Thursday, April 29, 2010

Branagh's the Best

My favorite film version of Hamlet is by Ken Branagh. Branagh's version was more dramatic and it is the play verbatim. I believe that Shakespeare would want his plays acted out the way they were written and Branagh's version of Hamlet is as close as you will get to the play. It starts how the play starts with the ghost scene and it does not show the ghost's face which makes it difficult to determine if the ghost is actually King Hamlet. Branagh's version depicts Hamlet wearing black which displays his sorrow in everyone's joy. The mood and setting of the hall changes as Hamlet gets ready to deliver his first soliloquy. The hall goes from bright to dull within a matter of seconds. Hamlet delivers his soliloquy with great anger and hostility. He says the famous line "frailty thy name is woman" with agony. Branagh added dynamics and stress to Hamlet's voice every time he mentioned his mother's disloyalty to his father.
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3 comments:

  1. AliciaGeeApril 29, 2010 at 8:54 PM

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  2. AliciaGeeApril 29, 2010 at 8:56 PM

    I am afraid I must disagree with the idea that Shakespeare would want his plays enacted verbatim. As we talked about in class, the basics of many of his plays were stories handed down orally throughout the generations. With his mastery of the language, Shakespeare crafted them into works of beauty. They have become timeless because of this. Shakespeare, in writing them down, would want his plays to continue to be acted out for many generations, as many writers, poets, and playrights hope of their works of literature. He would accept that, in adapting his plays to modern times, the performances would draw more attention from the younger generations. While I agree that Shakespeare would possibly prefer his works to be performed verbatim, I am almost sure that he would accept modern adaptations, such as Almereyda's version, as the evolution of his play

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  3. Luckylinh2.0May 2, 2010 at 9:24 AM

    Alicia, i agree with you on the mastery of Shakespeare language making his works of beauty timeless. However, his mastery language does not fit Almereyda's modern version. To have a late 16th century language in 21th century society is very odd. Even though the modern version is unique and creative, i do not think it will draw more attention from younger generations.

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