Our next list, List 11, will tackle Shakespeare modernized, retold, re-imagined, rethought, re-branded.
UPDATE BY MIKE: So I should have written this intro days ago, but life has been a little crazy of late. The trouble with loving literature is that the good stuff, such as Shakespeare, has been done so many times that it's just not fun anymore. After thousands of stage performances, dozens of film adaptations, the plays of Shakespeare have been done so often that even the Bard himself would be bored stiff. If anything, I think he'd watch a few, and say "Good Lord, people, I think you missed the point!" (in this instance, Shakespeare would just happen to say what I think about the matter).
You see, Shakespeare wasn't out to preserve or display British culture; he was writing about the human condition and about the life of the common people. While his writing is beautiful and elegant, in the end I think the story was more important to him than the exact wording (not much more important, but still). If Shakespeare were alive today, I think he'd wonder why his stories have been preserved in a static state, instead of being adapted for the common people of the modern era.
Luckily, updating Shakespeare has become something of a trend. And so, to celebrate the story=telling ability of the Bard (rather than his writing skills, which were indeed awesome), we have decided to do a list of Shakespeare, but with a twist: instead of reviewing straight adaptations, Kate and I will be watching modern, and often off-beat, retellings of Shakespeare.
Not only will this be fun, it will also circumvent the whole "Wow, I had to watch that four times before I got through it without falling asleep" issue, which comes with most play adaptations. Enjoy!
The list will start next the first weekend of August.
Friday, July 27, 2012
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