Shakespeare – Page 34 – The View From Sari's World

It’s May 4th, or as we nerds say. it’s Star Wars Day! I thought I’d celebrate by brushing off a review I did a couple of years ago.

May the 4th be with you!

I’m a part of the Star Wars generation. The original movie came out the summer I turned 12. Back in 1977 no one had ever seen a movie quite like this. Between the special effects (who can forget the Death Star explosion) and makeup, it was Hollywood magic at its finest. Even my mother, a jaded movie critic gasped when Obi-Wan and Luke entered the cantina. Everyone I knew wanted to see Star Wars, and for many of us kids, once was not enough. By summer’s end I’d watched it 12 times.

Even today it holds a special place in my heart. Maybe because it came out in the twilight of my innocence. That last summer between adolescence and teen angst. Or maybe because I just remember how much fun my friends and I had watching it, acting it out, (yes, we were at that age where that sort of behavior was acceptable) and arguing over key moments in the movie; we were also of the age that philosophical thought started to creep into our discussions. Was Luke destined to be a Jedi, or was it dumb luck that cast his fate?

Star Wars remains one of my favorite movies. But as the years past I moved on, finding new loves and new subjects of philosophical debate. Shakespeare is now the topic of many long discussions; though I do recall one in which Hamlet and Luke were subjected to comparison. Both at times, hesitated to do what was needed and both have some serious daddy issues!

Why am I bringing this up? Well, a few weeks ago I was offered the chance to review Ian Doescher’s book William Shakespeare’s Star Wars. The nerd in me jumped at the chance to read this mash-up. What science nerd/Shakespeare geek wouldn’t?

Of course I wondered if it would be any good and if the Bard scholar in me would find fault on every page. So how did it do?

The book exceeded my expectations; although to be fair, my expectations were rather low. I hoped for a few hours of light entertainment. What I got was a few hours of pure delight. From the opening lines to the last I was hooked.

C-3PO- Now is the summer of our happiness

Made winter by this sudden, fierce attack!

Our ship is under siege, I know not how.

O hast thou heard? The main reactor fails!

We shall most surely be destroy’d by this.

I’ll warrant madness lies herein!

The adult Shakespeare lover in my admired Doescher’s ability to stick to some of Lucas’ original words while giving them a Shakespearean make-over. But the biggest surprise and delight came from Doescher’s novel idea to place Shakespeare-like asides and soliloquies in key moments. These monologs offers Star Wars fans new vantage points to view the characters and their motivations. Take Luke’s inner struggle after finding his aunt and uncle’s chard remains:

Adventure have I ask’d for in this life,

and now have I too much of my desire.

My soul within me weeps: my mind, it runs

unto a thousand varied paths.

My uncle Own and my aunt Beru,

have they been cruelly kill’d for what I want?

As the soliloquy goes on,we get the idea that Luke feels guilt and pressure over this tragedy. He vows to fight so that his family will be “honor’d in their grave”.

From R2D2 to Vader, these innermost thoughts add depth to the story, and dare I say it? Make it a little better. Yep, I am telling you that Doescher’s retelling breaths new life into the Lucas’ world.

I wish this book had come out when the other mash-up were popular. I got my son to read and admire Jane Austin with Pride Prejudice and Zombies. If he had read Doescher’s book in high school he may have had an easier time with Shakespeare. William Shakespeare’s Star Wars is a wonderful introduction into Shakespearean verse. Getting students used to “Shakespeare “speak” can be a challenge. Doescher’s book may ease some of their fear of Shakespeare.

Are there mistakes? Yes, the biggest is that Doescher doesn’t modify speaking styles; the higher class should be speaking in verse, and the lower in prose, a style Shakespeare used to show the difference in classes. Am I complaining? No, not really, I had too much fun reading this book and I hope you will to.

Anon. May the verse be with you!

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, I am participating in Coursera’s “Shakespeare in Community”. It’s a course that allows students to express their thoughts and feelings about the Bard. A better title might be, “What Shakespeare Means To You”

We found ourselves discussing Carlo Carlei’s 2013, adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. I freely admit I haven’t seen the movie, and from what others have said, I don’t think I will.

Some argued that Carlei had every right to change the script; Juliet awakens right before Romeo kills himself. This was supposed to add to the drama and tragic ending. Carlei’s R&J is set in the modern world so naturally guns are the weapon of choice. Yet another change can be found in the dialog. Carlei uses Shakespeare’s most iconic lines while taking liberty with most of the lines. We have to ask, is this Shakespeare or is this based on Shakespeare?

Here are my thoughts, and please. Feel free to tell me yours.

West Side Story, Kiss Me Kate, The Lion King. These are movies based on Shakespeare. The directors unabashedly admit to adapting the plays and re-imagining them. Yet they stop short of calling their work, Shakespeare. Why? Because this allows them the ability to play loose and fast with his work. It allows them to explore ideas found in Shakespeare’s work without constraint. These directors want us to judge the work on their own merit, even if their work is not quite original. Then again, neither was Shakespeare’s.

We all know Shakespeare adapted earlier work to fit the needs of his audience. While the players could have just as easily been known as the group who performed classic works, they re-imagined them instead, and offered them in a way that their audience would accept and understand. Carlei may have felt he was doing the same. But there is a difference: Shakespeare re-wrote older literary works by changing the words, sometimes names and settings, and on several occasions re-wrote the ending. By doing this he took ownership of his work and called them his own. Like the directors mentioned above, Shakespeare did this so that his work would be judged on its merit.

Carlei’s movie is not Shakespeare, no matter what he wants us to think. His work is based on a play, just like Robert Wise’s West Side Story is not exactly Shakespeare. Carlei has been heavily criticized for his work and largely ignored by movie audiences. It is obvious Carlei is being judged, not on his merit, but on his use of someone else’s work. He doesn’t seem to understand the difference between adapting and basing.

Adapting someone else’s work usually involves a change of setting, or a re-ordering of scenes. Sometimes director remove or blend characters in order to save time and money. Yet these same directors will keep to the original dialog and endings. They want to be judged on how well they’ve used someone else’s work. Fair enough. I rather enjoyed Morgan Freeman’s Wild West version of The Taming of the Shrew. BBC did a remarkable job of placing an adaptation of Hamlet is the present day, so there video surveillance cameras in every room. This gave the play a dark, creepy feel as everyone, including the audience, felt spied upon. These two examples might not fit your definition of Shakespeare, but at least they didn’t omit the language and change the endings.

One of my classmates argued “tragedies can and should be altered”. “We don’t always require a sad ending”. Another classmate responded by asking if we always need comedies? His point was that by tweeking the content we no longer have the same play that we started with. John came up with a brilliant illustration to make his point. I give him full credit for coming up with the following idea. What if we to re-title some of Shakespeare’s comedies? Would they still be Shakespeare? You decide.

All’s Well that end’s Poorly

As you hate it

The grumpy wives of Windsor

Midsummer’s night’s nightmare

The unemployed of Venice

Twelve Long Nights

Much ado about nothing, nothing at all

The Shaming of the Shrew

Category: Shakespeare

William Shakespeare’s Star Wars: a new hope for fans

Is it Shakespeare or based on Shakespeare?

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