self.
Mr Stratford responds honestly that he didn‟t want Kat to be more like Bianca and is
impressed that Kat has “rubbed off” on her younger sister:
You know, fathers don't like to admit it when their daughters are capable of
running their own lives. It means we've become spectators. Bianca still lets me
play a few innings. You've had me on the bench for years.
While he was happy Bianca allowed him to still have some sort of authority over her,
therefore making it seem as if he was needed and involved in her life, Kat has taught
Bianca how to be strong and independent; both characteristics that Mr Stratford values
in Kat. In The Taming of the Shrew Baptista sees his daughters as his possessions to do
with as he pleases; he is willing to “sell off” Bianca to the highest bidder (II, i, 331-333)
and wants to rid himself of Katherina. To do so he marries her off to Petruchio, the first
man who shows interest in her. Contrasting with Baptista‟s attitude towards marrying
184
Burt, “Afterword,” 214.
Pittman, “Taming 10 Things,” 147.
186
Bianca is likewise, Mr Stratford‟s „precious.‟
185
57
Bianca off to whichever suitor can offer the most for her, Baptista informs Petruchio
that he will only be allowed to marry Katherina when her love is obtained. (II, i, 124-5)
However, he „quickly forgets his pledge to honor her will and expressly acts against her
will,‟187 ignoring both Katherina‟s initial statements against wanting to ever marry (I, i,
61-62), and her protestations against marrying Petruchio (II, i, 274-278). In 10 Things
Mr Stratford also sees it as his right as a parent to control his daughters, a point which
Kat rebels against. She criticises his wanting to control her life, through denying her the
right to attend the school of her choice, and wants her father to instead trust her to make
her own choices, right or wrong:
KAT
Fine. Then stop making my decisions for me.
WALTER
I‟m your father. That's my right.
KAT
So what I want doesn't matter?
WALTER
You're eighteen. You don't know what you want. And you won't know what you
want until you're forty-five. And if you get it, you‟ll be too old to use it.
KAT
I want to go to an East Coast school! I want you to trust me to make my own
choices. And I want you to stop trying to control my life just because you can‟t
control yours.
Unlike Baptista, Mr Stratford does not enforce his will nor go against the wishes of his
daughters. Kat‟s father might be overprotective and somewhat controlling but he is
given reasons for his overbearing behaviour - a genuine concern not only for the issue
of teenage pregnancy, to which he is exposed every day, but more importantly the
187
“Kat and Bianca Avenged: Or, Things to Love about 10 Things I Hate About You,” Leslie Wilson, ed,
Magazine Americana May 2001, 26 Oct 2005
<http://www.americanpopularculture.com/archive/film/ten_things_i_hate.htm>.
58
wellbeing of his daughters. Unlike Kate, „Kat has a father who not only listens to her,
but also learns from her,‟188 and therefore Mr Stratford relents on this issue of dating
and allows his daughters to go to both their schoolmate Bogey‟s party and the high
school prom. He also eventually rescinds his opposition of allowing Kat to attend
college at Sarah Lawrence through the gesture of paying her tuition. Through the shift
in gender politics, 10 Things I Hate About You instead becomes a comedy of
„misunderstanding, false starts and eventually love,‟189 and thus brings both The Taming
of the Shrew and Junger‟s film into line with conventions of “teen” comedy. 10 Things I
Hate About You can be considered what Sarah Neely terms a „makeover‟190 “teen” film,
a film targeted at a teenage audience where questions about the construction of identity
arise. The focus of 10 Things I Hate About You is on both the status games of
contemporary teenage culture and on marketing to the teenage audience of the film.
Therefore the film is preoccupied with issues of identity, popularity and reputation all
relevant themes to the film‟s teenage audience. Other films that share these
characteristics include Clueless (1995) and Cruel Intentions (1999), both of which, like
10 Things, engage in „enmeshing the generic conventions of a teen movie with a
“literary” classic.‟191
In referring to Baz Luhrmann‟s Romeo + Juliet Kay Dickinson suggests that „specific
semantics…are exchanged between this film and the specific songs on its
soundtrack.‟192 Capitalising on the success of the initial soundtrack to Romeo + Juliet
and its second volume sequel,193 music in Gil Junger‟s film 10 Things I Hate About You
functions in a similar fashion. Music in the film is moulded around various visual and
narrative themes, specifically those involving issues of teenage identity such as
popularity and reputation, and character traits of protagonist Kat Stratford. Nancy
Goodwin observes that in many cases in Junger‟s film the lyrics of the songs used
188
“Kat and Bianca Avenged.”
Williams, “One Shrew Thing.”
190
Sarah Neely, “Cool Intentions: The Literary Classic, the Teenpic and the „Chick Flick‟,” Retrovisions:
Reinventing the Past in Film and Fiction Deborah Cartmell, I.Q Hunter and Imelda Whelehan, eds
(London and Sterling: Pluto, 2001): 76.
191
Diana E. Henderson, “A Shrew for the Times, Revisited,” Shakespeare the Movie II: Popularising the
Plays on Film, TV, and Video and DVD, Lynda E. Boose and Richard Burt, eds (London; New York:
Routledge, 2003): 137.
192
Kay Dickinson, “Pop, Speed and the 'MTV Aesthetic' in Recent Teen Films,” Scope: An Online
Journal of Film Studies June (2001) June 1 2001, 12 Aug 2004
<http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/film/journal/articles/pop-speed-and-mtv.htm>.
193
Baz Luhrmann repeated this marketing strategy with his next film Moulin Rouge! (2001)
189
59
suggest the subtext of the film and give clues to the plot better than the script does.194
Working within its “teen” comedy genre frame, 10 Things I Hate About You becomes a
collection of small video clips with scenes specifically illustrated by song. An example
of this occurs at the beginning of the film. A car full of teenage girls singing along to
„One Week‟ by male Pop/Rock band Barenaked Ladies is drowned out as Kat pulls up
alongside in her own car, which is blasting the Joan Jett and the Blackhearts‟ song „Bad
Reputation.‟ The “war” between songs illustrates, not only Kat‟s character and attitude
towards others, but also the contrast between what is popular and unpopular, a theme
that is resonant in Junger‟s film.195 Richard Burt argues that Kat is „differentiated from
other girls from the start by her interest in (bad) girl rock and roll.‟196 This
differentiation, which is marked in the types of songs that are playing - Rock & Roll197
versus relatively “new” Pop/Rock,198 is carried over visually in the type of cars each
group is driving. Kat drives a red vintage sports car while the group of girls drives a
blue convertible. Kat‟s subversive feminist Punk Rock drowns out what can be argued
as the dominant male voice of popular music. The lyrics of the Joan Jett and the
Blackhearts song, „I don‟t give a damn about my reputation‟ poignantly illustrate Kat‟s
character and attitude throughout the film. Kat makes a point both in her musical taste
and in talking with her sister Bianca that she doesn‟t care what other people think of
194
Nancy Goodwin, “10 Things, 2 Elements,” Shakespeare: A magazine for Shakespeare teachers and
enthusiasts Last updated Feb 2005, 7 Feb 2005 <http://www.shakespearemag.com/reviews/10things.asp>.
195
The theme is visually demonstrated in the poster in Kat‟s English class, with its slogan: „What is
popular is not always right; what is right is not always popular.‟
196
Burt, “Afterword,‟ 217.
197
Unlike her work with the 1970s all-girl band The Runaways, which was seen as more Punk Rock, Joan
Jett‟s solo work and her work with new band The Blackhearts is considered more traditional Rock & Roll.
Both The Runaways and her solo work are marked with a defiant tone, which aptly illustrates Kat‟s
aggression in this scene. This defiant tone is also found in the songs of the Riot Grrl movement of the
1990s, of which Joan Jett was both a precursor for and also a part of, producing the band Bikini Kill‟s
New Radio EP (1994). For more information on Joan Jet see her official website: Joan Jett And The
Blackhearts <http://www.joanjett.com/>
198
The song „One Week‟ by the Barenaked Ladies as an example of “Pop/Rock” fits into this genre as it
proved to be a radio success, its popularity was driven by its catchy rapid-fire lyrical style and the large
number of popular culture references worked into the lyrics.
“Pop/Rock” music combines elements of both “Pop (short for popular) music” and “Rock & Roll.”
“Pop/Rock” songs are generally short catchy mainstream songs that are radio hits. They are
predominantly identified by their simple song structure, catchy melodies, repetition of musical passages,
and use of electric guitar and drums based instrumentation. A highly contested genre, there is much
debate as to whether an artist is defined as “Rock & Roll” or “Pop/Rock” or another genre entirely.
Generally this comes down to the opinions of both fans and critics. One such genre that if often associated
with “Pop/Rock” is “Power Pop,” which is considered a sub-genre of “Pop/Rock.” Roy Shuker notes that
the source point for “Power Pop” is the work of The Beatles, which is defined by strong melodies,
distinctive vocal harmonies and prominent guitar riffs. All these characteristics feature in the music of
“Pop/Rock” artists. Roy Shuker, Popular Music: The Key Concepts, 2nd ed (London, New York:
Routledge): 207-208.
The work of singer Nick Lowe and band Cheap Trick have been described as having traits of the “Power
Pop” sound. Both have songs are present in 10 Things I Hate About You as cover songs performed by the
band Letters to Cleo.
60
her. This idea of reputation and identity constructed through others‟ perceptions is
drawn from issues of identity within the source material for 10 Things, The Taming of
the Shrew. The induction at the beginning of The Taming of the Shrew involving the
deception of Christopher Sly introduces the problem of identity by „considering how the
self takes form.‟199 This can also be applied to the issue of the construction of
Katherina‟s identity and whether she is “tamed” at the end of the play. Monique L
Pittman observes that Katherina „emerges in Act II only after her identity has been
constructed through the description of others.‟200 In 10 Things I Hate About You Kat
makes a point both in her musical taste and in talking with her sister Bianca that she
doesn‟t care what other people think of her. The use of the Joan Jett song therefore acts
as a thematic example of both her understanding but also rejection of the idea that her
identity is constructed through the perceptions of others, and the power others have over
her because of this. However, that is as strong as the “girl power” message becomes in
the film. Michael D Friedman argues that „in addition to establishing Kat‟s hostile nonconformity, this scene begins a pattern of expressing Kat‟s feminist traits in musical
terms.‟201 Friedman‟s argument is, however, slightly tenuous considering Kat‟s more
extreme musical choices, especially Riot Grrl, are downplayed and parodied in the film.
10 Things I Hate About You is set in the suburbs of Washington,202 which was notably
the hub of Riot Grrl movement of the early 1990s. Riot Grrl (sometimes written Riot
Grrrl) is a term constructed by mainstream media to describe music, predominantly
hardcore Punk Rock203 music known for its feminist stance, which emerged from the
Punk and independent music scenes of Washington state, especially the capital city
Olympia, and Washington D.C. The Riot Grrl movement came from a reaction to the
male-dominated Punk scene and acted as a response to prevalent attitudes of Punk
machismo. Riot Grrl music encouraged women and girls to:
199
Pittman, “Taming 10 Things,” 145.
Pittman, “Taming 10 Things,” 145.
201
Friedman, 56.
202
10 Things I Hate About You was filmed in both Seattle and Tacoma Washington. The opening shot of
the film further establishes the location as somewhere in suburban Seattle as Seattle‟s “Space Needle” is
visible. Later in the film Bianca also watches The Real World: Seattle (1998) on television.
203
“Punk Rock” is an “anti-establishment” music genre and movement that emerged in the mid-1970s,
out of the perceived excesses of mainstream 1970‟s Rock & Roll. “Punk Rock” bands create fast, hard
music, typically with short songs, stripped-down instrumentation and often political or nihilistic lyrics.
Shuker, Popular Music, 213-216.
200
61
take control of the means of cultural production… through producing music and
zines (short for “fanzines,” that is, fan magazines produced by fans themselves)
that put their own personal experiences at the forefront.204
Riot Grrl musicians were fiercely independent. Most shunned the major record labels,
sticking with independently run labels. Riot Grrls often addressed gender-related issues
such as rape, domestic abuse, sexuality, animal rights and female empowerment in their
lyrics.205 Throughout 10 Things I Hate About You Kat is defined by her musical
preference. Sarah Neely argues that music „can be read as a marker of a teen‟s own taste
and identity‟206 and Kat‟s taste in “girl Rock” presents her as feisty, tough and
independent. Kat uses her bitchery, wit and intelligence to put down those, like her
sister, who mindlessly follow the ethos of the popular clique. Riot Grrl music is
identified as a big part of Kat‟s life, in so much that is important enough for Patrick to
learn about in order to woo her, and it arguably explains a lot of her “attitude.”
However, in the final film the presence of, and also Kat‟s contact with Riot Grrl is
limited. In 10 Things none of the radical gender politics of the movement find a place,
and instead the references to Riot Grrl can be read as an example of the rebellious
female voice in the film being covered over and “tamed.” Melissa Jones observes that in
10 Things, women‟s resistance to patriarchal dominance is „reduced to a girl with a
grudge.‟207 The radical feminist voice of the Riot Grrl movement is simply relegated to
posters adorning the walls of Kat‟s room, including one of the band The Gits,208 and the
act of name dropping, as seen when Patrick compares the female fronted band playing
in the night club to precursors of the Riot Grrl movement, British band The Raincoats
and well known Riot Grrl band Bikini Kill. Friedman argues that this comment is an
attempt to link the band Letters to Cleo with the Riot Grrl movement,209 however, the
comment is used mainly as a way for Patrick to engage Kat in conversation. Riot Grrl is
only deemed important since it becomes one of the things that Patrick has to learn about
in order to woo Kat. Any other significance Riot Grrl music may have is dismissed
through Cameron later referring to it as: „angry, girl music of the indie-rock persuasion,‟
204
Kristen Schilt, ““Riot Grrrl Is…”: The Contestation over Meaning in a Music Scene,” Music Scenes:
Local Translocal and Virtual, Andy Bennett and Richard A. Peterson, eds (Nashville: Vanderbilt
University Press, 2004): 115.
205
Shuker, Popular Music, 231-232.
206
Neely, 79.
207
Jones, “An Aweful Rule,” 142.
208
The Gits were a Seattle based band, during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Gits lead singer Mia
Zapata was raped and murdered in 1993 and has become an icon in her death. For more information on
The Gits and Mia see their official website: The Gits <http://www.thegits.com>.
209
Friedman, 57.
62
which to Patrick translates as: „chicks who can't play their instruments.‟ An earlier draft
of the film‟s screenplay210 has a fictional band called Gigglepuss from Olympia (home
of the Riot Grrl scene) performing at Club Skunk. Friedman suggests tenuously that this
is another attempt to connect the film with the Riot Grrl movement.211 However, in the
final film the more Pop/Rock friendly Letters to Cleo replaces Gigglepuss. The film
therefore „makes a concession to marketing that weakens the force of the film‟s
connection between music and feminism,‟212 with an established band, who have two
songs on the soundtrack, appearing rather than an unknown, or “made for the movie,”
band with connections to Riot Grrl. Due to this concession there are noticeably no songs
by Riot Grrl bands within the film or on the soundtrack.
The only music that appears both in the film and on the soundtrack is the Pop/Rock
radio friendly Letters to Cleo and even then, only two of their original tracks appear,
albeit briefly, in the film,213 the rest are “cover songs.” These are „Cruel To Be Kind
„originally by Nick Lowe and „I Want You To Want Me‟ originally by band Cheap
Trick. A cover song, also known as a “cover version,” is a new rendition of a previously
recorded song. Often used in film soundtracks, cover songs are often designed to fit into
the structure of each film they appear in, and to suit the taste of the contemporary
audience for which they were made. In 10 Things I Hate About You cover songs are also
used as a marketing strategy, an idea which I will further explore later in this chapter.
Through the use of cover songs, viewers of the film, who do not necessarily fit the
teenage demographic that the film is predominantly marketed to, are also catered for.
They are eased into and form a connection to the film through the presence of
recognisable songs that were past hits. These new takes on older songs also introduces
the audience to the possibly unfamiliar contemporary sound of Pop/Rock band Letters
to Cleo.214 The cover songs are the centrepieces of the musical selections within the
film, and they are the only songs sung by Letters to Cleo in the 10 Things I Hate About
You that appear on the film‟s soundtrack.
210
Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, “10 Things I Hate About You - Revision November 12,
1997,” The Daily Script 18 Oct 2004 <http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/10Things.html>.
211
Friedman, 57.
212
Friedman, 57.
213
Only one original song by Letters To Cleo „Come On‟ is given significant air-time within the film. It is
heard during the scene at Club Skunk. The other original Letters to Cleo song, „Co-pilot‟ is then briefly
heard following this. The lyrics: „Be my co-pilot‟, echo Patrick‟s advances towards Kat.
214
The presence of the band on top of the high school‟s roof at the film‟s conclusion seems to encourage
the audience to go and discover other original music by the band.
63
Critical of the use of female fronted bands covering songs by male artists, Richard Burt
complains that the covers used in the film are „nearly identical to the originals except
for the gender of the voices.‟215 He further suggests that this leads to a covering over of
the “rebellious” female voice in the film by limiting it to simply being a copy of the
male voice.216 Burt‟s observations are demonstrated by the replacement of the rebellious
voice in the film, Kat‟s feminist rhetoric with its ties to Riot Grrl, by the more palatable
sounding and less political, female-fronted Pop/Rock band Letters to Cleo. Rather than
the music of a Riot Grrl band, throughout 10 Things Pop/Rock band Letters to Cleo is
identified as representative of Kat‟s voice. A connection between the two is first
established when Letters to Cleo are revealed to be Kat‟s favourite band that she goes to
see live at Club Skunk. While Friedman argues that this „sequence sets up Kat‟s
attraction to Riot Grrl music,‟217 Patrick and not Kat makes the connection between
Letters to Cleo and Riot Grrl bands such as Bikini Kill. I would instead suggest that this
scene sets up Kat‟s love of “chick Rock” and of music in general. This scene
emphasises the connection between Letters to Cleo and Kat, and not necessarily a desire
on Kat‟s part to become a “do-it yourself” Riot Grrl musician, but simply a desire to
start a band. This connection is something that Kat freely admits to, when after hearing
Letters to Cleo playing on the car radio on their way home from schoolmate Bogie
Lowenstein‟s party Kat says to Patrick: „I should do this…start a band.‟ A further link
between Kat and Letters to Cleo is established at the end of the film, where the band
plays atop the roof of Padua High School. The camera zooms in on Kay Hanley, lead
singer of the band, suggesting that she anticipates what Kat plans to become, a
musician. 218
Letters to Cleo‟s presence at the end of the film playing atop the Padua High‟s roof
further draws attention to how the rebellious female voice in 10 Things I Hate About
You is covered over and “tamed.” Burt argues that this ending sets up the romantic
economy as one of „loss recoverable with interest.‟219 Patrick is able to buy Kat off with
a musical instrument every time he does something stupid. Kat‟s protests are silenced
both by a kiss and by a cover of Cheap Trick‟s „I Want You To Want Me as sung by
Letters to Cleo, echoing Petruchio‟s words in The Taming of the Shrew that silence
Katherina, „Come and kiss me, Kate‟ (V, ii, 180). Burt‟s argument against the use of
215
Burt, “Afterword,” 218.
Burt, “Afterword,” 219.
217
Friedman, 57.
218
Burt, “Afterword,” 219.
219
Burt, “Afterword,” 219.
216
64
cover songs does not, however, take into account the impact of the lyrics of the songs,
which work to convey feelings, emotions and themes in the film. Simon Frith suggests
that a use of a particular song in a film can become:
a kind of commentary on the film: the singers represent us, the audience, and our
response to the film, but also become our teachers, making sure we got the
film‟s emotional message.220
Music acts as an audience‟s “reading” of the film. Cover songs also function as a
marketing ploy, something which plays on the nostalgia of older audience members of
the film and “teen” film in general. The lyrics of the songs performed by Letters to Cleo
convey what Kat cannot, or is unwilling to say to Patrick and others, and highlight the
underlying feelings and mood of the scenes they are in. Frith observes that one of the
ways in which music functions in a film is as an example of emotional reality:
Music…can convey and clarify the emotional significance of a scene, the true,
„real‟ feelings of the characters involved in it. Music, in short, signals what‟s
„underneath‟ or „behind a film‟s observable gestures.221
As previously observed, in 10 Things I Hate About You there is a connection established
between Letters to Cleo (and especially their lead singer Kay Hanley) and Kat Stratford.
The two cover songs performed by the band Letters to Cleo act as example, of songs
conveying the emotional significance and “real” feelings of the character of Kat
Stratford. Letters to Cleo‟s cover of the Cheap Trick song „I Want You To Want Me‟
follows on from Kat‟s sonnet. Both the sonnet and the use of Letters to Cleo‟s cover of
„I Want You To Want Me‟ serve as symbolic representations of the end of Kat‟s
resistance to Patrick and as previously asserted, the “taming” of the rebellious female
voice in the film. The model for Kat‟s sonnet (which is in fact not a sonnet at all) comes
from Shakespeare‟s Sonnet 141, „In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes.‟222 Read
earlier by her English teacher in class the first four lines of Sonnet 141 are the basis for
Kat‟s poem and for the title of the film:
220
Simon Frith, “Mood Music: An Inquiry into Narrative Film Music,” Screen 25 Nov 3 (1984): 79.
Frith, “Mood Music,” 83-4.
222
William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 141,” The Sonnets, G. Blakemore Evans, ed (Cambridge; New York:
Cambridge University Press, 1999): 103.
221
65
In faith I do not love thee with mine eyes,
For they in thee a thousand errors note;
But 'tis my heart that loves what they despise,
Who, in despite of view, is pleased to dote.223
Kat‟s poem is at first a list of things she hates about Patrick: „I hate the way you talk to
me and the way you cut your hair.‟ However, her poem ends with renouncement of her
hostility towards him for hurting her: „But mostly I hate the way I don‟t hate you, Not
even close, not even a little bit, Not even at all.‟ This echoes the sentiment of the
beginning of Shakespeare‟s Sonnet, that is despite everything that Patrick has done, Kat
still loves him and cannot resist him, she is her „proud heart‟s slave.‟224 The lyrics of „I
Want You To Want Me‟ further reiterate the idea brought up in Kat‟s poem, of her
being a slave to love. The line „I want you to want me/I need you to need me/I'd love
you to love me‟ signals the end of Kat‟s resistance to Patrick. Unlike earlier in the film
when Kat was uninterested in both the idea of dating and in Patrick‟s attraction to her,
now Kat wants him to want her. The lyrics also convey Kat‟s sense of desperation; the
lyrics suggest someone begging to be loved; and need for Patrick that
„recaptures…Kate‟s posture of humiliation‟225 in The Taming of the Shrew. Kat feels
equally humiliated and weak for the power her love for Patrick has over her. Katherine
Minola‟s call for wives to acquiesce to their husband‟s will and „place your hands below
your husband‟s foot‟ (V, ii, 177) and subsequent demonstration of this act of
humiliation and submission finds a mirror in the lyrics „I'll shine up my old brown
shoes/Put on a brand new shirt/Get home early from work/If you say that you love me.‟
These lyrics suggest giving in to love and the power one person has over another who is
in love with them. Patrick is the one, who Kat admits in both her poem and through the
lyrics of the song, now has power over her. She would do anything for Patrick,
including forgiving him for hurting her, because she loves him. Through this admission
Kat‟s rebellion and open hostility against conformity and the idea of dating is silenced.
Letters to Cleo‟s cover of Nick Lowe‟s „Cruel to Be Kind‟ is heard on two occasions in
10 Things I Hate About You. It functions as aurally symbolic of both the theme of
reputation and of Kat and Patrick‟s revelation of their “true” selves to each other. The
song firstly plays in the car as Patrick drives a drunken and possibly concussed Kat back
223
Shakespeare, “Sonnet 141,” Lines 1-4.
Shakespeare, “Sonnet 141,” Line 12.
225
Jones, “An Aweful Rule,” 139.
224
66
home after Bogie Lowenstein‟s party. As „Cruel to Be Kind‟ plays Kat reveals to
Patrick what she wants to do, her desire to start a band. She also reveals her
understanding and sarcastic rejection of how others perceive her, when she tells Patrick:
„The only thing people know about me is that I‟m “scary”.‟ Kat is not what she seems.
Through the use of the song the audience is positioned to read Kat‟s bitchiness, sarcastic
comments and “shrewish” attitude as a cover. The line „cruel to be kind‟ implies a
reason for her attitude, Kat‟s „ferocious exterior is a defence for a softer Kat beneath,‟226
and through her cruelty and attitude she shows her kindness and love. Patrick is also
revealed to be nothing like his reputed self. He is both kind and a gentleman, whose
concern for and care of a drunken Kat including driving her home leads to her dropping
her hostility towards Patrick and admitting to him: „You‟re not as vile as I thought you
were.‟ The audience is invited to read this as translating to “I like you” on Kat‟s part,
when after this statement she leans over and tries to kiss Patrick. However, Patrick
refuses to take advantage of the situation and Kat misreads his behaviour as a rejection
of her advances and she again becomes hostile and storms out of the car. The second
time „Cruel to Be Kind‟ is heard is at the Padua High Prom when Patrick, much to the
delight of Kat, arranges for her favourite band (Letters to Cleo) to play at the prom as a
surprise. Once again the song is tied in to themes of reputation and acts of revelation. As
the band plays and Patrick and Kat dance together he reveals to her that he is nothing
like the outlandish rebel he is rumoured to be. Instead of all the outrageous things
Patrick had apparently been engaging in during his year of absence from school, he had
actually been caring for a sick grandparent.
Music in 10 Things I Hate About You also illustrates the cross marketing formula of
film, in particular how the film is targeted at a wider demographic than simply a teenage
audience. Burt notes that with the „closer relation between MTV, film, and video, spinoff soundtracks are crucially important to gaining a market for teensploi film.‟227 The
soundtrack to 10 Things I Hate About You is populated not with Riot Grrl or any of the
angry “girl Rock” that Kat listens to but with a variety of less harsh and “in-your-face”
artists, both new and old covering a number of genres. This marketing standpoint is
what Sarah Neely terms as „necessary to avoid exclusion.‟228 The soundtrack includes
songs not only from various genres but also from various generations, leaving room for
226
Carr, F.4.
Burt, “Afterword,” 217.
228
Neely, 75.
227
67
adult to relive their teenage days, as well as teenagers to explore their own.229 Friedman
poignantly explains the marketing strategy behind the selection of older songs in “teen”
film:
teen comedies tend to examine a teen‟s life from the perspective of current
adults, and they often feature a “retro” soundtrack that recalls the high school of
today‟s thirty – and forty something generation.230
All but one of the cover songs performed in the film are included on the soundtrack231
and these combined with several “retro”232 songs, both on the soundtrack and in the
film, function as a marketing ploy that plays on the nostalgia of older audience members
of the film.
The choice of music both used in the film and present on the film‟s soundtrack can be
also read by what Kay Dickinson refers to as the commercial manipulation of the “MTV
aesthetic.”233 Highlighting the increasingly, horizontally-integrated nature of major film,
television and music corporations, Dickinson draws attention to the promotion of music
via film and vice versa.234 This cross-media marketing is set up to sell products, be they
tickets to films, DVDs or copies of the soundtrack, to the teenage audience. The
interweaving of entertainment companies is influential to how music is marketed and
works in 10 Things. When producing film soundtracks in many cases the „deals done
are simply between different divisions of the same entertainment conglomerate.‟235 10
Things I Hate About You is produced by Touchstone Pictures and distributed by Buena
Vista Pictures. Both these companies are subsidiaries of Disney. Disney in turn owns
Hollywood Records, who produced and distributed the soundtrack to the film. Several
artists who appear on the soundtrack were signed at the time to Hollywood Records. It
is much more convenient and commercially viable for a company to stick with using
songs by artists from either an affiliated company, rather than to have to deal with
licensing difficulties over the use of several songs. That would require dealing with
229
Neely, 76.
Friedman, 62.
231
The two cover songs by Letters to Cleo, renditions of Cheap Trick‟s „I Want You To Want Me‟ and
Nick Lowe‟s „Cruel To Be Kind.‟ The only cover song not included is Patrick‟s version of Frankie
Vallie‟s „Can‟t Take My Eyes Off Of You.‟
232
By the term “retro” I refer to aspects of modern culture, for example music, film, television, and
fashion, that is imitative or derivative of past trends, modes or attitudes.
233
Dickinson, “Pop, Speed and the 'MTV Aesthetic.”
234
Dickinson, “Pop, Speed and the 'MTV Aesthetic.”
235
Lack, 220.
230
68
numerous artists, record labels, and publishers. The use of songs by artists on an
affiliated record label also allows for exposure for up and coming artists, as well as
testing the market for the viability of future releases by the artists. An example of this is
Jessica Riddle, whose debut song „Even Angels Fall‟ appeared on the soundtrack. „Even
Angels Fall‟ also appears on her debut album Key of A Minor that was released the
following year (2000) on Hollywood Records. Musical artists from the soundtrack also
appear within the film itself. Both Save Ferris236 and Letters to Cleo appear in 10
Things. The image of Letters to Cleo playing on the rooftop of Padua High closes the
film, thus emphasising how important music is within the film, and acting as a reminder
for the audience to go out and buy the soundtrack. Through this the film implies that the
audience can be like the characters in 10 Things. Having their music used in a film also
assures wider airplay for artists,237 and later on footage from the film can also serve as a
substitute for a music video. This not only serves as a cheaper alternative to a normal
music video, but encourages people to go out and buy other albums from the artists, as
well as the soundtrack to the film and also to re-watch the film.
As with music, intertextual references are used in 10 Things I Hate About You as a way
to convey director Gil Junger‟s comments on the youth culture he is representing within
his film. These intertextual references take two forms, references to Shakespeare and his
play The Taming of the Shrew, the basis for 10 Things, and references to popular culture
of the 1980s and 1990s including the “teen” films of John Hughes. 10 Things I Hate
About You „foregrounds Shakespeare‟s status as cultural icon‟238 and uses the figure of
Shakespeare to “authorise” the message about teenage culture and identity within the
film. At the same time the film plays against what Richard Burt terms the „cinematic
vogue‟239 Shakespeare developed as a result of the popularity and success of Baz
Luhrmann‟s Romeo + Juliet. Both are achieved through token references to the play The
Taming of the Shrew, the source material for the plot of 10 Things, previous film
versions of The Taming of the Shrew, as well as references to and the “presence” of
Shakespeare himself as cultural and historical figure within the film. Ariane M. Balizet
argues that 10 Things constructs a filmic world in which „Shakespeare as author is the
236
The band Save Ferris take their name from a catchphrase in 1980s “teen comedy” cult classic Ferris
Bueller‟s Day Off (1986). Teen films from the 1980s, specifically those directed by John Hughes are
especially influential to 10 Things I Hate About You. I shall explore the connection between 10 Things
and the films of John Hughes later in the section on intertextual references.
237
Dickinson. “Pop, Speed and the 'MTV Aesthetic.”
238
Burt, “Afterword,” 215.
239
Burt, “Afterword,” 208.
69
touchstone of the high school English classroom and „“Shakespeare” bleeds into
everyday life.‟240 An example is found in an early scene set in the English class of
Padua High. Kat‟s teacher Mr. Morgan begins the class by asking the students what they
thought of author Ernest Hemingway‟s novel The Sun Also Rises. This leads to a
disagreement between Kat and Mr. Morgan over the canon of literature being taught in
class. Kat critiques Hemingway‟s place on the syllabus with her cutting remark: „I guess
in this society being male and an asshole makes you worthy of our time,‟ before asking
Mr. Morgan to consider addressing what she sees as a distinct lack of “great” female
writers such as Sylvia Plath241 or Charlotte Brontë on the class reading list. While
validating Kat‟s objection to the reading list, Mr. Morgan‟s sarcastic retort also points
out that Kat‟s “anti-canon” critique is somewhat bound by her limited perspective242 as
a white middle upper-class female. Through his comment: „ask „em why they can‟t buy
a book written by a black man,‟ Mr. Morgan notes that factors other than gender, such
as race, also serve as reasons for an author to be excluded from the canon. The mise en
scène reinforces both his argument and Kat‟s. Of all the posters of various authors that
adorn the walls of the English classroom, only one is female, the rest are male. All are
white.243 Mr. Morgan then recites Shakespeare‟s „Sonnet 141‟ - the basis for a class
assignment - in a “Rap” style performance. Translating Shakespeare‟s words into
language associated with African-American mass culture244 illustrates how culturally
relevant Shakespeare‟s poetry is, and is used by Mr. Morgan to gain his students‟
interest in the subject matter. Through Mr. Morgan‟s comment: „Shakespeare knows his
shit‟ he demonstrates his respect of Shakespeare, a respect that transgresses his earlier
criticism of the exclusionary nature of the canon. Despite the fact that Shakespeare is
white Mr. Morgan‟s statement reveals that he believes his work is both relevant and
„worthy of our time.‟ Kat‟s acceptance of the assignment and eagerness,245 which Mr.
Morgan mistakes for sarcasm, also demonstrates her own respect for Shakespeare and
his work, despite his gender. Thus the disagreement of the reading list and canon is
overcome through a mutual love and understanding of Shakespeare.
240
Balizet, 129.
Kat is later seen sitting down at home reading Sylvia Plath‟s The Bell Jar (1963), indicating that „she
is not simply advocating women authors on principal, but reading them because she enjoys their work.‟
Jones, “An Aweful Rule,” 141.
242
Jones, “An Aweful Rule,” 142.
243
Burt, “Afterword,” 213.
244
Burt, “Afterword,” 216.
245
Kat asks her teacher Mr. Morgan whether the poem needs to be written in iambic pentameter, but fails
to deliver on this in her final poem.
241
70
Melissa Jones notes, at Padua High school, „Shakespeare acts as a uniting sign of “our
way of life”.‟246 This unity is not only limited to classroom disagreements but also
filters through into the students‟ everyday lives. In 10 Things I Hate About You
Shakespeare is presented as the „ultimate authority in romantic love,‟247 more
specifically heterosexual romance. Any gay references are dismissed, as seen in the case
of Bianca‟s assertion that her sister Kat is not harbouring any same-sex desires, or
parodied, as seen in the gay references brought up between Michael and Cameron,
which are joked about or „disavowed.‟248 In 10 Things, the figure of Shakespeare is used
to unite various characters through love. The characters Michael and Mandella first
connect through a mutual love and reciting of a line from Macbeth. Quoting
Shakespeare legitimises Michael‟s wooing.249 The culmination of their relationship
occurs at the prom. Mandella, who is not only a fan of Shakespeare but declares she is
“involved” with him, dances with Michael, who has come dressed as Shakespeare. The
physical manifestation of Shakespeare at the climax of the film brings the various
couples together and gives them his “blessing.” Director Junger also uses the „authority
of “Shakespeare” to legitimise a unique representation of adolescent life‟250 he presents
in 10 Things. The film employs Shakespeare to authorise the message presented. This
message is that the “project” of adolescence is „self-awareness,‟251 and that selfawareness comes from revelation. Shakespeare is present in proxy form at the prom via
Michael‟s costume, and oversees the unfolding of events that reveals the major plot
device of Patrick‟s acceptance of the bet to date Kat. Preceding this, the prom is also the
scene of various characters revealing their real motivations and true identities to each
other. Bianca learns from her friend Chastity that the real reason Joey wanted to date her
was to deflower her. Kat also discloses the explanation as to why she kicked Bobby
Ridgeway in the testicles, telling Patrick that he (Bobby): „deserved it. He tried to grope
me in the lunch line.‟ Patrick and the audience learn that Kat‟s attack on Bobby, which
is never seen on screen and therefore adds to her reputation as a „heinous bitch,‟ was
justified. Kat was simply defending herself from a sexual assault rather than lashing out
without reason. The reputation she has received as being militant, violent and scary is
revealed to be for the most part unfounded. Patrick‟s reputation is also found to be
246
Jones, “An Aweful Rule,” 143.
Burt, “Afterword,” 216.
248
Burt, “Afterword,” 215.
249
Chris Anthony, “Shakespeare Goes to School: Intertextuality and Appropriation in 10 Things I Hate
About You, O and Hamlet,” Chris Anthony: Music, Journalism and Media Relations, Last updated 2004,
26 Oct 2005 <http://www.chrisanthony.co.uk/shakes.html>.
250
Balizet, 124.
251
Balizet, 129.
247
71
fallacious, when he informs Kat of his whereabouts for the past year, the subject of
debate for his fellow-classmates and a running joke throughout the film:
That's where I was last year. I wasn't in jail, I don't know Marilyn Manson, and I
didn‟t sleep with a Spice Girl, I don‟t think. You see, my grandpa, he was ill, so
I spent most of the year on his couch watching Wheel of Fortune and making
Spaghettios. End of story.
Patrick‟s comment about taking care of his grandfather discloses that he is far from the
wild rebel he has been made out to be. He is simply a kind grandson looking after a sick
relative. Shakespeare‟s connection to characters‟ self awareness is also present in the
basis for Kat‟s poem, „Sonnet 141.‟ Kat‟s poem reveals both the depth of her feelings
for Patrick but also the hurt he has caused her by lying to her.
At the same time as foregrounding Shakespeare as icon and employing his status to
“authorise” the “message” about teenage culture presented, 10 Things I Hate About You
also uses references to Shakespeare and his works in order to parody the cinematic craze
for adaptations of Shakespeare on film during the 1990s. 10 Things plays against the
popularity and success of adaptations of Shakespeare on film, more specifically the box
office success of Baz Luhrmann‟s film Romeo + Juliet, through the film‟s
advertising.252 On film posters advertising 10 Things the tag line at the bottom reads
„Romeo, Oh Romeo, Get Out Of My Face.‟253 Through its parody of a well known line
from Romeo and Juliet, Junger‟s film adaptation is presented as a backlash against both
the idea of romantic love presented in Luhrmann‟s film, echoing Kat‟s own resistance to
love, and to Luhrmann‟s film in terms of its form as Shakespearean adaptation. 10
Things therefore positions itself as an “anti-Shakespeare” Shakespearean film
adaptation. This position is further reinforced through the minimal presence of any
Shakespearean lines in the film. Rather than overtly referencing Shakespeare‟s playtext, 10 Things uses token references to the plot of The Taming of the Shrew, and even
then, as many critics and film reviewers have observed, there are notable differences
between Shakespeare‟s play-text and the film‟s screenplay. The only direct reference to
252
Burt, “Afterword,” 208.
The film‟s other tagline found on the promotional poster, „How Do I Loathe Thee, Let Me Count The
Ways‟ is a parody of the line „How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.‟ This line comes from „Sonnet
43‟ from Sonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The tag line thus pokes fun at the
Sonnet form, the basis for the poem that Kat writes, which in turn is the basis for the film‟s title, a list of
ten things she hates about Patrick.
253
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lines from The Taming of the Shrew comes from Cameron in his declaration of feelings
for Bianca: „I Burn! I pine, I perish‟ (I, i, 146). All other references to both Shrew and
Shakespeare himself are presented as tongue-in-cheek. Phrases that may be considered
„heightened prose,‟254 for example Michael‟s exclamation of: „The shit hath hitteth the
fan-ith,‟ are actually parodies of what I term “Shakespeare-speak,” language that
invokes Shakespearean prose. Other examples of token references to Shakespeare
include Bianca and Kat‟s surname being Stratford (changed from the play‟s Minola)
Patrick‟s surname being Verona (the hometown of the play‟s Petruchio) and the name
of the High School the students attend being Padua High (The Taming of the Shrew is
set in the Italian town of Padua). All these references serve to “poke fun” at the source
material for the film and add to its humour.
Going hand-in-hand with “teen” film, what is popular at the time of making the films is
influential to the demographic being targeted by the film. This allows for the audience
to be able to better relate with the characters and the events within the film. As a “teen”
film Gil Junger‟s 10 Things I Hate About You is filled with various references to
popular culture of the 1980s and 1990s. References to popular brand names such as
Prada and Skechers are examples of how the film is driven by and dominated by
marketing towards teenage consumers. References in the film also critique the way in
which teenage identity is formed through appearances and brand names and „has little to
do with individuality or what is below the surface.‟255 The opening of the film, where
veteran Padua High student Michael introduces new student Cameron to the various
school cliques, aptly illustrates this. Sarah Neely observes that what Michael points out
is the superficiality of the groups‟ named identity:
The coffee drinkers are shown with a cup of coffee, the white rastas are only so
because they „smoke a lot of weed‟, the cowboys‟ closest connection to cattle is
through McDonalds.256
Rather than being dictated by behaviour, the way these various social groups are
represented is only tokenistic and is largely based on their outward appearance.
Characters are defined by what they wear not who they are. Those who play into this
formation of identity are portrayed as figures of fun, for example the “white rastas.”
254
Goodwin, “10 Things, 2 Elements.”
Neely, 77.
256
Neely, 77.
255
73
Their appearance is a visual gag. They are shown to be white boys with dreadlocks and
Jamaican berets, and as Michael describes them: „they think they're black,‟ so they act
accordingly. Their appearance dictates their behaviour as seen in their response of:
„That‟s right mon!‟ (said in a Jamaican accent) to Mr. Morgan‟s voicing of the issue of
the lack of black authors on the English class syllabus. This in turn is greeted with the
critical: „Don‟t even get me started on you two‟ by Mr. Morgan. The audience is
positioned to find their behaviour and appearance amusing because the “white rastas”
are trying to be something they are not.
Films such as Cruel Intentions, 10 Things I Hate About You, She‟s All That and Clueless
are all developed from within in the “teen pic” genre and share many of the
characteristics that are unique to this genre.257 One of the most significant
characteristics is the way in which the female characters are defined through what they
wear.258 Ann Thompson notes the presence of this “appearance and reality” theme
within The Taming of the Shrew. When Petruchio is criticised for his inappropriate
wedding attire he responds with:
To me she‟s married, not unto my clothes.
Could I repair what she will wear in me
As I can change these poor accoutrements.
„Twere well for Kate and better for myself.
(III, ii, 107-10)
And later, he tells Katherina not to be concerned about going back to her father‟s house
in her old clothes:
For „tis the mind that makes the body rich,
And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds,
So honour peereth in the meanest habit.
Why, is the jay more precious than the lark
Because his feathers are more beautiful?
(IV, iii, 166-70)
257
Neely, 79.
All are also “teen films” from the 1990s and adaptations of literary works.
258
Neely, 79.
74
Both cases demonstrate Petruchio‟s „moralising on the lack of necessary congruity
between the clothing and the person underneath it.‟259 In 10 Things I Hate About You
the idea that what you wear defines who you are ties in with the themes of reputation
and teenage identity with its links to popularity. Petruchio/Patrick continues his
moralising on the themes of identity, popularity and reputation through his comment to
Kat at Bogey‟s party of: „I say, do what you wanna do.‟ However, the idea that what
you wear defines who you are is chiefly critiqued through the female figures of Kat and
her sister Bianca. As previously noted Kat is defined by her musical choices. She is also
visually defined through what she wears rather than who she is “inside.” Kat‟s comment
about being seen as “scary” by fellow students goes hand in hand with her attire, as
expressed in Joey‟s quip to her as she walks down a hallway at school dressed in a
camouflage print shirt: „Your little Rambo look is out, Kat. Didn‟t you read last month‟s
Cosmo?‟ Kat is defined as militant through what she wears and through her reputed
character, a „heinous bitch.‟ Kat may be verbally vicious at times, as seen in her
criticism of Hemingway in English class, but as she says to Ms Perky in defence of her
outburst in class: „Expressing my opinion is not a terrorist action.‟ The only physical
damage Kat causes that is presented on screen260 is that to Joey‟s car.261 Her attack on
Bobby Ridgeway is relayed by Ms Perky, but is later presented as justified when Kat
reveals to Patrick that Bobby sexually harassed her. As I have argued is the case with
Katherina in The Taming of the Shrew,262 how others see Kat is coloured by her
reputation, who others think she is. The idea that reputation defines identity and is
linked with popularity is something Kat takes issue with, and she „balks at the
compromise to her personal integrity that is required by this conformist attitude and
refuses to play along.‟263 Kat rebels by refusing to care what others think of her, her
attitude revealed in her comment to her sister Bianca of: „You don‟t always have to be
who they want you to be, you know?‟ Kat views her sister Bianca as playing into how
259
Thompson, The Taming of the Shrew, 34.
Bianca proves more Shrewish than her sister as her physical aggression towards another person is seen
on screen, whereas Kat‟s is not. She punches Joey Donner twice in the nose, once for making her date,
Cameron, bleed and once for what he did to her sister, and then kicks him in the groin, saying: „and that's
for me.‟ This action is not presented as abhorrent but is instead approved of. When Kat relays the story of
what happened at the prom to her father, rather than being upset, he is impressed.
261
Even then, Kat‟s attack on Joey‟s pristine expensive red sports car can be viewed as an attack on the
idea of appearances dictating identity. Joey, as male model, is the ultimate example of this idea that
teenage identity is formed through appearances, and has little to do with individuality or what is below the
surface. Joey is a shallow conceited “pretty boy” who can only talk about his looks and his modelling
jobs. Bianca‟s punching of Joey at the prom also echoes her sister‟s aggression. She has finally learnt how
to be strong and to be herself.
262
Katherina‟s identity as vicious shrew has been constructed by the description of others before she
appears in the beginning of Act II.
263
Friedman, 49.
260
75
others see her simply for the sake of popularity. Michael Friedman characterises Bianca
as someone who cares deeply about popularity, „which she attributes partly to pleasing
other people and living up to their expectations.‟264 She seeks the approval of others and
is presented as initially defined by how others see her, aptly demonstrated in her reply to
Kat‟s advice, where she admits: „I am perfectly happy being adored.‟ 10 Things further
sets up Bianca‟s physical desirability as the key to her popularity among the young men
at her high school.265 Bianca is set apart from her sister Kat through her trendier popular
brand name clothing and her acceptance of being defined through appearances. The
acceptance of being defined by what you wear is parodied in the film through Bianca‟s
shallow observations to her friend Chastity on the difference between what it is to like
and love something:
BIANCA
There's a difference between like and love. I mean I like my Skechers. But I love
my Prada backpack.
CHASTITY
But I love my Skechers.
BIANCA
That's because you don't have a Prada backpack.
As with her own identity, Bianca defines what it is to like and love something by
material surface appearances, in this case brand names, rather than by substance.266
Bianca‟s initial perfect happiness with being an object of desire and affection and also
with being defined exclusively through what she wears and not who she is, is seen as a
lack of substance on Bianca‟s part. The way Bianca dresses and acts simply draws
attention to herself as “empty” object, a point which Patrick makes clear in his
observation to Kat: „I know everyone digs your sister, but…she‟s without.‟ Michael
informs Cameron during his education on the structure of the school‟s various cliques,
Bianca belongs to the: „Don‟t even think about it group,‟ and further describes Bianca
as a:
264
Friedman, 49.
Friedman, 60.
266
This explains her attraction to Joey, who as a male model is the epitome of appearance over substance.
265
76
snotty little Princess wearing a strategically planned sun dress to make guys like
us realize we can never touch her, and guys like… Joey, realize they want to.
Michael‟s comments highlight the fact that Bianca‟s manipulative nature is expressed
through the way she dresses. This characterisation is carried over from The Taming of
the Shrew. Diane Dreher notes that Bianca, her father‟s favourite and pursued by many
admirers, „manipulates men with her beauty.‟267 Michael‟s comment to Cameron notes
that this modern Bianca is no different. She too uses the way she dresses to gain
advantage over the men in her life. Bianca only abandons this practice when Chastity‟s
disclosure of Joey‟s motives for dating Bianca reveals that she does not in fact have any
of the control and power over men, which up this point she considered her appearance
afforded to her. Only after Bianca sees her superficial behaviour reflected in Joey
Donner‟s shallow preening and posing for party-goers at Bogey Lowenstein‟s party
does she begin to change. Bianca realises that she is not happy with simply being adored
for her looks. Cameron‟s confrontation with her selfish behaviour enlightens her to the
possibility of being liked for who she is. Bianca realises that Cameron cares about her,
not because she is simply a pretty face.268 He sees the substance beyond the surface, and
Bianca encourages his affections because he „treats her the way she wants to be
treated.‟269
In Gil Junger‟s 10 Things I Hate About You pop culture references present in the film
include allusions to various “teen” films, and 10 Things is driven by the conventions of
“teen” comedy, „specifically as they have been shaped by the films of John Hughes.‟270
John Hughes, a noted film director, producer and writer, was responsible for some of
the most successful comedy films of the 1980s, including Sixteen Candles (1984), The
Breakfast Club (1985), Weird Science (1985), Pretty in Pink (1986), and Ferris
Bueller's Day Off (1986). These films dealt with the tragi-comedy of adolescence,
including the complex social hierarchies of high school, issues of teenage angst and the
social dynamics of the formation of teenage identity. Maura Kelly observes that Hughes'
267
Diane Elizabeth Dreher, Dominance and Defiance (Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky,
1986): 109.
268
While Cameron is initially attracted to Bianca because of her looks, as Friedman observes, Cameron is
attracted by the „purity of Bianca‟s image‟ (Friedman, 60). Rather than simply wanting to sleep with her
like Joey, Cameron‟s attempts to woo Bianca and his comment when he first sees her, „I mean, look at the
way she smiles, and look at her eyes man. She‟s totally pure. You‟re missing what‟s there‟ reveals that he
sees something beyond her superficiality and beauty. Eventually Cameron does get to know who Bianca
really is.
269
Friedman, 61.
270
Friedman, 45.
77
movies made „the awkward angst of adolescence funny and bearable without
romanticizing or glorifying it.‟271 By framing 10 Things through the genre of “teen”
film, the focus of Junger‟s adaptation is significantly different to previous adaptations of
The Taming of the Shrew on film. Unlike previous productions of The Taming of the
Shrew which have focussed on themes such as „the mercantile aspects of courtship,‟272
and the issues of gender politics and marriage that dominate Zeffirelli‟s film adaptation,
Junger uses the plot to present issues and themes relevant to the teenage audience the
film is marketed to. These issues are tied up with the theme of formation of identity,
more specifically issues of popularity. The films of John Hughes that are particularly
influential to Gil Junger‟s film 10 Things I Hate About You are what Janet Maslin refers
to as the „Molly Ringwald trilogy.‟273 So called because they all star actress Molly
Ringwald, the films Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink274 are
particularly influential in terms of their representation of teenage feminine identity and
their critique of social cliques in high school. The first of these aesthetic links to
Hughes‟ films is the suburban setting. 10 Things I Hate About You takes place in a
„super-affluent all-American never-never land where high schoolers drive fancy cars
and have lavish wardrobes.‟275 The film shares a similar setting with Hughes‟ films, a
predominantly white upper “middle-class” world where characters have no real money
problems.276 In 10 Things Mr. Morgan makes a point of referencing this upper “middleclass” suburban world in his criticism of Kat during their discussion on canon of
literature in English class. The parallel between 10 Things and the films of John Hughes
is further cemented in characters‟ concern with popularity and high school status. Both
films present a world where characters care about being liked and accepted and about
the compromises that go into winning their friends‟ approval.277 John Lewis notes that
in Hughes‟ Pretty in Pink we find a high school world „dominated by social-class drawn
cliques.‟278 In another of Hughes‟ films, The Breakfast Club, each teenage character
271
Maura Kelly, “John Hughes,” Salon Jul 17 2001, 4 Oct 2005
<http://www.salon.com/people/bc/2001/07/17/john_hughes/index.html>.
272
Friedman, 48.
273
Janet Maslin, “Marching Toward Maturity,” New York Times March 15 1987: 21.
274
Although directed by Howard Deutch, Pretty in Pink was written by John Hughes and is therefore
considered part of the John Hughes catalogue of films.
275
Stephen Holden, “It‟s Like, You Know, Sonnets and Stuff,” New York Times Mar 31 1999, late ed.:
E.11.
276
Unlike Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew, who makes statements that indicate his wealth and
financial independence (I, ii, 51-54 and II, i, 112-114) Patrick‟s acceptance of the bet hints at his need of
money. However, this need for money is abandoned when Patrick uses the money paid to him by Joey to
win over Kat by buying her the expensive guitar she wants.
277
Maslin. “Marching Towards Maturity,” 90.
278
John Lewis, The Road to Romance and Ruin: Teen Films and Youth Culture (New York: Routledge,
1992): 138.
78
initially plays into „prevailing one-dimensional stereotype(s),‟279 corresponding to
quintessential school cliques, the popular rich snob, the rebel, the jock, the outcast, and
the nerd. Similarly in 10 Things characters are „preoccupied with their social standing in
relation to other members of their cliques and very sensitive to the boundaries between
social groups.280 These social cliques are parodied in the scene at the beginning of the
film where Michael gives Cameron a tour around campus.
As I have previously argued, popularity is a big concern with characters in 10 Things
such as Bianca, who desperately wants to fit in and be liked. Bianca‟s primary concern
at the beginning of the film is being adored, a point which she admits to her sister. In
order to achieve this and to “fit in” she succumbs to the conformist attitude that is
required to please people by playing into their expectations of her. Contrasting with this
are the attitudes of both Kat and Patrick. In The Taming of the Shrew both Katherina
and Petruchio rebel against the specific expectations of how a person should behave.
Katherina does not play the traditional female role or being polite and subservient
towards men. Kate is instead brash, does not follow orders and talks back not only to
her father and Petruchio, and is therefore considered to be a “shrew.” Equally Petruchio
does not act according to expectations, demonstrated in his ostentatious behaviour at his
wedding to Katherina. When he shows up to the wedding dressed is mismatched
clothes, Baptista points out that Petruchio is acting both shamefully and against popular
convention:
Now sadder that you come so unprovided.
Fie, doff this habit, shame to your estate.
An eye-sore to our solemn festival.
(III, ii, 89-91)
Petruchio defends his choice in clothing, declaring that Kate is marrying him and not his
clothes, indicating that who he is beneath the attire he wears is not the same as the attire
itself. As with Katherina and Petruchio, both Kat and Patrick aren‟t considered popular.
Kat and Patrick both rebel against the high school code of popularity and both make
statements against following peer pressure and compromising identity in order to fit in.
Their ethos of “doing what you want to do, and being who you want to be,” is echoed in
279
Jen Chaney. “Anyone? Anyone? …” PopPolitics 3 „Identity,‟ Nov 19 2000, 10 Nov 2005
<http://www.poppolitics.com/articles/2000-11-19-hughes.shtml>.
280
Friedman, 49.
79
the banner found in Mr. Morgan‟s English classroom. Its slogan of: „What is popular is
not always right; what is right is not always popular,‟ itself serves as a critique of what
it is to be popular at Padua High, an example of which can be found in the contrasting
characters of Joey Donner and Cameron James. Whilst Joey is popular, he is revealed to
be a pompous shallow show off who is only after Bianca so he can sleep with her.
Cameron, a new student, and lacking popularity,281 is the “nice guy” who offers Bianca
what she‟s after and thus ends up with the girl. Paralleling the relationship between the
characters of Andie and Blaine from Hughes‟ film Pretty in Pink, in 10 Things the
romance between Cameron and Bianca displaces the social order of high school.
Cameron, like Andie, is the outsider, and like Blaine, Bianca is the popular rich kid.282
Inverting the events of Pretty in Pink where Blaine asks Andie out, in 10 Things
Cameron asks Bianca out.283 While the resistance to Blaine and Andie‟s relationship
comes from their friends, who are openly hostile about their dating, 10 Things changes
the “teen pic” formula when Bianca herself proves resistant to a possible relationship
between Cameron and herself. However, as in Pretty in Pink, a resolution to this
resistance is similarly achieved at the end of 10 Things. Bianca‟s own prejudices and
initial lack of interest in Cameron are overcome when, like Blaine, she asserts her
individuality in the face of resistance.284 Realising popularity isn‟t everything both
Bianca and Blaine reconcile with their unpopular boyfriend/girlfriend, and a new social
order is established and celebrated at the school prom, when love overcomes the social
cliques.
The aesthetic links to John Hughes‟ films in Junger‟s film are not isolated to issues of
popularity, but also continue in how feminine identity is formed and played out in the
films‟ young female protagonists. Hughes‟ “teen” films that are specifically influential
in this respect are the “Molly Ringwald trilogy,” more specifically Pretty in Pink. The
focus in 10 Things is predominantly on the character of Kat.285 The audience
281
Cameron is an outsider as he is the “new kid” and does not belong to a social group. His association
with Michael, the unpopular “Audio/Visual geek” (who is also without a social group since his ousting
from the „Future MBAs‟) would also significantly lower his standing within the high school hierarchy.
282
In 10 Things I Hate About You the socio-economic aspects of the schoolyard are absent. Money is
shown not to be as much of an issue as it appears in Pretty in Pink.
283
This is also the premise of John Hughes written and produced film, Some Kind Of Wonderful (1987)
where unpopular student Keith (Eric Stoltz) asks popular student Amanda Jones (Lea Thompson) on a
date.
284
For more on Pretty in Pink and the overcoming of social cliques see Lewis, 138-139.
285
The film‟s title suggests that Kat is the focus of the film as it is the ten things she hates about Patrick.
These ten things form the basis for her poem she delivers towards the ends of the film.
80
immediately identifies with her as the sole character of substance in the film.286 As with
the character of Andie in Pretty in Pink, Kat is a hero who is an outcast. Both characters
are strong willed and self-assured, and they are also both taunted by the wealthy and
popular students of their corresponding high schools. While economic status isn‟t an
issue in the upper “middle-class” world of Padua High, in Pretty in Pink Andie is
singled out and ridiculed because she is poor and from the „wrong side of the tracks.‟287
Her social status is also revealed to be the reason Blaine, her rich boyfriend, tries to get
out of taking her to the prom. In her analysis of Pretty in Pink Jen Chaney observes that
Andie refuses to meekly accept Blaine‟s succumbing to peer pressure,288 and confronts
him:
You‟re ashamed to be seen with me. You‟re afraid to go out with me. You‟re
scared that your goddamn rich friends won‟t approve. Just say it! Just tell me the
truth!289
Regardless of her economic status, Andie refuses to compromise her identity in order to
fit in with the “richies,” the wealthy and popular students who taunt her. As she asserts
to Blaine, „If somebody doesn't believe in me, I can't believe in them.‟ Kat also
similarly refuses to play along in order to fit in with the popular crowd at Padua High,
represented in the figure of Joey Donner. Kat admits to her sister that she was once
popular, and that she slept with Joey, in part „because everyone else was doing it.‟ It
was this succumbing to peer pressure and Joey dumping her after she refused to
continue sleeping with him that led to Kat‟s rejection of popularity. Both Kat and Andie
prove to be resilient and independent, secure in their identities and demand to be
accepted in their own terms, a point which Kat tries to get across to her sister in her
„you don‟t have to be who they want you to be‟ speech. As a result both Andie and Kat
are rewarded for their stance against compromising who they are for popularity. They
both get the guy they are after, self-respect still intact, and the wealthy popular students
who had previously taunted them, are now the ones who are being ridiculed. Joey is
humiliated at the prom when Bianca punches him out, and Blaine‟s rich friends are
abandoned.
286
Balizet, 129.
Chaney, “Anyone? Anyone? …”
288
Chaney, “Anyone? Anyone? …”
289
Quotations of the dialogue from Pretty in Pink are my own transcriptions based on the DVD release of
the film. Pretty in Pink, Dir. Howard Deutch, Prod. John Hughes, Paramount Pictures/Paramount Home
Video, DVD, US, 2002.
287
81
The similarity between Pretty in Pink and 10 Things is furthered demonstrated in both
films‟ inclusion of an absent mother figure,290 who is instrumental to the formation of a
young female protagonist‟s character. This lack of familial authoritative is a
characteristic of recent “teen” film.291 Kat‟s mother‟s abandonment of her family is
revealed in Kat‟s criticism of her father, „Aren‟t you punishing me because mom left?‟
Sarah Neely argues that in “teen” film an absent parent, more specifically an absent
mother is particularly influential to the way in which a female character‟s identity is
formed and played out:
This primarily allows for the female protagonist to assemble her identity by
herself…but it additionally generates connotations of the latchkey kid, the
parentless child, who must grow up quickly and assume adult roles.292
The lack of a maternal figure of authority is another characteristic carried over from The
Taming of the Shrew, where only Katherina and Bianca‟s father Baptista Minola is
present. The mother‟s absence is not accounted for but instead emphasises that the
family dynamics, which are set up within the play, are inherently patriarchal. Fathers
and husbands have power and control, while wives and daughters are supposed to be
dutiful and submissive. The absence of Kate and Bianca‟s mother allows no counter to
Baptista‟s domineering and controlling character. In 10 Things I Hate About You, the
family dynamics that are presented differ. The absence of Kat‟s mother leads to her
identity being formed by herself, rather than having someone to look up to and model
her behaviour on. Essentially Kat becomes the adult female figure of authority absent
from her life. In an earlier draft of the screenplay the figure of Kat‟s mother, a character
named Sharon Stratford, is present.293 In the final film the character of guidance
counsellor Ms Perky takes on many of the traits of Kat‟s mother including her hobby of
writing romance novels. Ms Perky also takes the place of the maternal authority figure
in Kat‟s life. Rather than being an intervening and guiding force in Kat‟s life, Ms Perky
290
Also true for Clueless (1995), She‟s All That (1999) and Cruel Intentions (1999) where both parental
figures are missing.
291
Sarah Neely notes the difference between “teen” films of the past and current teen films is an inversion
of the presence of authority in a teen protagonist‟s life. Earlier “teen” films were structured around a
teen‟s rebellion against the familial authority, but in recent “teen” films what is demonstrated is the lack
of authority and intervention of family in a teen‟s life. Neely, 78.
292
Neely, 78.
293
Lutz and Smith, “10 Things I Hate About You - Revision November 12, 1997.”
82
simply chastises Kat for her behaviour without taking any action against her. Telling
Kat that she might want to work on her bad behaviour, Ms Perky dismisses Kat so she
can get back to writing her novel. This receives the sarcastic response of: „As always,
thank you for your excellent guidance,‟ from Kat, which indicates Ms Perky‟s lack of
involvement in the lives of the students is a regular occurrence. Kat‟s absent mother not
only provides fuel for Kat‟s angst and temperament, but is also presented as one of the
reasons Kat engages in the adult act of sexual relations with Joey. She reveals to Bianca
that she and Joey had slept together „Just once, right after their mother left.‟ As well as
an absent mother, Neely argues that another significant characteristic that defines “teen”
film is a moderately involved father.294 In John Hughes‟ films adults are all either „wellmeaning but ineffectual… or a complete and hazardous waste of time.‟295 Adults in 10
Things fare no better. Kat and Bianca‟s father Walter Stratford is well intentioned in his
concerns for his daughters. However, his neurotic lectures on the dangers of teenage
pregnancy are seen as a point of humour in the film. Unlike Walter Stratford, in The
Taming of the Shrew Baptista is very much involved in the lives of his daughters. He
imposes his will upon both his daughters, and rather than being well-meaning, his
concerns for Bianca have their foundation in mercantile roots, and he outright ignores
Katherina‟s wishes not to marry Petruchio. While Walter Stratford is somewhat
controlling over his daughters lives, illustrated most poignantly in his imposing of the
“no dating rule,” he neither enforces his will on his daughters, nor goes against their
wishes. The no dating rule and lectures to his daughters on teenage pregnancy are the
limit to his involvement with them. We never see Walter Stratford, Kat and Bianca‟s
father, attending to domestic chores. As an obstetrician he is constantly interrupted by
his pager and in the middle of conversations with his daughters runs off to attend to
patients. Sarah Neely argues that in “teen” film a „gap exists where the daughter must
somehow replace the role of the absent mother.‟296 Bianca‟s involvement with Joey
instigates this motherly instinct within Kat:
BIANCA
Okay. So why didn't you tell me?
294
Neely, 78.
Brad Laidman, “Sixteen Candles,” Film Threat Oct 17 2000, 10 Nov 2005
<http://www.filmthreat.com/Reviews.asp?Id=2184>.
296
Neely, 78
295
83
KAT
I wanted to let you make up your own mind about him.
BIANCA
Then why did you help Daddy hold me hostage?
It‟s not like I'm stupid enough to repeat your mistakes.
KAT
I guess I thought I was protecting you.
BIANCA
By not letting me experience anything for myself?
KAT
Not all experiences are good, Bianca.
You can't always trust the people you want to.
BIANCA
Well, I guess I'll never know, will I?
Wanting to protect Bianca and save her from a fate similar to her own negative sexual
encounter with Joey Donner, Kat goes along with her father‟s plans to stop her sister
dating. By refusing to go to the prom, she denies Bianca the opportunity to also attend.
Kat only relents when realises she that Bianca is capable of making her own decisions.
This action is mirrored by Kat‟s father when at film‟s end Mr Stratford decides to trust
her judgement and supports her decision to attend Sarah Lawrence, relinquishing his
desire for Kat to attend school close to home.
In translating The Taming of the Shrew to screen in his “teen” film 10 Things I Hate
About You, director Gil Junger glosses over the contentious gender and power dynamics
84
of the play. The most evident shift in the gender politics of 10 Things is found in the
characterisation of Kat Stratford. The boisterous and outspoken nature of Katherina
from The Taming of the Shrew is reduced in Junger‟s film to a girl with a grudge. The
rebellious female voice in 10 Things is covered over, and Kat‟s feminism is quoted but
not delved into; used simply as a way to present her as intolerable. Analysis of the use
of music in 10 Things helps us understand the way in which marketing plays a
significant role in how Kat‟s indiscipline is diminished. The film tenuously connects
Kat to the Riot Grrl music scene in order to characterise her as “hard to take,” and in a
concession to marketing, the culture and politics surrounding the Riot Grrl movement
do not find a place in the film. A more commercial and less political Pop/Rock band
Letters to Cleo is instead presented as representative of Kat‟s voice. Through the
“taming” of her rebellious voice, Kat‟s indiscipline within the film is limited to that of a
girl who is not a member of the “in” crowd. The construction of 10 Things is driven and
dominated by the marketing to the teenage target audience, and references to popular
brand names and fad of the 1990s are prevalent in the film. These references function as
a means for Junger to analyse what he sees as a teenage preoccupation with appearances
over substance. Junger‟s film foregrounds Shakespeare as icon, employing his status to
“authorise” the critique of teenage culture presented. Through the conventions of “teen”
comedy 10 Things I Hate About You translates the thematic concern with appearance
and reality from The Taming of the Shrew into a critique of the formation of teenage
identity. In particular aesthetic links to the films of John Hughes are used by Junger to
focus on the way in which young female protagonists‟ identity is formed and played
out. Teenage identity is shown to be influenced by appearances and brand names and
has little to do with individuality.
85
Michael Almereyda’s Hamlet (2000)
Michael Almereyda‟s approach to his filmed adaptation of Hamlet (2000) illustrates Jan
Kott's theme in his work Shakespeare Our Contemporary (1967).297 In it Kott argues
that a text is shaped by the times. Applying this to Shakespeare he points out that the
themes in Shakespeare‟s plays will be continually perceived through differing
experiences in life. These experiences are afforded both by differing circumstances and
more significantly differing times. In his cinematic adaptation director Almereyda
recontextualises Hamlet in terms of contemporary social problems.298 Almereyda notes
that the motivation for his approach to filming Hamlet was to see „how Shakespeare can
speak to the present moment, how they can speak to each other.‟299 Setting his
adaptation of Hamlet in a late twentieth century Manhattan world of business, the
kingdom of Denmark is now a media corporation and Elsinore is a lavish hotel.
Almereyda‟s film, as with Michael Hoffman‟s William Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer
Night‟s Dream and Julie Taymor‟s Titus was filmed during a period of millenarian
anxiety due to the closing of the twentieth century. The anxiety presented in Hamlet is
one of a broken postmodern world of claustrophobia, conspiracy and global corporate
power. There is a bombardment of visual information throughout the film.
Shakespeare‟s “original” play-text has been significantly edited and visually displaced
and rearranged. What is left is a film dominated by image over Shakespeare‟s “words”.
There are two main types of imagery in the film, the corporate - the product placement
(purchased by the director Almereyda) and artistic - Hamlet‟s Pixelvision300 video
diaries, Ophelia‟s photographs, and Hamlet‟s short film The Mousetrap. Here words are
dispensed with altogether. Contradictory images are also dominant within the film as
297
Jan Kott, Shakespeare Our Contemporary, Boleslaw Taborski, trans (London:
Methuen, 1967).
298
Elsie Walker, “A „Harsh World‟ of Soundbite Shakespeare: Michael Almereyda‟s Hamlet (2000),”
EnterText: An Interactive Interdisciplinary E-Journal for Cultural and Historical Studies and Creative
Work 1.2 Spring (2001): 322.
299
Michael Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet (London: Faber & Faber, 2000): ix.
300
The term Pixelvision refers to recordings made on a Fisher-Price PXL2000 toy black and white
portable video camera produced in 1987. A characteristic of recordings produced by the camcorder is a
reduced frame rate output and a picture that is both monochrome and low in resolution.
87
well as a juxtaposition of sound and image to differ the meaning of that which is
spoken.
In Almereyda‟s Hamlet there are numerous intertextual references to other films within
the film. These are predominantly visual references. Clips of numerous films are seen
within Hamlet such as The Crow II: City of Angels (1996) with its references to
revenge, and the James Dean films Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and East of Eden
(1955) with their exposition of the dysfunctional conflict between parents and children.
These references highlight themes discovered by Almereyda within Hamlet. The dark
figure wreaking revenge is Hamlet and as Mark Thornton Burnett suggests, the
“children” of Almereyda‟s film are Hamlet and Ophelia.301 There are also allusions to
Baz Luhrmann‟s film Romeo + Juliet, examples including the use of water imagery, the
similar newsreader ending, and the casting of Diana Venora as a mother figure in both
films. Casting, as also seen in Hoffman‟s William Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer Night‟s
Dream, itself proves to be a way of conveying extra information. Another similarity to
Luhrmann‟s film is the focus given to the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia.
Almereyda‟s Hamlet can therefore be considered more of a romantic tragedy, like
Romeo + Juliet, than strictly a “typical” revenge tragedy. The references to other films
in Hamlet continue in the allusions to foreign versions of Hamlet such as Hamlet Goes
Business (1987)302 and the Akira Kurosawa film The Bad Sleep Well (1960). As in
Almereyda‟s film, both these films are set in business worlds, and all three films offer a
critique of global corporate power. Finally through Almereyda‟s use of Pixelvision in
Hamlet‟s video diaries, a link is created to Almereyda‟s other films - both of which are
unconventional horror movies, such as the vampire film Nadja (1994), and which also
contain the Pixelvision technology. Hamlet can be subsequently viewed as an
unconventional ghost story, the haunting of Hamlet. As well as with the references to
other films mentioned, the actors cast in Hamlet themselves bring allusions to other
films and these allusions influence the way in which we read characters and themes
highlighted within the film. The most notable of these would be the casting of Ethan
Hawke as Hamlet. His portrayal of Hamlet is imbued with the “Generation X” apathy of
his character Troy from Reality Bites (1994), and this in turn gives new meaning to
Hamlet‟s inability to act in the film. Julia Stiles also brings to her role of Ophelia the
301
Mark Thornton Burnett, ““To Hear and See the Matter”: Communicating Technology in Michael
Almereyda‟s Hamlet (2000),” Cinema Journal 42.3 Spring (2003): 56.
302
The reference to Aki Kaurismäki is seen when Ophelia removes a rubber duck from her bag. In
Kaurismäki's Hamle Goes Business (1987) following the death of Hamlet‟s father, his uncle controls the
board of a company that decides to move into the rubber duck market.
88
fierceness, independence and rebellion of her previous role as Katherina Stratford in Gil
Junger‟s “teen” film 10 Things I Hate About You, itself an adaptation of another of
Shakespeare‟s works, The Taming of the Shrew.
In a film which constantly moves forward and does not allow time for ruminations or
„uninterrupted contemplation‟303 the use of musical excerpts provide extra information
that there is otherwise no time to convey. Almereyda‟s Hamlet is characterised by the
numerous types of music present during the film. The score by noted film composer
Carter Burwell304 is dark and brooding, much like Hamlet himself, and employs only
strings and woodwinds. Classical music pieces by composers Franz Liszt (Symphonic
Poem No. 10 “Hamlet, 1858), Niels Wilhelm Gade (Echoes of Ossian Op. in A Minor,
1840), and Pytor Illyich Tchaikovsky (Hamlet, fantasy overture Op. 67 in F Minor,
1888) are also used in the film. Tchaikovsky‟s music for “The Mousetrap” accompanies
Hamlet‟s film within a film, adding to the classical nature of the film score. Contrasting
with this is the eclectic soundtrack featuring such diverse artists as The Birthday Party
(Gothic Rock305), Primal Scream (Alternative Rock306), Morcheeba, and The Supreme
Beings of Leisure (Trip-Hop307). Meaning in film can be presented through the tone and
lyrics of each song and what scene each is used in. A prominent example is heard
during the gravedigger scene in the film, where an excerpt of Bob Dylan‟s „All Along
the Watchtower‟ (1967) (later covered by The Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1968) is
briefly sung by the gravedigger as Hamlet and Horatio pass by him on their way to
Ophelia‟s funeral. Elsie Walker suggests the musical choices in Hamlet “smooth out”
the construction of the film. Rather than binding scenes or Shakespeare‟s speeches
together, music in Almereyda‟s Hamlet „emphasises temporal and ideological
303
Walker, “A „Harsh World‟ of Soundbite Shakespeare,” 328.
Hamlet: Original Score from the Miramax Motion Picture, Carter Burwell, Varese Sarabande Records,
AUDIO CD, US, 2000.
305
“Gothic Rock” is a sub genre of “Alternative Rock” and originated during the late 1970s. Originally
bands from the style had strong ties to the “Punk” genre. As “Gothic Rock” became more popular during
the 1980s, the genre was defined as a separate movement. “Gothic Rock” artists deal with dark themes
and intellectual movements such as gothic horror, Romanticism, existential philosophy, and nihilism.
Shuker, Popular Music, 154-156.
306
“Alternative Rock” is a genre of “Rock & Roll” music that has been used since the 1960s, and became
widely popular in the 1980s and 1990s. The term “alternative” was coined to describe popular music that
did not fit into mainstream genres. “Alternative music” emphasises music as an act of expression rather
than as a product of commercial appeal, and is often considered more authentic and uncompromising
compared to other popular genres of music. Shuker, Popular Music, 6-7.
307
“Trip-Hop” is a music genre description that was applied to the musical trend in the mid 1990s of
down tempo electronic music characterised by a moody and dark yet lyrical sound. “Trip-Hop” relies on
the use of samples, usually taken from old vinyl records, particularly from genres such as Jazz and HipHop. Shuker, Popular Music, 277.
304
89
differences, cultural eclecticism and collaboration.‟308 Music in Hamlet is marked by the
presence of diverse musical styles side-by-side, which both highlight the clash between
“high” and “low” culture within the film, and also binds the disparate elements of the
film together.
Michael Almereyda‟s film uses musical excerpts to provide subtextual “meaning.” The
most significant example of this technique is heard during the graveyard scene (V, i)
where Hamlet has returned from England to find that Ophelia has died. Initially Michael
Almereyda had filmed this as an extended scene in the Cypress Hills Cemetery in
Brooklyn. All that remains of this scene in the final cut of the film are the lyrics that the
gravedigger, played by Jeffrey Wright, sings as Hamlet and Horatio pass him on the
way to Ophelia‟s funeral. Almereyda‟s comments in the screenplay for the film
elaborate on his decision to cut back on the gravedigger scene. He explains that, the
„tone and timing were off, and the whole episode seemed to sidetrack Hamlet‟s response
to Ophelia‟s death.‟309 Ethan Hawke goes on further to critique the logistics of filming
the scene in a modern setting: „How do you find a skull in a modern day cemetery?‟310
There is, however, a nod to the classical performance of the graveyard scene, in one of
the clips Hawke‟s Hamlet watches while working on his short film The Mousetrap.
While not included in Hamlet‟s final short film, during the film‟s creation a
performance of Hamlet starring John Gielguld, where Gielguld‟s Hamlet grasps the
skull of Yorick, plays as Hawke‟s Hamlet works. As the scene plays upon the
television, Hawke‟s Hamlet (in voiceover) talks about how he is unsure whether the
Ghost that has appeared to him is real:
I know my course. The spirit I have seen
May be a devil, and the devil hath power
T‟assume a pleasing shape, yea, and perhaps
Out of my weakness and my melancholy,
As he is very potent with such spirits,
Abuses me to damn me. I‟ll have grounds
More relative than this. The play‟s the thing
308
Walker, “A „Harsh World‟ of Soundbite Shakespeare,” 334.
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 140.
310
Jeffrey M. Anderson, “Brushing Up Shakespeare: Interview with Ethan Hawke & Michael
Almereyda,” Combustible Celluloid May 4 (2000), 5 Aug 2004,
<http://www.combustiblecelluloid.com/inthawke.shtml>.
309
90
Wherein I‟ll catch the conscience of the king.311
Hamlet decides that he requires proof of Claudius‟ guilt of the murder of his father,
which he will obtain this proof from observing his uncle‟s reaction to the film. The
combination of Hamlet‟s voiceover and Gielguld‟s performance on screen connects the
death of Hamlet‟s father (and Hamlet‟s thoughts on the matter) with the graveyard
scene and the ideas that are brought up in the conversation between the gravedigger and
Hamlet. His short film is not only a way to prove Claudius‟ guilt, but also to confirm the
worth of his father‟s life.
The significance of the graveyard scene in Almereyda‟s film is astutely summarised by
Samuel Crowl in his remark that the scene signals a „return to a more natural and honest
landscape - earth and death.‟312 The break from the harshly reflective, sterile hold of
Manhattan‟s urban landscape and a return to natural space is achieved both visually and
aurally. The bright warm autumn313 colours of the trees and the lush green of the grass
in the graveyard are a contrast with the dark tones and blue tinge that are used in the rest
of the film. If we take into account Burnett‟s suggestion that Hamlet and Ophelia are
representative of children corrupted by the impurity and immorality of the urban
corporate world which surround them,314 then the graveyard, and therefore nature, is the
one place that is honest and free from the corruption and dysfunction of both Manhattan
and those who have power and influence in that space. Both Hamlet and Ophelia are
presented as having a desire for a connection with this pure natural world. Burnett
suggests that Hamlet and Ophelia strive for:
a return both to a location (a landscape unaffected by consumerism) and to a
mode of being (an integrated sense of self) that postmodernism has tragically
eclipsed.315
However, the connection each is able to have with nature is only through representation
of it. In Almereyda‟s film Hamlet constantly replaces human interactions with virtual
311
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 59.
Samuel Crowl, Shakespeare at the Cineplex: The Kenneth Branagh Era (Ohio: Ohio University Press,
2003): 190.
313
The season is inferred not only form the colour of the leaves on the trees but also by the Halloween
costumes the children who run past Hamlet and Horatio wear.
314
Burnett, „To Hear and See the Matter,‟ 56.
315
Burnett, „To Hear and See the Matter,‟ 55.
312
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ones. He obsessively replays, reconfigures and manipulates images in an unsuccessful
attempt to make the virtual “real.” An example is seen when Hamlet is working on his
short film. He obsessively replays an image of a flower. The filmed flower on his screen
opens and closes, lives and dies, and is an apt symbol of Hamlet‟s concern over the
nature of life and death. This is something which in Shakespeare‟s play Hamlet goes
into detail during his conversation with the gravedigger. The dying flower is a
prominent image in his short film, and further symbolises what Hamlet‟s sees as the
corruption of his family unit. For Ophelia nature is a place of escape. During the scene
where Polonius lectures her about how Hamlet‟s promises to her can‟t be trusted, she
clutches a diorama, „a glass-fronted box featuring a view of a gravel road disappearing
into a dim forest glade,‟316 staring into it longingly. The distraction of the diorama is an
escape from Polonius‟ accusatory words against Hamlet. Noticing her distraction,
Polonius eventually snatches the diorama from Ophelia‟s hands and puts it aside. With
this action Polonius draws Ophelia back into the harsh real world. Having broken
Ophelia‟s connection with the natural world of escape, Polonius is rewarded with a stern
look from his daughter. However, Polonius does not allow her a break in the
conversation to object, and instead emphasises his words to her:
Do not believe his vows;
I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,
Have you so slander any moment leisure,
As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.
Look to't, I charge you.317
Using the word slander, he warns Ophelia that her actions reflect negatively on him.
Almereyda‟s editing of Polonius and Ophelia‟s conversation gives what Polonius tells
her an austere, almost threatening tone. In Hamlet nature is also connected with death.
In her mad scene, filmed at the grand Guggenheim art museum in upper Manhattan,
Ophelia, in lieu of actual flowers, distributes Polaroid photographs of them. The only
connection Ophelia is allowed with nature while she is living is with representations of
it. She only manages to achieve a real connection with the natural world by becoming
part of it in her death. But even the scene of her death, the fountain, is merely a
simulation and not external nature. Only when she is buried in the cemetery is Ophelia
316
317
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 36.
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 36-7.
92
allowed a connection with nature - albeit a landscaped park. Death becomes the ultimate
escape from her life and the claustrophobia and surveillance that accompanies it. This
connection with nature and death is continued with the gravedigger and the song he
sings as he goes about his work. The graveyard scene instead of being an extended
repartee between the gravedigger and Hamlet plays out as follows. As Hamlet and
Horatio pass the gravedigger, he is briefly heard to be singing the opening lines of „All
Along the Watchtower.‟ Written by Bob Dylan, „All Along the Watchtower‟ is from his
album John Wesley Harding (1967). It would later be recorded and made more famous
by Jimi Hendrix. The song is basically about what is valuable, human life, and what is
not, the more material things associated with a consumer society. The song opens with a
conversation between a Joker and a Thief:
“There must be some way out of here," said the Joker to the Thief,
"There's too much confusion, I can't get no relief.
Businessmen, they drink my wine, ploughmen dig my earth,
None of them along the line know what any of it is worth.”318
The Joker tells the Thief why he wants to escape, that there is too much confusion in his
life. This confusion arises from others (business men and ploughmen) benefiting from
his labour, yet not understanding the worth (of his life) behind it. Thus, the opening
verse of „All Along the Watchtower‟ is about value; what is seen as being valuable to
some people, which are simply material possessions compared to what is seen as
valuable by the Joker, the worth of a human life, his own.
This short sound byte during the graveyard scene in Hamlet illustrates certain ideas
about mortality and the worth of someone‟s life themes found in the play by director
Almereyda, which he considers important and relevant to modern life. In short, the
„Gravedigger‟s song offers a musical substitute for the material embodiment of Yorick‟s
skull.‟319 Douglas Lanier suggests that the throwaway allusion to the Dylan song
„epitomizes Almereyda‟s desire to find “some way out” of the wraparound media
system‟320 that Hamlet is subjected to. Throughout the film Hamlet is constantly
surrounded by signs of money. Many trademarks and logos, mistaken by viewers for
318
Bob Dylan, “All Along the Watchtower,” John Wesley Harding Copyright © 1968; renewed 1996
Dwarf Music, 10 Jan 2005 <http://bobdylan.com/songs/watchtower.html>.
319
Burnett, “To Hear and See the Matter,” 55.
320
Douglas M. Lanier, “Shakescorp Noir” Shakespeare Quarterly 53.2 Summer (2002): 180.
93
product placements,321 bombard the screen space, leading to a sense of claustrophobia.
Hamlet declares to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that „Denmark is a prison‟ (II, ii, 242),
and this prison is „defined by the advertising, by all the hectic distractions, brand names,
announcements and ads that crowd our waking hours.‟322 In Hamlet the human is
displaced with signs of money,323 a sentiment that is shared by the Joker in the lyrics of
„All Along the Watchtower.‟ The Joker tells the Thief, money is valued over human
lives. In Hamlet money is not only valued over human life but is also considered by
some as worth killing for. Hamlet‟s father is killed by his uncle Claudius in order to
gain possession of the “kingdom” of Denmark Corp. Material possession and wealth are
more important to Claudius than the life of his brother. Conversely for Hamlet, the lives
of the people he loves are more important than material things. At the loss of his father
Hamlet does not talk about his father on a material level, but highlights the personal
effect his father‟s death has on himself, his mother, the kingdom and the nature of
things (III, iv, 40-87). Having lost his father, Hamlet has now also lost the love of his
life, Ophelia, and this discussion on human life can also be seen to be applicable to her.
She is little more than a commodity to be used by the male figures around her, such as
her father Polonius, who tells her what to do, and uses her to spy on Hamlet, in order for
him to get in Claudius‟ favour. Her life, on the other hand was valuable to Hamlet on a
personal level. He loved her and now she is gone.
Mark Thornton Burnett suggests an association specifically with the figure of Bob
Dylan and his involvement with the civil rights movement, making reference to a
rumoured assassination attempt on Dylan‟s life by the C.I.A.324 He connects this with
Hamlet‟s return from London. Burnett suggests that Hamlet, having thwarted murderous
designs on his own life, is presented as a similar folk celebrity like Bob Dylan.
However, the words are sung by the gravedigger (who is played by Jeffery Wright - an
African American actor) and not by Hamlet himself. Therefore, the connections to
Dylan‟s celebrity are tenuous at best, and ignore the “meaning” behind the song‟s lyrics.
The allusions to a period of social change, especially with regards to the civil rights
movement, are much more applicable. These connections to ideas of race are further
punctuated by the fact that the song „All Along The Watchtower‟ was later recorded and
made famous by Jimi Hendrix (an African American musician). The song, which is
321
Almereyda paid for the privilege of using all the brand names. At the end of the film there is a long list
of credits and thanks for all the companies who allowed their products and trademarks to be used.
322
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, xi.
323
Walker, “A „Harsh World‟ of Soundbite Shakespeare,” 331.
324
Burnett, “To Hear and See the Matter,” 61.
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synonymous with the 1960s, serves as an anthem of that period and of social change and
lost ideals. It also acts as a momentary example of nostalgia for a period that is a
complete juxtaposition of the world in which this film adaptation of Hamlet is set, a
more earthly “hippy” free-loving culture, as opposed to the orderly urban material
capitalistic cold modern world where Hamlet lives. As Michael Almereyda explains, the
scene in the graveyard is the „only respite from the city‟s hard surfaced, mirrors, screens
and signs.‟325
The use of „All Along The Watchtower‟ is an interesting translation of ideas brought up
in the conversation between Hamlet and the gravedigger, an exchange which is cut out
of Almereyda‟s film. The scene between Hamlet and the gravedigger (the First Clown)
is important, as it is the only time within the play where a character is able to match wits
with Hamlet, and also leads to Hamlet‟s acceptance of death. As the gravedigger goes
about his work singing merrily as he does so, Hamlet mediates on the meaning of
human life and the value of the life of people who have died. Wondering how the
gravedigger can sing during his work he asks Horatio: „Has this fellow no feeling of his
business, that he sings at grave-making?‟ (V, i, 65-66). Horatio responds that the man,
having been a gravedigger for some time, is so at ease with his work that it does not
bother him (V, i, 67-68). The song that the gravedigger is singing is in fact about time
passing in his life and his eventual death and relegation to a „pit of clay‟ covered by a
„shrouding sheet‟ (V, i, 94-5). As the gravedigger roughly upturns two skulls while
digging a new grave, Hamlet is horrified at the disrespect that he sees the gravedigger
showing to the remains of people who have died (V, i, 91-92). Mortified by the
gravedigger‟s nonchalant attitude while grave-making, Hamlet confronts the nature of
life and death and goes to speak with the gravedigger. Hamlet asks him whose grave he
digs, to which the gravedigger responds with equivocation:
Hamlet
What man dost thou dig it for?
First Clown
For no man, sir.
325
Michael Almereyda, “A Live Wire to the Brain: Hooking Up Hamlet” New York Times May 7. 2000,
2.19.
95
Hamlet
What woman, then?
First Clown
For none, neither.
Hamlet
Who is to be buried in't?
First Clown
One that was a woman, sir; but, rest her soul,
she's dead.
(V, i, 130-136)
The grave he digs is for neither a man nor woman, but a corpse. For the gravedigger the
people that have died are simply items that need to be buried. However, for Hamlet they
are people that he‟s known, Yorick and Ophelia, whose death he is yet to learn of, and
he is reminded of memories of his past and how the lives of people in his past had value
and meaning. Questioning the possibility of what each of the skulls the gravedigger
uncovers might have been in life, had the person they belonged to not died, Hamlet
draws to the conclusion that no rank or money can change the equality of death. In
asking the gravedigger how long it takes a corpse to decompose once buried in the
ground (V, i,164-165), Hamlet realises that death transforms even great kings such as
Alexander, Caesar and subsequently his own father, into nothing more than trivial dirt.
In Almereyda‟s Hamlet music is crucial in „creating a balance of tones.‟326 This is not to
discount the influence of marketing considerations in the decision as to what music was
used in the film. The soundtrack to Almereyda‟s Hamlet was released on Palm
Pictures/Rykodisc327 and as such there are artists from both companies on the
soundtrack, for example Josh Rouse and The Supreme Beings of Leisure. The album
sleeve points out to listeners which album each song is taken from, thus encouraging
326
Cynthia Fuchs, “„Looking around corners‟: Interview with Michael Almereyda, writer-director of
Hamlet” Pop Matters, 3 Aug 2004 <http://www.popmatters.com/film/interviews/almereydamichael.shtml>.
327
Palm Pictures merged with Rykodisc in 1999. Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records, purchased
Rykodisc as a means of acquiring music marketing and distribution expertise for his new venture, a media
company called Palm Pictures.
96
them to go out and buy other records from these artists. It does not do this for songs
licensed from other record companies. However, unlike Gil Junger‟s 10 Things I Hate
About You, where the choice of music is heavily influenced by the teenage audience to
whom the film is marketed, one of the major functions of the soundtrack to Hamlet is to
underscore the fragmentation of the text. Almereyda combines popular elements with
“high” culture allusions through eclectic musical choices. These musical choices in
Hamlet emphasise the differences and eclecticism within the film. As well as music
choices by contemporary artists (both Rykodisc artists and artists from other record
labels) music that is inspired by Hamlet as a play features prominently within the film.
Tchaikovsky‟s Hamlet, fantasy overture Op. 67 in F Minor (1888), Liszt‟s Symphonic
Poem No.10 “Hamlet” (1858) and The Birthday Party‟s song, „Hamlet (Pow, Pow,
Pow)‟ (1982) are all heard during Hamlet. Almereyda‟s film also uses classical music
that has a long standing tradition of association with theatrical performances of Hamlet,
such as the piece by Tchaikovsky. The use of both classical and popular contemporary
musical cues is an example of the combination of “high” and “low” cultures within the
film. Another example of how the film contrasts “high” and “low” culture is the
presence of both references to films and advertising as well as clips of „canonised
performances of the canonised Hamlet,‟328 specifically, that of John Gielgud during the
scene where Hawke‟s Hamlet is creating his short film. Michael Almereyda explains
that the eclectic choice in music used in Hamlet was not chosen purely to accentuate the
contrast between “high” and “low” culture prevalent within the film, nor was it simply
music that he liked and wanted to include. Music in Hamlet was also deliberately
chosen in order to emphasise the schizophrenic and fragmented mood in the film:
The idea was to layer in music that could highlight the play‟s up-to-the moment
tensions, textures and contradictions. Music as jagged and out of joint, restless
and rich as the thoughts buzzing in Hamlet‟s brain.329
Music in Hamlet sets the rhythm and the mood of scenes. The “chop-and-change”
nature of the genre of musical choices in the film matches the fragmentation of language
and image within the film. This fragmentation is seen in the collision of disparate
references that are rife throughout the film, as well as the breaking up of scenes. A
prime example is how conversations started by Hamlet (with both Gertrude and
328
Walker, “A „Harsh World‟ of Soundbite Shakespeare,” 321.
See the booklet that accompanies the soundtrack to the film. Music From The Motion Picture Hamlet
Rykodisc, AUDIO CD, US, 2000.
329
97
Ophelia) are finished over the phone. Hamlet‟s „Get thee to a nunnery‟ speech
transforms from a direct address to a series of angry phone messages left on Ophelia‟s
answering machine.330
The nuance and mood of various scenes in Almereyda‟s Hamlet is also set by Carter
Burwell‟s score for the film. The score is both stark and minimalist, only employing
strings and woodwinds, and dark and moody, epitomizing the tempo and environment
of the film. The repetitive and cyclical nature of the score is especially significant as it
ties in with Hamlet‟s introspective character in the film. On the booklet that
accompanies the score for the film, Almereyda describes how the music transports the
listener and viewer of the film into the maddening dilemma of the film‟s central
character:
repeating melodies that circle and superb a heroic ideal. Lucid chords describing
a descent into madness, man‟s mind resisting, and then riding, the sweep of fate,
the coiling movements of love and loss.331
Burnett argues that the looping rhythms of Carter Burwell‟s electronic score emphasise
the repressive spaces within the film.332 Burnett further suggests a connection between
Almereyda‟s presentation of a world where characters are constantly monitored and
controlled, with Michel Foucault‟s metaphor of the Panopticon, a mechanism for social
control based on omnipresent surveillance.333 The Panopticon is a type of prison
building designed by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham. In his work Discipline and
Punish (1977) Foucault argues that Bentham‟s Panopticon exemplifies the ultimate
modern disciplinary institution, because it allowed for an ever-present observation and
recording of prisoners within the prison structure. In a society in which discipline is
based on observation and examination, a prisoner‟s knowledge of the constant
possibility of observation allows them to be controlled without the use of extensive
force.334 Control and discipline become internalised within the imprisoned individual,
and a state of conscious and permanent visibility in an inmate „assures the automatic
330
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 64-5.
See booklet that accompanies the score. Burwell, Hamlet: Original Score.
332
Burnett, “To Hear and See the Matter,” 53.
333
Burnett, “To Hear and See the Matter,” 52.
334
Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish, 1st American ed, Alan Sheridan, trans (New York: Pantheon
Books, 1977): 201.
331
98
functioning of power.‟335 Foucault notes the most important element of the Panopticon‟s
design is that the prisoners could never be sure whether they are being observed.336
Prisoners are therefore less likely to commit a crime or break the rules if they believe
they are being watched, even if they are not. Like the Panopticon, Almereyda‟s
Manhattan is a place where each person is constantly visible, constantly watched, and
contained. Certain spaces occupied by both Hamlet and Ophelia are therefore seen as a
prison. In these spaces both Hamlet and Ophelia‟s actions are severely restricted, an
example being Ophelia being forced to wear a hidden microphone to her meeting with
Hamlet, therefore betraying him. The looping nature of Burwell‟s score combines with
visual representation of repetition, the spirals that are constantly present throughout the
film, in signalling these places of repression. Spirals are dominant in both the
Laundromat, where Hamlet retreats to wash Polonius‟ blood from his clothes, and is
also confronted and physically abused by Claudius, and the Guggenheim museum
where Ophelia dissolves into madness.337 Unlike the Panopticon, constant surveillance
in Hamlet is an insufficient means of controlling Hamlet and Ophelia. In both these
spaces of repression, the powers in control resort to containing Hamlet and Ophelia with
force in order to stem their rebellion. Hamlet is manhandled and shipped off to England
(to his potential death) by Claudius in a move that is intended to rid him of Hamlet for
good. Gertrude and Claudius also try to contain Ophelia‟s outburst, a piercing scream
that echoes through the Guggenheim, by having a bodyguard physically drag her away
from prying eyes.
Joana Owens argues that „interpretations of earlier texts are colored, whether we intend
them to be or not, by our experiences with later texts.‟338 The tendency to reread
original texts through „the lenses of their adaptations‟339 is particularly evident in
Almereyda‟s Hamlet, where the “later texts” of various filmic references influence the
way in which we read Almereyda‟s interpretation of the play-text. Almereyda‟s intent,
he reveals, was an attempt at making his adaptation Hamlet „not such much as a sketch
but as a collage, a patchwork of intuitions, images and ideas.‟340 The various references
to the films in Hamlet are eclectic, each coming from a variety of genres and types, and
335
Foucault, 200-201.
Foucault, 201-202.
337
Spirals also adorn in the box in which she keeps the remembrances of Hamlet. This box is with her
when she drowns.
338
Joana Owens, ““Images, Images, Images”: The Contemporary Landscape of Michael Almereyda‟s
Hamlet” Interdisciplinary Humanities 20.2 Fall (2003): 21.
339
Owens, 21.
340
Almereyda, “A Live Wire to the Brain,” 22.
336
99
each touching on different themes that Almereyda has discovered within the play that he
sees as reflecting modern concerns. Almereyda‟s Hamlet explores issues about
alienation, paranoia, spying, self-absorption, communication, and generational conflict,
all of which, as Samuel Crowl fittingly argues, are alive in Shakespeare‟s play. 341 These
themes are mediated through references to different films. Almereyda notes that it was
always his intention in making Hamlet a modern adaptation. Not coming from a highcultured British, background it was Almereyda‟s desire to address Hamlet in terms he
understood that were „specifically American.‟342 This approach is particularly evident in
his focus on the dysfunctional family relationships that exist within Hamlet. This
dysfunction is mediated through references to “teen pics” of the 1950s, specifically
those involving James Dean, East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause, and their
portrayal of domestic life in America. In Almereyda‟s film James Dean is cast (by
proxy) as Hamlet‟s Player King. As a result, Dean‟s famous „haunted and alienated
melancholy becomes a rich cultural icon for Hawke‟s Hamlet.‟343 Samuel Crowl
suggests that there is a morose and often self-absorption to Ethan Hawke‟s conception
of Hamlet, and argues that he „seems only to be able to find himself on the screen.‟344
Richard Burt summarises Hawke‟s portrayal in his observation that „Hamlet sees
himself everywhere.‟345 He is a sum of all the references around him especially those he
watches on his television screen. As Hamlet watches images of Dean on screen in clips
from both East Of Eden and Rebel Without A Cause, a connection is established
between Dean‟s conflict in both films with „repressive parental institutions,‟346 and his
own disconnection from his own feelings and inability to deal with repressive and
dysfunctional parental figures. As images of Dean appear on screen they are also
captured by Hamlet and amalgamated into his video diary. One of the primary functions
of Hamlet‟s video diary is to reflect the „fractured and tormented state of Hamlet‟s soul
and imagination.‟347 Ethan Hawke reveals that making the video diary was a great way
for him to get inside the character.348 The video diary is also useful device to record and
reflect the bits and pieces of Hamlet‟s soliloquies that are retained by Almereyda in the
341
Crowl, Shakespeare at the Cineplex, 192.
Ross Anthony, “Interviews with actor Ethan Hawke and director Michael Almereyda of Hamlet” Ross
Anthony‟s Hollywood Report Card, 3 Aug 2004 <http://www.rossanthony.com/interviews/hawke.shtml>.
343
Crowl, Shakespeare at the Cineplex, 195.
344
Crowl, Shakespeare at the Cineplex, 195.
345
Richard Burt, “Shakespeare and Asia in postdiasporic cinemas: spin-offs and citations of the plays
from Bollywood to Hollywood,” Shakespeare the Movie II: Popularising the Plays on Film, TV, and
Video and DVD, Lynda E. Boose and Richard Burt, eds (London; New York: Routledge, 2003): 296.
346
Burnett, “To Hear and See the Matter,” 59.
347
Crowl, Shakespeare at the Cineplex, 195.
348
Almereyda. William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, xv.
342
100
screenplay to his film adaptation of Hamlet. Dean‟s appearance on screen coincides
with Hamlet‟s „O what a rogue and peasant slave‟ soliloquy. 349 In it Hamlet questions
the passion of the Player King (James Dean) in his performance. He wonders how Dean
is able to be so convincing and poignant in his acting when he himself is so apathetic
about his own problematic real life situation. Dean‟s presence as Player King functions
as a projection of Hamlet‟s wish fulfilment and a figure of inspiration for Hamlet.350
Hamlet wants to be able to deal with things as James Dean does in these movies, and
during this soliloquy Hamlet is finally moved to action. In order to try and prove
Claudius‟ guilt Hamlet decides to put on The Mousetrap. The short film The Mousetrap
is Almereyda‟s filmic equivalent of the player‟s performance of The Murder of
Gonzago in Shakespeare‟s play-text; the “play-within-a- play” becomes a “film-withina-film.”
Just as the production design of Hamlet is a collage of sources, the way Hamlet the
character is conceived and performed is also very much an amalgamation of various
citations. Ethan Hawke notes that he envisioned Hamlet as part Kurt Cobain and part
Holden Caulfield,351 and these references, as well as those of James Dean, inform
Hawke‟s performance of Hamlet. Crowl describes Hawke‟s performance as very 1950ish, and further characterises Hawke‟s Hamlet as a „sensitive, brooding, inarticulate soul
caught in a world whose values he despises,‟352 the same type of performance that
James Dean was known for. Hawke‟s performance as Hamlet teeters between selfabsorbed petulant child and „troubled soul whose rolling confusion…can be enough to
tear your heart in two.‟353 Mumbling and moping through his performance, the delivery
of Hawke‟s lines straight to camera seem „uncomfortable.‟354 However, this uneasy
delivery serves a purpose, and along with his slumped posture and aversion of his eyes,
Hawke‟s performance is an apt portrayal of the Hamlet‟s sadness and his
uncomfortableness in both his position as “Prince” of Denmark and his role as avenger
of his father‟s murder. Almereyda notes in the screenplay an idea that actor Ethan
Hawke has suggested to him in pre-production for the film. Hawke suggested that
Hamlet‟s hesitation to kill Claudius is justified, and that he doesn‟t need to kill Claudius
349
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet. 58.
Burnett, “To Hear and See the Matter,” 59.
351
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, xiv.
352
Crowl, Shakespeare at the Cineplex, 195.
353
Stephanie Zacharek “Hamlet” Salon May 12 (2000), 6 July 2004
<http://dir.salon.com/ent/movies/review/2000/05/12/hamlet/index.html>.
354
Walker, “A „Harsh World‟ of Soundbite Shakespeare,” 327.
350
101
once he‟s made the man face his own guilt.355 The focus of Hawke‟s interpretation of
Hamlet is that he is unable to „shake free of his debilitating existential angst to
concentrate on his quest to uncover the corruption at the play‟s centre.‟356 Self-doubt,
which subsequently leads to Hamlet‟s inaction is brought forward and sets the mood for
the film.
Ethan Hawke, twenty seven at the time of filming, is the youngest actor to portray
Hamlet on film. The casting of both Hawke and that of Julia Stiles as Ophelia, are
among the factors that give Almereyda‟s film more appeal to a younger demographic.
The casting of Hawke and Stiles also defines their roles in Hamlet in ways that both
undercut and reinforce each actor‟s popular image. Kim Fedderson and J Michael
Richardson argue that Almereyda‟s Hamlet is „attended by a cast of previous
characters.‟357 They further suggest that Hawke himself was cast as Hamlet because his
characters in previous films „represent the “Generation X” version of the brooding
alienated young man.‟358 Hawke was known at the time predominantly for his role as an
alienated and disaffected young man in cult favourites Reality Bites, a portrait of the
lives of four “Generation X”359 people in their twenties in America, and Before Sunrise
355
Almereyda. William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, ix.
Crowl, Shakespeare at the Cineplex, 198.
357
Kim Fedderson and J. Michael Richardson, “Hamlet 9/11: Sound, Noise, and Fury in Almereyda‟s
Hamlet,” College Literature 31.4 Fall (2004): 157.
358
Fedderson and Richardson, 157-8.
359
Generation X is a term coined to describe people born from 1965 to around 1982, and is used in such
diverse fields as demography, social sciences, marketing, and popular culture. The date range for which
Generation X applies is a current issue of contention, however, it is widely accepted is that Generation X
follows on from the “Baby Boomer” generation. Generation X is seen as a reaction to and rejection of
habits and values and ideas prominent during the Baby Boomer era, and is marked particularly by a sense
of disaffectation with society. The term originated in a 1960s‟ collection of interviews with teenagers,
titled Generation X (London: Gibbs, 1964) compiled by Jane Deverson and Charles Hamblett. The
interviews revealed a group of teenagers who were drastically different to the more traditional British
public. They took drugs, had sex before marriage, weren‟t religious, disliked the Queen, and disrespected
their parents. Generation X, a punk rock group that Billy Idol formed in 1976, was named after the book.
More recently, Generation X is the title of a novel by Canadian author, Douglas Coupland: Generation X:
Tales for an accelerated culture (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991). The book‟s main characters are
over educated, under fulfilled, and uninspired. Limited to jobs in the service industry (the book is famous
for coining the term “McJob” to describe the phenomena of working in the low-paying, service industry),
the book‟s main characters decide to distance themselves from society (they travel to the Mohave desert
to live a simple life) in order to get a better sense of who they are. Coupland took the title Generation X
from Paul Fussell's book Class (New York: Summit Books, 1983). Fussell uses the term “class X” to
designate a part of America's social hierarchy, who did not want to engage in the cycle of status, money,
and social climbing that so often frames modern existence. Like “class X,” the characters in Generation X
are characterised by a sense of apathy, irresponsibility, disconnection and desire to escape
overcommercialised society. This depiction has become by and large the popular definition of Generation
X, and exists in many other cultures around the world. The French term for Generation X, “Génération
Bof,” poignantly translates what Generation X has come to mean in popular culture, “Generation
Whatever.” For more on the term “Generation X” see Tara Brabazon, From Revolution To Revelation:
Generation X, Popular Memory and Cultural Studies (London; New York: Ashgate, 2005) especially 931, Rebecca Huntley, The World According to Y: Inside the New Adult Generation (Sydney: Allen &
356
102
(1995) about a young man‟s journey around Vienna with a young French woman he has
just met. He plays up these allusions as well of those to other figures of Generation X
existential angst, such as Kurt Cobain, in his performance and so both of these roles
colour his performance of Hamlet. One reviewer summarises the appeal of Hawke‟s
performance as: „Twentysomething alienation reverberates through Hawke‟s Hamlet,
who is encumbered…by treacherous parents and denied love.‟360 The characterisation of
Hamlet as disaffected “twenty something” is best illustrated in his poignant „To be or
not to be‟ soliloquy.
In Almereyda‟s Hamlet the soliloquy is split over three different scenes. The first
instance of the appearance of Hamlet‟s famous soliloquy is delivered not by Hawke
himself, but by Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese Buddhist monk, peace activist, and
author. In a play on Hamlet‟s quandary over whether or not to be, Nhat Hanh is seen on
a television that is playing in Hamlet‟s bedroom delivering a speech about his
philosophy on the nature of being. Nhat Hanh explains that:
We have the word „to be,‟ but what I propose is the word „to inter-be‟. Because
it‟s not possible to be alone, to be by yourself. You need other people in order to
inter-be.361
Nhat Hanh also lists off „mother, father, but also uncle‟362 as people a person needs in
their life in order to be. However, for Hamlet these figures are either dead or corrupt. As
Hamlet listens to Nhat Hanh speak he reviews footage of Ophelia. The screenplay
describes the footage as: „Ophelia in bed, a book covering her face. She lifts the book,
looks into the camera.‟363 This same footage appears earlier in the film when Hamlet
delivers his „frailty, thy name is woman‟ soliloquy. 364 These images of Ophelia suggest
an earlier relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia, though they are less explicit than
scenes of Hamlet and Ophelia having sex in Branagh‟s film adaptation.365 Through the
juxtaposition of the images playing on Hamlet‟s handheld video recorder with Thich
Unwin, 2006), particularly 1-24, and Anushka Asthana and Vanessa Thorpe, “Whatever happened to the
original Generation X?” The Observer 23 Jan 2005, June 5 2008
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/jan/23/britishidentity.anushkaasthana>.
360
Daniel Fierman, “The Dane Event,” Entertainment Weekly 543 June 2, 2000: 42.
361
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 37.
362
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 37.
363
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 37.
364
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 18.
365
William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet (Four hour director‟s cut version), Dir. Kenneth
Branagh, Castle Rock Entertainment, VHS, US/UK, 1999.
103
Nhat Hanh‟s words, Almereyda‟s invites his audience to infer that the person whom
Hamlet needs in order “to be” is Ophelia. This falls into line with the focus of the film,
the love story of Hamlet and Ophelia. The feelings Hamlet has for Ophelia progress into
the next scene where he sits at a diner and writes love poems to her. These poems will
eventually be their relationship‟s undoing as they become the catalyst for Claudius and
Polonius‟ deceptive operation involving a “wired-up” Ophelia unwillingly betraying
Hamlet.
The second part of Hamlet‟s soliloquy, a truncated repetition of the opening „To be or
no to be‟ line, is seen in footage from Hamlet‟s video diary. Hamlet reviews, rewinds
and re-watches footage of himself. The footage contains images that eerily echo Kurt
Cobain (both he and Hawke‟s Hamlet share a similar “scruffy” unkempt appearance)
and is made up of Hamlet going through the motions of a potential suicide. In the
footage Hamlet stuffs the muzzle of the gun into his mouth then presses the gun‟s barrel
under his chin before finally holding it against his temple. As he does this he recites the
line „To be or not to be.‟ When reaching the „not to be‟ part of the line Hamlet gives a
gleeful grin to the camera, relishing in his potential death, and suggesting that through
killing himself he is rewarded. This morose celebration of death is continued in the
„Fishmonger‟ scene between Polonius and Hamlet. When Polonius takes his leave of
Hamlet, Hamlet responds with „You cannot take from me anything that I will more
willingly part withal; except my life.‟366 The last part is repeated in voiceover as he goes
to find and presumably attempt to kill Claudius since he is carrying a handgun. This
endeavour proves to be fruitless, as on entering Claudius‟ office with his gun drawn,
Hamlet finds it empty and appears „crestfallen‟367 but also slightly relieved. His mission
to kill Claudius and then kill himself is a failure. Almereyda invites the audience to
consider that in this moment Hamlet realises that his death is not the answer; the reason
for his realisation is alluded to in his video diary. While the video diary contains explicit
suicidal imagery, when Hamlet allows the footage to finally end, his repetitive video
rant ends on „To be.‟ What is revealed in this moment is that Hamlet has chosen to live
because he has something to live for, Ophelia. The breakdown of Hamlet‟s relationship
with Ophelia is the turning point in both their lives and the catalyst for their tragic end.
366
367
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 44.
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 45.
104
The screenplay for Hamlet reveals that Hamlet‟s „To be or not to be‟ soliloquy was
originally set in several locations including The Whitney Museum,368 Blockbuster video
store, and Hamlet‟s apartment. In the final film the full uncut soliloquy is delivered by
Hamlet as he struts and sneers his way through the “Action” aisles of a Blockbuster.
The original screenplay describes the scene playing out as juxtaposition between
indecisiveness and action. Hamlet‟s meditation on the nature of existence is contrasted
with images of the creation of his short film The Mousetrap, as he picks out source
material in Blockbuster and reviews it in his apartment.369 The film‟s isolation of the
location of the „To be or not to be‟ soliloquy, now only delivered in full in the
Blockbuster store, emphasises the ideas of inaction that are brought forth in Hamlet‟s
words. In the Blockbuster store Hamlet is surrounded by images of action, both on the
aisles‟ labelling, and in the film that is playing on the television within the store.
Hamlet‟s soliloquy, first heard in voiceover then eventually delivered in store by
Hawke, is presented as a debate on existence and how man is driven to inaction through
the indecisiveness brought about by a fear of the results of actions. Hawke‟s delivery of
the soliloquy begins in voiceover with a tone of sullenness. The voiceover ends and
Hawke‟s low key delivery of the lines switches the tone of the soliloquy to one of
contempt and resentment. The audience are invited to interpret Hamlet‟s words as an
outburst of both his existential angst and Generation X apathy. Hamlet‟s soliloquy
seems to suggest the question, “why bother living and fighting and suffering when
everything is diseased and corrupt?” This scene also foreshadows the breakdown of
Hamlet‟s relationship with Ophelia, which is fated to become as diseased and corrupt as
his familial one. Joana Owens notes that this scene, when viewed in context with a later
scene (also set in Blockbuster), is not one of complete passivity on Hamlet‟s part.370
While the action of creating The Mousetrap is not immediately linked to the „To be or
not to be‟ soliloquy as it is in the screenplay, the creation of his short film is not
completely absent from the final film. The creation of The Mousetrap is instead broken
up into two different scenes. During the scene that contains „O what a rogue and peasant
slave‟ soliloquy, Hamlet lies on his bed and watches James Dean films, recording video
from the screen on his Pixelvision camera. The scene then shifts to Hamlet sitting in
368
Almereyda notes that Hamlet‟s „To be or not be‟ soliloquy was to feature part set in Bill Viola‟s video
installation “Slowly Turning Narrative” while Viola‟s retrospective was on view in the Whitney Museum.
However, actor Ethan Hawke‟s impromptu marriage to actress Uma Thurman threw the shooting of the
film off schedule and Almereyda was unable to film the scene before the exhibition had moved on to
Amsterdam. Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 137.
369
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 49-52.
370
Owens, 24.
105
front of his computer, editing together video clips. The creation of his short film is also
subtly referred to during a short scene without dialogue where Hamlet is back at the
Blockbuster store and checks out a stack of videos. Hamlet is able to actively
manipulate the images from the videos he picked out in Blockbuster in „meaningful
ways,371 and uses them in his plans for revenge.
Both Rebel Without a Cause and East Of Eden deal with a teenage boy‟s dysfunctional
relationship with his family, particularly with his father. The presence of clips from both
of these films in Hamlet highlights the problems between parents, particularly fathers
and their children within the film. Almereyda‟s Hamlet acts as a commentary on flawed
inter-generational relationships in modern society. In Almereyda‟s film there is a
constant presence of father figures. Samuel Crowl observes that Hamlet is trapped by
several fathers, „one who challenges (Claudius); one who chatters (Polonius); and one
who commands (the ghost).‟372 Sam Shepard‟s Ghost is a constant menacing presence
throughout the film, and is a „powerful father who will not die or be denied.‟373
Hamlet‟s relationship with his father is hinted at being far from the idyllic one that is
reflected in both Hamlet‟s video diary and short film. At one point during the
construction of his video diary Hamlet reviews Pixelvision footage of a home movie of
his father and mother ice skating. The screenplay summarises the action as: „They
embrace, stumble, regain their footing, hug and laugh.‟374 Hamlet obsessively rewinds
and repeatedly watches this footage. Contrasting with this idyllic image of his parents
embracing is the dysfunction and corruption of Hamlet‟s new family unit. While
watching the footage of his parents, Hamlet notes the difference between the two family
dynamics in a voiceover soliloquy:
So excellent a king, that was to this
Hyperion to a satyr, so loving to my mother
That he might not beteem the winds of heaven
Visit her face too roughly.
Heaven and earth
371
Owens, 24.
Crowl, Shakespeare at the Cineplex, 199.
373
Crowl, Shakespeare at the Cineplex, 199.
374
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 18.
372
106
Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him
As if increase of appetite had grown
By what it fed on; and yet, within a month Let me not think on't; frailty, thy name is woman A little month, or ere those shoes were old
With which she followed my poor father's body,
Like Niobe, all tears, why she, even she -
O god, a beast, that wants discourse of reason,
Would have mourned longer - married with my uncle,
My father's brother, but no more like my father
Than I to Hercules, within a month,
Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears
Had left the flushing in her galled eyes,
She married. Oh most wicked speed, to post
With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!
It is not, nor it cannot come to good.
But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue - 375
Hamlet talks with reverence about his father. He is a man Hamlet admired and loved,
and to Hamlet he also personified the perfect husband. Expressing his disgust, Hamlet is
unable to fathom his mother remarrying Claudius only two months after his father had
died. Hamlet‟s words describe what he sees as the corruption of his family unit by his
mother‟s perverse actions in marrying his uncle. The last two lines of Hamlet‟s
soliloquy highlight his current predicament. Hamlet knows that his mother‟s marriage to
his uncle is wrong and it will come to no good but he cannot say anything about it.376
These lines also foreshadow what is to occur between Hamlet and Ophelia, and the
eventual tragedy that will unfold. As Hamlet recites the last two lines the footage of
Hamlet‟s parents in his video diary blends into footage of Ophelia reading. When she
notices the camera is filming her she hides behind her book as the camera intrudes on
her private moment. The use of the voiceover over this image in particular suggests to
the audience Hamlet‟s inner thoughts are a knowledge that his relationship with Ophelia
will fail. The scene then shifts to the second part of a scene where Ophelia waiting by a
375
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 19.
It would both endanger Hamlet‟s position for him to say anything, as well as a strategic mistake. In
order to find out more about Claudius‟ guilt, he must stay silent.
376
107
fountain, the first part of which precedes Hamlet‟s soliloquy.377 The screenplay
indicates she is waiting to meet up with Hamlet,378 but unlike what is performed in the
screenplay, in the final film Hamlet does not appear. The corruption of his family has
infiltrated his own relationship with Ophelia, and Hamlet now views women with
distrust.
Hamlet‟s short film The Mousetrap paints a 1950s‟ “ideal” family and its eventual
corruption. The screenplay describes the film‟s opening as: „rose blooming; an idyllic
happy family: man, wife and a little boy. The earth spins calmly on its axis. All is well
in the world.‟379 These pleasant almost “schmaltzy” images of “perfect” family life are
then juxtaposed with grotesque and pornographic images of decay, death and sex.
Hamlet‟s short film goads Claudius into reacting to what he sees in the film (and by
Hamlet‟s assertion therefore admit his guilt) and is also a critique on the state of
Hamlet‟s new family dynamics. Mark Thornton Burnett argues that the film implies that
there is „no equivalent example of a functional familial unit in the Elsinore of the
millennium.‟380 The short film highlights the dysfunction in his current family situation
and the unrealistic expectations and projections he has for his former one. Hamlet‟s
short film is also a commentary on his situation and how he views the difference
between his parents‟ relationship and the one his mother and uncle Claudius now
engage in. Like the references to James Dean, the childhood family depicted in
Hamlet‟s short film is also a figure of his wish fulfilment and nostalgia. Hamlet
positions himself as the innocent boy whose world is unwittingly destroyed as he sleeps.
Sleeping becomes an analogy for Hamlet‟s absence. He is away at school in Wittenberg
when his father is murdered. The perfect family that appears on screen is symbolic of
Hamlet‟s view of his own family before his father‟s death. This picture perfect 1950s‟
family symbolises the perfect familial relationship he believes was destroyed by sinister
and perverse figures, represented on screen by images of sex and death, and one whose
impossible return he longs for. However, his strained encounter with his father‟s ghost
suggests the relationship between them to have been less than ideal when he was still
alive.
377
The scene of Ophelia waiting by the fountain bookmarks Hamlet‟s soliloquy. She is waiting for him
while he is absorbed in his visual diary. That explains why he never shows up to meet her, he is busy
working. His absence illustrates Hamlet‟s preference for and addiction to interacting with images on a
screen. They are images he can manipulate and control rather than dealing with real people.
378
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 16.
379
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 68.
380
Burnett, “To Hear and See the Matter,” 59.
108
Stephanie Zacharek argues that Ethan Hawke plays Hamlet as „a spoiled brat just on the
cusp of being a serious young man.‟381 This characterisation is particularly evident
during the scenes between Hawke and actor Sam Shepard who plays his father, the
Ghost King Hamlet. When the Ghost first appears he authoritatively instructs Hamlet to
be quiet and to listen to what he has to say: „Pity me not; but lend thy serious hearing To
what I shall unfold.‟382 The tone of this command is almost patronising and sets the
emphasis of the rest of the scene as a father sternly ordering a son, with whom he hasn‟t
had many dealings with in the past, to action. Through their awkward interaction there
is a sense that Hamlet‟s father „never spoke to him so directly when alive‟383 and that
this is the first time that Hamlet and his father have had any sort of meaningful
interaction whatsoever. The authoritative but awkward connection between the two in
this scene is continued the next time the Ghost appears. During Hamlet‟s „emotional
chaos‟384 of an encounter with his mother (just after he has killed Polonius) Shepard‟s
Ghost sits scrutinising his son. The Ghost‟s menacing expression suggests that he is
annoyed that Hamlet has strayed from the mission he had been given by his father the
last time the two met. His father‟s irritation (and Hamlet‟s guilt) is verbally realised by
Hamlet in his line: „Do you not come your tardy son to chide.‟385 Hamlet reaction to his
father during this scene is one of fear. Hamlet tells Gertrude: „Look you, how pale he
glares‟386 before shrinking back in fear like a son who has been caught disobeying his
father‟s orders. Hamlet fears his father‟s wrath for vacillating in his decision to bring
Claudius to justice and for the mess he has just created in his encounter with his mother
and murder of Polonius.387 The screenplay describes the look the Ghost gives Hamlet
as: „The ghost, indeed looks more than a little disgusted. His expression says: „Calm
down, don‟t mess this up.‟388 Sam Shepard‟s stern delivery of „Do not forget, this
visitation is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose‟389 builds on this and reinforces that
this Ghost is a domineering and controlling father bringing his son into line.
Almereyda‟s casting of Sam Shepard as Hamlet‟s father sets up some interesting
contrasts within his film. Shepard had previously played Ethan Hawke‟s father in
381
Zacharek, „Hamlet.‟
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 29.
383
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 31.
384
Crowl, Shakespeare at the Cineplex, 199.
385
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 82.
386
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 83.
387
Hamlet was explicitly told by his father to leave Gertrude alone in his „Leave her to heaven‟ speech (I,
v, 69-72).
388
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 83.
389
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 82.
382
109
director Scott Hick‟s adaptation Snow Falling on Cedars (1999).390 Their dynamic in
the film is translated to Almereyda‟s Hamlet. As well as being an actor, Sam Shepard is
a well-known and successful playwright. His casting as Hamlet‟s father sets up their
relationship in terms of contrasts, both of generations (“Baby Boom” versus
“Generation X”) as well as medium for performance (play versus film). One of the most
striking images in Hamlet is of Shepard‟s Ghost dissolving into a Pepsi vending
machine. Kim Fedderson and J Michael Richardson remark that the machine „evokes
Pepsi's then current marketing slogan - “The Next Generation” - and thus invites
consideration of the play's themes of impeded biological and political succession.‟391
The casting of Sam Shepard and Ethan Hawke as father and son works in a similar
fashion, and is symbolic the clash of cultures. Shepard‟s presence in the film is
symbolic of an older generation (Shepard was born in 1943 and grew up during the
volatile 1960s) and he interprets the Ghost as a man of words rather than of images.
Unlike in Branagh‟s film adaptation of Hamlet (where a scene illustrating King
Hamlet‟s murder is included) Almereyda does not show what happened to the King on
screen. Almereyda instead has the Ghost tell Hamlet what has happened; Sam Shepard
painting the imagery simply with his powerful words and performance. As I have earlier
argued, actor Ethan Hawke is entrenched in allusion to “Generation X.” His Hamlet is
very visual and obsessed with images. In order to understand and convey what his father
has told him regarding his murder Hamlet has to translate words to images, which he
does to great effect in his short film. His way of conveying information is the “new
generation” way of expression, digital video recording. In a stark contrast to his father‟s
(over)use of words, Hamlet‟s short film is made up only of moving images; the only
sound comes from a musical score. The contrast between the modes of expression of
Hamlet and his father illustrates how Shakespeare on stage has evolved into
Shakespeare on film, and how recent films translate Shakespeare‟s text into images and
sounds such as music.
As with the casting of Ethan Hawke, in Hamlet the presence of actress Julia Stiles in the
role of Ophelia brings its own intertextual weight. Mary Christel refers to Stiles as „the
390
Hamlet‟s father and Arthur Chambers from Snow Falling on Cedars (played by Sam Shepard) are men
of great stature and reputation. Both Hamlet and Ishmael Chambers (played by Ethan Hawke) have an
awkward relationship with each of their fathers that arises out of a fear that they cannot live up to their
legacy.
391
Fedderson and Richardson, 160.
110
queen of the 1990s teen pic adaptation.‟392 In the space of two years Stiles starred in no
less than three different adaptations of Shakespeare‟s works on screen: 10 Things I Hate
About You (an adaptation of The Taming Of The Shrew), Hamlet and O (2001)393 (an
adaptation of Othello). Fresh from her role as Katherina Stratford in Gil Junger‟s “teen”
film 10 Things I Hate About You, Julia Stiles brings to her role of Ophelia the fierceness
and attitude of shrewish Kat. Parallels can be drawn between Stiles‟ portrayal of Kat
Stratford and Ophelia. Ophelia shares some of Kate‟s independence and
stubbornness.394 Both Ophelia and Kat have domineering controlling fathers and absent
mother figures. Each also has flawed substitutes in their place, in Kat‟s case Ms Perky
and in Ophelia‟s case Gertrude.395 Much like Hamlet‟s own flawed familial
relationships, Ophelia‟s relationship with her family is equally corrupt and
dysfunctional. Just as with Hamlet, Ophelia is also trapped between father figures,
father Polonius and proxy father figure, elder brother Laertes.396 Herbert Coursen
characterises Ophelia as a „subversive force undermining the smooth operation of
Claudius & Co.‟397 Subsequently she is seen by her father and brother as someone who
needs to be kept in line and controlled. Stiles‟ Ophelia resists her brother and father,
however, the „price of her resistance is repression.‟398 Her repression is first suggested
in the set design for the Polonius‟ family apartment. Surrounded by transparent
materials such as the glass floor that announces Polonius‟ arrival home, the setting gives
a sense of constant surveillance. “Big brother” Laertes and her father watch over
Ophelia at every possible moment. Their repression and assertion of control are
noticeable throughout the film. At the press conference that opens Almereyda‟s film,
Laertes and Polonius both prevent Ophelia from spending any time with Hamlet.
Laertes intercepts a note from Ophelia to Hamlet, and he and his father both steer her
away from Hamlet as she attempts to “sneak off” to talk with him. Their interloping in
392
Mary T. Christel, ““Get Three to a Cineplex!”: Stunt Casting Hamlet for Good or Ill,” The Poor Yorick
Shakespeare Catalogue - Featured Articles, April 15 2004, 7 Dec 2004
<http://www.bardcentral.com/article_info.php?articles_id=7>.
393
Tim Blake Nelson‟s film O finished production in 1999. However, its original release date coincided
with the Columbine High School shootings. Therefore the release was postponed until 2001 dues to the
film's themes of violence and murder in a high school setting.
394
Crowl, Shakespeare at the Cineplex, 196.
395
Gertrude‟s lines „I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet‟s wife; I thought thy bride-bed to have
decked, sweet maid‟ (V, i, 246-7) indicate that she saw Ophelia as a potential daughter in-law.
396
The significant difference in age between the two, Julia Stiles was in her late teens and Liev Schreiber
was in his early thirties at the time of filming, emphasises Laertes father-like position and power over his
sister. Interestingly, Laertes and Stiles would later go on to star as husband and wife in the remark of the
horror film The Omen (2006).
397
Herbert R. Coursen, Shakespeare in Space: Recent Shakespeare Productions on Screen (New York:
Peter Lang, 2002): 156.
398
Crowl, Shakespeare at the Cineplex, 196.
111
Ophelia and Hamlet‟s relationship continues in Laertes‟ „Perhaps he loves you now‟399
speech to his sister. Laertes warns Ophelia about getting involved with Hamlet. As she
listens to her brother‟s words, Ophelia rolls her eyes, indicating that she doesn‟t
completely take what Laertes is saying seriously. While Ophelia takes his words under
advisement the impact of his advice is tempered by her: „I shall the effect of this good
lesson keep‟ 400 speech, where she warns Laertes against not following his own counsel.
While Ophelia may be able to rebuke her brother‟s concerned admonishments, she is
unable to ignore her father Polonius‟ commands not to see Hamlet again. At one point
during Polonius‟ chastisements she does look up at him, the screenplay describes
Ophelia‟s gaze as stern, „as if to challenge‟401 him. However, at no time during her
father‟s lecture is she given the opportunity to do so. The whole tone of the scene
between Polonius and Ophelia in the family apartment is of a father talking down to a
disobedient young child. Bill Murray‟s emphasis on words like „baby‟ and „slander‟
indicate that Polonius sees Ophelia‟s immature actions in her involvement with Hamlet
as a mark against his own character. Murray‟s body language also conveys a
commanding presence. When questioning her about her relationship with Hamlet, he
stands over her, literally talking down to her. He also curtly snatches from her hands the
diorama she is looking at so she pays attention to what he is telling her. Lastly, when he
orders Ophelia not to spend any more time with Hamlet „he grabs Ophelia‟s foot and
ties her unlaced sneaker.‟402 Polonius‟ actions, rather than conveying what Elsie Walker
refers to as an „emotional intimacy,‟403 are an assertion of fatherly control, power and
order, and reinforce the commanding tone he uses with her in this scene and throughout
the film. The final time this fatherly power is asserted is after Polonius arrives
unannounced at Ophelia‟s apartment, interrupting a tryst between her and Hamlet. He
snatches the letter that Hamlet had delivered to Ophelia. This gives Polonius‟ line when
showing the letter to Claudius and Gertrude: „This in obedience hath my daughter
shown me‟404 a more sinister tone. Humiliating Ophelia by reading out the content of
Hamlet‟s letter, Polonius‟ repression and control of Ophelia then comes into full effect
when he forces her to unwillingly wear a hidden microphone to spy on Hamlet. Wesley
Morris characterises the moment as, „Ophelia seems more the pawn here than she‟s ever
399
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 24.
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 25.
401
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 36.
402
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 36.
403
Walker, “A „Harsh World‟ of Soundbite Shakespeare,” 332.
404
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 46.
400
112
been before.‟405 While Polonius tapes the wire to her waist, Ophelia is visibly upset.
Stiles‟ body language in this scene poignantly illustrating exactly how powerless
Ophelia is. The screenplay describes Ophelia as: „She‟s trying not to cry, but can‟t help
herself.‟406 Ophelia does not resist and Polonius takes no note of his daughter‟s
emotions.
The problematic relationship between Ophelia and Polonius highlights Almereyda‟s
interpretation of the reason behind Ophelia‟s madness. While other readings of the play
have suggested that Polonius‟ murder is the catalyst for her madness and eventual death,
in Hamlet Almereyda implies that the breakdown of Ophelia‟s relationship with Hamlet
is the reason for her distress and suicide. This characterisation falls in line in with the
focus of Almereyda‟s adaptation, the tragic love story between Hamlet and Ophelia.
Ophelia‟s true mind-set regarding her utter devastation at the breakdown of her
relationship with Hamlet is more pronounced in the film‟s screenplay. In a scene in the
latter half of the screenplay, Ophelia burns Polaroid photos of Hamlet‟s face.407 She
then gulps down a handful of pills she has taken from a medicine cabinet. The
screenplay indicates that the scene ends with the camera focussing on the burning photo
of Hamlet. As the flame dies all that remains is a „blistered black square.‟408 This
wordless scene direction gives new interpretations to Ophelia‟s declaration of:
And will he not come again
And will he not come again?
No, no, he is dead.
Go to thy death-bed.
He will never come again.409
The screenplay encourages us to consider her words to be about Hamlet rather than her
father. Ophelia is lamenting on the loss of her lover, whom she assumes she will never
see again. This new interpretation is reinforced by the placement of the photo burning
scene in the screenplay. In the scene immediately following it, Gertrude announces
405
Wesley Morris, “Nothing Rotten at Denmark Inc,” SFGate May 19 (2000), 9 Aug 2004
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/archive/2000/05/19/WEEKEND2695.dtl>.
406
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 59.
407
In the final film release this scene is retained in an edited version and brought forward to the „Get thee
to a nunnery scene‟ that is played out on Ophelia‟s answering machine.
408
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 101.
409
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 99.
113
Ophelia‟s suicide to her brother Laertes. Ophelia believes she has lost the love of her
life, and therefore takes her own.
Almereyda‟s focus on the dysfunctional family relationships in Hamlet is also touched
upon in the allusions Baz Luhrmann‟s successful adaptation Romeo + Juliet. Both films
share some similar characteristics, although, the impact and intention of each of these
differs somewhat in Almereyda‟s film. The connection between these two films
highlights the shift in focus in Hamlet, where Hamlet and Ophelia‟s relationship is
centralised. Almereyda invites the audience to read Hamlet as a romantic tragedy. As in
Luhrmann‟s film adaptation Romeo + Juliet, in Hamlet there is an emphasis on water
imagery. The symbolic nature of water in Luhrmann‟s film has been read in numerous
ways. For Charles Ross water in Romeo + Juliet acts as a way of illustrating Juliet‟s
release from oppression as well as „establishing symmetry between Romeo and Juliet
since both are trapped by social forces and both seek a clearer, better world.‟410 James N
Loehlin further argues that the use of water in Luhrmann‟s film acts as, what he terms
an „aquatic insulation,‟ and that water helps remove Romeo and Juliet from the „noisy
and frenetic world of Verona Beach.‟411 The idea that water is a place of escape from a
world of corruption and repression is also a dominant feature of Almereyda‟s film.
Water in Hamlet is specifically associated with the character of Ophelia. Water imagery
in Hamlet signals a place where Ophelia can meet Hamlet in private. The episode where
she sketches a picture of a fountain suggests that they have met at the fountain before.
The fountain becomes particularly significant as it becomes the scene of her death,
further linking her emotional breakdown to the disintegration of her relationship with
Hamlet. Water serves as a place of privacy where she can escape, whether for a moment
or eternity, from her troubles. These troubles are namely the overwhelming controlling
nature of her father and the corruption that dominates the “real world.” The scene
poolside at Gertrude and Claudius‟ penthouse aptly illustrates this. Invoking Hamlet‟s
suicidal and self-destructive nature as he watches himself rehearsing „To be or not to be‟
with a gun to his temple, the scene by the pool centres on Ophelia and her equally selfdestructive thoughts. As Polonius reveals the content of Hamlet‟s letter, Ophelia, feeling
410
Charles Ross draws particular attention to the scene in the bath, where Juliet lays underwater smiling
as she hides from the world and the bidding of her mother. Charles Ross, “Underwater Women in
Shakespeare‟s Films,” CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture: A WWWeb Journal 6.1 Mar
(2004), 21 Oct 2004 <http://clwebjournal.;ib.purdue.edu/clcweb04-1/ross04.html>.
411
James N. Loehlin, “„These Violent Delights Have Violent Ends‟: Baz Luhrmann‟s Millennial
Shakespeare,” Shakespeare, Film, Fin de Siècle, Mark Thornton Burnett and Ramona Wray, eds
(Houndmills, Basingstroke: Palgrave, 2000): 128.
114
violated, ashamed and humiliated by Polonius‟ betrayal, moves to the side of the
swimming pool and gazes at herself in the reflection in the water. Polonius‟ relation of
the details of his daughter‟s relationship with Hamlet, specifically his comment of:
„Lord Hamlet is a prince out of thy star. This must not be,‟412 reveals the extent to which
he interferes and dominates his daughter‟s life and his status-conscious nature. The
suggestion that Ophelia must abandon her relationship with Hamlet (an action earlier
ordered by Polonius - he reveals as much in his comments in this scene) triggers
Ophelia into an action that foreshadows her later death by drowning. The screenplay
describes the action of the scene as: „Ophelia jumps into the pool, crashing into the
water, fully dressed.‟413 In order to escape Polonius‟ hurtful and pompous talk and
interference in her life she retreats underwater. A jump cut reveals that her diving into
the pool only occurred in her mind, and as Polonius continues talking, Ophelia manages
to take some solace in snatching back Hamlet‟s letter, though not without escaping the
wary watchful eyes of Gertrude.
Gertrude is portrayed by actress Diana Venora, and this casting choice further connects
Hamlet to Romeo + Juliet, with Venora also starring as Gloria Capulet (Juliet‟s mother)
in Luhrmann‟s film. Both Gertrude and Gloria Capulet are flawed maternal figures.
James Loehlin describes parental figures in Romeo + Juliet as „wealthy, statusconscious and stereotypically out of touch with their children.‟414 He further
characterises Gloria Capulet as „a chain-smoking pill popping trophy wife with no time
for her daughter‟s problems.‟415 In Hamlet Venora‟s Gertrude appears very much the
“trophy wife” during the press conference scene, staring adoringly at her new husband
as he speaks to the collected media. Her concern for her son Hamlet vacillates
throughout the film and she is generally out of touch with his problems. Gertrude‟s
concern for Hamlet is briefly noted when she asks him to not go back to school but
remain at Elsinore. However, she is more interested in seducing her husband than in
what Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have to report about Hamlet‟s problematic
behaviour and moody demeanour. Her concern for Hamlet only seems to become truly
concrete and passionate when the truth about Claudius‟ guilt of her previous husband‟s
murder is revealed to her. At this point she sacrifices herself for her son, drinking the
poison wine intended for him. As noted earlier Gertrude is also placed within the film to
412
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 48.
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 48.
414
Lohelin, “These Violent Delights,” 122.
415
Lohelin, “These Violent Delights,” 122.
413
115
be a surrogate mother figure for Ophelia. Rather than treating Ophelia with love and
concern and kindness, like Polonius Gertrude treats her as a child that must be
disciplined and controlled. Instead of protecting Ophelia from embarrassment by
indulging Ophelia‟s wish to regain some privacy and respect (Ophelia attempts to
snatch back the letter from prying eyes) and returning Hamlet‟s letter addressed to her,
Gertrude won‟t let her have it back. Though Ophelia does manage to eventually get the
letter back after it is left unattended on a chair „Gertrude warily watches her,‟416 like a
parent keeping watch over an unruly child. In the later scene of Ophelia‟s arrival at the
Guggenheim museum we further see that Gertrude does not treat her with motherly
concern but with embarrassment and discipline. Ophelia is seen by Gertrude as someone
who needs to be hidden away from view and dealt with in private. Ever status-conscious
Gertrude says „I will not speak with her‟417 when Ophelia arrives ranting and raving,
and backs away when approached by her. With the help of a bodyguard Gertrude drags
Ophelia away after she screams and attracts the attention of other people in the museum.
Once again Gertrude‟s concern is mislaid until it‟s too late. Her statement of her hope
that Ophelia „shouldst have been my Hamlet‟s wife‟ (V, i, 246) occurs when Ophelia is
already dead and buried in the ground.
The dysfunctional relationship that both Ophelia and Hamlet endure with their family is
one of the characteristics that lead the audience to consider Ophelia as Hamlet‟s equal
within the film. Almereyda had originally intended Fortinbras to act as Hamlet‟s
doppelgänger, describing him in the screenplay for the film as:
a proud fatherless prince like Hamlet, but deprived of Hamlet‟s melancholy, his
self-loathing, his talent for introspection. Fortinbras is decisive and active; a
warrior, a winner418
The screenplay also indicates that Fortinbras initially had much more of a physical
presence within the film. In particular Fortinbras closes the film. When Fortinbras
arrives by helicopter to Elsinore‟s rooftop he takes out his digital video camera and
films the scene before him. Documenting the final carnage that he has come upon, the
screenplay notes that „Fortinbras steps past Claudius, tracking bloody prints as he stands
416
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 48.
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 96.
418
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 141-2.
417
116
on the King‟s chair for a better view.‟419 For Almereyda, Fortinbras is the embodiment
of history:
History‟s bloody bootprint, stamping remorselessly among the corpses of all
overcomplicated young men, the ones who hesitate, who stun themselves
looking into mirrors, the poets the losers.420
Unlike Hamlet‟s videoing, which is a mean of artistic introspection and observation,
Fortinbras‟ filming of the dead bodies seems a cold, macabre way of documenting that
which he has conquered, an act fitting a man who is now the face of a global media
empire. Unlike what is presented in the screenplay, in the final film Fortinbras‟ presence
is diminished, with certain characters appropriating his characteristics. Described in the
screenplay as a „scruffy young man wearing a sharp suit, a hat with earflaps, a bag slung
on one shoulder,‟421 these physical features and costuming are transferred in the film to
Hawke‟s Hamlet and define Hamlet throughout the film. In the final film Fortinbras is
reduced to being present simply in images, in the paper that Claudius rips up at the press
conference, on the cover of “Wired” that Guildenstern reads, and on screen on the news
program Hamlet watches on the plane. Almereyda states, Fortinbras‟ presence in the
film became „so fragmentary, nearly anonymous, as befits a prince in the age of faceless
corporate power.‟422 The reduction of Fortinbras to image is a comment on the power of
image. In the end image, the reproduction of reality, symbolised by Fortinbras, is what
completely takes control of Denmark.
The similarity between Hamlet and Ophelia is not simply contained in their parallel
family relationships, but extends to the common ground they find in their art, Hamlet‟s
use of video and Ophelia‟s photography. These visual means of recording are not used
by them as forms of surveillance, as the corrupt others in their lives do, but as a form of
introspective art in which they can express themselves. Burnett characterises Hamlet
and Ophelia‟s connection with their art as reminiscing in a gloomy „self-conscious and
narcissistic manner.‟423 Through their connection to artistic modes of visual
reproduction, compared with the commercial imagery associated with the corrupt world
around them, Burnett further argues that Hamlet and Ophelia‟s relationship comes to be
419
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 129.
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 142.
421
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 128.
422
Almereyda, William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, 142.
423
Burnett, “To Hear and See the Matter,” 56.
420
117
„read through a nostalgic register.‟424 The romantic tone of their relationship is the focus
of Almereyda‟s film, and he re-imagines Hamlet as their love story.425 As in
Luhrmann‟s Romeo + Juliet, Almereyda‟s Hamlet emphasises the tragic quality of the
love story between Hamlet and Ophelia. The similarity between the two films is
highlighted in Alessandro Abbate‟s characterisation of Hamlet and Ophelia‟s
relationship in the film as a love story „capable of liberation and mutual understanding,
against the background of a world of corruption, egoism and disconnection.426 Along
with their visual art, Hamlet and Ophelia are linked to writing. Ophelia, in a clip from
Hamlet‟s video diary, is seen reading William Burroughs and both Ophelia and Hamlet
write notes to each other. Hamlet also writes poetry on paper, saving emails and
electronic correspondence from his dealings with the corrupt others in his life such as
Claudius and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. He sends the latter to their deaths with a
quick change to a computer file. In Hamlet correspondences via machines are
distinguished from personalised forms of writing. Richard Burt sees this as a
sentimental take on the play:
Hamlet‟s romantic love for Ophelia, her love for him, and their knowledge via
art/media are opposed to parental and self-surveillance.427
Almereyda presents a dichotomy between “original” handwritten word, and
reproductions by technology. The split between the two further cements the
juxtaposition in the film between the cold urban city and the natural world longed for by
Hamlet and Ophelia. Both Hamlet and Ophelia are placed at odds with the world around
them. The older generation in Hamlet are „all hyper-mediatized,‟428 while the younger
generation are connected to nature and expression through art. Generational conflict and
confrontation with a corrupt world dominated by the media images from consumer
culture is particularly reminiscent of Luhrmann‟s Romeo + Juliet. As with Luhrmann‟s
protagonists, Hamlet and Ophelia‟s conflict and confrontation with this media
dominated corrupt and controlling world leads not only to the breakdown of their
relationship but also to their deaths.
424
Burnett, “To Hear and See the Matter,” 56.
This approach is similar to Michael Hoffman‟s film adaptation William Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer
Night‟s Dream, which Hoffman re-imagines as the tragic love story of Bottom and Titania.
426
Alessandro Abbate, ““To Be or Inter-Be”: Almereyda‟s end-of-millennium Hamlet,” Literature/Film
Quarterly 32.2 (2004): 84.
427
Burt, “Shakespeare and Asia in postdiasporic cinemas,” 294.
428
Burt, “Shakespeare and Asia in postdiasporic cinemas,” 294.
425
118
In translating Hamlet from the play to screen, Michael Almereyda reconfigures the play
for a modern audience. Transplanting Shakespeare‟s story into modern New York City,
Almereyda places Hamlet and Ophelia at odds with the urban world of claustrophobia,
conspiracy and global corporate power that surrounds them. Analysis of the diverse
selection of music found in the film is a threshold into understanding Almereyda‟s
cinematic interpretation of Hamlet. Through musical tone, lyrics and placement within a
scene, musical excerpts convey ideas about mortality and the worth of human life, and
also emphasise the schizophrenic and fragmented mood of the film. Almereyda‟s
Manhattan is a place where Hamlet and Ophelia are constantly watched and contained.
Carter Burwell‟s minimalist and at times repetitive score signals ideas of repression and
surveillance that form the basis for Hamlet. As with music, intertexual references are
used to convey themes in Hamlet. Contemporary social problems such as generational
conflict and dysfunctional family relationships are conveyed in the film through
citations to popular culture which deal with similar themes, for example the films Rebel
Without a Cause and Romeo + Juliet. Allusions to previous roles cast members have
portrayed are also influential in expressing issues within the film such as family
dysfunction and the clash of generations. The most notable example is actor Ethan
Hawke, who imbues his portrayal of Hamlet with a “Generation X” apathy that is a
stark contrast with the ambitiousness of the various “father figures” who surround him.
Hamlet invites further comparison with Romeo + Juliet through the way in which
director Almereyda centralises Hamlet and Ophelia‟s relationship and re-interprets
Shakespeare‟s story as their romantic tragedy. Hamlet and Ophelia are set apart from
others through their symbolic alignment with art, nature and the handwritten word.
Almereyda suggests that their confrontation with a corrupt urban world dominated by
images, technology and repression leads to the breakdown of their relationship, and
subsequently their untimely death.
119
Julie Taymor’s Titus (1999)
Julie Taymor sets her film Titus (1999), an adaptation of one of Shakespeare‟s earliest
plays Titus Andronicus, in an undetermined time and setting. Originally staged offBroadway in 1994, Taymor adapted her stage production of Titus for the screen.
Through a stylised mise-en-scène and amalgamation of genres, times and setting, the
world created in Julie Taymor‟s film is both ancient and modern. Taymor‟s film
adaptation of Titus is highly political, and takes a similar approach to Michael
Almereyda‟s adaptation of Hamlet in the way in which Taymor recontextualises one of
Shakespeare‟s plays in terms of contemporary social problems. Julie Taymor notes that
her decision to adapt Titus, firstly in her off-Broadway production, and then in her film
adaptation, was due to the play‟s relevance to modern times. She remarks of Titus
Andronicus: „if there‟s any Shakespeare play that really speaks to what‟s going on
today, with race and violence, this is it.‟429 Titus was filmed at a time when media is
saturated with images of violence occurring in war430 and close to home, a time when
the “who bleeds leads” mentality dominates news coverage, and also when big violent
blockbusters make millions of dollars at the box office. Both prolific and detailed in her
discussion of her film adaptation of Titus Andronicus, Taymor notes that her approach
to filming was influenced by a desire to present a critique of violence as entertainment
in our culture. Taymor‟s Titus makes reference to Antonin Artaud‟s theory of the
“Theatre of Cruelty.”431 The audience is not permitted to suspend their sense of disbelief
or willingly become silently uninvolved observers. Taymor argues that „complacency as
a result of familiarity is an enemy,‟432 and her film Titus attempts to reinstall a sense of
shock to an audience that she believes has become desensitised to violence. She
achieves this through two very different techniques. The juxtaposition of violence and
429
Julie Taymor quoted in Miranda Johnson-Haddad, “A Time for Titus: An Interview with Julie
Taymor,” Shakespeare Bulletin 18.4 Fall (2000): 34.
430
The conflict in Kosovo would start just months after filming on Titus, filmed in neighbouring Croatia,
itself the scene of war and genocide years earlier, was completed.
431
Antonin Artaud, “The Theatre of Cruelty,” Antonin Artaud: Selected Writings, Susan Sontag, ed
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988).
432
Julie Taymor quoted in Eileen Blumenthal, Julie Taymor: Playing With Fire: Theatre, Opera and
Film, updated expanded ed (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1999): 184.
121
humour in Titus is intended to unsettle the audience and cause them to see things
differently. Julie Taymor also seeks to draw the audience into her film. Rather than
simply stimulating her audience with acts of horrific violence, director Taymor inspires
empathy as a means to greater audience involvement with her film.433 References to
musical styles, objects, time periods and events, as well as popular cultural references
from film and television are used to engage the audience with the film, and draw
parallels with their own lives and culture.
Julie Taymor further inspires empathy with the audience through the focus she draws on
the figure of Young Lucius, Titus‟ grandson, a minor figure in Shakespeare‟s play.
Taymor‟s use of the point of view of a child, who frames the film, draws parallels with
the popular Academy award winning Italian film Life Is Beautiful (1997). Both films
critique the impact of violence of children through the use of a child character who acts
as a liminal observer and witnesses the brutal violence that occurs around them,
including the loss of a father figure. A further connection between the two films is seen
in their juxtaposition between humour and horrific violence. This integral feature of
both films is also shared with another text referenced in Titus, Fellini‟s La Strada
(1954). I shall explore the significance of La Strada to the post World War Two Italian
cinema inspired mise-en-scène of Taymor‟s film later in this chapter. While there are
certain correlations between Titus and Life is Beautiful, Taymor‟s idea to use Young
Lucius as liminal observer and framing device in her film adaptation of Titus
Andronicus was drawn directly from her stage production in 1994. The use of Young
Lucius is one of several major thematic and production design elements that Taymor
has transferred from stage production to her 1999 film. Given that Taymor‟s stage
production occurred in 1994 and Life is Beautiful was released in 1997, in my opinion
allusions to Jane Howell‟s BBC adaptation of Titus Andronicus (1985) as well as
Adrian Nobel‟s Royal Shakespeare Company production of A Midsummer Night‟s
Dream have a more significant impact on Taymor‟s Titus and the themes she addresses,
such as the impact of violence on children. In all three productions a young boy acts as a
liminal observer and witnesses events unfold. Providing a further link between films,
the young boy in Noble‟s Dream was played by Osheen Jones, who also portrays
Young Lucius in Taymor‟s film. In Titus Taymor presents a critique of both violence as
433
Courtney Lehmann, Bryan Reynolds, Lisa S. Starks, “„For Such a Sight Will Blind a Father's Eye‟:
The Spectacle of Suffering in Taymor's Titus,” Performing Transversally: Reimagining Shakespeare and
the Critical Future, Bryan Reynolds, ed; Janelle Reinelt, foreword; Jonathan Gil Harris, afterword (New
York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003): 220.
122
a learned behaviour and the ritualistic and cyclical nature of violence through the
changing role of Young Lucius, as he shifts from observer to active participant.
The design of Taymor‟s Titus is particularly influenced by the post-World War Two
Italian tradition of film making, and contains many references to the films of Italian
directors such as Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti. The Italian “feel” of the film is
further reinforced by Taymor filming part of Titus at the famed Cinecittà studios in
Rome, and through the use of director of photography Luciano Tovoli and production
designer Dante Ferretti, who have worked with directors such as Michelangelo
Antonioni, Dario Argento, Piere Paulo Pasolini and Fellini. Of particular influence to
Taymor‟s film are Fellini‟s Roma (1972), Satyricon (1969) and La Strada, and
Visconti‟s The Damned (1969). Like Fellini in Roma, Taymor addresses the difficulties
of contemporary society through the mixture of incongruent time periods and styles and
culture that exists in Ferretti‟s production design. The influence of Fellini‟s films on
Titus is also demonstrated in the decadence and sexuality of Saturninus‟ Rome, as well
as the juxtaposition between moments of comedy and ones of seriousness and horrific
brutality. Through the citation of films by directors from the Cinecittà era of post war
Italian filmmaking, Taymor‟s Titus also alludes to the history of Fascism in Italy, and
the role of Cinecittà Studios in producing propaganda during wartime. The allusion to
Fascism is further punctuated through the use of the Palazzo della Civilta Italiana,
Benito Mussolini‟s government centre, as Saturninus‟ palace.
As I have shown is the case with Michael Hoffman‟s William Shakespeare‟s A
Midsummer Night‟s Dream, Gil Junger‟s 10 Things I Hate About You, and Michael
Almereyda‟s Hamlet, casting carries a significant intertextual resonance, with actors
bringing allusions from previous films they have starred in and roles they‟ve portrayed
in the past. Alan Cumming brings to his role of Saturninus allusions to his Tony Award
winning role of the Master of Ceremonies in the 1998 revival of the Ebb and Kander
musical Cabaret.434 The reference to Cabaret, which is set in Fascist Germany of the
1930s, as well as the way in which Cumming interprets his role, suggests a connection
between Fascism and non-conformist sexuality and decadence. This association
characterises Saturninus as both sinister and corrupt. Casting is also important in how
the audience reads Anthony Hopkins‟ portrayal of Titus. Invoking his previous Oscar
434
Directed by Sam Mendes and co-directed and choreographed by Rob Marshal. Originally staged at the
Donmar Warehouse in 1993, this production transferred to Broadway in 1998.
123
winning role of Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs (1991), Hopkins‟ presence in
the film helps to juxtapose humour and horror, and also highlights the shift in Titus‟
character from returning hero to monster. Contrasting with the way in which he is
vilified through intertextual allusion, the audience is also encouraged to empathise with
Titus. This empathy is achieved through both the use of dramatic close-ups as well as
the characterisation of Titus‟ enemies, such as Tamora, as vile and villainous and thus
worthy of what befalls them. Tamora is vilified through being contrasted with Lavinia.
Director Taymor draws upon recognisable symbols of females from film, such as Grace
Kelly, Marilyn Monroe and the Baroness from Visconti‟s The Damned in her
characterisation of Tamora and Lavinia. Whether intentional or not, through this
cinematic technique she quite conservatively aligns sexuality with villainy and violence.
The connection between violence, sexuality and decadent imagery is repeated in the
imagery throughout Titus. Undermining Taymor‟s intent to criticise the entertainment
value of violence in our culture, the empathy created between the audience and Titus
allows them to relish his brutal and calculated retribution and to consider his violent
revenge against his enemies as both cathartic and cleansing. Also problematical to
Taymor‟s intended criticism of the impact of violence is the characterisation of Lucius
as “hero.” Taymor ignores Lucius‟ role as initiator of violence and retributive violence
in Titus, and instead suggests certain types of violence are understandable and
acceptable.
As with references to other films, the use of Elliot Goldenthal‟s musical score is equally
important in illustrating themes Julie Taymor has “found” in Titus Andronicus.
Composer Goldenthal, a frequent collaborator of Taymor‟s, constructs a musical score
that emphasises the heterogeneous nature of Taymor‟s adaptation of Titus. Eclectic and
diverse, Goldenthal‟s score ranges from imposing orchestral numbers to wild swinging
“big band” Jazz and “heavy” Rock & Roll. Just as in Simon Boswell‟s score for William
Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer Night‟s Dream, Goldenthal‟s score for Titus also reflects
character and larger themes through musical motifs. The only piece of music used in the
film not composed by Goldenthal,435 is „Vivere‟ sung by Italian singer Carlo Buti, who
was a popular singer from the 1930s until his retirement in 1956. „Vivere‟ is a pleasant
pop song heard in the final banquet scene of Taymor‟s film. The upbeat sounding
„Vivere‟ enhances the juxtaposition between the horrific images of the Chiron and
435
„Vivere‟ is also the only song on the film‟s soundtrack not composed by composer Goldenthal. Titus:
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, Elliot Goldenthal, Sony Classical, AUDIO CD, US, 2000.
124
Demetrius‟ murder, and the disturbing and outrageous black humour the “homely”
image of the pies made of human flesh. The contrast between images and tones is
intended to emphasise Titus‟ cold and calculated violence, as well as the carnage during
the banquet. However, Hopkins‟ performance as well as the comical imagery used in
the scene diminishes the impact Taymor had intended to achieve.
Both Elliot Goldenthal‟s and Buti‟s music complement the heterogeneous Roman world
in which the film is set. A long time creative partner of Julie Taymor, Goldenthal also
scored Taymor‟s theatre production of Titus and Taymor‟s biopic of artist Frida Kahlo,
Frida (2002). Composer Goldenthal also scored dramatic films full of action, such as
Interview with a Vampire (1994), Heat (1995), A Time to Kill (1996) and Batman and
Robin (1997). His score for Titus reuses a track called „Pressing Judgement‟ from the
score from A Time to Kill. Goldenthal is known for his brutal action music as well as his
ability to blend various musical styles and techniques. This ability to blend various
musical styles is demonstrated most clearly in his score for Titus, where he follows the
same stylistic concept as the designers of the film.436 Lisa Starks notes that the collision
of past and present in Taymor‟s film is developed on an auditory level by Goldenthal,
who combines „ancient-sounding compositions with modern jazz to achieve an effect
that, as with the costumes and production design by Dante Ferretti, juxtaposes past and
present.‟437 Goldenthal‟s musical score in Titus highlights the fragmentation of time
periods and styles that exist not only within the film but also within the city of Rome.
His comments on the linear notes for the soundtrack to Titus, which have been
reproduced on a fan run website, suggest that his score for the film was particularly
influenced by a trip he made to Rome during the pre-production stage of filming:
On day one, glancing at the Palatine Hills from a 1998 Fiat, we saw the great
Circus Maximus with the ruins of privileged patricians' villas perched overhead,
and I heard in my mind's ear an archetypal ancient percussion ensemble. In that
same moment another car pulled up alongside ours, equipped with a sub woofer
- with the pentameters and heameteres [sic] of hip-hop blasting through every
window. The music cross-faded as I watched a group of Andean pan flute
players in native Bolivian garb hawking their tapes and playing their music
436
Julie Taymor, Titus: The Illustrated Screenplay: Adapted from William Shakespeare‟s Titus
Andronicus (New York: Newmarket, 2000) 182.
437
Lisa S. Starks, “Cinema of Cruelty: Powers of Horror in Julie Taymor‟s Titus,” The Reel Shakespeare:
Alternative Cinema and Theory, Lisa S. Starks and Courtney Lehmann, eds and intro (Madison, NJ:
Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, London, England: Associated UP, 2002): 133.
125
which was almost drown out [sic] by an Elvis impersonator with a cheap
Karaoke setup - replete with cheesy reverb - singing "Jail House Rock" in
Neapolitan dialect...well, you get the idea.438
Goldenthal notes in his commentary on the DVD release of Titus that his decision to
create a score so stylistically diverse was to match the stratification of Rome, his
intentions mirroring Julie Taymor‟s stylistic approach. In her screenplay for Titus,
Taymor reveals the aim of the film‟s production design was to „blend and collide time,
to create a singular period that juxtaposed elements of ancient barbaric ritual with
familiar, contemporary attitude and style.‟439
The influence of the carnivalesque music from the circus that Goldenthal encountered
while in Rome is heard in the music created for the Penny Arcade Nightmare Sequences
in Taymor‟s film. The Penny Arcade Nightmare Sequences are a concept that originally
appeared in Taymor‟s earlier stage production of Titus Andronicus. The Penny Arcade
Nightmare Sequences (referred to by Taymor in the abbreviated form “P.A.N.S.”) were
devised as stylised breaks meant to portray the inner landscapes of the minds of
characters as affected by their external actions.440 They were signalled in the stage
production through a framing device of floating gold frames revealed by the drawing of
tattered red velvet curtains,441 an element still visible in some places during Taymor‟s
film.442 In the film the Penny Arcade Nightmare Sequences take the form of short
surreal visual moments of remembered violence. Taymor describes these sequences as
presenting objects and moments in her film that couldn‟t literally be stated or seen.
They are “nightmare-scapes” that illustrate the inner conscious of the characters.443
There are five Penny Arcade Nightmare Sequences in total,444 one appearing in each of
438
Ryan Keaveney, “Elliot Goldenthal Discography: Titus,” The Website For Composer Elliot
Goldenthal 2003, 15 Sept 2004 <http://goldenthal.filmmusic.com/film/titus/index.html>.
439
Taymor, Titus: The Illustrated Screenplay, 178.
440
Taymor, Titus: The Illustrated Screenplay, 183.
441
Taymor also notes that the P.A.N.S were further abstracted from other parts of her production as they
were performed behind a „translucent layer of plastic that was scarred with scratches and spattered and
smudged with black ink, like a rotting photograph.‟ Blumenthal, 186.
442
Such as the red door on the Clown‟s van, which he slides open to reveal the “real life” Penny Arcade
Nightmare Sequence that is the grotesque image of Titus‟ son‟s severed heads.
443
Quotations from director Julie Taymor‟s commentary are my own transcription based on the DVD
release of the film. Titus (two disc special edition), Dir. Julie Taymor, Clear Blue Sky Productions/Fox
Searchlight Pictures/Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, DVD, Italy/US, 1999.
444
For a description of each of the five Penny Arcade Nightmare Sequence in Titus see Taymor, Titus:
The Illustrated Screenplay, 183-185.
126
the five acts of Titus.445 Each of these sequences is a stylised moment of respite from
the brutal actions in the film.
In Titus the juxtaposition between humour and horror is a tool used by both Goldenthal
in his musical score and Taymor in the film‟s imagery in order to unsettle the audience
and to highlight brutal violence. Goldenthal notes that he used “jazzy” carnival type
music made up of tuba, accordion, saxophone and clarinet to add humour to the Penny
Arcade Nightmare Sequence where the heads of Titus‟ sons are returned. The whole
scene plays out what Taymor terms a moment of „strange levity‟446 where what is real
and what is imagined collide. The scene is played as a comic and absurdist theatrical
moment. The carnival-like music combines with the surreal imagery of the character of
the strongman (he abducts Young Lucius at the beginning of the film), who arrives at
the Andronicus family home in a small amusing looking circus van. A red-headed girl
(the angel of mercy seen during the Penny Arcade Nightmare Sequence at the
crossroads) dances around and sets up a mock theatre, seating the Andronicus family in
folding chairs facing the circus van. The strongman then lifts the side panel of the van,
which becomes the pseudo curtain of a macabre theatre of horrors when the shocking
and disturbing image of the severed heads of Titus‟ sons and the hand that was meant to
secure their release are revealed. The imagery here is again another example of
Taymor‟s continued juxtaposition between tragedy and grotesque horror. The scene is
filmed from behind the principle actors and shows their reaction to the horror that is
presented. The differing reactions to the brutal violence are particularly important in this
scene. Marcus the controlled statesman fervently calls the family to action in his speech
culminating with the powerful words: „Now is a time to storm!‟447 Contrasted with
Marcus‟ angry and horrified reaction, Titus simply laughs at the horror that has been
revealed. Marcus is shocked and asks Titus: „Why dost thou laugh?‟ as he is unable to
understand what he sees as Titus‟ improper reaction to the brutal execution of his sons.
Titus replies with: „I have not another tear to shed.‟ Titus is so overcome with grief and
rage he has become subject to an emotional numbing. Just as Marcus becomes over
talkative in reaction to his discovery of Lavinia‟s rape and mutilation, Titus becomes
445
In this way Taymor preserves the separation of Titus into acts, a point that is also demonstrated by the
scene selection menu for the two disc special edition DVD release of Titus. The scenes are divided into
five acts. In order to select a separate scene for viewing the user must first select the act in which that
scene appears.
446
Taymor, “Director‟s Commentary.”
447
Unless otherwise stated, quotations of the dialogue from Titus are my own transcriptions based on the
two disc special edition DVD release of the film.
127
emotionally frozen and cannot shed any more tears over the brutal violence that has
been cast upon his family. Titus‟ laughter also signals the turning point for him and the
rest of his family. Tamora‟s revenge against Titus and his family has reached its climax.
Now Titus‟ revenge against those who have wronged both him and his family will
begin. While Titus cannot undo what has happened to Lavinia or bring back those who
have been killed, enacting revenge against his enemies will satisfy and heal his damaged
honour. The seriousness of what Titus says and Marcus‟ call to action is contrasted with
the black humour of his command to Lavinia to: „Bear thou my hand, sweet wench,
between thy teeth.‟ Alan Hughes notes that modern audiences tend to laugh at this sort
of stage action, a reason which led to director Peter Brook cutting the line from his
“serious” Stratford-upon-Avon theatrical production of Titus Andronicus in 1955.448
The carnivalesque music again appears later in the film during the Penny Arcade
Nightmare Sequence where the figures of Rape, Revenge and Murder appear to Titus as
he takes a bath. Julie Taymor has rearranged and edited the scene so that the opening
lines (V, ii, 1-8)449 where Tamora reveals that she is actually playing the Revenge figure
are cut. Taymor notes that she wanted the audience to think the Penny Arcade
Nightmare Sequence was a figment of Titus‟ imagination,450 and refers to this sequence
as a carnival in Titus‟ mind.451 The possibility that Titus has gone mad at this point in
the film is emphasised in this sequence through the imagery of the spiralling Ferris
wheel lights that spin behind the figures of Rape, Revenge, and Murder, as well as the
eerie and sinister sounding music. Only after the Penny Arcade Nightmare Sequence
ends are the real identities of Rape, Revenge and Murder, namely Tamora, Chiron and
Demetrius, are revealed. The bizarre masquerade is in fact real and Titus has not gone
mad, but knows who they are and is playing along as a part of his grand plan for
revenge.
As well as illustrating the thematic concerns of Julie Taymor‟s production design, Elliot
Goldenthal‟s score for Titus reflects and defines character. Just as the costuming in Titus
is designed to define characters visually, music defines characters aurally. Goldenthal
provides certain characters in Titus with their own theme or musical motif. Elsie Walker
notes that Goldenthal does not use a homogenous score to connect the disparate nature
448
William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus, Alan Hughes, ed (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1994): notes 278-81, 101.
449
Line citations from Titus Andronicus refer to the 1994 New Cambridge edition, edited by Alan
Hughes.
450
Taymor, Titus: The Illustrated Screenplay, 185.
451
Taymor, “Director‟s Commentary.”
128
of Taymor‟s film, but „wrote diverse music to play into the psychology of individual
characters.‟452 Juxtaposition and contrast in Goldenthal‟s score for Titus unsettle the
audience and also demonstrate character and relationships between people. An example
of this juxtaposition is demonstrated in two consecutive scenes in the film, the first
between Titus and Lavinia in the Andronicus family tomb and the next between the
warring brothers Saturninus and Bassianus. A gentle theme being played by a French
horn highlights the warmth and humanity Titus feels towards Lavinia,453 and also gives
a solemn sense of both the history of the generations of Andronici who are buried in
these tombs, and their duty to the Roman state. At the scene change the music
transforms with a saxophone now playing the exact notes the French horn was playing.
Goldenthal notes that the music, inspired by Jazz from the 1930s to 1950s and chosen as
it reflects the architecture and art design of the scene, gives a sense of optimism and that
something new, “cool” and modern is happening. When the camera pans once again the
music changes and the lively Jazz gives way to dark, serious orchestral music.
Goldenthal‟s music has a tone of foreboding which underscores the turmoil in the scene
that is mirrored in Marcus‟ worried expression a result of the discordant groups of
populous in the streets.454 The streets are filled with supporters of both Saturninus and
Bassianus, the sons of the late Emperor, each vying for control of Rome.
In Titus the character of Saturninus is associated with the Jazz music used in the score,
heard in particular during the scene where Saturninus becomes Emperor of Rome. The
official sounding orchestral coronation music twists into raucous Jazz complete with
„blaring trumpets playing high shakes.‟455 This gives a sense (along with his “Nazi-like”
appearance) that Saturninus‟ has a sinister edge and that his rule brings with it trouble.
Jazz is also heard during Saturninus‟ and Tamora‟s wedding celebrations and becomes
associated with a feeling of decadence and corruption under Saturninus‟ rule.
Goldenthal continues the use of contemporary musical cues with the characters of
Chiron and Demetrius, who are associated with the sound of „“chaotic” Rock and Heavy
Metal.‟456 The music is heard specifically during the scene in the boys‟ dungeon “games
room” area of the palace. As Demetrius rushes around and plays violent arcade games,
452
Elsie Walker, “„Now Is a Time To Storm‟: Julie Taymor‟s Titus (2000),” Literature/Film Quarterly
30.3 (2002): 195.
453
Quotations from the film‟s composer Elliot Goldenthal‟s commentary are my own transcription based
on the two disc special edition DVD release of the film.
454
Goldenthal, “Commentary.”
455
Goldenthal, “Commentary.”
456
Walker, “Now Is A Time To Storm,” 195.
129
Chiron dances hectically in what appears a drug induced state. The chaotic nature of this
scene with the boys is further punctuated by the sharp contrast in music used during
both this scene and that which precedes it. As the Andronici sit down for dinner slowclassical music plays softly; the softness dramatically gives way to contemporary
“industrial” type Rock & Roll heard during the scene with the boys. The music is made
up of computerised beats, numerous electric guitars, and also contains distorted
dialogue. Goldenthal reveals during his DVD commentary the words spoken are: „Write
down your mind.‟ These are the same words which Chiron taunts Lavinia with after she
has been raped and mutilated by him and Demetrius: „Write down thy mind, bewray thy
meaning so.‟ The mood during the scene is one that is menacing, dark, detached and
dangerous, and as Goldenthal suggests, also proposes that the boys are trying to get their
violent actions out of their mind.457
Contrasted with the contemporary music that is associated with Saturninus, Chiron and
Demetrius, is the classical music that marks the character of Titus. In her film
adaptation of Titus Taymor has rearranged the beginning of Shakespeare‟s play-text.
Rather than opening with the scene of both Saturninus and Bassianus drumming up
support in their mission to be elected Emperor (as is the case in Shakespeare‟s playtext), Taymor‟s film begins with Titus and his troops entering the Coliseum returning
victorious after a lengthy war with the Goths. The Captain‟s speech (I, i, 64-69)
introducing Titus has been converted into Latin and is sung by eighty male singers,
tenors, baritones and basses. Along with the intense percussion and orchestral music,
the grand opening musical cue gives a sense of military precision and rigidity, both
characteristics of Anthony Hopkins‟ portrayal of Titus. Taymor also notes the music has
a feel of an oratorio, a religious themed musical composition,458 foreshadowing the
sacrificial rites that will immediately follow this magnificent entrance. This grand
orchestral sound is later heard in the scene where Titus comically parades in the streets
of Rome accompanied by his paramilitary force, who shoot messages to the gods on
arrows (IV, iii). Just as Hopkins‟ marching gestures are “over-the-top” and exaggerated,
so too is Goldenthal‟s music that accompanies the scene, which has a bombastic
orchestral sound dominated by brass and drums. The militaristic sound of brass,
particularly trumpets, becomes Titus‟ signature sound, best illustrated as Titus slowly
walks through the back alleys of Rome, having killed his son Mutius. A solo trumpet
457
458
Goldenthal, “Commentary.”
Taymor, “Director‟s Commentary.”
130
accompanies Titus‟ solitary movements, as he makes his way to the Andronici tomb
where Mutius‟ body has been taken to be buried. As well as being defined by orchestral
classical music, Titus is also one of the characters who are associated with composer
Goldenthal‟s „pity theme.‟
Working in a similar fashion to Simon Boswell‟s score for Hoffman‟s William
Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer Night‟s Dream, Elliot Goldenthal‟s musical score is used
to underline the larger themes director Julie Taymor presents in her film. Goldenthal
conveys these themes aurally through the repetition of musical motifs, as in the
“pleading theme” that occurs „every time a character falls to his or her knees to beg for
the life of their child.‟459 In Titus the pleading theme, which Elliot Goldenthal terms, the
„pity theme,‟ is associated with the principal characters of Tamora, Lavinia, Titus and
Aaron. Goldenthal notes in his commentary on the Titus DVD, the „pity theme‟ is
composed of a two note counterpoint that is created with two sets of pitches that move
along almost Bach-like and suggests „a sense of grand mercy, caritas, pity.‟460 The „pity
theme „appears in the film during the scenes where one character gets down on knees
and begs for pity from another for their own life or that of their child. Each of the two
notes that make up the theme represents both the character asking for, and the character
who is being asked for pity. Each time a character seems impervious to this pleading for
pity they later get reduced to the exact same spot.461 The repetition of this theme every
time a character pleads with another illustrates the cyclical nature of violence in Titus,
with one violent act becoming the catalyst for another later in the film. When Tamora
pleads with Titus for the life of her son Alarbus, he denies her, only to plead himself for
mercy for the life of his own two sons from the Tribunes of Rome, which is again
denied. The cycle is continued with Lavinia, who pleads to Tamora for mercy when she
is captured in the forest, but is also denied. The process finally ends with Aaron, who
falls to his knees in front of Lucius and pleads for the life of his infant son. Lucius
shows Aaron‟s son mercy and allows him to live. However, he continues the use of
retributive violence when he orders Aaron‟s execution.
Elliot Goldenthal notes in his commentary on the Titus DVD that what he refers to as
the „mercy theme‟ in his score for Titus, was intended to represent a „burgeoning
slightly pre-Christian world of Rome where the sense of mercy was starting to take
459
Taymor, Titus: The Illustrated Screenplay, 183.
Goldenthal, “Commentary.”
461
Goldenthal, “Commentary.”
460
131
hold.‟462 The theme is defined by the idea that part of being human is being in a position
not only to ask for mercy, but also to show mercy to others. Goldenthal sets apart the
ideas of pity and mercy in his „mercy theme,‟ noting that the theme is intended to show
this Christian idea of mercy as opposed to characters begging for pity, which is
represented by the „pity theme.‟ However, through the actions seen on screen when the
„mercy theme‟ is heard it becomes apparent how intertwined the idea of mercy and pity
are. The difference between the two themes is that the „pity theme‟ illustrates whenever
a character begs for pity and mercy from a character caught within the cycle of violence
in the play, they are denied. Their pleas are instead met with violent revenge. The
„mercy theme‟ appears where characters outside this cycle of violence, unclouded by the
desire for retribution, perform “natural” and voluntary acts of compassion. The „mercy
theme,‟ becomes essential in defining the characters of Marcus and especially Young
Lucius, and foreshadows the latter‟s actions at the end of the film. These two characters
are presented as outside the cycle of hate, violence and revenge that dominates others‟
actions. As a result they show pity, compassion, and kindness towards Lavinia (and later
Aaron‟s infant son). The connection between the two characters of Marcus and Young
Lucius is further cemented by Taymor‟s reassigning of Marcus‟ action, and subsequent
justification of killing a fly (III, ii, 53-85) to Young Lucius. I will further address the
connection between the two in my analysis of Young Lucius‟ changing role within
Taymor‟s film.
The „mercy theme‟ is heard first in Titus during Marcus‟ discovery of his niece Lavinia
after she has been brutalised by Chiron and Demetrius (II, iv, 11-57). This scene can be
considered in many ways the centre of Taymor‟s film. Not only does it falls around
half-way through the film‟s running time, but both the imagery of the scene and its
stylistic presentation is intended to create a significant impact on the audience through
the heightened emotion that it generates. Marcus‟ bizarre reaction to the appalling
reality of his niece Lavinia‟s condition can be considered a moment of incongruity in
Shakespeare‟s text. Deborah Willis offers an explanation of Marcus‟ absurd reaction by
highlighting the possible impact witnessing this trauma has on him:
462
Goldenthal, “Commentary.”
132
[He] retreat(s) from her into a world of words, in a moving if also sometimes
absurd attempt to gain control over their own potentially overwhelming
emotions.463
By putting his grief into words and sharing it with Lavinia Marcus hopes that this action
will somehow help ease it. At the same time we can also read Marcus‟ reaction as a
form of emotional “numbing.” Just as Titus will later in the play not be able to shed
another tear over the horrors inflicted upon his family, Marcus is unable to
comprehended or categorise what has happened. Richard J. Brucher notes that Marcus‟
reaction contains „no talk of seeking justice or taking revenge, only of railing.‟464
Marcus uses metaphor and euphemism as coping mechanisms in order to not have to
confront what he is witnessing. For Taymor, Marcus‟ speech is intended to be poetic
rather than dramatic, functioning in a way that she terms „an inner aria, like opera, an
aria,‟465 an expression of a character‟s inner emotions. Taymor achieves this through her
significant edits to Marcus‟ dialogue in this scene. Marcus‟ speech originally goes for
forty seven lines, while in Taymor‟s film the speech comprises the beginning and end of
what Marcus says in the Shakespeare‟s play-text and subsequently runs a mere fifteen
lines. Taymor relies less on words and makes more use of stylised imagery, facial
expression and especially music in order to convey the “information” and emotion of
the scene. Taymor‟s setting of this scene is a particularly significant example of her
stylised approach in conveying such heightened emotion. The visual imagery of burnt
branches protruding from a desolate swamp is symbolic of Lavinia‟s broken and
ravaged body, and a translation of the imagery contained in lines such as: „lopped and
hewed and made thy body bare/Of her two branches‟ (II, iv, 17-18). The music heard
during this scene is composed to work with this imagery. Goldenthal‟s „mercy theme‟ is
defined by its low register and is made up of instruments such as a viola da gamba (bass
viol) and bass and bamboo flutes, which Goldenthal used to create a hollow sound. The
hollowness of the theme was intended to match the image that confronts Marcus, that of
Lavinia opening her mouth and blood pouring out.466 As the theme takes hold the
camera pans from Lavinia crying out to her uncle, to a close-up on Marcus‟ reaction on
seeing his mutilated niece. The reaction to violence is repeated throughout Taymor‟s
463
Deborah Willis, ““The gnawing vulture”: Revenge, Trauma Theory, and Titus Andronicus,”
Shakespeare Quarterly 53.1 Spring (2002): 43.
464
Richard J. Brucher ““Tragedy, Laugh On”: Comic Violence in Titus Andronicus,” Renaissance Drama
10 (1979): 83.
465
Taymor, “Director‟s Commentary.”
466
Goldenthal, “Commentary.”
133
film. Marcus then shows Lavinia kindness and compassion as he tenderly takes her
down from her tree stump pedestal and carries her home in his arms. The image of
mercy is repeated both during a wordless scene added by director Julie Taymor, as well
as the end of the film, when Young Lucius similarly gathers Aaron‟s infant son in his
arms and carries him out of the Coliseum. In the wordless scene Young Lucius, trying
to find a solution for his aunt‟s lost hands, goes to a wood carver‟s shop where various
puppets and wooden body parts are strewn across tables and shelves. The sound of the
„mercy theme‟ is slightly changed in this scene, with the addition of a boy soprano,
representative of Young Lucius, combining with the viola da gamba. The use of the
„mercy theme‟ as well as the imagery of saints and various wooden body parts that
appear on screen highlights the burgeoning Christian idea of mercy. For Taymor this
scene demonstrates „the birth of compassion and what that means, and mercy.‟467 Once
Young Lucius reveals the gift of wooden prosthetic hands to his aunt, Lavinia smiles at
his thoughtfulness and compassion for her situation, the first time she has done so since
Chiron and Demetrius ravaged her in the swamp. Goldenthal notes in his commentary
that what he wanted to convey was that Young Lucius is a figure of hope and caritas,
and that particularly in this scene you get a sense of compassion in direct contrast to the
brutality of the drama of the film468 and the violence that has been inflicted upon
Lavinia.
The song „Vivere‟ is the only other musical cue used in Taymor‟s Titus. „Vivere‟ is
sung by Carlo Buti, famous for his “Pop” music songs which were sung in a style
known as il stornello - a folk song technique typical of the Tuscan area of Italy. Pascale
Aebischer incorrectly attributes Carlo Buti‟s style to the Bel Canto technique.469 Buti in
fact, shied away from operatic songs, and instead preferred to record popular songs of
the time (Buti‟s singing career spanned from the 1930s to the mid-1950s). The song
„Vivere‟ is an optimistic sounding song about life and wanting to live. „Vivere‟ is heard
only once during the banquet scene at the Andronicus household at the end of the film.
The whole banquet scene is set up as a series of juxtapositions. The first is the
juxtaposition in image, from the horror of Titus murdering Chiron and Demetrius, to the
comical image of two steaming pies made from human flesh cooling by the window,
and finally to the confronting scene of Titus‟ murder of his daughter Lavinia and
467
Taymor, “Director‟s Commentary.”
Goldenthal, “Commentary.”
469
Pascale Aebischer, “Titus,” Scope: An Online Journal of Film Studies Feb 1, 2001, 8 Nov 2006
<http://www.notingham.ac.uk/film/journal/filmrev/titus.htm>.
468
134
Tamora and the reactionary killings that follow. The second type of juxtaposition is that
of the music. Taymor notes in her DVD commentary that she and composer Goldenthal
decided against using a lot of music in the scene where Tamora‟s sons are slaughtered.
Not only did they believe it would detract from the shock of the violence that appears on
screen, but they argued that the silence both emphasises Chiron and Demetrius‟ fear and
keeps the audience on edge. 470 When the scene shifts to the next and „Vivere‟ begins it
provides a sense of (comical) relief. „Vivere‟ begins and plays through most of the
dinner scene until Lavinia enters the room, where it is replaced by slow eerie sounding
music. The final juxtaposition of the banquet scene is that between the subject matter
and jovial sound of „Vivere‟ and the actions that occur both before and after it appears.
„Vivere,‟ a song that repeats the lyrics „to live‟ is heard after the cold and calculated
butchering of Chiron and Demetrius by Titus. The actions following „Vivere‟ are a
series of murders, starting with Titus‟ “mercy killing” of his daughter Lavinia and
ending with Lucius‟ execution of Saturninus. The contrast between the imagery and the
music is used to highlight Titus‟ brutality and the dramatic sequence of violence that
happens during the banquet. By emphasising the violence, Taymor hopes that the
audience will be alerted to and cast a critical eye on the way violence functions as
entertainment in our culture. However, Anthony Hopkins‟ comical appearance and
performance during this scene, as well as the disturbingly rustic imagery of the giant
human flesh pies cooling on the window sill have the opposite effect, they become
entertaining. The audience laughs at Titus‟ daring actions against enemies, and this
weakens the intended impact of the juxtaposition between horror and comedy.
Julie Taymor notes in an interview with Miranda Johnson-Haddad that her approach
when filming her adaptation of Titus Andronicus was not simply to rely on the language
of the play. As with most adaptations of Shakespeare‟s works, Taymor has significantly
cut and rearranged Shakespeare‟s “original” play-text. Taymor notes her approach to the
relationship between the play-text and filming Shakespeare:
I would never rewrite Shakespeare, but I fill it out visually. You have to because
you also have to cleanse your palate of the language. You can‟t have a battery of
dialogue, dialogue, dialogue in a movie.471
470
471
Taymor, “Director‟s Commentary.”
Johnson-Haddad, 35
135
This visual “filling out” of Shakespeare is achieved through the numerous references to
time periods, films, culture, and as noted earlier, musical styles. The collision of these
different references in Taymor‟s Titus produces a visual extravaganza of epic
proportions. Inspired by the stratification of modern Rome, Taymor has set Titus in a
version of Rome where ancient and modern images and cultures intermingle. Lisa
Hopkins notes of Taymor‟s film that the audience are repeatedly reminded of parallels
between events in the film and those in their recent past.472 Taymor suggests
Shakespeare himself blended periods in his own work,473 and her film is a sampling or
collage of time and style. While Titus hints at certain time periods and historical
references the production on a whole is not set in a specific time. H.R Coursen crucially
points out in his work Shakespeare in Space that Julie Taymor‟s production of Titus
does not intend to imitate any moment that existed in history.474 Rather Titus is intended
to be representative of all time, just as the audience at the end of the film sitting in the
coliseum are intended to be representative of all of us.475 The various references in
Taymor‟s film are not deliberate attempts to situate the audience in a specific time and
place, but work thematically in order that the audience draws parallels with their own
lives. Taymor combines various symbols from both history and popular culture that
„remind us of the long and dishonourable tradition of human violence and cruelty.‟476
Taymor‟s intentions in using all these references and associations the audience makes
are to convey ideas about violence as both entertainment and learned behaviour and the
ritualistic and cyclical nature of violence that she has discovered in Titus Andronicus.
Julie Taymor‟s Titus alludes to previous productions, both on stage and on film and
television of Titus Andronicus. A prominent example in the film is the stylized way in
which Taymor portrays blood gushing from Lavinia‟s mouth as she attempts to speak to
her uncle Marcus, who discovers her bruised and bloody in the swamps of Rome.
Taymor has the moment choreographed with Elliot Goldenthal‟s score and Lavinia
appears like a ravished ballerina swaying in the wind. A stream of blood escapes her
mouth. The image is reminiscent of the long crimson scarves that hung from Lavinia‟s
sleeves and mouth, which symbolised blood and „transfigured her suffering‟477 in Peter
472
Lisa Hopkins, “A Tiger‟s Heart Wrapped in a Player‟s Hide: Julie Taymor‟s War Dances,”
Shakespeare Bulletin 21.3 Fall (2003): 62.
473
Johnson-Haddad, 35
474
Coursen, Shakespeare in Space, 140.
475
„This time, the bleachers are filled with spectators. Watching. They are silent. They are we.‟ Taymor,
Titus: The Illustrated Screenplay, 185.
476
Hopkins, “A Tiger‟s Heart,” 63.
477
Hughes, 43.
136
Brooks‟ 1955 Stratford-upon-Avon production of Titus Andronicus. Alan Hughes
suggests that Brook‟s rejection of realism kept the audience from distancing the
violence by „ridiculing an inadequate illusion. They could not escape from
imagination.‟478 Brook‟s approach of not allowing the audience to distance themselves
from the brutality of the drama in Titus Andronicus is reproduced by Taymor in her
presentation of the character of Young Lucius. Taymor situates Young Lucius as a
liminal observer, and he mediates and frames everything the audience sees.479 The
audience watching Titus is „aligned with the Young Lucius in viewing events beyond
our imagination.‟480 The foregrounding of the character of Young Lucius, Titus‟
grandson, who in Shakespeare‟s text is a minor character, is a feature Taymor has
borrowed from Jane Howell‟s BBC production of Titus Andronicus.481 Howell‟s
production „emphasised the appalling experience of Young Lucius as he lives his
family‟s tragedy.‟482 Many times during her production, Howell directed the camera‟s
focus towards Young Lucius. Pascale Aesbischer notes the similarity in Howell and
Taymor‟s approach, with both directors „foregrounding the boy‟s role as liminal
observer of violence whose compassion represents the only ray of hope at the end of the
tragedy.483 However, Howell and Taymor‟s use of Young Lucius differs in the ending
of each of their productions. The final sequence in Howell‟s production has Young
Lucius weeping over the black coffin containing Aaron‟s infant son. The production
ends by superimposing the image of a skull on Young Lucius‟ darkened face.484 Julie
Taymor originally intended to use a similar “dark” ending to her stage production of
Titus Andronicus.485 In this alternative ending Aaron‟s infant son is represented by a
tiny black coffin, which is carried into the Coliseum. When it is opened the sound of
babies crying are heard.486 However, Taymor altered the ending in order that her film
concluded with a sense of hope. This falls in line with the thematic concern in Titus that,
478
Hughes, 63.
Mary Lindroth, ““Some Device of Further Misery”: Taymor‟s Titus brings Shakespeare to film
audiences with a twist,” Literature/Film Quarterly 29.2 (2001): 111
480
Walker, “Now Is A Time To Storm,” 202.
481
Titus Andronicus, Dir. Jane Howell, BBC/Time-Life Television Productions Inc, UK, VHS, 1985.
For more on the comparison between Taymor and Howell‟s productions of Titus Andronicus, see Lucian
Ghita, “Reality and Metaphor in Jane Howell‟s and Julie Taymor‟s Productions of Shakespeare‟s Titus
Andronicus,” CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture: A WWWeb Journal 6.1 Mar (2004).
482
Hughes, 45.
483
Aebischer, “Titus.”
484
Ghita,12.
The transition between a skull and Young Lucius‟ face is used to frame Howell‟s production. Howell‟s
adaptation commences with the same image. Ghita, 8.
485
For a further comparison between Taymor‟s stage and film version of Titus Andronicus, see David
McCandles, “A Tale of Two Tituses: Julie Taymor‟s Vision on Stage and Screen,” Shakespeare
Quarterly. 53.4 Winter (2002): 487-511.
486
Taymor, “Director‟s Commentary.”
479
137
while violence is a learned behaviour, so is compassion.487 Taymor has noted that her
intention in directing Titus Andronicus both on stage and on screen was in particular to
criticise the impact violence has on people, especially children. She remarks in an
interview with Miranda Johnson-Haddad that „the development of the child from
innocence through knowledge to compassion is [for her] the essentially most important
theme.‟488 In Titus this theme is highlighted through Young Lucius‟ changing role.
Lucian Ghita makes note of this change in her assertion that Young Lucius‟ viewpoint
„represents the arch of the narrative sequence, in which he gradually evolves from
spectator to participant and finally actor.‟489
Titus opens with a wordless scene absent from Shakespeare‟s “original” play-text that
establishes the point of view within the film. A young boy later identified as Young
Lucius, Titus‟ grandson, engages in mock-fighting play with toy soldiers in a 1950s
inspired kitchen. The play-fighting becomes more vicious and hectic. As the boy
mimics the acts of violence, various comic cartoon sounds of violence give way to real
sounds of violence, screams, explosions, sirens and gunfire. The incredibly loud chaotic
sound becomes unbearable for the boy and so he hides under the table in fear. When an
explosion rocks the kitchen, a Shakespearean clown figure490 appears, grabs the boy and
carries him down a staircase into what Taymor terms the „original theatre of cruelty,‟491
the Coliseum. Young Lucius is dragged into the “space of violence” and is subsequently
initiated into the ritual and cyclical nature of this violence. Only by leaving this “space”
at the end of the film is he able to escape the violence. Young Lucius is initially
positioned in the film as a passive observer. He silently watches the procession of Titus
and the victorious returning Roman soldiers as they march into the Coliseum. He is also
privy to the sacrificial rights that follow. Throughout most of the film the camera
concentrates on individual reactions and responses to acts of violence rather than the
acts themselves. This reminds the audience of their position as „responders to
violence,‟492 most poignantly illustrated in the scene where Titus‟ sacrifices his hand in
order to buy the lives of his two sons. Up until this point Young Lucius had not beheld
an actual act of violence being performed, simply the after effects of violent brutality.
487
This idea is also conveyed by Goldenthal‟s score, both in the „pity‟ and „mercy‟ themes that appear in
moments where compassion is asked for and either denied or granted.
488
Taymor quoted in Johnson-Haddad, 35.
489
Ghita, 7.
490
The same clown is later seen in the Penny Arcade Nightmare Sequence where the heads of Titus‟ sons
are returned.
491
Taymor, “Director‟s Commentary.”
492
Lindroth, “Some Device of Further Misery,” 111.
138
Peering through a space between the kitchen doors he is a silent spectator to Aaron
chopping off Titus‟ hand. The camera cuts from Titus‟ grimacing in pain to Young
Lucius‟ horrified reaction at what he has just seen. After witnessing Titus‟ hand cut off,
Young Lucius‟ role changes from observer to participant. In another wordless scene
added to the film by Taymor, Young Lucius shows pity and mercy when he purchases
wooden hands for his aunt Lavinia. This act of compassion marks the difference
between the impact violence has on Young Lucius and Chiron and Demetrius. His
immediate thoughts and actions following the brutal violence that he witnessed are not a
call for revenge, but are to ease the suffering of another. This act of compassion marks
Young Lucius‟ „first act of repair‟493 within the film, and also illustrates the difference
the impact of violence has on him compared to Chiron and Demetrius.
The characters of Chiron and Demetrius highlight the way in which Taymor‟s film
emphasises that extreme violence can generate extreme responses and corrupts visually
and morally.‟494 After witnessing their brother‟s murder, Tamora‟s sons are inspired to
words of revenge and actions of violence. Demetrius placates his distraught mother with
the idea of an „opportunity of sharp revenge‟ (I, i, 137). Young Lucius, Chiron and
Demetrius are all set up in Titus as examples of how violence is a learned behaviour,
and of the impact violence has on them. Unlike Young Lucius they are figures who are
not redeemed, but become consumed by revenge, violence and butchery, and this
subsequently leads to their deaths. In an interview, director Taymor explains her
interpretation of Chiron and Demetrius:
In the beginning, they‟re like puppy love, and they‟re fun, showing a certain
innocence. Aaron harnesses their hatred based upon seeing their brother die and
the fact that they are prisoners. You take sexual infatuation and you twist it,
pervert it. These boys aren‟t killers or rapists; they didn‟t come up with the idea
on their own.495
Taymor‟s shift of blame for Chiron and Demetrius‟ rape and mutilation is problematic.
Her attitude towards violence and acquitting blame is congruent with her defence of
Lucius‟ acts of violence at the end of the film. However, I do not intend to discount the
493
Clara Agusti Escoda, “Julie Taymor‟s Titus (1999): Framing Violence and Activating Responsibility,”
Atlantis 28.1 June (2006): 66.
494
Ghita,15.
495
Taymor quoted in Johnson-Haddad, 36.
139
influence of the adult figures on initiating the young into a cycle of violence in
Taymor‟s film. Aaron does bear some influence over the boys. He plays upon their
infatuation and desire for Lavinia and plants ideas of violence in their head as a way to
calm the boys, who fight with each other over the right to court her (II, i). Through this
action he keeps the peace and assures his own position via Tamora at Saturninus‟ court.
Chiron and Demetrius are further manipulated into violent actions by their mother
Tamora. When she is discovered in the forest having a tryst with Aaron by Bassianus
and Lavinia, they threaten to reveal what they have seen to her husband Saturninus. In
order to prevent Saturninus learning of her indiscretions with Aaron and therefore
protect her position as Empress, Tamora misleads Chiron and Demetrius into the belief
that Bassianus and Lavinia had planned to kill her and dump her body in a nearby pit
(II, iii, 90-115). In defence of their mother they stab and kill Bassianus. Realising that
Chiron and Demetrius are going to exact revenge on her, Lavinia begs for mercy:
When did the tiger‟s young ones teach the dam?
Oh do not learn her wrath. She taught it thee?
The milk thou suck‟st from her did turn to marble;
Yet every mother breeds not sons alike.
Do thou entreat her show a woman‟s pity.
She recognises that familial influence is guiding their brutal revenge and pleads with
them not to act like their mother. The death of Alarbus spurs on Tamora‟s cruelty, and
she implies that her refusal to listen to and show mercy upon Lavinia is a direct result of
Titus‟ earlier refusal to do the same.496 An act of violent revenge is presented as a
horrifying moment of familial bonding. Tamora not only justifies, but also supports and
incites Chiron and Demetrius‟ brutal deeds. Tamora tells her sons: „Revenge it as you
love your mother‟s life, or be ye not henceforth called my children.‟ She frames their
violent actions as both an act of revenge, and one that will make her proud and also
becomes a symbol for their love for her. This scene stresses a significant theme in
Taymor‟s film of what is justice and what is revenge, and how these two ideas collide in
the violent actions that take place. Tamora is implicitly connected to revenge by
Shakespeare, who has her later appear to Titus disguised as Revenge (V, ii). Taymor
sets this scene in a Penny Arcade Nightmare which turns to reality. Brecken Rose
496
For a detailed analysis on the connection between the two “sacrificial” events in Shakespeare‟s play
see Anthony Brian Taylor. “Lucius, The Severely Flawed Redeemer of Titus Andronicus,” Connotations
6.2 (1996-97): 142-143.
140
Hancock underscores the appropriateness of Tamora‟s role as the figure of Revenge in
this scene in his comment that „she is the first revenger to be introduced, and the mother
who sets the entire revenge tragedy moving.‟497 Contrary to Hancock‟s argument, I shall
argue later in this chapter that Lucius is the figure who gets revenge “moving.” His
characterisation as “hero” by Taymor in Titus is particularly problematic given he is the
instigator of violence in the play.
Tamora is fixated with destroying Titus and his family, and she plays with ideas of
justice and revenge in order to achieve retribution for the murder of Alarbus. Tamora
imparts this attitude to her sons, who readily and easily slaughter Bassianus and rape
and mutilate Lavinia. While these acts of violence and killing were easily undertaken,
the aftermath proves to be difficult for Chiron and Demetrius to deal with, as is revealed
when Aaron murders the nurse in front of them. Chiron and Demetrius, who until this
point have taken violence they perform lightly, are horrified at what they consider a
cold-blooded murder that happened so suddenly and easily without significant
provocation. For Aaron murdering is an easy act, quickly forgotten, whereas for Chiron
and Demetrius murder and violence were not easy, and their actions haunt their minds.
Lavinia‟s continuing presence serves as a reminder of Chiron and Demetrius‟ brutality,
and eventually leads to their downfall. Whatever justification Tamora and her sons may
convey about their retributive actions, these are undercut by the way in which Taymor
presents their deeds as shocking, horrific and gruesome. Through filming technique and
imagery Taymor vilifies Chiron and Demetrius, presenting their behaviour as equivalent
to animals hunting and killing their prey. The description by Titus that „Rome is but a
wilderness of tigers‟ is literally translated by Taymor and costume designer Milena
Canonero into Demetrius‟ costuming with the tiger stripes that adorn his jacket. This
tiger imagery again appears in Lavinia‟s rape flashback Penny Arcade Nightmare.
When filming the forest killing scene Taymor uses a constant moving steadicam498 as
Chiron and Demetrius encircle Lavinia and Bassianus. Each actor was filmed twice
freely with steadicam, and the footage was then edited together by Françoise Bonnot. 499
The numerous filmic cuts in the scene as well as the constant movement by the actors
497
Brecken Rose Hancock, “Roman or Revenger?: The Definition and Distortion of Masculine Identity in
Titus Andronicus,” Early Modern Literary Studies 10.1 (May, 2004): paragraph 12.
498
A steadicam is a hand-held camera. Rather than stabilising the camera on a mounting system firmly
attached to the ground, such as a tripod, a steadicam is held in the camera operator‟s hands. This has the
advantage of speed and flexibility of use, and is therefore perfect for filming fast moving, chaotic scenes
such as this hunting scene in Titus.
499
Taymor, “Director‟s Commentary.”
141
convey a sense of dizziness, confusion, frenzy and predatory play. Through using a
cinematic style that is reminiscent of a horror film, Taymor constructs Chiron and
Demetrius as gruesome monstrous murderers. This characterisation becomes
instrumental in how Taymor vindicates Titus‟ equally gruesome and violent actions of
revenge against the boys.
While Young Lucius‟ act of mercy may set him apart from Chiron and Demetrius, he
follows it with an act of violence that draws parallels to Tamora‟s sons‟ brutality and
how they learn to hate and to seek revenge on others. Young Lucius‟ witnessing of
violent acts being inflicted upon a family member similarly marks him; he becomes the
perpetrator of a violent act himself. As in Peter Brook‟s 1955 stage production of Titus
Andronicus, Julie Taymor has also taken the fly scene (III, ii, 50-80), which is attributed
in Shakespeare‟s play-text to Marcus, and reassigns it to Young Lucius. Sitting down to
dinner with his family Young Lucius sees a fly and stabs at it impulsively with a knife.
Titus angrily reprimands him, telling his grandson that what he has done is unjust (III,
ii, 60-65). Young Lucius uses culturally learned ideas of racism and revenge and
playfully defends his actions in an attempt to regain his grandfather‟s favour: „Pardon
me, sir; it was a black ill-favoured fly, like to the Empress‟ Moor. Therefore I killed
him.‟ This event is significant as it demonstrates that Young Lucius starts to learn the
lessons of violence and uses them to manipulate his grandfather. Laughing at Young
Lucius‟ cheek Titus excuses his reproach of his grandson and joins in at stabbing the
black fly. In Titus acts of revenge are contextualized for the audience so that „the lesson
of violence is transmitted to, and thus perpetuated by, the younger generation.‟500 This
moment in particular highlights the way children are initiated into a circle of violence
by adults. Elsie Walker argues that „the moment is horrible because the child suddenly
puts on the antic and monstrous disposition of the revenger.‟501 This scene is a shocking
moment of macabre familial bonding; by excusing his grandson and sharing in the
violent activity Titus legitimises the violence.
Following the stabbing of the black fly Young Lucius gets even more involved in the
revenge and violence his family has become a part of. After the discovery of Chiron and
Demetrius‟ guilt in Lavinia‟s rape and mutilation, Titus orders his grandson to deliver
gifts of weapons along with a message to Chiron and Demetrius. In the “original” play500
501
Lindroth, “Some Device of Further Misery,” 111.
Walker, “Now Is A Time To Storm,” 202.
142
text Young Lucius‟ eagerness to wreak revenge and inflict violent retribution against
Chiron and Demetrius is made clearer when he answers Titus‟ request with: „Ay, with
my dagger in their bosoms, grandsire‟ (IV, i, 90). Taymor has removed this line and
instead the scene shifts immediately to the image of Young Lucius entering Chiron and
Demetrius‟ “dungeon” recreation area. Young Lucius looks uneasy and struggles to
recall and deliver the message word perfect, suggesting that he is following orders
rather than eagerly participating in a plan of revenge.502 The speech he delivers with its
veiled message of revenge and violence is not of his own making but something that has
been learnt and memorised. Young Lucius‟ eagerness to inflict retribution against
Chiron and Demetrius is cut from the play and is reduced to a brief aside, addressing the
camera with: „And so I leave you both like bloody villains.‟ Young Lucius‟ direct to
camera delivery of lines sets him apart and notes his change in role within the film. He
is no longer a silent observer but is now engaging the audience. From this moment
Young Lucius becomes a willing accomplice in his grandfather‟s plans for revenge.
Cementing a relationship that is constructed through a bonding over “justifiable”
violence and achieving “justice” through violent means Young Lucius accompanies
Titus as he marches in the streets with his kinsmen. Young Lucius carries weapons in a
red Radio Flyer toy wagon that he drags along behind him. As with the opening toy
soldier battle, this image combines violence with child‟s play making it all the more
horrific.503 By the film‟s end Young Lucius has become a full participant in the actions
of the film. During the film‟s finale Aaron‟s son is brought into the Coliseum enclosed
in a cage. Young Lucius takes the baby from the cage and cradles the infant gently in
his arms before slowly walking out of the Coliseum. Just as he himself was brought into
the space of violence in the beginning of the film, he now exits with Aaron‟s son and
moves „possibly to redemption.‟504 The end of Taymor‟s film is deliberately left without
a clear and defined resolution of the fate of Aaron‟s infant son. Its openness does not
provide the audience with a specific ending or a sense of closure, but instead ends of a
sense of hope and potential change. This open ending forces the audience to question
what they have seen and to work at an understanding of Taymor‟s reading of the film
and her critique of the violence that it contains.
502
Taymor reveals in her DVD commentary that in reality actor Osheen Jones, who played Young
Lucius, had trouble remembering his lines, so the uneasiness he shows is genuine.
503
Young Lucius also serves as waiter during the final banquet scene. He helps his grandfather serve up
the pies made from the flesh of Chiron and Demetrius to the unsuspecting diners, including the boys‟
mother Tamora.
504
Taymor, “Director‟s Commentary.”
143
In Titus the audience „must create a context out of its own history and experience.‟505
Director Taymor „drops various clues‟506 in order to guide the audience‟s interpretation
of her film. These “clues” take the form of the various intertextual references that are
prevalent within Taymor‟s film. The design of Titus is beset with references to popular
cultural elements, particularly filmic references. These references draw not only upon
the previous work of the actors cast in Titus, but also the post-World War Two Italian
tradition of film making. Taymor‟s stylised mise-en-scène contains numerous references
to the films of Italian directors such as Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti,
particularly their films La Strada, Satyricon, Roma, and La Caduta degli dei (also
known as The Damned). The intertextual texture of Titus is reinforced through being
partially filmed at Rome‟s Cinecittà studios where these filmmakers also made their
films, and through the use of director of photography Luciano Tovoli and production
designer Dante Ferretti.507 Tovoli and Ferretti worked extensively in the past with
famed Italian directors such as Fellini, Pier Paulo Pasolini, Michelangelo Antonioni and
Dario Argento. Taymor acknowledges her intertextual “nod” to directors such as Fellini,
noting proudly in an interview: „I had all of Fellini‟s, you know, the older men who
used to build these incredible sets that no one asks them to build anymore.‟508 The
influence of Fellini and Visconti is most strongly felt in the epic and decadent visual
design of Taymor‟s film. Lisa Hopkins notes that in watching Taymor‟s Titus we are
reminded of films, and that „Taymor has a much observed debt to Fellini, particularly
La Strada…and she herself also points out the influence of Visconti.‟509Alan A. Stone
points out further correlations between Titus and Fellini‟s films in his description of the
film‟s design:
Taymor emptied the Cinecittà storerooms, and added motorcycles, a
Popemobile, and many of the vehicles we last saw in Fellini movies. Her
anachronisms are meant to add layers of meaning.510
505
Anderegg, Cinematic Shakespeare, 183.
Anderegg, Cinematic Shakespeare, 183.
507
The other major filming location was the coliseum in Pula, Croatia, itself a source of intertext and
allusion to the civil war in Croatia and Bosnia that was occurring at the time.
508
Taymor quoted in Paul Russell, “Titus: A Class Reborn,” DVD Angle Aug 16 2000, 3 Aug 2004
<http://dvdangle.com/fun_stuff/interviews/titus/index.html?beenHere>.
509
Hopkins, “A Tiger‟s Heart,” 63.
510
Alan A. Stone, “Shakespeare‟s Tarantino Play,” Boston Review 25.2 April/May (2000), 8 Nov 2006
<http://bostonreview.net/BR25.2/stone.hml>.
506
144
Stone suggests not only that Titus remind us of the film style of Fellini but also that the
references add “meaning” by highlighting Taymor‟s “reading” of the play, a reading
that influenced the production design of the film. The design of Titus is a deliberate
collision of time periods and styles. Taymor notes that the Roman world created on
screen was inspired by the stratification of culture and time that exists in the city of
Rome today: „Modern Rome, built on the ruins of ancient Rome, offered the perfect
stratification for the setting of the film.‟511 Taymor goes on to describe the Rome of
Titus as „really ancient, even Etruscan, and then 30s, 40s, 50s and present.‟512 Jim
Welsh and John Tibbet argue that while Taymor does not specifically mention Fellini or
other directors who have used the stratification of a civilisation in a symbolic way, her
production of Titus lifts part of its concept from Fellini, not only from Satyricon, but
also Roma.513 Roma is characterised by Fellini‟s examination both of the difficulties of
contemporary society and the tracing of a personal history with the city of Rome. Fellini
achieved this through referencing the past and present that co-exist within Rome.
Taymor similarly addresses the difficulties of contemporary society through the mixture
of time, objects, historical periods, and popular culture that exists in her production of
Titus. Rob Blackwelder describes Dante Ferretti‟s production design for Titus as a
mixture of „luxuriant, post-modern industrial style with the ruins of ancient Rome.‟514
The diverse visual design of Taymor‟s film together with the eclectic musical score by
Elliot Goldenthal is indebted to Fellini‟s Roma. The difficulties of modern society
which Taymor addresses in her film include violence as entertainment in our culture.
However, Taymor‟s critique of society‟s cultural preoccupation with violence as
entertainment is undercut through her rather “conservative” alignment of the brutal
horror, violence and sinister Fascist totalitarianism with decadence and sexual nonconformity. In Titus Taymor suggests that Saturninus becomes corrupted by power once
he has been elevated to the position of Emperor, and therefore Rome itself plummets
into a state of amorality. Taymor presents the world of Rome after Saturninus has
become Emperor as corrupt in its debauchery and political totalitarianism. The visual
design of the film is used to signal the immorality, licentiousness and corruption that is
now rife in Rome. Dante Ferretti‟s design for the film, particularly scenes in Saturninus‟
511
Taymor, Titus: The Illustrated Screenplay, 178.
Taymor quoted in Douglas Eby, “Julie Taymor on making Titus,” Talent Development Resources
2003, 16 Nov 2006 <http://talentdevelop.com/interviews/jtaymor.html>.
513
Jim Welsh and John Tibbet, “To Sup With Horrors. Julie Taymor's Senecan Feast,” Literature/Film
Quarterly 28.2 (2000): 156.
514
Rob Blackwelder, “A Graphic Feast of Brilliance,” SPLICEDwire, 1999, 28 Aug 2004
<http://www.splicedonline.com/99reviews/titus.html>.
512
145
Roman court have a „worked-up decadence‟515 that is recognisable from the films of
Fellini. Lucian Ghita highlights the allusive impact of Ferretti‟s production design:
the architectural space created by Taymor‟s set designer Dante Ferretti (a
nightmarish, baroque composition intermixing elements from different cultural
an historical époques) triggers stylistic associations with Fellini‟s visually
stunning representation of Roman decadence, hedonism, and sexual
licentiousness in Satyricon (1969).516
As Ghita notes, Dante Ferretti draws inspiration from the perverse decadence and
sexuality of Fellini‟s Satyricon in his design of Saturninus‟ wedding party and orgy
scene. Using similar rich colours and sexually suggestive imagery as in Satyricon,
Ferretti‟s design suggests a wild feeling of decadence and corruption in Saturninus‟
Rome, which is punctuated through the Goldenthal‟s raucous score of Jazz and Rock &
Roll. These scenes are presented as a direct contrast to the quiet family dinners at Titus‟
family home. Goldenthal‟s soft classical music together with the demure production
design during these scenes suggests a space imbued with a sense of honour, tradition
and conservativeness. The mood set here drastically changes at the end of the film,
where Titus‟ home becomes the scene not only of a horrific meal made from human
flesh but also the brutal massacre that follows.
Taymor‟s film not only references Fellini‟s Satyricon but also draws upon his film La
Strada. Several critics and reviewers have noted the visual similarity of the Clown
messenger in Titus with the character of Zampano (played by Anthony Quinn) the
strong man from Fellini‟s La Strada. 517 The imagery in La Strada is dominated by
scenery that is broken, poor and desolate, symbolic of the impact of World War Two on
Italy. Taymor‟s allusion to the cruel and brutish Zampano and to La Strada itself further
suggests a feeling that the Rome under Saturninus‟ rule is similarly “broken” and is now
dominated by corrupt grotesqueness. The Clown first appears at the very beginning of
Titus when he snatches Young Lucius out of the kitchen and drags him down some
stairs into the Coliseum. The Clown again appears at the Andronicus family home.
Richard Burt describes him as „driving a truck much like the murderous strongman
515
Charles Taylor, “Titus,” Salon Jan 7 2000, 18 July 2004
<http://dir.salon.com/ent/movies/review/2000/01/07/titus/index.html?pn=1>.
516
Ghita, 2.
517
For example Stone refers to the clown as an „Anthony Quinn figure‟ and further describes him as
resembling „the strong man of Fellini‟s great film, La Strada.‟ Stone, “Shakespeare‟s Tarantino Play.”
146
Zampano.‟518 The Clown climbs out of the van carrying a loudspeaker and moves about
disjointedly to the jovial circus type music. As he calls out to the Andronici inside, his
assistant dances about setting up chairs. Carol Chillington Rutter describes her
appearance with reference to La Strada, she is a „redheaded girl, like Giulietta Masina‟s
strangely old and infantile Gelsomina.‟519 The girl shares a smile with Young Lucius,
who has come out to find the source of the commotion, and eventually the other
members of the Andronicus family emerge from the house to watch the “show.” The
scene is set up as both comic and absurd. Stone refers to this scene as a surreal “Fellini
moment” that illustrates the absurdity of horror and exhausts the conventional
possibilities of human emotion.520 As with Fellini, Taymor „alternates between gaiety
and sadness‟ in Titus.521 In his analysis of Fellini‟s La Strada Edward Murray notes that
the film‟s complex structure moves from seriocomic to the serious.522 Murray gives the
example of a scene between the characters of Gelsomina and Zampano. Gelsomina has
been purchased by Zampano to act as his assistant; her job is to announce his act. In a
scene at the beginning of the film Gelsomina tries unsuccessfully to learn her routine:
The audience laughs at the attempts of Zampano to make the girl understand the
simple requirements of her role; but when the lout proceeds to strike Gelsomina
on the leg with a switch in order to make her concentrate, the laughter dies.
What starts like a kind of Abbot and Costello vaudeville turn, then, ends far
from comedy.523
The movement between comedy and uncomfortable seriousness is a prominent feature
of the scene where the heads of Titus‟ sons are returned by the Clown. Once the family
are seated the Clown suddenly throws open the shutter on his van and reveals the
severed heads displayed in bell jars along with Titus‟ severed hand that was supposed to
ransom their lives. The moment is set up like a bizarre freak show. The Clown delivers
his message from Saturninus tonelessly over the loudspeaker: „Worthy Andronicus, ill
art thou repaid for that good hand thou sent‟st the emperor.‟ Titus is literally left without
518
Richard Burt, “Shakespeare and the Holocaust: Julie Taymor‟s Titus is Beautiful, or Shakesploi Meets
(the) Camp,” Shakespeare After Mass Media, Richard Burt, ed (New York: Palgrave, 2002): 312.
519
Carol Chillington Rutter, “Looking Like A Child - Or - Titus: The Comedy,” Shakespeare Survey 56
(2003): 18.
520
Stone, “Shakespeare‟s Tarantino Play.”
521
Edward Murray, “La Strada,” in Federico Fellini: Essays in Criticism, Peter Bondanella, ed (London;
New York: Oxford University Press, 1978): 40.
522
Murray, 40
523
Murray, 39-40.
147
words. After he witnesses the grotesque horror of his sons‟ severed heads, laughter is
his only response, illustrating the continuing juxtaposition of humour and violence in
Taymor‟s film. The scene shifts from jovial gaiety of a street performance being set up,
complete with the upbeat circus type music, to the grotesque and horrific imagery of
severed heads and hand. While Taymor does not acknowledge the reference to Fellini in
the scene she does note in her DVD commentary that this moment is one where horrific
grotesque nightmare and reality collide, a „Penny Arcade Nightmare for real.‟524
References in Titus to directors from the Cinecittà era of post war Italian filmmaking
such as Fellini and Visconti also carry with them allusions of the legacy of Benito
Mussolini and Fascism. During wartime Cinecittà produced mass amounts of
propaganda for Mussolini‟s Fascist government. Taymor‟s film was partially filmed at
Cinecittà Studios and as a result Michael Anderegg argues it is subsequently implicated
in the „Fascist impulse she wants to comment on.‟525 Anderegg‟s contention is
supported by the fact that the centrepiece of Taymor‟s film is the Palazzo della Civilta
Italiana, which serves as Saturninus‟ Roman court. The Palazzo is part of the
Esposizione Universale Roma (also known as the E.U.R) an enormous complex built by
Mussolini as a celebration of Fascism in Italy. Its presence in Taymor‟s film alludes to
Fascism and of Mussolini‟s brutal regime. The Palazzo della Civilta Italiana was
Mussolini‟s government centre and was built by Mussolini „to re-create the glory of the
Ancient Roman Empire.‟526 The Palazzo is often referred to as the square Coliseum
because of the rows of arches that make up the Neo Classical architecture of the
building‟s façade. Therefore, along with the Coliseum in Pula, also used as a location in
Titus, the Palazzo functions in a symbolic way as an „archetypal theatre of cruelty,
where violence as entertainment reached its apex.‟527
Casting is used as an important form of intertext in Taymor‟s Titus. Elsie Walker notes
that the casting choices in Titus contribute to „the inter-textual story-telling.‟528 Both
Anthony Hopkins and Alan Cumming bring to the characters they play in Titus an
intertextual resonance to roles they have previously played on both stage and screen.
Drawing attention to the “specialised knowledge” of intertextual references that
524
Taymor, “Director‟s Commentary.”
Anderegg, Cinematic Shakespeare, 185.
526
Taymor, Titus: The Illustrated Screenplay, 178.
527
Taymor, Titus: The Illustrated Screenplay, 178.
528
Walker, “Now Is A Time,” 195
525
148
audience members bring to films, Phillip Auslander explains the way in which an
audience “reads” acting:
We arrive at our perception of a performance by implicitly comparing it with
other representations of the same role (or the way we feel the role should be
played), or with our recollection of the same actor in other roles, or with our
knowledge of the stylistic school to which the actor belongs, the actor‟s private
life…our perception of the actor‟s work derives from this play of difference.529
Through recognising intertext, whether consciously or not, an audience‟s interpretation
or “reading” of both the actor‟s performance is coloured by these cultural references. In
Titus a chief example of how intertext is influential to an audience‟s interpretation of an
actor‟s performance is the casting of Alan Cumming. The way in which Cumming
interprets the role of Saturninus reinforces allusions to Fascism and Mussolini already
present in Taymor‟s references to Italian cinema. These citations are used by Taymor to
characterise Saturninus as both sinister and corrupt. In order to appear in Titus, Alan
Cumming took time off from his Tony award winning performance as the Master of
Ceremonies in Sam Mendes‟ revival of Cabaret, a musical set in Nazi controlled
Germany. This intertext as well as Cumming‟s interpretation of his role of Saturninus
leads the audience to draw parallels between Saturninus and the sexually ambiguous
Master of Ceremonies (“Emcee”) of Cabaret.530 Cynthia Fuchs highlights the visual
similarity of both characters in her review of Titus. She describes Alan Cumming‟s
Saturninus as like Cumming‟s portrayal of the Emcee, „done up with Fuhrer-bangs and
529
Philip Auslander quoted in D.J Hopkins, Catherine Ingram and Bryan Reynolds, “Nudge, Nudge,
Wink, Wink, Know What I Mean, Know What I Mean? A Theoretical Approach to Performance for a
Post-Shakespeare,” Performing Transversally: Reimagining Shakespeare and the Critical Future, Bryan
Reynolds, ed; Janelle Reinelt, foreword; Jonathan Gil Harris, afterword (New York: Palgrave Macmillan,
2003): 160.
530
Bob Fosse‟s 1972 film Cabaret starring Liza Minnelli and Michael York is considered the most well
known version of the musical. However, I refer to Sam Mendes Broadway revival of Cabaret, originally
staged at the Donmar Warehouse in 1993, and transferred to Broadway in 1998. There are many
differences between Fosse‟s film and Mendes stage revival. The most significant is the characterisation of
the Emcee. The role of the Emcee was initially played by Joel Grey in Fosse‟s film, as well as the original
West End and Broadway staged productions. Dressed in a tuxedo and with rouged cheeks, Grey portrays
the Emcee in an androgynous and minor sexually suggestive manner. Alan Cumming‟s portrayal of the
Emcee is more overtly sexual in both appearance and performance. His costume consisted of white
suspenders that weave their way around his body and crotch, and red paint on his nipples. The cabaret
number “Two Ladies” in Mendes‟ revival is an example of Cumming‟s highly sexualized performance.
The number is staged with the Emcee, a cabaret girl, and a cabaret boy in drag (Fosse‟s film version had
two cabaret girls), and included a shadow play simulating various sexual positions.
149
psycho eye shadow.‟531 Costumes in Titus were conceived to express the nature of a
character.532 Much like Cumming‟s Emcee, Saturninus is also „played with [a] camp
flamboyance‟533 that combines sexual ambivalence with Fascist symbolism. Saturninus
initially appears dressed in a Gestapo type uniform of long leather trench and combat
boots. Once he becomes Emperor his appearance is reminiscent of Fascist leader Benito
Mussolini, who almost always wore a military uniform. Combining with his fantastical
appearance, Cumming delivers an over-the-top performance that is both comical and
sinister.534 Cumming‟s portrayal is frightening in its fluidity, one moment he is almost
childlike in his insecurity,535 the next megalomaniacal mad and power hungry.536
Cumming‟s Saturninus is also incredibly charismatic, both during the conflict with his
brother Bassianus as well as the coronation scene that follows it. Saturninus‟ bearing
and delivery of lines as he provokes his supporters and demands to be the next Emperor
are reminiscent of the fiery speeches delivered by both Mussolini and Adolf Hitler. This
reading of Saturninus is acknowledged by various critics and reviewers such as Rob
Blackwelder, who characterises Cumming‟s interpretation of his role as „Hitleresque.‟537 Together with the Fascist aesthetic of the E.U.R and Saturninus‟ costuming,
the imagery in Titus therefore works to suggest his eventual “dictator” status in running
Rome. While Saturninus is set up as sinister and amoral through both Cumming‟s
characterisation and Milena Canonero‟s costume design, through most of Titus
Andronicus he doesn‟t necessarily do anything that justifies being presented in such a
villainous way. Alan Hughes characterises Saturninus‟ actions, such as the execution of
Titus‟ two sons, as justified under Roman law: „And while Saturninus orders the
execution of Quintus and Martius, he acts in the belief that they are guilty of
Bassianus‟s murder.‟538 Taymor herself further exonerates Saturninus of guilt, by
eliminating his order that the Clown, who delivers a letter from Titus, be hanged (IV, iv,
44). The only murder Saturninus does commit is when he attacks Titus in retaliation for
531
Cynthia Fuchs, “Meltdown,” Pop Matters, 3 Aug 2004
<http://www.popmatters.com/film/reviews/t/titus.shtml>.
532
Taymor, Titus: The Illustrated Screenplay, 180.
533
Anderegg, Cinematic Shakespeare, 185.
534
Anderegg, Cinematic Shakespeare, 185.
535
Saturninus‟ childlike insecurity is underscored by his outburst in front of the Senate. Stone
characterises Saturninus‟ behaviour as: „like an impulsive, spoiled child‟ (Stone, “Shakespeare‟s
Tarantino Play”). Saturninus also looks childlike as he sits on his throne, which was designed to look like
an oversized armchair. Saturninus‟ legs dangle over the edge of the throne like a child sitting in adult
chair that is too big for him.
536
Saturninus‟ changeability is contrasted with Anthony Hopkins‟ performance as Titus during the
beginning of the film which is exemplified by a steadfast rigidity.
537
Blackwelder, “A Graphic Feast of Brilliance.”
538
Hughes, 38.
150
the murder of his wife Tamora, and is immediately punished for this when he is killed
by Lucius.
The representation of violence in Titus works against Julie Taymor‟s intentions. In
Taymor‟s film violence is to some extent entertaining. Titus‟ retributive frenzy is both
cathartic and potentially crowd-pleasing, and succeeds in „manifesting a „comparable
urge to cleanse the world of a vividly displayed corruption.‟539 The catharsis and
cleansing value of violence in Titus is further exemplified in the characterisation of
Lucius as “hero.” Taymor attempts a counterpoint to the audience‟s relishing in Titus‟
retributive violence primarily through framing the murder of his son Mutius as an
execution, and the disturbing and eerie mood that is set during his shocking “honour
killing” of his daughter Lavinia. However, both these attempts are undercut through the
film‟s use of black humour and the construction and celebration of Titus as “anti-hero.”
Anthony Hopkins‟ presence in Titus also carries with it a significant intertextual weight.
Hopkins is known predominantly for his Oscar winning performance as psychotic
cannibal serial killer Hannibal Lecter in Jonathan Demme‟s film The Silence of the
Lambs. The way in which Hopkins interprets the role of Titus alludes to the role of
Lecter, an observation that is echoed by several reviewers and academics. Playing upon
these allusions to Hannibal Lecter, Taymor presents the characters of Titus and Aaron
as mirrors of each other in the play. She describes the transition of both Titus and Aaron
through her film in terms of role reversal; as one becomes a monster the other becomes
a father:
Nihilistic, atheistic, cold and calculating, this dark figure emerges as the mirror
image of Titus. Titus begins as the good man, acting upon honour and a sense of
morality. Aaron is the artful and self-aware devil who revels in horrific acts of
atrocity without conscience. But by the end, Titus‟ turn as cook closely
resembles an Aaron act in its cruelty and creativity, while Aaron, the loner,
evolves into a loving father, ready to sacrifice himself for the life of his child.540
Titus begins the film and play on the threshold of change. Julie Taymor has rearranged
the order of several scenes from Titus Andronicus, particularly those from the beginning
of the play. Titus opens with a prologue that introduces both Young Lucius and shows
539
540
McCandless, 492.
Taymor, Titus: The Illustrated Screenplay, 178.
151
Titus‟ victorious return from battle. Taymor shifts the battle between Saturninus and
Bassianus for control of Rome (I, i, 1-63) to later in the film. The pomp and ceremony
of the choreographed opening scene immediately demonstrates the way in which
Taymor‟s production stylistically blends time periods. More importantly the opening of
the film clearly suggests Titus as the “hero” and focus of the film.
Through Taymor‟s film Titus‟ role shifts from rigid authoritarianism to wild
vengefulness. His position as a character in transition is signalled through both
performance and costuming. Titus begins the film dressed in an austere uniform. His
uniform visually symbolises not only his position as military leader and the pride with
which he serves Rome, but also the armoured and rigid nature of his character. He is
„invulnerable to real emotion‟541 and is steadfast in his commitment to policy, ritual and
piety. Titus values duty to Rome above loyalty to his family, a point which is
demonstrated in his reluctant acceptance of Lavinia‟s betrothal to Saturninus, and his
killing of Mutius in defence of it. As the film progresses Titus completely transposes his
attitude about privileging duty above loyalty to his family, and as Titus‟ character
changes so do his clothes. Titus‟ costumes gradually change and become more subdued
and lighter in colour. The dark colours of his military uniform are eventually replaced
by his pristine white chef‟s outfit. Director Taymor notes that Titus‟ costume changes
reflect him becoming more vulnerable as the play progresses.542 Titus‟ vulnerability is
linked to his change in attitude regarding his relationship with his family. As Titus
becomes more vulnerable terrible things begin to happen to both him and his family.
The result is that rather than „defining himself as a Roman first and a father second, he
places the wrongs his family has endured above his duty to protect the state.‟543
Following the series of horrific and violent events that occur to Lavinia, his sons and
himself, Titus‟ costume changes from military uniform to a grey cardigan. Sitting down
to dinner with his family Titus is no longer the great military ruler preoccupied with
ideas of piety and duty, but a weary old grandfather, who has been broken by all the
wrongs that have been committed on his family. The shift of Titus‟ attitude from the
“official” to the “personal” is punctuated by the setting, the domestic surrounds of the
Andronicus‟ dining room. Titus‟ appearance and demeanour is fatherly as he tries to
comfort his family and understand his daughter. At the same time Titus has also begun
to plot his revenge. In the previous scene, Titus gathers his family around him swears to
541
Taymor, “Director‟s Commentary.”
Taymor, “Director‟s Commentary.”
543
Hancock, 7.
542
152
right their wrongs (III, i, 277). Revenge is personally rather than politically motivated.
Titus‟ obsession with carrying out vengeance for his family illustrates how his actions
are now motivated by family loyalty rather than the duty he used to feel as a statesman.
Titus‟ next significant costume change occurs in the bath scene (V, ii, 1-165) that is a
part of the Penny Arcade Nightmare Sequence where Rape, Revenge, and Murder
appear. Titus sits naked in a bath writing on parchment in his own blood. This image
itself is a quotation of Jacques Louis David‟s painting The Death of Marat (1793). The
citation suggests Titus as a kind of revolutionary, whose act of taking revenge into his
own hands after his family is attacked and his entreaties are ignored, is seen as an act of
treason against the Empire.544 Stripped of all his armour and clothing in the bath scene,
Titus‟ nakedness is the ultimate expression of his vulnerability, both in mind and body.
Through her rearrangement of the revelation of the identities of Rape, Revenge, and
Murder (as Chiron, Tamora and Demetrius) Taymor frames the scene to suggest that
Titus has possibly been sent mad by all the horrific things that have happened. The
revelation of identities instead appears after the Penny Arcade Nightmare Sequence has
finished. The intended result of delaying the reveal is that the audience does not know
whether that which is seen on screen is real or a figment of Titus‟ imagination. If the
removal of clothes indicates Titus‟ vulnerability, then once Titus starts putting clothes
back on his vulnerability begins to disappear, and so does his apparent madness. Titus
becomes not only as monstrous and cunning as his enemies, but also as determined on
exacting revenge as they are. Disturbed from his bath by Tamora and her sons, Titus
emerges from his house wearing a simple white bathrobe to talk to them. Taymor has
cut Titus‟s aside where he reveals he recognises Tamora and her sons (V, ii, 142-144).
However, Hopkins‟ performance, especially his tone of voice during this scene,
suggests what Titus reveals in the aside, that he is not fooled for a moment and is
playing along with Tamora‟s attempt to trick him. Titus takes the first steps to revenge
when he orders the capture of Chiron and Demetrius and slaughters them with his own
hands. The sacrifice of Alarbus that Titus orders at the beginning of the film is
performed according to „Roman Rites‟ (I, i, 146). His murder of Chiron and Demetrius,
and later that of Tamora is motivated by the violence inflicted upon his family. Titus
admits this when he entreats Tamora (who is disguised as Revenge) with the words: „I
pray thee, do on them some violent death. They have been violent to me and mine.‟
544
Saturninus reveals as much in his tirade against Titus (IV, iv, 1-26) where he refers to Titus‟ action as
„libelling against the Senate‟ (IV, iv, 17).
153
Richard Burt observes that audiences viewing Shakespeare in film have a tendency to
„read backward from film to Shakespeare.‟545 Hopkins‟ performance during the scene
where Titus slaughters Chiron and Demetrius is cold and calculating, and recalls his
earlier role of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs. Taymor herself notes how
influential Hopkins‟ previous role is in shaping audience‟s perceptions of his portrayal
of Titus. Responding to comment by an interviewer about Hopkins‟ history in appearing
in films containing grotesque horror (the interviewer light-heartedly notes a connection
between Silence of the Lambs and Titus, as both films contain Hopkins and severed
heads) Taymor replies with „Exactly! You‟d have to use Hannibal Lecter.‟ 546 Further
establishing a connection between Titus and Lecter, Anthony Hopkins cites his well
known previous role when Titus delivers Lecter‟s signature “slurp” as he relishes in the
prospect of butchering Chiron and Demetrius and serving them up to their mother.547
The allusion to Lecter is significant as it shows how Titus‟ role has shifted from
respected statesman to murderous monster. The slaughter scene in Titus and Taymor‟s
citation of a recognisable character from popular culture exemplifies how the film
diverts from her intentions, and violence in the film is cathartic and entertaining.
Through the use of close-up and recurrent focus the slaughter scene centres on Titus‟
pained reaction to his recounting of the crimes committed against him and his family.
David McCandles describes the effect of this technique as:
The fixation of Taymor‟s camera on the wounded eruptive Titus, combined with
Hopkins‟s intrinsic gravitas and eloquent pathos, create precisely the sort of
“star turn” conductive to heroizing a potentially repellent lunatic.548
While Taymor‟s stage production of Titus Andronicus focussed on the bodies of the
boys and the terrible way they are murdered, her film adaptation centres on Titus and
his emotions, creating empathy for Titus and the justification for his revenge.549 Both
the focus on Titus and the citations to Hannibal Lecter work to undermine Taymor‟s
intended criticism of violence as entertainment. In a series of filmic cuts Titus‟ horrific
545
Burt, “Shakespeare and the Holocaust,” 308.
Taymor quoted in Russell, “Titus: A Class Reborn.”
547
Several academics and critics have noted the connection between Hopkins‟ Titus and Hannibal Lecter.
Both Virginia Mason Vaughn and Richard Burt make particular note of Titus‟ use of Lecter‟s signature
mannerism. See Burt, “Shakespeare and the Holocaust,” 308, and Virginia Mason Vaughn, “Looking at
the „Other‟ in Julie Taymor's Titus,” Shakespeare Bulletin 21.3 Fall (2003): 73.
548
McCandles, 493.
549
McCandles, 493.
546
154
slaughter of the boys is juxtaposed firstly with the image of two pies cooling on a
window sill and then with Titus‟ comical appearance in chef‟s attire as he serves the
pies made from human flesh to his guests. Titus is no longer vulnerable and is now in
complete control as his plan for revenge climaxes. The juxtaposition between the
disturbing and the comical domestic imagery is intended to make the audience aware of
the nature of violence in entertainment and to unsettle them, undercutting their
delight.550 However, undermining this intent is the way in which the retributive violence
that occurs in Titus is crowd-pleasing. Taymor remarks on her DVD commentary that
this banquet scene gets the most reaction in her film. Anderegg summarises the appeal
of Titus‟ behaviour to the audience by asserting that „everything Titus does is so
„“right” and at the same time horribly “wrong.”‟551 The use of the song „Vivere‟ also
adds extra levity in the scene. The musical choice together with the image of Titus
smiling sinisterly and brandishing cutlery and his delight in serving up the pies made
from Chiron and Demetrius‟ remains to their mother is both unsettling and humorous.
Once again it recalls what Walker refers to as the „ghoulish excess‟552 of Hannibal
Lecter. The audience is positioned to laugh at Titus‟ repellent and daring act, and along
with the empathy created with Titus in the previous scene this tempers the vilification of
Titus in Taymor‟s film.
Taymor also vindicates Titus by explicitly „demonizing his enemies.‟553 Whether
intentional or not, Taymor presents Titus‟ revenge against Tamora as acceptable by her
characterisation as vile and loathsome. Tamora‟s appearance is reminiscent of Italian
film aesthetic from the 1930s and 1940s. Taymor herself implies that her presentation of
Tamora was inspired in part by the baroness from The Damned:
And the 30s and 40s gives you a feeling about Jessica Lange and her character.
She‟s very androgynous and decadent. It‟s metal, a feeling like you got watching
Visconti‟s The Damned.554
Much like the Baroness, Jessica Lange‟s Tamora is a ruthless figure who will do
anything to achieve her desires for power and revenge, employing seduction as a tool to
manipulate those around her. Further parallels between the two characters are seen in
550
Lindroth, 113.
Anderegg, Cinematic Shakespeare, 188.
552
Walker, “Now Is A Time,” 196.
553
McCandles, 493.
554
Taymor quoted in Eby, “Julie Taymor on making Titus.”
551
155
Lange‟s interpretation of Tamora, in particular her relationship with her sons. Taymor
characterises their close relationship as „almost incestuous,‟555 and their interaction
certainly recalls the sexualised nature of the relationship between the Baroness and her
son. As with Cabaret, Visconti‟s The Damned is set in Germany during the Nazi rise to
power. The citations to both films further highlights the way in which Taymor aligns
Fascist imagery with decadence and sexual non-conformity. Costuming is important in
Titus and influences the way in which audiences read the characters of Tamora and also
Lavinia:
Costume is character not period. I thought of Lavinia more as Grace Kelly, with
the little white gloves, 1950s character. But Tamora is more like Visconti‟s
1930s film, The Damned. She‟s androgynous.556
Tamora is further demonised through being contrasted with Lavinia. Both Tamora and
Lavinia are constructed in terms of recognisable symbols of femininity - female figures
from the world of cinema. Tamora is presented in an overtly sexualised way, wearing
bright and bold suggestive clothing that alludes to buxom “bombshells” from Italian
cinema of the 1930s and 1940s. Burt reads Tamora‟s sexualisation as „a sign of her
moral corruption by her desire of revenge.‟557 He goes on to suggest that in contrast
with Tamora, Lavinia‟s „moral purity is represented by her lack of sexuality.‟558
Lavinia‟s purity is stressed through the allusions to an idea of “conservative” femininity
prevalent during America in the 1950s; she is dressed in a black full bell skirt
reminiscent of Grace Kelly, personifying the virginal “girl-next-door” aesthetic. Taymor
emphasises Lavinia‟s purity further by literally placing Lavinia on a tree stump
pedestal, her costuming, a torn and bloodied petticoat, suggesting a ravaged Degas
ballerina.559 Once raped by Chiron and Demetrius Lavinia‟s costuming changes from
“conservative” black to bright sexual red. Resembling Tamora‟s hunting outfit,
Lavinia‟s new costume symbolises her defilement. The image of Lavinia on a pedestal
555
Taymor, “Director‟s Commentary.”
Taymor quoted in Richard Schechner, “Julie Taymor: From Jacques Lecoq to The Lion King,” TDR:
The Drama Review 43.3 (T 163) Fall (1999): 47-48.
557
Burt, “Shakespeare and the Holocaust,” 315.
558
Burt, “Shakespeare and the Holocaust,” 315.
559
The difference between the two women is further illustrated in the contrast between their mates,
Saturninus and Bassianus. The dichotomy between 1950‟s conservative and 1930‟s and 1940‟s decadent
sexualised imagery can be seen in the opening scene where the brothers vie to be Emperor of Rome. As
Taymor notes, „cars and costumes are a reflection of character so Saturninus, who‟s this kind of mad
emperor, drives in Mussolini‟s car, I mean it really is of that period. Then his brother, who‟s more of a
1950s straight sort of guy, very conservative, he drives a 50s convertible.‟ Taymor quoted in Eby, “Julie
Taymor on making Titus.”
556
156
appears again during Lavinia‟s rape flashback Penny Arcade Nightmare Sequence.
Taymor once again draws on recognisable symbols of femininity from cinema in order
to convey Lavinia‟s change in character from virginal to sexualised object. In this
stylised flashback sequence Lavinia, part human, part doe is attacked by Chiron and
Demetrius, who appear as part hum, part tiger. In a deliberate quotation of Marilyn
Monroe‟s skirt flying up as she crosses a subway grate in Billy Wilder‟s film The Seven
Year Itch (1955), Lavinia, a look of anguish and fear on her face, helplessly beats down
her billowing skirt. Director Taymor asserts that this image is an apt modern iconic
parallel to this scene of humiliation and rape.560 Burt astutely argues that sexuality in
Taymor‟s Titus is made the equivalent of the violent act of rape, and is „something that
happens to (good) women rather than something that is part of them.‟ 561 Unlike
Tamora,562 Lavinia is not in charge of her sexual pleasure, and her transition to
sexualised object is forced unwillingly upon her. This once again illustrates what I see
as Taymor‟s continued “conservative” approach in Titus in aligning violence and
sexuality.
Contrasting with the construction of both Tamora as villainous sexualised revenger and
Saturninus as morally corrupt Emperor of Rome, Taymor‟s characterisation of Lucius as
“hero” in Titus is also problematic. Lucius begins the cycle of violent revenge and also
brings bloodshed and death into the play.563 Both the opening and the closing of the film
are dominated by Lucius‟ call for revenge, firstly in the guise of institutionalised justice
and by the end, simply bloodthirsty retribution. Lucius‟ first words in the film are an
insistence on a ritualistic sacrifice as a tribute to his dead brothers:
Give us the proudest prisoner of the Goths,
That we may hew his limbs, and on a pile
Ad manes fratrum, sacrifice his flesh
That so the shadows not be unappeased,
Nor we disturbed with prodigies on earth.
560
Taymor, Titus: The Illustrated Screenplay, 184.
Burt, “Shakespeare and the Holocaust,” 315.
562
Burt further argues that only “bad” women like Tamora are in charge of their sexual pleasure in Titus.
(Burt, “Shakespeare and the Holocaust,” 315). Tamora‟s sexuality is aligned with the corruptness of
Rome, because she uses it in order to manipulate those around her and rise to power.
563
Taylor, “Lucius, the Severely Flawed Redeemer of Titus Andronicus,” 141.
561
157
Lucius demands and relishes in the sacrifice of Alarbus. His report of the event is
disturbing in the language he uses to describe the violent event and the pride with which
he says it:
See, lord, father, how we have performed
Our Roman rites: Alarbus‟ limbs lopped,
And entrails feed the sacrificing fire,
Whose smoke like incense doth perfume the sky.
The savagery of pride with which he describes the sacrifice underscores Lucius‟
position as the initiator of the cycle of violence and brutality in Titus. In her DVD
commentary Taymor implies that it was her intention to present the idea that witnessing
the brutal way in which Alarbus is killed sets the chain of vengeance in motion and
instigates Tamora and her sons‟ hatred and desire for violent revenge.564 Anthony Brian
Taylor points out correspondences in Shakespeare‟s text between the events of the
sacrifice and those of Lavinia‟s rape and mutilation.565 Taylor notes that Lucius‟
immediate response to Tamora‟s pleas for her son‟s life is „Away with him, and make a
fire straight.‟ (I, i, 127. Italics are Taylor‟s). Similarly, Lavinia‟s plea for her own life is
met with: „Therefore away with her, and use her as you will.‟ (II, iii,166. Italics are
Taylor‟s).566 Taymor punctuates the brutal and disturbing way in which Lucius relishes
in the sacrifice of Alarbus with the reaction of Young Lucius. Taymor does not show
the actual sacrifice and instead focuses on Young Lucius‟ shocked expression as he
witnesses the gruesome image, and the sizzling sound of entrails being thrown into the
fire by his blood splattered father.
While Julie Taymor is critical of the cruel and pointless ritualistic violence of this scene,
in contrast she characterises Lucius as justified in his violent actions against Aaron later
in the film. When Aaron is captured at the Goth army base, Lucius stands over him and
cruelly gloats with a menacing grin, and also threatens to murder Aaron‟s son. Only
after Aaron revels in his description of the rape of Lavinia does Lucius explode into
action and senselessly beat him. Taymor excuses the depiction of violence with the
explanation that „everybody would understand his violent response because he is so
564
Taymor, “Director‟s Commentary.”
Taylor notes that this verbal patterning is influenced by Ovid and is also seen in the play‟s major
Ovidian source, the story of Philomel. Taylor, “Lucius, the Severely Flawed Redeemer of Titus
Andronicus,” note 16, 154.
566
Taylor, “Lucius, the Severely Flawed Redeemer of Titus Andronicus,” 143.
565
158
greatly provoked.‟567 Her defence of Lucius is at odds with how the violent act is
presented on screen. Lucius‟ attack on Aaron is brutal. The sound of Lucius‟ fists and
boot making contact with Aaron is harsh and loud, all the more noticeable by the
absence of the score during the scene. Taymor further defends Lucius in her revelation
that actor Angus MacFayden, who plays Lucius, insisted his character not kill Aaron‟s
infant son because his character would not break his word.568 This differs from her stage
production of Titus Andronicus, where Aaron‟s son is represented on stage in the final
moments of the play by a tiny black coffin, suggesting to the audience that Lucius has
indeed murdered the infant. Both her explanation of MacFayden‟s interpretation of his
character, and statement regarding the provocation of Lucius illustrate how Taymor
wants to acquit Lucius of blame for the violence he engages in. Virginia Mason Vaughn
summarises the intent of Taymor‟s characterisation of Lucius:
In choices that seem inconsistent with the rest of the film, MacFayden and
Taymor clearly want their Lucius to be a “good guy” in a play where there are
no good guys.569
Taymor‟s acquittal of Lucius is a contradiction of her examination and criticism of
violence in entertainment. Just as with their perception of Titus‟ actions, the audience of
Taymor‟s film is encouraged to relish in Lucius‟ payback. Violence becomes acceptable
when justifiably provoked against a character who is a figure of empathy and is
presented as a “hero.” Vaughn characterises MacFayden‟s Lucius as a „manly man, a
warrior garbed in dark and austere uniforms, or leather garnished with metal.‟570
Costuming in Titus serves to express the nature of a character, therefore the audience is
encouraged to read Lucius as a “heroic” gladiator, who emerges from the battle
victorious and is “rightly” awarded the rule of Rome. Lisa Hopkins draws on this
“heroic” intertext in her examination of MacFayden‟s portrayal of Lucius, and notes a
similarity with MacFayden‟s role of Robert the Bruce in Mel Gibson‟s film Braveheart
(1995). Hopkins argues that both characters are survivors,571 who emerge as rulers in
the end because of the death of the other contenders.572 Further attempts to present
567
Taymor, “Director‟s Commentary.”
Taymor, “Director‟s Commentary.”
569
Vaughn, 78.
570
Vaughn, 78.
571
Lisa Hopkins‟ use of the word “survivors” (Hopkins, “A Tiger's Heart,” 63) suggests that the audience
overlook each man‟s flaws and instead focus on their great will and determination to overcome the
obstacles in their lives.
572
Hopkins, “A Tiger's Heart,” 63.
568
159
Lucius in a positive light are made by both Taymor and Elliot Goldenthal. In their
respective commentaries on the Titus DVD, they both explicitly make a connection
between Lucius and the figure who they believe Shakespeare alludes to, his namesake,
the legendary King Lucius, who introduced Christianity into Britain. Taylor is critical of
such a connection, and argues that Lucius is severely flawed and unworthy of a
comparison with his apparent namesake.573 In response to Taylor‟s argument, Maurice
Hunt notes several “positive” features of Lucius‟ character.574 Lucius defends his sister
(I, i, 282) and offers his own hand to be cut off to save his father pain and anguish (III,
ii, 162-166).575 He is driven by revenge and swears to right his family‟s wrongs no
matter what. It is precisely this drive for revenge and the brutal way Lucius achieves it
at the end of Titus that complicates the alignment of Shakespeare‟s Lucius with the
historical Christian figure of piety. Hunt further defends Lucius through the observation
that Lucius‟ sensitivity and finer “human” feelings manifest themselves in his
concluding words to his son (V, iii, 159-165).576 These words of caring and tenderness
are cut by Taymor in her film. The only interaction between father and son at the end of
Titus is in Young Lucius‟ silent observation as his father murders Saturninus and
mercilessly sentences Aaron to death by starvation. After the massacre of Act V, Lucius
emerges as a figure of authority and responsibility to restore order to Rome. While the
play and film end with the word pity, Lucius is guilty of that which he accuses Tamora
of, being „devoid of pity‟ (V, iii, 198). He does not attempt to disguise his words behind
notions of institutionalised forms of justice or religious piety. Rather than merely
dispensing justice he is „once again inflicting pain and agony with calculated relish.‟ 577
In sentencing Aaron and Tamora, Hancock notes that „vengeance remains the governing
motivation for violence.‟578 These words of vengeance are what Lucius leaves with his
son Young Lucius. Therefore, in his decision in Taymor‟s film to show mercy on
Aaron‟s infant son and carry him out of the Coliseum, Young Lucius proves more
deserving than his father as worthy of a comparison with his pious namesake.
Analysis of both the diverse musical score and intertextual references in Titus helps us
to understand the way in which Julie Taymor attempts to critique both violence as
573
Taylor, “Lucius, the Severely Flawed Redeemer of Titus Andronicus,” 138-141.
Maurice Hunt, “Exonerating Lucius in Titus Andronicus: A Response to Anthony Brian Taylor,”‟
Connotations 7.1 (1997-98): 87-93.
575
Both these actions are also present in Taymor‟s film.
576
Hunt, 88.
577
Taylor, “Lucius, the Severely Flawed Redeemer of Titus Andronicus,” 144.
578
Hancock, 19.
574
160
entertainment and the impact of violence on children. Composer Elliot Goldenthal uses
music to unsettle the audience and highlight brutal violence within the film. Character
and larger themes are also conveyed in Titus through musical motifs. The repetition of
Goldenthal‟s „pity theme,‟ illustrates the cyclical nature of violence performed by those
within the film who are clouded by revenge. The other major musical motif within the
film, the „mercy theme‟ represents the compassion and kindness performed by
characters, such as Young Lucius, who are outside the cycle of violence and are not
driven by a desire for retribution. Director Taymor foregrounds the character of Young
Lucius, a feature borrowed from Jane Howell‟s BBC production of Titus Andronicus.
Taymor uses the shift in Young Lucius‟ role from passive observer to active participant
as a means to highlight how children are indoctrinated into a culture of violence. Only
through knowledge and embracing compassion can they escape the space of violence.
While Taymor‟s critique of the impact of violence on children is supported through the
use of intertextual references, these same references highlight how she also becomes
implicit in the system that she is attempting to criticise. Undermining Taymor‟s intent to
criticise the entertainment value of violence in contemporary culture is the empathy
created between the audience and Anthony Hopkins‟ Titus. Taymor‟s film presents
certain violence as justified, cathartic and entertaining, allowing the audience to relish in
Titus‟ brutal and calculated retribution. Also problematical to Taymor‟s intended
criticism of the impact of violence is the characterisation of Lucius, the initiator of the
cycle of retributive violence that occurs in Titus, as “hero.” Through this Taymor seems
to suggest that certain types of violence are understandable and ultimately acceptable.
161
Billy Morrissette’s Scotland, PA (2001)
In adapting Macbeth in his Scotland, PA (2001) director Billy Morrissette comments on
the issues of ambition, greed and the desire to escape the limitations of class in “small
town” America. Scotland, PA can also be read as an observation on the struggles
involved in adapting Shakespeare for film, in particular the split reception that occurs
when the works of Shakespeare are translated to the medium of film. Morrissette sets
his adaptation of Macbeth in suburban America of the 1970s. In Scotland, PA, themes
of passion, love, ambition and greed transcend the original tale of murderous royalty
and now become the foundation for suburban squabbles, intrigue, and murder. This
translation is further reinforced by the deletion of various characters and plots and the
slight alteration to the ending of Macbeth. The motivation for murder in Morrissette‟s
film, in this case kidnapping that turns into accidental death, is no longer the crown of
Scotland, but control of a local fast food restaurant called “Duncan‟s.” Scotland, PA
draws upon the comedic moments of its source material Macbeth and is transformed by
director Morrissette into a black comedy. The sinister dark humour of Scotland, PA is
similar to that of Fargo (1996), a murder mystery set in “small town” Minnesota, and a
film which Morrissette claims as a point of reference in his audiocommentary on the
Scotland, PA DVD.579 The humour in Morrissette‟s film comes from the collision of
references and cultural allusions, and the disparity between the “high art” of
Shakespeare and the “low art” of the various popular culture references from 1970s‟
America, which dominate the film‟s production design. Understanding the references
and allusions in Morrissette‟s film is therefore instrumental in understanding the
comedy of the film. Along with the numerous references to popular culture of the
1970s, which also incorporates clothing and set design, music is also an important tool
used to situate the viewer in the suburban America world of the film. Although no
official soundtrack for the film has been released, the music used in Scotland, PA is
made up of a score by composer Anton Sanko, and more significantly a selection of
579
Quotations from the Billy Morrissette‟s commentary are my own transcriptions based on the DVD
release of the film. Scotland, PA, Dir. Billy Morrissette, Abandon Pictures/Lot 47 Films/Showtime
Entertainment/Sundance Channel Home Entertainment, DVD, US, 2002.
163
various songs from the 1970s. In particular Scotland, PA contains several songs
performed by the band Bad Company, who were a favourite of director Billy
Morrissette in his youth. As I have shown is the case in other films based on
Shakespeare‟s plays, music is also used in a thematic way in order to define character in
Scotland, PA. Sanko‟s score is composed of themes for each character, while the
various other musical selections, along with visual elements of the production design,
define characters‟ class and morality in the film.
In Billy Morrissette‟s film Scotland, PA music firstly functions as a way in which to
situate the viewer in the time period the film is set. Apart from the modern score
composed for the film, the musical choices in Morrissette‟s film are otherwise
dominated by songs from the 1970s. In particular Morrissette chose to use a number of
songs by Rock band Bad Company, as they were a favourite band of his when he was
growing up in Connecticut. For Morrissette the music of Bad Company perfectly
summed up the life and struggles of those living in suburban America during the
1970s.580 Other musical selections used in Scotland, PA include songs by popular
musical artists from the 1970s including Janis Ian, First Class, Three Dog Night, and
The Marshall Tucker Band. Together with a mise-en-scène dominated by pop culture
references from the 1970s, and David Robinson‟s costuming inspired by fashion from
the 1960s and 1970s, Morrissette presents a world on the verge of the fast food
revolution, which now dominates American culture. Music in Scotland Pa not only
situates the audience in a specific time and place but is also used as a way to define
character and narrative themes. In particular, the representation of the connection
between taste and class and Morrissette‟s film is developed on an auditory level through
the variety of musical choices.
Composer Anton Sanko‟s score for Scotland, PA is highlighted by its light-hearted,
brassy and rhythmic tango sound. Sanko‟s score reflects and defines characters through
providing them with their own theme or musical motif. For example, during the opening
scene where Mac first meets the three witches, the score sounds both jaunty and
carnivalesque. The music complements Morrissette‟s characterisation of the witches as
“kooky” and crazy hippies living at a local carnival, and adds to the light-heartedness of
the scene. Another more significant example of how Sanko‟s score functions in the film
can be heard during a scene in what is now “McBeth‟s” restaurant. As Lieutenant
580
Morrissette, “Director‟s Commentary.”
164
McDuff questions various staff about Norm Duncan and his son Malcolm‟s turbulent
relationship, Sanko‟s score aurally differentiates each character. Morrissette notes in the
DVD commentary for the film that Sanko took the same song, the opening title theme,
but changed it slightly so it became a theme for each character in the scene. For Mrs
Lennox (a waitress at “Duncan‟s” and also “McBeth‟s”) the theme is a little lighter, and
for Anthony “Banko” Banconi (Mac‟s best friend) the theme is composed of whistles.
Finally for Mac, the theme returns to its original sound of accordions and tango beat. By
using the same song but differing the sound slightly, Sanko‟s score helps the scene flow,
and at the same time allows for each character to be individually highlighted.
As well as a score by Anton Sanko, Scotland, PA contains numerous musical selections
by assorted bands from the 1970s. The use of music from a specific period in history,
along with popular culture references, costuming and set design helps situate viewers in
the time period the film is set, 1970s‟ America. Using music in order to establish a time
and place is a common technique used in many modern films and television shows.
Recent examples of this practice include the film The Wedding Singer (1998) and
television drama serials Cold Case (2003) and Life on Mars (2006). Just as costuming
defines a character in film visually, musical cues and the associations the audience
makes because of the musical choices can be used to define characters aurally. In
Scotland, PA the musical cues associated with the character of Donald Duncan are an
example of how music defines a character. Song choices from the musical Cabaret play
upon stereotypical associations between musical theatre and homosexuality, and are
used by director Morrissette to hint at Donald‟s alternative sexuality. The
characterisation is further reinforced in the juxtaposition between Donald and his
brother Malcolm. In a scene that highlights the difference between the two brothers, the
camera pans from an image of Donald sitting listening to the very quiet, feminine
sounds of gay icon singer Janis Ian, to the loud, gritty and heavy macho sounds of Rock
band Bad Company that blare from Malcolm‟s stereo. Popular culture references are
also used to further imply the difference between the boys. Malcolm‟s messy bedroom
is plastered with posters of Al Pacino and Jimi Hendrix and graffiti, and suggests macho
heterosexuality. Contrasting with this Donald‟s bedroom is extremely neat and contains
a poster of the film Cabaret featuring gay icon Liza Minnelli, as well as a sexually
165
suggestive poster of bare-chested footballer Joe Namath.581 The presence of the latter in
particular serves as a visual punch line to the exchange between Norm Duncan and son
Malcolm over whether Donald likes playing football. The photo of Namath suggests to
the audience not Donald‟s love of the game, but instead his feelings of desire towards
men.
Music in Scotland, PA is more significantly used by director Morrissette as a way to
illustrate characters‟ taste and its connection to their class and moral standing. Scotland,
PA examines America‟s class divide through translating the central question in Macbeth
concerning the way in which a person determines their own fate, into a question about
the roles which people play in establishing their place in America‟s social order.582 The
desire for Scotland‟s throne is translated by Morrissette into Pat and Mac‟s desire to
escape the “white-trash” “working-class” place in 1970s‟ American society. However,
the film shows that it becomes impossible for Pat and Mac to escape their class because,
although they become wealthy, they cannot escape their “bad taste.” Anthony D Hoefer
Jr. notes the way in which taste and class identity are linked in Morrissette‟s film:
Consumption provides identity in late capitalist economy, and the film certainly
plays with mass-consumer products to establish its characters. But even when
Pat and Mac find success, their tastes remain comically tacky…True class
mobility, it seems, is impossible, as patterns of accumulation and consumption
inevitably reveal true class identity.583
Elaborating on the McBeths‟ inability to escape class, Elizabeth Deitchman notes that
although their status as employees at a fast food restaurant (and therefore their
minimum wage income) might account for the meagreness of their possessions, „their
transformation from workers to owners highlights the scope and significance of their
white-trash aesthetic.‟584 Although they become wealthy their tastes do not change; the
McBeths‟ failure to truly move up in Scotland‟s society is signalled by the persistence
of their “working-class” taste. Hoefer Jr. further suggests that McDuff‟s movement
581
The presence of the photo of Joe Namath is an example of the many references to the 1970s time
period which saturate the film‟s production design, and are used to situate the viewer in the 1970s.
Namath‟s sporting career spanned the years 1965-1977.
582
Elizabeth A. Deitchman, “White Trash Shakespeare: Taste, Morality, and the Dark Side of the
American Dream in Billy Morrissette‟s Scotland, PA,” Literature/Film Quarterly 34.2 (2006): 140.
583
Anthony D. Hoefer Jr., „The McDonaldization of Macbeth: Shakespeare and Pop Culture in Scotland,
PA‟ Literature/Film Quarterly 34.2 (2006): 158.
584
Deitchman, “White Trash Shakespeare,” 143.
166
from police detective to small business owner is more acceptable because in terms of
hierarchy the move is a lateral one.585 However, this assumption is problematic given
Christopher Walken‟s portrayal of McDuff is characterised by an underlying
sinisterness, primarily due to Walken‟s own intertext. Charles Taylor describes the
types of roles Walken has become synonymous with in his acting career as „by-now
patented Walken schtick - vaguely menacing weirdness.‟586 Taylor refers to Christopher
Walken‟s characteristic traits in performance, in particular his peculiar speech rhythm
and “deadpan” delivery of lines. Walken initially agreed to take on the role of
Lieutenant Ernie McDuff because he would be playing a nice guy.587 However, during
the course of filming, Walken‟s motivations for the character changed, as revealed by
director Billy Morrissette:
He [Walken] would say things like, „What if I don‟t really have a wife and kids,
and I was just saying that?‟ Well, they don‟t show up. He couldn‟t get over that
at the end of the movie he ended up with the restaurant, and he would talk about
that. He‟d say, „So I must have some ulterior motive.‟588
Walken‟s change in the way in which he approached portraying McDuff invites the
audience to question the character‟s motivations for investigating the McBeths.
Walken‟s McDuff is no longer a nice guy, but is characterised as „after the restaurant
the whole time.‟589 The ending of Morrissette‟s film shows McDuff in control of the fast
food restaurant, which now offers healthy vegetarian meals such as a “Garden Burger.”
Though his reason for wanting to take over the restaurant may be less motivated by
fiscal and class ambitions and more of an ideological one, this ending suggests that
McDuff is no less ambitious than Pat and Mac. I refer to McDuff‟s vegetarianism,
which is contrasted with meat dominated menu at “McBeth‟s.” McDuff equates the
greasy fast food offered at “McBeth‟s” with poison in his line: „Get them hooked, like
kids on drugs.‟590 Once he kills Mac, McDuff turns “McBeth‟s” into his own fast food
vision, offering a “healthy” vegetarian menu. The ending also draws parallels to Roman
585
Hoefer Jr., 158.
Charles Taylor, “Scotland, PA,” Salon, Feb 8 2002, 18 July 2004
<http://archive.salon.com/ent/movies/review/2002/02/08/scotland/>.
587
“Behind the Lens: Scotland, PA. writer/director Billy Morrissette,” New York Screenwriter 10.6
Feb/Mar (2002). Celebrating Christopher Walken June 19 2007, 20 June 2007
<http://www.ojai.net/swanson/newyorkscreenwriter.htm>.
588
Jamie Malanowski, “Macbeth, Droll and Deep Fried,” New York Times Feb 3 2002: 2.11.
589
Morrissette, “Director‟s Commentary.”
590
Quotations of the dialogue are my own transcriptions based on the DVD release of the film.
586
167
Polanski‟s own film adaptation of Macbeth (1971), which itself ends with Donalbain‟s
visit to the three witches, suggesting his sinister ambitions for his brother‟s crown, and
the power, influence and wealth that comes with it. Both films translate the ongoing
cycle of ambition and bloodshed from the play through visually implying the hidden
motives of Lieutenant McDuff and Donalbain respectively. Another significant feature
in Scotland, PA that influences the reading of Walken‟s depiction of McDuff is the
removal of his family. The brutal murder of Macduff‟s family and his grief at their loss
in Macbeth is an important factor in establishing both the audience‟s sympathy for him
and their revulsion of Macbeth for ruthlessly ordering it:
Macduff
He has no children. All my pretty ones?
Did you say all? O hell-kite! All?
What, all my pretty chickens and their dam
At one fell swoop?
Malcolm
Dispute it like a man.
Macduff
I shall do so;
But I must also feel it as a man;
I cannot but remember such things were
That were most precious to me. Did heaven look on,
And would not take their part? Sinful Macduff,
They were all struck for thee! naught that I am,
Not for their own demerits, but for mine,
Fell slaughter on their souls. Heaven rest them now.
168
(IV, iii, 218-230)591
The scene marks Macduff as a loving father and a figure of pathos. Macduff‟s grief in
the realisation of the murder of his innocent family stirs sympathy within the audience,
and is an example of how the play sets up Macduff as hero, albeit a problematic one.
Macduff abandons his wife and child and flees to England, leaving his family in harm‟s
way. Malcolm questions Macduff‟s reasoning behind this action (IV, iii, 25-31). R.S
White astutely notes that „Macduff is offended by this accusation, but neither penitent
nor explanatory.‟592 Shakespeare offers us no reasoning behind Macduff‟s failure to
show love and duty towards his family. Macduff‟s guilt is somewhat tempered with his
heartfelt reaction to the news of the death of his family, and his passionate declaration to
seeking revenge on their behalf (IV, iii, 213-238). His family‟s brutal murder becomes
the driving force behind his deadly pursuit of Macbeth, and is set up, along with his
loyalty to Scotland (which has cost him his family), as justification for the killing of
villain Macbeth. The scene is also set up by Shakespeare as a contrast to the next act,
where the death of Lady Macbeth is revealed (V, v, 8-18). Both Macduff and Macbeth
lose their closest relation and confidants, and with the loss of their family comes the end
of their respective family lines. The removal of Macduff‟s family in Scotland, PA
affects the characterisation of Lieutenant McDuff. He is no longer presented as the
respected Thane of Fife, grieving father, and a figure of pathos with which the audience
can sympathise, but as a man with “Macbeth-like” motivations of power. The parallel
between Lieutenant McDuff and Mac does not come about through the loss of their
families, but instead more troublingly through their ruthless ambitions to control
“Duncan‟s.” Morrissette invites his audience to view Lieutenant McDuff‟s murder of
Mac as less justified because of the revelation of his sinister ambitions for control of the
restaurant. The alteration is one of the ways in which Morrissette attempts to steer the
audience‟s sympathies towards the McBeths, a dominant feature of his film, which I
shall later discuss further in relation to the characterisation of Pat McBeth.
In Scotland, PA the film‟s soundtrack plays a critical role in establishing a character‟s
taste and therefore their associations with work.593 The contrast between the lower-class
591
Line citations from Macbeth refer to the New Cambridge edition, edited by A.R. Braunmuller. William
Shakespeare, Macbeth, A.R. Braunmuller, ed (Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press,
1997).
592
R.S. White, Shakespeare‟s Macbeth (Melbourne: Sydney University Press in association with Oxford
University Press, 2005): 23.
593
Deitchman, “White Trash Shakespeare,” 142.
169
and middle-classes in Scotland, PA is signalled by a character‟s taste in music, with
both Rock & Roll music and classical music used as markers of class. Rock music from
the 1970s, in particular songs by band Bad Company, is used in Scotland, PA to signal
both “low-class” and bad behaviour. This connection between Rock music and “lowclass” and taste is best articulated by Norm Duncan, the film‟s example of “middleclass” hard work, as he lectures his son Malcolm on the value of hard work. Malcolm
would rather play in his band than help out at his father‟s restaurant. Norm‟s disgust that
his son would rather play in a Rock band than working in the family business is met
with Duncan telling Malcolm: „you sound like Scotland trash,‟ thus connecting Rock
music with the worst aspects of “low-class” life and culture. Rock music in the film is
„blue-collar fare played after work on jukeboxes and in dive bars‟594 and as such is
associated with characters such as the McBeths, signalling them as “low-class.”
Morrissette‟s film links social class to morality, with characters‟ bad deeds becoming
inseparable from “bad taste.”595 In particular, the choice of music by Bad Company can
be literally taken to suggest that Pat and Mac are bad company,596 and are morally
corrupt because of their love of Rock music.
Contrasting with the popular music selections are the presence of two recognizable
pieces of classical music by Ludwig Van Beethoven, his „Seventh Symphony‟ and
„Moonlight Sonata.‟ Classical music in Scotland, PA is associated with “good taste” and
moral character, and as such is heard in scenes involving Norm Duncan, and during
Mac‟s one “good” deed in the film. In Morrissette‟s film, Norm Duncan „bears an acute
sense of his social position, and is figured, both by others and himself, as somehow
“above” the rest of Scotland.‟597 An example of this can be seen early in the film where
Norm is attending his son Donald‟s football game. As he converses with a local woman,
who is working a concession stand, she greets him with: „Come down to visit the little
people?‟ Her comment suggests that Norm‟s place as a rank above the rest of Scotland‟s
“working-class” residents. The choice to associate Norm with classical music is
therefore intended as a way to set Norm apart from others in Scotland, who prefer to
listen to Rock music. Connecting Norm with classical music is also used to characterise
him as both hard working and moral. Beethoven‟s „Moonlight Sonata,‟ is heard playing
softly during Norm‟s wake. As the Sonata plays, the camera focuses on a photo of
594
Eric C. Brown, “Shakespeare, Class, and Scotland, PA,” Literature/Film Quarterly 34.2 (2006): 149.
Deitchman, “White Trash Shakespeare,” 145.
596
Deitchman, “White Trash Shakespeare,” 142.
597
Brown, “Shakespeare, Class, and Scotland, PA,” 150.
595
170
Norm dressed in his “Duncan‟s” restaurant uniform. This scene is a filmic moment
where a relationship is established between the “fine art” of classical music and ideas of
morality and the value of hard work. The other piece of classical music in the film, the
„Seventh Symphony‟ is heard during a close-up shot of Norm‟s reserved parking space,
a reward for Norm‟s hard work, and also a symbol of how Norm is set apart from those
who work for him.
Other filmed adaptations of Macbeth have also set Duncan apart from others by
symbolically representing his moral character. A prominent feature of Trevor Nunn‟s
“stripped down” production of Macbeth (1976/1977)598 is the way in which a
character‟s moral character is signalled through their costume.599 In Nunn‟s stark and
bare staged production Duncan‟s superiority is symbolically represented by his
appearance. Actor Griffith Jones‟ soft-spoken delivery of Duncan‟s lines as well as his
long white hair and beard, and white robes reminiscent of a priest‟s clothing (complete
with crucifix hanging from his neck) convey “saintliness.” This characterisation is
highlighted by several critics such as Michael Rosenberg, who refers to Griffith Jones‟
appearance as „saintly Duncan.‟600 Michael Mullin further describes Jones‟ performance
of Duncan as the „saintly, fragile Duncan seemed every inch a Christian King.‟601
Duncan‟s ethereal and holy appearance is juxtaposed with actor Ian McKellen‟s
menacing Macbeth, whose slicked back hair and a long leather trench coat evokes
images of German Gestapo agents during World War Two.602 Duncan‟s appearance is
used by Nunn to express the “divine right” of Duncan‟s rule, and Macbeth‟s murder of
Duncan is therefore presented as an unholy act. Orson Welles handles the realisation of
Duncan‟s character in a similar fashion. The focus of Welles‟ film adaptation of
Macbeth (1948) is predominantly on the figure of Macbeth, played by Welles himself.
In his analysis of Welles‟ Macbeth, J. Lawrence Guntner highlights the film‟s
preoccupation with centralising the figure of Macbeth. Guntner notes that the film
598
Originally performed on stage by The Royal Shakespeare Company in 1976/1977 and then filmed for
television in 1979. A Performance of Macbeth, Dir. Phillip Carson, Royal Shakespeare
Company/Umbrella Entertainment, DVD, UK, 2005.
599
I shall again refer to the symbolic use of costumes in Nunn‟s production of Macbeth, in particular that
of Ian McKellen, in my analysis of the costume design in Scotland, PA.
600
Marvin Rosenberg, “Trevor Nunn‟s Macbeth,” Shakespeare Quarterly 28.2 Spring (1977): 195.
601
Michael Mullin, “Stage and Screen: The Trevor Nunn Macbeth,” Shakespeare Quarterly 38.3 Autumn
(1987): 355.
602
The symbolic nature of clothing in Nunn‟s production is seen in the costumes of other characters. The
colour of a character‟s costume signals a character‟s moral status, for example the colour white signals a
character‟s moral purity. Malcolm‟s innocence in his father‟s murder and his rightful role as King of
Scotland is symbolised by the white woollen cable-knit sweater he wears throughout. Lady Macduff also
wears white. Lady Macbeth‟s dark dress is obviously intended to contrast with Lady McDuff‟s white
dress.
171
„contains some five hundred shots, and the majority focus directly on Welles as
Macbeth or include him in the mise-en-scène.‟603 In order to focus his film on Macbeth
several other characters are either sidelined, including Duncan, or are completely
absent, such as Ross. Duncan‟s appearance is extremely brief but is importantly preempted by a scene of juxtaposition, where the Holy Father (a character of Welles
invention) gives mass following the execution of Macdonald. Michael Anderegg argues
that “goodness” in Welles‟ film is „almost completely externalized in codes and rule of
behaviour embodied in such figures as the Holy Father.‟604 Duncan‟s appearance
directly after the prayer hints at his “goodness” and the divine nature of his rule. As in
Billy Morrissette‟s initial characterisation of Duncan in Scotland, PA as morally
superior through music, Trevor Nunn and Orson Welles‟ adaptations realise Duncan as
equally superior, “saintly” and “good” through costume and imagery. However, there is
no supporting evidence for him to be considered so in Shakespeare‟s text. Such
characterisations are therefore merely each director‟s interpretation of the play. Not all
directors‟ approach the character of Duncan in the same way. For example, Roman
Polanski‟s adaptation of Macbeth handles the issue of Duncan‟s rule and Macbeth‟s
usurping power quite differently. Polanski‟s film privileges the character of Ross, who
is both „the „maker‟ and unmaker‟ of kings,‟605 and as such the film presents kings as
made rather than being divinely appointed. In Geoffrey Wright‟s recent adaptation of
Macbeth (2006), Gary Sweet‟s Duncan is characterised as both an un-likeable and
morally corrupt gangster. His betrayal by Macbeth (portrayed by actor Sam
Worthington) is presented as just another step in the cycle of violence in the “gangland
wars,” the modern day setting of the film. In Scotland, PA Morrissette also questions
Duncan‟s superiority to a degree in order to strengthen his audiences‟ sympathies with
Pat and Mac.
In Scotland, PA the „Seventh Symphony‟ also accompanies Mac‟s only virtuous deed in
the film. Director Morrissette translates the Captain‟s reports of Macbeth‟s valour and
victory in battle against Macdonald (I, ii, 7-42) into Mac‟s one good deed in the film.
Scotland, PA is one of the few major film adaptations of Macbeth to visually represent
Macbeth‟s success against Macdonald. Trevor Nunn‟s production remains faithful to
Shakespeare‟s play-text and has a messenger describe Macbeth‟s actions in the battle.
603
J. Lawrence Guntner, “Hamlet, Macbeth and King Lear on film,” The Cambridge Companion to
Shakespeare on Film, Russell Jackson, ed (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000): 124.
604
Michael Anderegg, Orson Welles, Shakespeare, and popular culture (New York: Columbia University
Press, 1999): 89.
605
Guntner, 128.
172
Surprisingly Orson Welles‟ adaptation does not visually translate Macbeth‟s valiant
actions in battle. While the focus of Welles‟ film is on Macbeth, his valour and bravery
in battle does not appear on screen. Only Roman Polanski‟s film shows to some extent a
scene depicting the fight between Macbeth and Macdonald. The sounds of battle heard
in the opening title sequence cuts to images of bodies laying on the battlefield and the
execution of Macdonald‟s soldiers who have been captured. Like his men, Macdonald
has been captured and chained up and is later executed on screen.606 In Scotland, PA
Mac‟s good deed occurs when he leaps over the front counter at “Duncan‟s” and deals
with the obnoxious customers who have started a food fight, implicitly connecting
classical music to a moment of honourable and moral action.607 The moment is set apart
not only by the presence of classical music, but also through the use of slow-motion
technique, which forces the audience to focus on Mac‟s “good” actions. The
relationship between classical music, morality and the value of hard work, represented
in the film through the character of Norm, is also problematic given Norm‟s less than
virtuous character on occasions during the film. While Norm Duncan is seen by some
characters as moral beacon for the community of Scotland and a class above the rest of
the town, he is also characterised as an ambitiously greedy workaholic. Norm hardly
spends any time with his family, and instead works such long hours at his restaurant that
he falls asleep in his office. The little time he does spend with his family usually
involves coercing them into helping him out with his business, such as after Donald‟s
football game. Rather than a moment of family bonding, the scene instead highlights the
Duncan family‟s estrangement and disconnection. Malcolm heckles his brother‟s team
with the taunt: „Scotland, sucks!,‟ and his interaction with his father is strained and their
conversation leads to an argument. Instead of respecting his sons, Norm orders them
about. Following the football game, Donald is made to service tables still wearing his
football uniform, while Malcolm helps out in the back of the restaurant cooking food.
Family is only important to Norm in terms of making sure his business runs profitably
and smoothly, and also stays in Duncan family hands. The latter is most poignantly
illustrated when Norm nepotistically promotes his uninterested son Malcolm to head
manager of “Duncan‟s.” Despite informing on corrupt manager Douglas (who is
revealed to be embezzling money from the business), Mac is passed over by Norm for a
606
Roman Polanski translates Malcolm‟s speech about his men‟s report of Macdonald‟s execution (I, iv,
2-11) into a scene where Malcolm and Duncan actually witness the event.
607
Mac also informs Norm of Douglas‟ embezzling money from the business. The film does not present
this as a good deed on Mac‟s part, but as Mac taking advantage of a drunken Banko (who actually saw
Douglas and told Mac about it) in order to further his position.
173
decent promotion, and is simply appointed assistant manager. Norm‟s attitude and
actions towards Mac lead the audience‟s sympathies to identify with Mac.608
Elizabeth Deitchman suggests that the connection between social class and morality in
Scotland, PA is an example of how the film vilifies the characters Pat and Mac.609
However, as I have argued, director Morrissette also maligns both McDuff and Norm,
the film‟s examples of “high-class” and moral behaviour. Rather than demonising the
McBeths in his film, Morrissette characterises Pat and Mac as “underdogs” attempting
to escape their “low-class” position in life. Pat explains to Mac their need to take
extreme measures to improve their life situation as: „We‟re not bad people, Mac. We‟re
just underachievers that have to make up for lost time.‟ Through the construction of the
McBeths as “not bad people” Morrissette attempts to stir sympathy in the audience for
the hapless couple, a factor which is considerably helped through his edits to
Shakespeare‟s play-text. The McBeths are relieved of most of their responsibility for
Norm Duncan‟s death. Although they plan the murder of Norm, when it comes down to
the event Mac tells his wife that he is unable to go through with it. Norm‟s eventual
death is instead presented as accidental, achieved when Mac unintentionally knocks
Norm into the fryer. The horrific murder of Macduff‟s family is also noticeably absent
from Scotland, PA. 610 Rather than vilifying the McBeths, Morrissette instead chooses to
characterise them as a „good time and a partying couple who we kind of root for a little
bit.‟611 Along with edits to Shakespeare‟s play-text, the audience‟s sympathies are
significantly provoked in Scotland, PA through the shift of the film‟s focus upon Pat
McBeth. This realignment may be in part due to the fact that Morrissette was married to
actress Maura Tierney, who portrays Pat McBeth in Scotland, PA, at the time of
filming.612 Pat is presented as a somewhat sympathetic character, and the film privileges
her tragedy over her husband‟s. Maura Tierney‟s performance as Pat is signalled out by
608
Courtney Lehmann, “Out Damned Scot: dislocating Macbeth in transnational film and media culture,”
Shakespeare the Movie II: Popularising the Plays on Film, TV, and Video and DVD, Lynda E. Boose and
Richard Burt, eds (London; New York: Routledge, 2003): 245.
609
Deitchman, “White Trash Shakespeare,” 140.
610
Their presence only remains in an anecdote by Morrissette on the DVD commentary, in which he
reveals he originally intended for McDuff‟s children to be kidnapped by Mac, but not harmed.
611
Morrissette quoted in “Behind the Lens: Scotland, PA,” New York Screenwriter.
612
Morrissette reveals in his DVD commentary that he initially envisioned Pat being played by someone
else. However, as he wrote the screenplay Tierney‟s influence on the character of Pat became apparent.
Several phrases which Maura Tierney said in real life were appropriated by Morrissette and became Pat‟s
dialogue in the film.
174
several critics and reviewers as the focus of Scotland, PA.613 Morrissette elaborates on
Pat‟s appeal to the audience, and describes the difference between Pat and Mac as:
she‟s the star, the one who‟s fun and who has so many awful things to say, and
he‟s kind of the schlub, a nice enough guy, even a good guy, but who‟s easily
led.614
Pat‟s driving ambition and superior attitude to her surroundings set her apart from the
other residents of Scotland, and more significantly her husband. At the beginning of the
film Pat is presented as the controlling force in her marriage, an aspect that is translated
from Shakespeare‟s Macbeth. Derek Cohen notes that in Macbeth Lady Macbeth‟s
treatment of her husband parallels the way Duncan also treats him: „To her, as to
Duncan, Macbeth is an instrument of conquest of power.‟615 Lady Macbeth uses her
husband as a proxy for her desire for control and power. From the moment she receives
Macbeth‟s letter to his murder of Duncan, Lady Macbeth influences and guides him,
and their relationship is strengthened through this exchange. George Lyman Kittredge
describes their relationship as the „perfect union of complementary natures, each
supplying those qualities the other lacks.‟616 Lady Macbeth‟s strong will and charm
coaxes Macbeth from his gentle and kindly temperament and honourable yet unfulfilled
ambition into action. However, when Macbeth starts acting on his own without her
knowledge, unable and unwilling to share his power and trust with others, the couple
become increasingly estranged. The result is her increasing marginalisation both as a
wife and as a member of a couple with power and influence. In Scotland, PA Pat and
Mac‟s relationship is defined by the way in which Pat manipulates her husband, using
Mac as a means to fulfil her desire to escape her miserable “low-class” life. Pat is
smarter, more ambitious and conniving than Mac, who, as Marguerite Rippy quips, is
far too “syrupy sweet” and “slouchy” for the audience to transfer allegiance from Pat.617
Pat persuades Mac to move beyond his lacklustre, underachiever position as assistant
manager of “Duncan‟s,” and her intellect, charisma, and determination to succeed draw
the audience‟s appeal. Pat‟s focus and driving ambition to escape her dull “small town”
life and her success at moving up from “low-class” position is celebrated in what
613
Malanowski, “Macbeth, Droll and Deep Fried,” and also Marguerite Rippy, “A Fast-Food
Shakespeare,” Chronicle of Higher Education 48.32 19 April (2002): B16.
614
Malanowski, “„Macbeth,‟ Droll and Deep Fried.”
615
Derek Cohen, Shakespeare‟s Culture of Violence (New York: St Martin‟s Press, 1993): 132.
616
William Shakespeare, Macbeth, George Lyman Kittredge, ed (Boston: Ginn and Co., 1939): xv.
617
Rippy, “A Fast-Food Shakespeare.”
175
Courtney Lehmann terms as „her one moment of glory,‟618 a montage accompanied by
the First Class song „Beach Baby.‟619 The most striking of the images seen in the
montage is of Pat floating in a pool, totally content in her surroundings, having arrived
in modest “middle-class” prosperity. However, the song is also an ironic marker of the
McBeth‟s upward mobility. Pat‟s subsequent fall from her new found place in “middleclass” society stirs empathy within the audience and her demise becomes far more tragic
than her husband‟s.620 Courtney Lehmann connects Pat‟s tragedy to the burgeoning idea
of feminism in the 1960s and 1970s that is hinted at in the film:
She is quite clearly the brains in the operation but, like other women in the
1970s who were contemplating their autonomy for the first time, she still
requires a man to execute - and consequently, profit from - her plans.621
While Pat may be in control, telling Mac what to do and nurturing his ambition, she still
requires his help to carry out her plan. She indirectly profits from their new found
success, as illustrated in the „Beach Baby‟ montage; however, the sign on the restaurant
says “McBeth‟s” and not “Pat‟s.” Pat‟s hampered ambitions are poignantly illustrated in
a scene late in the film where Pat applies salve to her burn as she stares into a mirror.
Earlier in the film when Norm accidentally falls into the fryer, a drop of oil splashes up
onto Pat‟s hand, burning her. This burn becomes a signal of her increasing
marginalisation and loss of control and influence over Mac. As the camera pans up in
the late scene it reveals a photo of Jacqueline Kennedy, which Pat has affixed to the
mirror. Deitchman defines Jacqueline Kennedy as „the epitome of taste and class for
Pat‟s generation of women.‟622 Like Jacqueline Kennedy, Pat is also presented as a
woman of influence behind a man with power. This scene also marks the contrast
between the two women; Pat‟s dishevelled and immature appearance is juxtaposed with
Jacqueline Kennedy‟s elegance and class. Unlike Mrs Kennedy, Pat‟s influence and
control over her husband gives way to her increased liminal status in their relationship.
Pat‟s relegation of her social role to “spectator” in Mac‟s life comes to a head with
Mac‟s reassurance to his wife: „Don‟t worry; I‟m going to take care of everything. I‟m
618
Lehmann, “Out Damned Scot,” 246.
Eric C. Brown astutely argues that „the band name provides an interpretative model for reading the
film as a whole.‟ Brown, “Shakespeare, Class, and Scotland, PA,” 149.
At its core, Morrissette‟s Scotland, PA translates the tragic ambitions of Macbeth into the anxieties over
class and social mobility in suburban America.
620
Rippy, “A Fast-Food Shakespeare.”
621
Lehmann, “Out Damned Scot,” 246.
622
Deitchman, “White Trash Shakespeare,” 145.
619
176
going to take care of you.‟ Billy Morrissette describes the impact of the scene as Pat‟s
worst nightmare, because she had always taken care of everything, and was the one in
charge.623 Pat‟s tragedy is thus firmly connected to the loss of control in her life. When
she takes her own life, she leaves the film with an action that reasserts the control over
her own life. Her look of happiness and relief signals that she has finally escaped the
limitations her “low-class” life has imposed on her, but it comes at the high cost of her
life.
In Scotland, PA director Billy Morrissette both engages an audience that already has an
understanding of Macbeth and also distances those who have detailed prior knowledge
of the play. Scotland, PA is therefore a meditation on the split reception of Shakespeare
on film. Morrissette approaches the production with some reverence for the source
material. Promotional posters for the film contain both images of the film‟s main
characters, such as Pat McBeth and Lieutenant McDuff, and also specific quotations
from Shakespeare‟s text, which correspond with each character‟s equivalent in
Macbeth.624 However, Morrissette also distances himself from the source material and
notes that he didn‟t want to write a film only for people who knew the play.625 He
suggests instead that his approach in adapting Macbeth for the screen was based on a
„midground that [doesn‟t] shove Shakespeare in people‟s faces.‟626 Hoefer Jr. astutely
argues that Morrissette‟s approach suggests the notion that Macbeth is „no less common
a cultural experience than popular music, regrettable hair styles, and bad jobs in food
service.‟627 Shakespeare is presented as just another reference, along with music, and
popular culture, which the audience is presented with and must have a little
understanding of in order to fully appreciate Morrissette‟s film. Hoefer Jr. further
suggests that to understand the film the audience must have some understanding of the
cultural contexts of the film, and notes that „the act of cultural retrospection is crucial:
the transformation of the elements of the play…depend on specific textual knowledge as
well as pop culture awareness.‟628 Scotland, PA is full of Shakespearean references and
623
Morrissette, “Director‟s Commentary.”
The promotional posters also contain the catch line: „Shakespeare, the way it outta be.‟ The presence
of this statement alongside quotations from the play illustrates Morrissette‟s split reception in engaging
with Shakespeare. He both treats the source material with reverence, but also asserts that his approach in
adapting Shakespeare is just as valid (if not more) than other interpretations.
625
“Behind the Lens: Scotland, PA,” New York Screenwriter.
626
Malanowski, “Macbeth, Droll and Deep Fried.”
627
Hoefer Jr., 154.
628
Hoefer Jr., 157.
624
177
clever allusions to contemporary culture that make light of the cross cultural mélange.629
Understanding the references in the film is therefore critical to understanding the
comedy of the film. The opening scene is a poignant example of how the humour in
Scotland, PA comes from the juxtaposition between “high-class” Shakespeare and “lowclass” popular culture. The three hippies (the witches from Macbeth) sit on a Ferris
wheel eating fast food chicken, when one drops the bucket containing their meal:
Hippie No. 3
The fowl was foul
Hippie No. 1
And the fair was fair
Hippie No. 3
Fowl‟s fair
Hippie No. 2
The fair‟s fowl
Hippie No. 3
My ass hurts
Hippie No. 2
I don‟t think that one works
Shh! She‟s having a spell
Hippie No. 3
Oh god, so dramatic.
Their exchange is a parody of the witches‟ lines in the opening scene of Macbeth: „Fair
is foul, and foul is fair‟ (I, i, 10). The humour of the scene comes from the audience‟s
understanding this allusion, as well as the wordplay that makes light of the references to
the source material for the film, such as the witches of Macbeth („spell‟) and to
629
J.J. Hermes, “Waxing Shakespearean with Billy Morrissette: An interview with the director of
Scotland, PA,” The Leader, April 24 2002, 10 Aug, 2004
<http://www.uwmleader.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2002/04/24/3cc646dbcb32c>.
178
Shakespeare‟s plays („dramatic‟). A later example of how the film plays with references
to Macbeth in order to poke fun at the source material can be seen in the motivational
tape McDuff plays while driving in the car. A voice drones on that „Tomorrow is not
today‟ a parody of Macbeth‟s notable „Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow‟ (V, v,
19-27) speech. The humour of this line is found both in recognising the reference to the
play-text but also in the irony that such a numbing speech about the pointlessness of life
is used by Lieutenant McDuff to motivate himself into action.
As well as allusions to Shakespeare, the mise-en-scène of Scotland, PA is laden with
consumer fads and popular culture such as muscle cars, shag carpeting, macramé,
fondue and Yahtzee from America of the 1970s. These references are used to help
situate the viewer in the time period in which the film is set. In Scotland, PA cars are not
only used in the production design to exemplify American culture of the 1970s, but are
also presented as status symbols. Almost everyone except Norm drives a Camero, and
so cars become symbols of economic differences, as well as differences in taste. Billy
Morrissette notes on the film‟s DVD commentary that Lieutenant McDuff drives a
Japanese model of car.630 This detail was intended as a way to further illustrate
McDuff‟s difference from Pat and Mac and his superior class and taste, but was
removed from the film during editing. As well as references to vehicles of the period,
the production design in Scotland, PA contains allusions and clips from various „70s
Americana classic‟631 television shows. Director Morrissette originally envisioned a
film packed full of references to detective shows of the 1970s.632 The final film
references just Columbo (1971) and McCloud (1970). Several reviewers have noted the
similarity between Christopher Walken‟s performance as McDuff and Peter Falk‟s role
as Columbo.633 The film‟s opening sequence also uses a scene from McCloud. The
clip‟s inclusion is another way in which the world of Scotland, PA is situated in the
1970s, and also assumes the audience‟s familiarity with both the show, and the
„recurrences of the prefixes “Mc” and “Mac” in the surnames of the play‟s
character‟s.‟634 At the end of each episode of Columbo and McCloud, the detectives
“always get their man,” and therefore assuming an audience‟s knowledge of the shows
630
Morrissette, “Director‟s Commentary.”
Rippy, “A Fast-Food Shakespeare.”
632
Morrissette, “Director‟s Commentary.”
633
Charles Taylor calls Walken‟s performance „Columbo-like‟ (Taylor, “Scotland, PA”) while Sean
Axemaker observes that „Walken plays the garrulous detective like an eccentric small-town Columbo.‟
Sean Axmaker, “Scotland, PA, has more than a wee bit of intelligence,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer Feb 22
2002, 6 Aug 2004 <http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/movies/59261_scotland22q.shtml>.
634
Hoefer Jr., 154.
631
179
allows Morrissette to foreshadow Lieutenant McDuff‟s “victory” over Mac at the end of
the film.
As with Julie Taymor‟s film Titus, costumes in Scotland, PA are significant as they
define characters visually, and along with popular culture references are as a marker of
the time period the film is set. Costume designer David Robinson based various
characters‟ costumes on actual fashion designs from the 1960s and 1970s. Thus the
costumes are another example of the production design which helps the audience situate
themselves in the American world of the 1970s. Costuming in Scotland, PA also „proves
iconic throughout.‟635 An example in the film is the images of nature on both McDuff
and Pat McBeth‟s clothing. These images are visual translation of imagery present in
Shakespeare‟s play-text. In particular, the dress Pat wears to the press conference has a
branch design which foreshadows the return of Birnam wood to Dunsinane, one of the
markers of Macbeth‟s imminent demise. As well as visually translating the text,
costuming is used to define characters, and also as a visual marker of the change of
status of various characters. The way in which clothing is used as a means to define
character and status in Scotland, PA is an aspect that is translated from Macbeth. In the
long tradition of symbolic interpretation and exposition of Shakespeare‟s work, a great
deal has been written on the significance of imagery in Macbeth. Of particular
importance is the work of Caroline Spurgeon, and Wolfgang Clemen.636 Spurgeon, in
particular, has shown that the repeated image of “ill-fitting garments” is integral in our
understanding of Macbeth.637 Images of clothing are constantly recurring symbols used
to signal Macbeth‟s unnatural and undeserved appropriation of honours and titles. The
idea that Macbeth‟s new honours „sit ill upon him, like a loose and badly fitting
garment, belonging to someone else,‟638 is first expressed by Macbeth himself, in his
response to noblemen Ross and Angus‟s addressing him as Thane of Cawdor:
The Thane of Cawdor lives. Why do you dress me
In borrowed robes?
(I, iii,106-7)
635
Brown, “Shakespeare, Class, and Scotland, PA,” 151.
Wolfgang Clemen, The Development of Shakespeare's Imagery, 2nd edition (London: Metheun, 1977).
637
Caroline Spurgeon, Shakespeare‟s Imagery and What It Tells Us (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1935): especially 324-327.
638
Spurgeon, Shakespeare‟s Imagery, 325.
636
180
The use of the word „borrowed‟ suggests that although Macdonwald, previous Thane of
Cawdor, committed treason (an offence punishable by death at the time of James I),
Macbeth is uncomfortable with being addressed by someone else‟s title, especially since
the three witches predicted these very honours would be bestowed upon him. The image
that Macbeth‟s new status as king is unnatural and undeserved is later drawn upon when
the Scottish Lords advance upon Dunsinane in order to capture the merciless and
treacherous Macbeth. One nobleman, Caithness, remarks of Macbeth that:
He cannot buckle his distempered cause
Within the belt of rule.
(V, ii, 15-16)
Macbeth is thus characterised as an undeserved ruler, through the image of a man who
is vainly trying to fasten a large garment upon him with a belt that is much too small.
Several productions of Macbeth have used costume as a way to signal the imagery used
to symbolise Macbeth acting in a role that is “too big” for him. Of particular note is the
now legendary Royal Shakespeare Company stage adaptation of Macbeth directed by
Trevor Nunn and starring Ian McKellen and Judi Dench. During the production
McKellen is clearly wearing a coat that is much too big. Images of Ian McKellen‟s
costume for the production can be found at McKellen‟s official website.639 Another
example of how analogy comprising of imagery of clothing is used to contrast between
Macbeth‟s deserved rights and his present position as King, is brought forward by
Angus:
Now does he feel his title
Hang loose about him, like a giant‟s robe
Upon a dwarfish thief.
(V, ii, 20-22)
The image invoked by the word „thief‟ helps to demonise Macbeth and highlight his
unrightful rule of Scotland, the title which was “stolen” from Duncan. Macbeth has
ruthlessly captured power through treacherous means. Because of this his nature is
639
“Macbeth,” Sir Ian McKellen Official Home Page Mar 2008, 6 Mar 2008
<http://mckellen.com/stage/00065b.htm>.
181
viewed not as noble or honourable, but as a vile, cruelly ambitious and unworthy of his
title.
In Scotland, PA Billy Morrissette realigns the focus of Shakespeare‟s Macbeth from
Mac towards the character Pat McBeth. Pat is the film‟s most clear example of how a
character is both defined and their status is visually signified through their costumes.
Charles Taylor notes the connection between the change in Pat‟s success and class and
the appearance of her costumes:
This being the early „70s, Pat goes around in tailored peasant blouses and flared
jeans…And after she puts her scheme to work…and she and Mac wind up in the
chips, she switches to Pucci prints and matching headbands.640
Once they have taken over “Duncan‟s” restaurant, both Pat and Mac‟s wardrobe
changes from the “working-class” “uniform” of blue jeans and t-shirts emblazoned with
the names of Rock bands, to the high end fashion of designer dresses, shirts and suits.
The change in certain aspects of the McBeths‟ taste is further highlighted in the change
of their name plaque on their house. Before Norm‟s death the sign that adorned their
trailer park home simply reads „Pat and Mac.‟ The shortening of their names, as well as
the type of housing indicates their “low-class” position. This is contrasted with those
who are a class above them, such as McDuff, Malcolm, and Donald, who are always
referred to throughout the film by their full names. Once the McBeths take ownership of
“Duncan‟s” restaurant, the sign on their new house changes to read „The McBeth‟s.‟
The more formal signage suggests that a change in class as well as a change in personal
taste comes with the alteration in their success. The new house plaque parallels the
change in name of “Duncan‟s” restaurant to “McBeths‟” and as Deitchman notes, the
change becomes „a more formal statement of ownership.‟641 The McBeths‟ clothing is a
stark contrast with their other “unrefined” tastes, which remain essentially the same
despite their change in status. Pat‟s use of vulgar language and numerous expletives
remains unchanged throughout the film. Furthermore, despite their new found wealth
and status they do not move to a bigger and better house (such as that belonging to
Norm Duncan); they are content to simply purchase an above-ground swimming pool,
640
641
Taylor, “Scotland, PA.”
Deitchman, “White Trash Shakespeare,” 144.
182
complete with “tacky” plastic lawn furniture. The static nature of these coarse tastes
signals the McBeths‟ inability to escape the confines of their “low-class” station in life.
In his film Scotland, PA director Billy Morrissette borrows an approximation of the plot
from Macbeth and reworks the tragedy into a black comedy set in suburban America of
the 1970s. In Morrissette‟s film, Shakespeare is presented as just another intertextual
reference and along with popular culture and music conveys ideas about of ambition,
greed and the limitations of class in suburban America. Much of the humour in
Scotland, PA is derived from the collision of these numerous and disparate references.
References to popular culture from the 1970s, along with a soundtrack primarily
composed of musical choices from the era situate the audience in the “small town”
American world of Scotland, PA. More importantly these citations define a character‟s
taste, and subsequently both their moral nature and status in the community of Scotland.
Pat and Mac McBeth are defined as much by what they listen to as what they wear.
Through edits to the plot and characters from Macbeth, as well as costume and musical
choices, Morrissette‟s film stirs the audience‟s sympathies for Pat and Mac. The
audience is in particular encouraged to support Pat McBeth‟s ambitious desire to escape
the confines of her “low-class” status in suburban Scotland. While championed because
of their “underdog” status, Morrissette‟s film also suggests that Pat and Mac‟s rise to
modest prosperity is fundamentally flawed as they are unable to escape their own “bad
taste.” Scotland, PA quite conservatively demonstrates that class change is impossible
without a change in personal taste. Only those of a certain existing high status in
society, such as Lieutenant McDuff, are allowed to profit from their ruthless ambition.
183
Conclusion
There will never be too many versions of any of the Shakespeare plays because each artist brings
his or her own vision to the script. The more you see these plays in all their varied forms, the
deeper and richer they become. It‟s often not about the story at all, but all about how you tell it.‟
- Julie Taymor, 100 Shakespeare Films: BFI Screen Guides (2007).
In the introduction to his recently released filmography of Shakespeare on film 100
Shakespeare Films (2007),642 Daniel Rosenthal traces the history of Shakespeare on
screen. What is of particular interest in Rosenthal‟s book is the focus on recent film
adaptation of Shakespeare‟s work. This aptly signifies the increased interest in and
critical study of these films. Each of the five films, which form the basis for my critical
analysis in this dissertation, fall into what Rosenthal terms as the seventh age of
cinematic Shakespeare, „the genre decade.‟643 Rosenthal is particularly critical of this
age and emphasises the lack of Shakespeare‟s “language” in the majority of these films.
He sees this as symptomatic of both poor box-office figures and a “dumbed down” 21st
century culture. However, as I have shown in this dissertation there are many other
ways a director can convey the power and poetry of Shakespeare‟s language. Some
recent publications which have focused predominantly on the “seventh age” of
Shakespeare on film include Screening Shakespeare in the Twenty-first Century (2006),
New Wave Shakespeare on Film (2007), and Shakespeare on Film: Such Things as
Dreams are Made of (2007).644 These critical studies embrace both the variety of
approaches recent directors‟ have taken when staging Shakespeare on screen, and how
„citationally rich‟645 their films are. Sarah Mayo notes of mainstream Shakespeare film
that it occupies both a complex and precarious space at the intersection of high and
642
Daniel Rosenthal, 100 Shakespeare Films: BFI Screen Guides (London: British Film Institute, 2007).
Rosenthal, xxi-xxii.
644
Screening Shakespeare in the Twenty-First Century, Mark Thornton Burnett and Ramona Wray, eds
(Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2006), New Wave Shakespeare on Film (2007), and Caroline
Jess-Cooke, Shakespeare on Film: Such Things as Dreams are Made of (London; New York: Wallflower
Press, 2007).
645
Thomas Cartelli and Katherine Rowe, New Wave Shakespeare on Film (Cambridge: Polity Press,
2007): 2.
643
185
popular culture.646 What this thesis has demonstrated is precisely how important the
analysis of popular culture surrounding each film‟s production is in understanding a
director‟s cinematic interpretation of Shakespeare‟s plays.
What I have proposed in this dissertation is the analysis of recent Shakespeare on film
in light of cultural and temporal contexts. Just as Shakespeare‟s plays reflect early
modern culture and history, I have shown the importance of examining millennial film
adaptations of Shakespeare in relation to a twenty-first century historical and cultural
context. The originality of my approach to the chosen texts has been to focus primarily
on the importance of popular culture and especially music in the analysis of millennial
Shakespeare on screen. Shakespearean films are built out of and draw upon prior texts,
genres and discourses. I have shown how filmic Shakespeare is influenced by a variety
of elements involved in film production and marketing. An audience‟s understanding in
these films is manipulated by a range of factors including a director‟s cinematic
technique, an actor‟s performance, a film‟s production design and costuming, as well as
the musical score and soundtrack. Each of the five film adaptations I have analysed uses
these elements in a variety of ways and to differing degrees in order to reflect modern
concerns and anxieties. In some cases these references are instrumental in understanding
a director‟s cinematic interpretation of Shakespeare. In the chapter on Scotland, PA I
have shown that the humour of the film is linked to the audience‟s recognition of the
various references to popular culture and Shakespeare, as well as their negotiation of the
space between “low” and “high” culture. Similarly in Gil Junger‟s 10 Things I Hate
About You references to Shakespeare are “played for laughs.” Both films treat
Shakespeare as „available but not privileged forms, part of a field of received cultural
matter free for appropriation or recycling.‟647 An audience‟s understanding of the
popular culture associated with a film‟s production design is connected to their
enjoyment of the film. Furthermore, this understanding is significant to their
comprehension of the themes a director chooses to convey in each cinematic
interpretation of Shakespeare‟s plays. In the chapter on 10 Things, I have shown how
the film is driven by the conventions of “teen” comedy. Aesthetic links to John Hughes‟
“teen” films of the 1980s both convey ideas about how teenage identity is formed, and
critique the role of ineffectual parental figures in this process. Likewise in his adaptation
of Hamlet, the formation of identity and dysfunctional family relationships are themes
646
647
Mayo, 295-296.
Cartelli and Rowe, 3.
186
director Michael Almereyda approaches through citations to popular culture which deal
with similar ideas, such as the films East of Eden and Romeo + Juliet.
Along with references to popular culture, music is also an effective channel by which a
director conveys a cinematic interpretation of Shakespeare‟s plays. A common trait
observable in the films analysed in this dissertation is how music is used effectively to
evoke certain moods, reflect the state of mind of characters, and to set time and place.
Billy Morrissette‟s musical choices in Scotland, PA both situate the audience in the
suburban 1970‟s American world and also define a character‟s taste and therefore class.
What a character listens to in Scotland, PA is an important tool which influences how an
audience interprets their nature and moral status. Pat and Mac‟s love of Rock music is
used by Morrissette to signal the couple‟s simple tastes and “low-class” status in
Scotland society. Composer Elliot Goldenthal takes a similar approach in his musical
score for Julie Taymor‟s Titus. Goldenthal uses different musical styles to signal
character to the audience, and plays with associations the audience makes because of
what they hear. Each character in Titus is given a specific “sound” when appearing on
screen. For example Chiron and Demetrius are associated with hectic loud Rock music.
This music becomes symbolic of their aggressive violent brutality. Along with
character, larger themes a director has chosen to highlight in each film adaptation of
Shakespeare‟s plays are also conveyed through musical score and soundtrack.
Throughout this dissertation I have provided several examples of how music functions
in a symbolic manner. In the chapter on Michael Hoffman‟s William Shakespeare‟s A
Midsummer Night‟s Dream music is the main method by which he conveys his
reinterpretation of Shakespeare‟s text as a tragic love story between Bottom and Titania.
Both opera and a classically inspired music score express Bottom‟s tragedy and
empathy to the audience. In Almereyda‟s Hamlet, Carter Burwell‟s repetitive and
minimalist musical score also functions in a thematic manner, and signals the repression
and surveillance of the corrupt urban world that surround Hamlet and Ophelia.
Furthermore, the use of an excerpt of the song „All Along the Watchtower‟ aptly
conveys themes of mortality and the worth of human life, issues with which Hamlet
struggles with throughout the film. Ideas of humanity and human nature are also
conveyed in Goldenthal‟s score for Titus. Goldenthal‟s music both emphasises the
heterogeneous nature of the film, and is used to convey ideas of pity and mercy. These
themes are instrumental in an audience‟s interpretation of the violent world which
Taymor presents, and the redemption her film offers in its open-ended conclusion.
187
Sound and music have always been considered equally important components of films
paradoxically ever since the „silent‟ era,648 yet soundtracks to cinematic Shakespearean
adaptations have received comparatively little attention. There are a few recent analyses
that focus predominantly on music in Shakespeare film. A notable exception is Julie
Sanders book, Shakespeare and Music: Afterlives and Borrowings (2007). Sander‟s
book is a study of the diverse range of musical responses to Shakespeare that have taken
place from the seventeenth century onwards.649 Sander‟s research is of particular
interest as her book devotes considerable attention to contemporary music and popular
culture in Shakespeare on film. Her analysis of music in Shakespeare films mentions
several films that are the focus of this dissertation: Michael Hoffman‟s William
Shakespeare‟s A Midsummer Night‟s Dream, Gil Junger‟s 10 Things, and Julie
Taymor‟s Titus. My hope is that along with Sander‟s book, this dissertation will
encourage the further exploration and analysis of music in cinematic Shakespeare.
While devices such as music and citations to popular culture can in some cases be
important tools in understanding a director‟s cinematic approach to Shakespeare, they
do not always successfully convey a director‟s intentions. This thesis has noted several
examples where such references deviate from a director‟s intended “reading” of the play
the film adapts. In Junger‟s 10 Things I Hate About You the culture and politics
surrounding the Riot Grrl movement do not find a place in the film, and notably the
film‟s soundtrack contains no Riot Grrl artists. The tenuous citations to Riot Grrl reveal
much more about the concessions to marketing that dominate the film‟s production
design, than they do anything about the character or “rebellion” of Kat Stratford.
Another noteworthy case is found in Taymor‟s Titus. One of the most prominent
examples of the citation of popular culture put forward in this dissertation is the
influence actors‟ previous roles (and in cases celebrity) can have on their performances.
Thomas Cartelli and Katherine Rowe refer to this as „Extra-textual referentiality.‟650
These previous roles are influential in how an audience interprets the characters these
actors portray in each of these Shakespearean adaptations. In the chapter on
Almereyda‟s Hamlet I have shown how Ethan Hawke‟s “Generation X” persona imbues
his portrayal of Hamlet with apathy and angst. Hawke‟s interpretation of Hamlet is one
648
For more on the importance of music in the silent era of cinema see Altman.
Sander‟s work explores the many ways in which Shakespeare‟s plays and poems have been reworked
by musical composers. Her book features work on such diverse musical styles as opera, ballet, classical
symphony, Broadway musicals, Jazz, film scores and contemporary soundtracks.
650
Cartelli and Rowe, 2.
649
188
of the main examples of how Almereyda‟s adaptation of Hamlet focuses on generational
conflicts. Allusions to an actor‟s intertext can also hinder a director‟s intentions. In
Taymor‟s Titus Anthony Hopkins‟ intertext bears strong influence over his portrayal of
Titus and his performance is shadowed by his previous role as Hannibal Lecter. As
such, the audience is aware of Titus‟ brutal and bloodthirsty revenge against his
enemies, the very reaction to violence in entertainment which director Taymor seeks to
criticise in her film.
The millenary period of 1999-2001 was a particularly prolific time for Shakespeare on
screen. As we approach the end of another decade, Shakespeare is once again proving a
popular source for cinematic adaptations of all styles and calibres. We are now heading
into an exciting period which Caroline Jess-Cooke terms as „Post-Millennial
Shakespeare cinema.‟651 Several straight full-length film adaptations of Shakespeare‟s
plays are scheduled for release in the next few years, such as King Lear,652 The Winter‟s
Tale,653 and The Tempest.654 Other notable forthcoming adaptations of Shakespeare‟s
works include Gnomeo and Juliet, a 3D animated film version of Shakespeare's play, set
in the world of warring indoor and outdoor gnomes, and an as yet untitled Eddie
Murphy/Romeo and Juliet project, a re-imagining as told from the point-of-view of the
young lovers‟ parents. The fact that such a variety of films based on Shakespeare‟s
works are in pre-production reveals his continuing influence on popular culture, and
gives hope of the enduring popularity, evolving changes, and future success of
cinematic Shakespeare.
651
Caroline Jess-Cooke, “Screening the McShakespeare in Post-Millennial Shakespeare Cinema,”
Screening Shakespeare in the Twenty-First Century, Mark Thornton Burnett and Ramona Wray, eds
(Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2006): 163-184.
652
Starring Anthony Hopkins, Keira Knightley, Gwyneth Paltrow and Naomi Watts. This film was due to
be shot in 2009 and released in 2010. Due to the global economic crisis, production of this film has since
been cancelled.
653
Starring Derek Jacobi and Dougray Scott.
654
Directed by Julie Taymor and currently in pre-production. Taymor has previously directed The
Tempest on stage at the Theatre for a New Audience in 1986. This production was filmed for WNET-TV
and broadcast on PBS. For her film version, Taymor had changed the gender of main character Prospero,
with Helen Mirren set to play the role. Jeremy Irons, Djimon Hounsou, comedian Russell Brand, Alfred
Molina, Ben Wishaw and Felicity Jones have also taken parts in the film and Geoffrey Rush is in
negotiations to join the cast. The film version will centre on Prospera, her daughter Miranda (Jones) and a
shipwrecked crew full of Prospera's enemies. This film will once again bring together Taymor and long
time collaborator composer Elliot Goldenthal.
189
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3.
Filmography
Films are listed alphabetically by title
The Breakfast Club (1985). Dir. John Hughes. Universal Pictures. DVD, US, 2003.
East of Eden (1955). Dir. Elia Kazan. Warner Brothers/Warner Home Video. DVD, US,
2005.
Cabaret (1972). Dir. Bob Fosse. ABC Pictures/Warner Home Video. DVD, US, 2003.
Fargo (1996). Dir. Joel Coen/Ethan Coen. Gramercy Pictures/Columbia TriStar Home
Video. DVD, US, 1996.
Ferris Bueller‟s Day Off (1986). Dir. John Hughes. Paramount Pictures/Paramount
Home Video. DVD, US, 1999.
Hamlet (1948). Dir. Laurence Olivier. The Criterion Collection/Carlton International
Media Limited. DVD, UK, 2000.
Hamlet (1990). Dir. Franco Zeffirelli. Icon Entertainment International/Warner
Brothers. VHS, US, 1995.
Hamlet liikemaailmassa (aka. Hamlet Goes Business) (1987). Dir. Aki Kaurismäki.
Villealfa Filmproduction Oy. VHS, Finland, 1987.
Henry V (1944). Dir. Laurence Olivier. Two Cities Films Ltd/Criterion Collection.
DVD, UK/US, 1999.
Henry V (1989). Dir. Kenneth Branagh. BBC/Renaissance Films/MGM. DVD, UK,
2000.
Kiss Me Kate (1953). Dir. George Sidney. MGM/Warner Home Video. US, DVD,
2006.
Kumonosu jô (aka. Throne of Blood) (1957). Dir. Akira Kurosawa. Toho Company Ltd/
Festival Video. VHS, Japan, 1989.
La Caduta Degli Dei (aka.The Damned) (1969). Dir. Luchino Visconti. Warner Home
Video. DVD, US, 2004.
La Dolce Vita (1960). Dir Federico Fellini. Riama Film/Gray Film/Umbrella
Entertainment. DVD, Australia, 2003.
La Strada (1954). Dir. Federico Fellini. Ponti-De Laurentiis Cinematografica/Madman
Entertainment. DVD, Australia, 2005.
Life is Beautiful (1997). Dir. Roberto Benigni. Miramax Films. DVD, US/Italy, 1998.
Love‟s Labour‟s Lost (2000). Dir. Kenneth Branagh. Miramax Films. DVD, UK, 2000.
213
Macbeth (1948). Dir. Orson Welles. BBC/Second Sight Films. VHS, UK, 1996.
Macbeth (2006). Dir. Geoffrey Wright. Arclight Films. DVD, US, 2007.
Men of Respect (1991). Dir. William Reilly. Columbia Pictures. VHS, 1991.
A Midsummer Night‟s Dream (1935). Dir. William Dieterle/Max Reinhardt. Warner
Brothers/Warner Home Video. DVD, US, 2007.
A Midsummer Night‟s Dream (1996). Dir. Adrian Noble. Buena Vista Home Video.
VHS, 1996.
Much Ado About Nothing (1993). Dir. Kenneth Branagh. BBC/Renaissance
Films/Columbia TriStar Home Video. VHS, UK/US, 1993.
Nadja (1994). Dir. Michael Almereyda. Kino Link Company/Siren Visual
Entertainment. DVD, 2002.
O (2001). Dir. Tim Blake Nelson. Filmengine/Lions Gate Films Inc. DVD, US, 2001.
Othello (1995). Dir. Oliver Parker. Castle Rock Entertainment/Columbia Pictures. VHS,
UK/US,1995.
A Performance of Macbeth (1979). Dir. Phillip Carson. Royal Shakespeare
Company/Umbrella Entertainment. DVD, UK, 2005.
Pretty in Pink (1986). Dir. Howard Deutch. Prod. John Hughes. Paramount
Pictures/Paramount Home Video. DVD, US, 2002.
Reality Bites (1994). Dir. Ben Stiller. Universal Pictures/United International Pictures.
DVD, 1998.
Rebel Without A Cause (1955). Dir. Nicholas Ray. Warner Brothers/Warner Home
Video. DVD, US, 2000.
Richard III (1995). Dir. Richard Loncraine. British Screen Productions/United Artists.
VHS, UK/USA, 1995.
Roma (1972). Dir. Federico Fellini. MGM Home Entertainment. DVD, US, 2001.
Satyricon (1969). Dir. Federico Fellini. MGM Home Entertainment. DVD, US, 2001.
The Seven Year Itch (1955). Dir. Billy Wilder. Twentieth Century-Fox Film
Corporation/ 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. DVD, US, 2006.
ShakespeaRE-Told (2005). Dir. David Nicholls/Peter Moffat/Sally Wainwright/Peter
Bowker. BBC/Acorn Media. DVD, UK, 2006.
Shakespeare in Love (1998). Dir. John Madden. Universal Pictures/Miramax Films,
DVD, US/UK, 1998.
214
The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Dir. Jonathan Demme. MGM/UA Home
Entertainment. DVD, US, 2001.
Sixteen Candles (1984). Dir. John Hughes. Universal Pictures/Universal Home Video
Inc. DVD, US, 2003.
Snow Falling On Cedars (1999). Dir. Scott Hicks. MCA/Universal Pictures. DVD, US,
2000.
Some Kind of Wonderful (1987). Dir. Howard Deutch. Prod. John Hughes. Paramount
Pictures. DVD, US, 2002.
The Street King (2002). Dir. James Gavin Bedford. TVA Films/Mistral Pictures. DVD,
US, 2002.
Sueño de noche de verano (A Midsummer Night's Dream) (1985). Dir. Celestino
Coronada. Cabochon/Televisión Española (TVE). VHS, UK/Spain, 1985.
The Taming Of The Shrew (1929). Dir. Sam Taylor. JEF Films/Aikman Archive. VHS,
US, 2002.
The Taming of the Shrew (1967). Dir. Franco Zeffirelli. Sony Pictures. DVD Italy/US,
1999.
Titus Andronicus (1985). Dir. Jane Howell. BBC/Time-Life Television Productions Inc.
UK, VHS, 1985.
The Tragedy of Macbeth (1971). Dir. Roman Polanski. Caliban Films/Playboy
Productions/Columbia Pictures/Sony Home Entertainment. DVD, 2002.
Twelfth Night: Or What You Will (1996). Dir. Trevor Nunn. Renaissance Films. US/UK,
1996.
Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru (aka. The Bad Sleep Well) (1960). Dir. Akira Kurosawa.
Kurosawa Production Co. Ltd/Home Vision Cinema. VHS, 2001.
West Side Story (1961). Dir. Robert Wise. Beta Productions/United Artists. DVD, US,
2004.
William Shakespeare‟s Hamlet (1996). (Four hour director‟s cut version). Dir. Kenneth
Branagh. Castle Rock Entertainment. VHS, US/UK, 1998.
William Shakespeare‟s Romeo + Juliet (1996). Dir. Baz Luhrmann. 20th Century
Fox/20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. DVD, US, 1996.
215