I Think The Reason Why I Tend To Like More Controversial Film Shakespearean Adaptations (eg Kenneth Branagh's

I think the reason why I tend to like more controversial film Shakespearean adaptations (eg Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet, Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet) is to me, keeping the complete integrity of the play whole and intact is just slightly less important than seeing the story get to be told in new and exciting ways? Like don't get me wrong, I very much appreciate the integrity of a play and might be using the wrong word entirely but I don't care if not every single detail is the exact same and if some of the deep implications are lost in favour of things that look cool.

I guess my view comes from the fact that Shakespeare is so hard to get into for a number of reasons: the excruciating language barrier especially for first time readers, the fact that the plays are all like 400 years old, and the way that everybody seems so pretentious about his works all the time that it's hard to connect to them in any meaningful way when people are just going to tell you you're not reading it right. It put me off for a good many years to the point where I held contempt for the playwright and every English teacher who'd made me study his works because it all felt so stupid and uptight and so much fuss about nothing (much ado about nothing, you might say) and I'd been taken to see live plays of his multiple times and every time my parents had been like 'oh it's a cultural experience! it's high art!' and it confused me and frustrated me and just didn't resonate with me at all. and quite potentially the ONLY reason I got into his works at all was three straight years studying his plays in, Hamlet came up on my radar as the play we'd have to perform a scene from for a Drama assessment. And he was Danish, and I'm Danish, and I thought 'yknow maybe I'll give this one a shot for cultural heritage purposes or whatever' and so I put in extra work to understand the play and realised it kind of hit hard. And then, after all these years of reading plays and watching them without a clue what was going on, it was getting the chance to perform a scene from a play that I understood with the instruction to make of it what we wanted it to be, I finally got it. I realised why this name had been one to go down in history.

But I can't get over how absolutely hard it was to get here, and how close I was to never being here at all despite my close proximity at many occasions of my life. And it's because people treat Shakespeare's works like 'high art' which they are, but they also take it to mean untouchable. And okay, maybe if it was the Mona Lisa or something. But this is theatre! This is the most adaptational, most personal, most intimate art form! And it's not only art where the value lies in viewing it, but there's value in being the ones to perform as well! And treating it like some godly, better-than-thou, scripture from the heavens makes it unrelatable and unapproachable. When the whole reason these stories have lasted for four hundred years is because they're relatable!

But sometimes three-four hour plays are hard to resonate with, especially the Shakesperean worded ones, whether that be read or viewed. Mostly for newcomers. And often, that can be where film comes in. And here's where I should add, a large amount of people don't watch Shakespeare with the intent of acting like they know everything about it. Having an adaptation that doesn't fully do the original justice should be okay, because at the end of the day it's more important that the stories are being told and adapted to draw in a modern audience (who then if interested can go and properly sink their teeth in) than kept in a glass case to be seen but not felt.

I hope people make really shitty film adaptations of Shakespeare. I hope people make film adaptations that do something daring and original that wasn't in the play. I hope people make adaptations that go offscipt entirely, I hope they make adaptations that don't quite make sense but they're going for more of a vibe than anything. I hope they make adaptations that are campy and ridiculous and I hope they make adaptations that really suit the original plays and capture all of their themes that make every scholar's heart ascend with happiness.

I hope people make many, many adaptations of Shakespeare's works, each with a bit of their own creativity and soul handcrafted into them. I hope these stories keep being adapted again and again and that every adaptation, whether it resonates with a large audience or not, really resonates with someone. I hope people have self-indulgent fun adapting his works. I hope that no one ever feels afraid to put something out into the world just because it might be awful.

I should also add, if you happen to dislike any of the adaptations I mentioned for valid reasons that's totally fine and I understand why you might lol. But in an ideal world, Hamlet has like a hundred different modern versions and I actually hate like half of them but it's okay because the fact that so many were made means that one also got made that's so good and so perfect for me that it keeps me up at night. I currently do have takes on the play that I absolutely despise anyway (Freud when I get my hands on you) but I recognise that there's merit in them existing and people finding meaning in them (even if they're WRONG according to me). I also understand the potential frustration in people who haven't studied the play coming into academic spaces and acting as if they have full authority because they've seen one adaptation. I just hope you sort of get the point I'm trying to make because we're probably not on opposite sides and I have a fear of misarticulating myself on the internet LOL

anyway the Hamlet scene I ended up doing for my Drama assessment was the latter half of Act 5 Scene 2 and our group's take on it were that Hamlet and Laertes were bitter exes lmao

maybe i'm just a grumpy english major but i feel like a lot of the "lol people think shakespeare is pretentious but actually his plays are just dick jokes and swordfighting" posting can verge into "lol what if the curtains are just blue" territory. yes shakespeare plays are full of those things AND they are also profound and complex and thematically rich. people spend their careers analyzing them for a reason, actually. it's not just dick jokes all the way down. and sometimes people spend their careers analyzing the dick jokes. stop trying to pick one side of the dichotomy between high and low culture. it's both. it can be both.

what if hamlet characters had twitter and also there wasn’t any tragedy part 8: this is not how succession works in any country i am lying

first/past/next

what if hamlet characters had twitter and also there wasn’t any tragedy part 7: the intern

first/past/next

toying around with a swap au version of Hamlet. haven't really worked out the details, but imagining it'd be a Hamlet-Ophelia centric swap of parts: Ophelia (and Laertes is probably in on it to) tearing her life apart in her quest to revenge her dead parent with Hamlet as the cast aside lover, heartbroken and trying to seek out the truth in her love.

When Hamlet's father is killed, he spirals much faster, for two main reasons.

one: this time he knows that it was murder from the moment he finds out, and

two: not only was his father murdered and his corpse desecrated, but the one responsible was none other than the one he thought he loved.

Needless to say, it's no surprise when Horatio finds him on the roof.

Hamlet pales and trembles in the cold, wild eyes fixed on seeming vacancy: the prince's hair seems to stand on its very ends. He's ill-dressed for the conditions, and he looks ghastly, to say the least.

Horatio's heart could weep at the sight of him. He'd seemingly gone mad ever since the death of his father, and Horatio was finding it harder and harder to place his friend by the day. His appearance disheveled, his mirth dissipated, his discussions once scholarly and philosophical in nature now distracted ramblings with a morbid tendency to fixate on death. Lord knows where he'd found an actual skull from, and why he'd decided to bring it into the castle, all covered in muck and mud like a buried thing.

Now the rain and wind whip around his face and clothing, thin, white, and practically transparent in its wetness. Hamlet had startled at Horatio's arrival, but now he points. He points at the empty air in front of him.

He sees a ghost, he says. He sees his father, he says.

Horatio tries to convince him that it's only in his mind's eye, but his friend is too far gone. There's a wild desperation in his eyes, matched only by a sadness that seems to stretch into some neverending abyss.

Horatio has a bad feeling about this.

Hamlet begins to move, saying the ghost beckons him to follow, it won't talk to him in the presence of others. Horatio tells him that's it's a bad idea, and that he may find himself led somewhere dangerous, and he should really come back with him inside.

The prince doesn't listen, and begins to run, across the castle roof, towards some figment of the imagination, away from Horatio.

He's nearing an edge when Horatio catches him, tackling him to the ground. The two scuffle as Horatio pleads, begs him not to go. The wind is loud and the rain stings, and the fight continues until Horatio suddenly finds his throat on the other end of a blade; the prince has drawn his sword upon him.

He'll make a ghost of anyone that lets him, he threatens.

And Horatio's never seen this look in his friend's eyes, a pure, unfiltered hatred directed towards him, he's never been on the other end of his anger. He's frozen in complete shock, and Hamlet seizes the opportunity, turning and sprinting.

The prince chases the ghost, and follows it off the edge.

By the time Horatio sits up, all that lies before him is the night, the rain, and the empty castle roof. Only a thin railing separates him from a lethal drop, and if he wanted to, he could be over it in mere seconds. He can't move, he can barely think, and somehow he can't even bring himself to feel anything at all. It's not real to him, not yet. All he can think about is how he'll be the one to relay the news.

What does he do now?

What does he tell them?

The Prince of Denmark has fallen from great height, following his father's ghost into an early grave.

hamlet cannot cook btw. hes rich when did he learn. anyways