King Lear vs. Ran
‘King Lear’ vs. ‘Ran’
Today I will speak about the transformation of King Lear, a Shakespearian play written in the Elizabethan era to the 1980’s version Ran. I will be using six items to represent the shift in context, values and techniques; this will demonstrate how the composers of both the original text, King Lear and the transformed text Ran are able to reflect the differing values and context within them.
My first two items are a crown and a Bushido scroll. I have chosen these to represent the shift in context, which are the attitudes and values of society at the time that the text was composed. King Lear was written in the Elizabethan era when Queen Elizabeth ruled, the values that were important during this time period were loyalty, order of divine right, respect, the role of a child and a hierarchy, just to name a few.
In the relation to divine order and hierarchy the king was considered to be a representative of God placed on earth to rule. This is why I have chosen the crown as my item. It represents the king and his supreme power, as it is a symbol of royalty and therefore associated with those who are “above” everyone else. This is followed up by loyalty and respect, King Lear demands praise to show their loyalty and respect, this is exhibited in the play when Lear using manipulative methods to bribe his daughters to express their love for him publically “Which of you shall say doth love us most, That we our largest bounty may extend”. Which links to the role of a child, they are expected to obey, respect and love their father unconditionally. This is why Cordelia’s response to King Lear’s demand, in his opinion was so greatly offensive. This is because not only was she disobeying him as a king but also as a father.
Whereas in Ran set in Japan, the values are similar in some terms; such as respect, loyalty and role of a child but in relation to hierarchy and divine order the role of emperor didn’t necessarily go to the next of kin. This is
Today I will speak about the transformation of King Lear, a Shakespearian play written in the Elizabethan era to the 1980’s version Ran. I will be using six items to represent the shift in context, values and techniques; this will demonstrate how the composers of both the original text, King Lear and the transformed text Ran are able to reflect the differing values and context within them.
My first two items are a crown and a Bushido scroll. I have chosen these to represent the shift in context, which are the attitudes and values of society at the time that the text was composed. King Lear was written in the Elizabethan era when Queen Elizabeth ruled, the values that were important during this time period were loyalty, order of divine right, respect, the role of a child and a hierarchy, just to name a few.
In the relation to divine order and hierarchy the king was considered to be a representative of God placed on earth to rule. This is why I have chosen the crown as my item. It represents the king and his supreme power, as it is a symbol of royalty and therefore associated with those who are “above” everyone else. This is followed up by loyalty and respect, King Lear demands praise to show their loyalty and respect, this is exhibited in the play when Lear using manipulative methods to bribe his daughters to express their love for him publically “Which of you shall say doth love us most, That we our largest bounty may extend”. Which links to the role of a child, they are expected to obey, respect and love their father unconditionally. This is why Cordelia’s response to King Lear’s demand, in his opinion was so greatly offensive. This is because not only was she disobeying him as a king but also as a father.
Whereas in Ran set in Japan, the values are similar in some terms; such as respect, loyalty and role of a child but in relation to hierarchy and divine order the role of emperor didn’t necessarily go to the next of kin. This is