Shakespeare Vs Twelfth Night Essay
Twelfth Night – Shakespeare in Performance by VSS
11/21/08
Twelfth Night is a Shakespearian comedy about mistaken identity, gender confusion, love and suffering it causes and the foolishness of ambition. I will be comparing Shakepeare’s text from Bevington’s “The Complete Works of Shakespeare”, to both the 2003 film version of Twelfth Night directed by Tim Supple and the 1996 film Twelfth Night directed by Trevor Nunn. Is it more important to follow the text in a Shakespeare film adaptation or the tone? These are two very different adaptations of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Supple’s version generally follows Shakespeare’s text while Nunn’s version is focuses more on the comedic elements than staying true to the text.
Supple’s fresh approach comes from the multi-ethnic casting choices. These choices add another element of tension and sensuality to the story. In Shakespeare’s text we assume all characters are white and the only barriers are gender and class. The focus then is solely on the story at hand. Nunn’s version does not mix race and all characters are Caucasian. Supple however uses three racially …show more content…
The undercurrent of race is subtle but it definitely permeates through out the film. This adds much more drama. I think his multi-racial casting also adds unspoken racial bias on behalf of the viewer. Although there are never any verbal inferences to race, one has to wonder what the director expected to portray. Is he trying to say that society can accept a relationship between a White woman and an Indian more so than the broader jump of a relationship between a White woman and Black man? Perhaps he is eluding to fact that a Black man’s relationship with someone closer to his own color, like an Indian is more likely to be successful than a Black man to a White woman? These may be considerations the director had but really were not a concern of mine while watching the
11/21/08
Twelfth Night is a Shakespearian comedy about mistaken identity, gender confusion, love and suffering it causes and the foolishness of ambition. I will be comparing Shakepeare’s text from Bevington’s “The Complete Works of Shakespeare”, to both the 2003 film version of Twelfth Night directed by Tim Supple and the 1996 film Twelfth Night directed by Trevor Nunn. Is it more important to follow the text in a Shakespeare film adaptation or the tone? These are two very different adaptations of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Supple’s version generally follows Shakespeare’s text while Nunn’s version is focuses more on the comedic elements than staying true to the text.
Supple’s fresh approach comes from the multi-ethnic casting choices. These choices add another element of tension and sensuality to the story. In Shakespeare’s text we assume all characters are white and the only barriers are gender and class. The focus then is solely on the story at hand. Nunn’s version does not mix race and all characters are Caucasian. Supple however uses three racially …show more content…
The undercurrent of race is subtle but it definitely permeates through out the film. This adds much more drama. I think his multi-racial casting also adds unspoken racial bias on behalf of the viewer. Although there are never any verbal inferences to race, one has to wonder what the director expected to portray. Is he trying to say that society can accept a relationship between a White woman and an Indian more so than the broader jump of a relationship between a White woman and Black man? Perhaps he is eluding to fact that a Black man’s relationship with someone closer to his own color, like an Indian is more likely to be successful than a Black man to a White woman? These may be considerations the director had but really were not a concern of mine while watching the