ENGL 117

Spring 2020 All Classes

All Classes

Credit: 3 hours.

Explores the ongoing reinterpretation and appropriation of Shakespeare plays in twentieth- and twenty-first century film. Expect to read around five plays and analyze two productions of each play, and to consider how Shakespeare can be transformed to meet different cultural and contextual demands of the screen. Lecture and discussion.

Same as MACS 117.

This course satisfies the General Education Criteria in Fall 2022 for:

Humanities – Lit & Arts
ENGL 117 class schedule data for spring 2020
CRN Type Section Time Day Location Instructor Section Details
70311
Lecture-Discussion
Lecture-Discussion
F
F
2:00PM -3:50PM
2:00PM -4:50PM
W
M
131 English Building
131 English Building
Stevens, A
Stevens, A
Part of Term:
1
Date Range:
01/21/20-05/06/20
Degree Notes:
Humanities - Lit & Arts course.
Section Info:
This introductory-level survey covers seven of Shakespeare’s plays alongside notable film versions of those plays, from faithful "realistic" interpretations of Shakespeare to more radical reinventions of the source material. Your written work will ask you to engage with adaptations, appropriations, or even ‘distortions’ of Shakespeare in film and in popular culture more generally, including new media (graphic novels, tumblr, fan fiction sites). The subtitle of this class could well be ‘Shakespeare in Performance’: expect also to see a range of short clips from a variety of films not officially covered on the syllabus in addition to footage of recorded live theatrical performances. Our MW schedule includes one in-class film viewing session on Mondays (note the longer meeting time, which allows us to see longer films when necessary) and then lecture-discussion on Wednesdays. In our weekly lectures, I will provide an overview of the play under consideration, concentrating especially on key moments that suggest multiple possibilities for performance. I also hope to read and occasionally block key scenes from the plays (with willing volunteers!). I assume neither expertise in Shakespeare nor in the vocabulary of film criticism; our core focus will be how ‘texts’ change once embodied and performed. Plays may include Titus Andronicus, Romeo and Juliet, Midsummer Night's Dream, Macbeth, Hamlet, Othello, and The Tempest, with film version by such directors as Julie Taymor, Baz Luhrmann, and Derek Jarman, for example. Our capstone assignment will be a short group film project over which you'll have significant creative freedom of interpretation.
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