Shakespeare and Film

This module provides a study of how the literary and performance traditions associated with Shakespeare's work are mobilized and transformed by the visual cultures of contemporary cinema. Through the intersections between the mediums of the dramatic text, theatre and film, the course examines central issues that shape Shakespeare's currency and circulation in the cinema: the values attached to authenticity and performance traditions, the Shakespearean actor, the appropriation and parody of the "universality" of Shakespeare, and the transformation of the meaningfulness of his plays through visuality and spectacle.