Course Description
Students will read and discuss a play each week or so, keep a set of reading notes, attend relevant performances or films, take exams, and write critical essays. Class time will shift between lectures on the reading and discussion of critical issues.
Athena Title
SHAKESPEARE ON FILM
Prerequisite
(Two 2000-level ENGL classes) or (one 2000-level ENGL class and one 2000-level CMLT class)
Semester Course Offered
Offered spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
This course surveys literature written by Shakespeare. Students will read plays and some secondary material that provides a context for the primary texts. For each play students will watch two films. In keeping with the English department's recommendations, students can expect to produce at least twenty pages of formal writing over the course of the semester. Depending on the instructor, students may also produce another 20 pages of more casual writing, and examinations over classwork. Students will become familiar with William Shakespeare. Students will share in the pleasure of reading work that has delighted English speakers for centuries. Students will also learn how an earlier culture confronted experiences and problems that continue to concern us, and see how our perceptions and tastes have changed over the centuries. Students will learn how to read a film, focusing on how filmmakers have interpreted, adapted, altered, and played with Shakespeare’s texts. Students will discuss aesthetic and formal questions such as: How does one evaluate an artwork? Are the standards for plays the same as those for films? Can art be commodified? Is Shakespeare cultural capital for everyone? Finally, students will demonstrate their abilities to read and analyze drama and film, as well as their skills at writing a focused and coherent argument.
Topical Outline
The course will vary from year to year depending on the instructor, but a typical semester might include Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice, The Comedy of Errors, Henry V, Richard III, The Tempest, and films to accompany those seven plays. A sample calendar might look like this: Week One Introduction to course Romeo and Juliet Zefferelli, Romeo and Juliet Week Two Luhrman, Romeo + Juliet Group Work: Sir Laurence Olivier Week Three Midsummer Night's Dream Hoffman, Midsummer Night’s Dream Group Work: Dame Judi Dench Week Four Continue A Midsummer Night’s Dream The Animated Tales, Midsummer Night's Dream First Olivier paper due Week Five Richard III Pacino, Looking for Richard Week Six Loncraine, Richard III Group paper on Olivier due Week Seven Loncraine, Richard III Midterm examination over first half of course Group Topic due Week Eight Macbeth Kurosawa, Throne of Blood Group Topic: Kenneth Branagh Week Nine Morrisette, Scotland, PA Second Olivier group topic due Second Dench group topic due Week Ten Spring Break Week Eleven Taming of the Shrew Mary Pickford, Taming of the Shrew Olivier group topic three due Week Twelve 10 Things I Hate about You Week Thirteen Othello Parker, Othello Third Olivier group paper due Week Fourteen Othello, Analogue film Second Dench group paper due Week Fifteen The Tempest Forbidden Planet Branagh paper due Week Sixteen Mazursky, The Tempest Review and Final Exam