ENG 822 – Shakespeare in the Movies
Defining Difference(s) in Shakespearean Cinema
Temple University – Fall 2013
“He was not of an age, but for all time!” –Ben Jonson
“That’s what I like about Shakespeare; it’s the pictures.” –Al Pacino
Instructor: Dr. Geoffrey W. Gust Office: Anderson Hall 1146 (enter through 1142) Office Hours: MW 10:45-11:45, 2-2:30; F 11:15-11:45, 2-2:30; and by appointment E-mail address: Office telephone: (215) 204-7823 Website: then click on “Blackboard” Course Numbers/Times/Location: Section #001 (CRN 7284) MWF 12-12:50 pm in Weiss Hall B035
Official Course Description: Love and political ambition and violence and evil and laughter and wit and racial antagonism and the battle between the sexes and the joy and misery of being human - Shakespeare's plays are about all of that. Discover how they work in film and video. Learn to read films and understand what actors, directors, composers, set designers, cinematographers, etc. do to bring the bard's plays to life. We will view Merchant of Venice, Richard III, Othello, Much Ado about Nothing, and Romeo and Juliet and study how these plays got from the page to the screen. We will look at actors of the present day - Pacino, McKellen, Hopkins, Hoskins, Fishburne, Branagh, Thompson, DiCaprio, Danes, etc. and also at giants of the past, like Laurence Olivier, to see how actors create their roles. This course includes group work in reviewing film techniques, innovative writing instruction, and an introduction to research. You will have access to whole plays and to selected clips streamed to your computer. NOTE: This course fulfills the Arts (GA) requirement for students under GenEd and Arts (AR) for students under Core. Students cannot receive credit for this course if they have successfully completed English 0922.
About the Course: In the comedy As you Like it (ca. 1599), William Shakespeare wrote that “All the world’s a stage,” a commentary on the many stages of life. lnThe Lion King (1994) – an animated children’s movie famously based upon Shakespeare’s Hamlet – this very concept was framed in a different light via the notion of “the circle of life,” the title of the sweeping song that opens the Disney film. The fact that the Renaissance author Shakespeare is culturally potent enough to influence the creation of a recent award-winning animated movie speaks volumes about “The Bard’s” continuing cultural status in the twenty-first century – a significance that is no better seen than on film. As scholar Deborah Cartmell writes, “Shakespeare seems [especially] adaptable to cinema; many would agree with Laurence Olivier, who has repeatedly implied that Shakespeare would have written films, if only he had the chance.” There is no doubt that Shakespeare’s plays translate particularly well to the medium of film, and for over a century the cinema has produced a wide variety of Shakespearean adaptations. Some of these films have “updated” his comedies, others have re-imagined his histories, and a large number of movies have cleverly “re-booted” his powerful tragedies. Shakespeare’s works translate so well to film because his plays were meant to be performed – intended to be seen and experienced, not read in a private setting – and were dramatized in front of a vast public audience that included members of both the high and low classes in Renaissance England. Hence, the plays spoke powerfully to a diverse audience about a range of important cultural subjects – and they continue to do the same roughly 400 years later. In this course, then, we will examine the myriad ways the plays have spoken to movie audiences since 1899, when the first Shakespeare movie was created in the form of the short silent film King John. Although we will be viewing more recent adaptations in class, our task will be to consider how a variety of Shakespearean movies have, like King John, taken the written words of the famous author and transformed his plays into (often elaborate) cinematic experiences. In class, we will generally start each thematic unit with the original playscripts themselves, and then explore how those playscripts are rendered on screen. To examine important scenes and crucial cinematic visions, we will view a large number of film clips as well as certain films in their entirety – all with an eye toward analyzing the ways in which notable film directors have created, time and again, new and different “Shakespeares” for the modern age. In negotiating these plays and their recent cinematic translations, we will work together to introduce you to central tenets of film studies, to deepen your understanding of Shakespeare and his age, and to improve your skills in critical analysis – all the while striving to facilitate an engaging and, I hope, enjoyable class experience.
Course Goals & Objectives:
Students in English 822 will:
* Improve their understanding of Shakespeare’s life, times, language, and literary achievement; in turn, they will develop a basic understanding of the history of Shakespeare in the movies
* Establish a fundamental comprehension of cinema studies and basic film techniques
* Learn about the central generic tropes of Renaissance comedy, history, romance, and tragedy, and examine examples of these generic forms with nuance
* Compare and contrast a number of films based on selected, notable Shakespearean plays, and display an understanding of their status as modern adaptations of premodern drama
* Improve skills in critical analysis and demonstrate an ability to write coherent analytical responses to Shakespearean cinema
Required Texts and Materials:
- Timothy Corrigan, A Short Guide to Writing About Film, 8th ed. (Pearson, 2012).
- Acceptable scholarly editions of the five central plays studied in class: Richard III, Much Ado About Nothing, The Merchant of Venice, Othello, and Romeo and Juliet. Any reputable printed edition is fine, and there are good online editions as well (such as those found at , a website that I recommend because it not only has full texts of the plays but also a very useful online glossary and language companion created by an excellent language scholar).
- A good, college-level dictionary (and/or consistent access to the Oxford English Dictionary online)
- E-mail/Blackboard/Internet access
- Some photocopying may be required, and a Netflix account (or its equivalent) is highly recommended in order to ensure convenient access to the films and to complete written homework assignments
Vital University Disclosures/Statements:
Any student who has a need for accommodation based on the impact of a disability should: a) contact Disability Resources and Services at 215-204-1280 in 100 Ritter Annex to discuss and coordinate reasonable accommodations, and b) contact me privately to discuss the specific situation as soon as possible.
Furthermore, please note that. . . Freedom to teach and freedom to learn are inseparable facets of academic freedom. The University has a policy on Student and Faculty and Academic Rights and Responsibilities (Policy #03.70.02) which can be accessed through the following link: .
Course Rules, Requirements, and Assignments:
Attendance, Tardiness, and Late Work: In general, there are few “rules and regulations” for our class. The one over-arching rule I have – the “Golden Rule” of the course, if you will – is that each of you will act like responsible adults, and thus common courtesy (in all shapes and sizes) is the primary rule that I have. Be respectful of our collective learning experience, and each other. That means no use of cellphones or other similar devices in class – PUT THEM AWAY and turn them off when you enter, please! It means no pounding on computer keyboards, audiotaping of class discussion, or disruptively eating food. Most importantly, the “Golden Rule” means that you will be both generally open-minded and courteous to each other in class discussions and interactions – respectful of the ideas and interpretations of individuals inevitably different than yourself.
With all that said, there are also some specific rules pertaining to attendance, tardiness, and late work. Please note that our MWF meetings begin at 12 noon sharp. PLEASE BE ON TIME. Obviously, there is traffic and so forth to contend with, but please plan accordingly because tardiness is not only rude and distracting, but more crucially it disrupts our activities and thus effects our learning for the day. For each class meeting, attendance will be taken via a sign-in sheet. Students who are not yet in class when attendance is taken will be marked as absent. It is worth emphasizing here that even though this is a large “lecture” course, I take your presence in class very seriously. Because so much of your learning will take place in and around class, you must attend on a regular basis to receive credit for the course. More specifically, for our course you are permitted a total of six absences – two weeks worth of class meetings. There are no exceptions to this policy and no distinctions will be made between “excused” or “unexcused” absenses – an absence is simply an absence. My straightforward expectation is that you will attend and be active participants in class unless you have acceptable reasons for missing a scheduled meeting (e.g. sickness, a death in the family, etc.). If you miss a class, you are responsible for catching up with the work for that day. If you miss more than six classes, you may FAIL the course. Finally, allow me to say a few words about late work. Your syllabus provides you with a very detailed schedule, so you will have ample time/warning for your various written assignments. Therefore, there is no reason for you to turn in late papers (and incidentally, any homework/essays will always be due at the beginning of class). When you get behind on your work, it tends to have a snowball effect and negatively affect subsequent assignments. As such, the class policy on late work is a simple one: a full letter grade will be subtracted for each DAY an essay (or required homework composition) is late, unless you have viable reasons that have personally been discussed with your instructor.
Plagiarism/Academic Honesty:
Academic integrity is at the very core of a university education, and therefore is taken very seriously by Temple faculty. This is especially true of plagiarism, which should never occur in a college course. According to the ‘Temple University Statement on Academic Honesty for Students in Undergraduate Courses,’ “Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of another person's labor: another person's ideas, words, or assistance. In general, all sources must be identified as clearly, accurately, and thoroughly as possible. Academic cheating is, in general terms, the thwarting or breaking of the general rules of academic work and/or the specific rules of individual courses. It includes falsifying data; submitting, without the instructor's approval, work in one course that was done for another; helping others to plagiarize or cheat from one's own or someone else's work; or actually doing the work of another person.” Unfortunately, there has been a rise in the number of plagiarism incidents in recent years, and you must not fall prey to the temptation of using an internet “paper factory” or something along those lines. I will be carefully looking for such papers and you will be turning in your essays via ‘SafeAssign’, so you will very likely get caught if you try to cheat in any such manner (or if you try to pass off a paper written for this class or other, related Temple courses from previous semesters). You will have plenty of forewarning for all of your assignments, so time should not be an issue; and having already been introduced to them in your First Year Writing courses, you should be comfortable with college-level research and proper source citation. Of course, I do not want to discourage you from using other people’s ideas or scholarship. My aim is exactly the opposite. But you must always make clear your sources, and that is especially true in any given critical response to literature. The following rules (on pg. 4) will help you to avoid plagiarism in your essays this semester, but if you are in any way uncertain about what constitutes plagiarism, please consult with me:
1. The language in your paper must be either your own or a direct quote from the original author.
2. Changing a few words or phrases from another writer’s work is not enough to make the writing “your own.” The writing is either your own or the other person’s; there are no in-betweens.
3. In text citation and an accurate bibliography acknowledge that the fact or opinion expressed comes from another writer. If the language comes from another writer, quotation marks are necessary, in addition to a correct citation.
In light of all of the above, the course policy on academic dishonesty is clear-cut: if you are caught plagiarizing all or any part of an assignment, you will receive a failing grade for that piece of work, you will likely fail the course, and you will perhaps face further ramifications within the university.
Homework: This is a Gen-Ed Arts course. Accordingly, everything we do will revolve around critical thinking – and particularly the critical thought involved in analyzing complex Shakespearean texts (and film versions thereof) and articulating your ideas orally and in writing. In terms of homework, the bulk of your time will be taken up with your reading assignments and film viewings for each week. I have tried to keep the amount of reading as minimal as possible, but you should be forewarned: you ARE reading a number of Shakespearean plays, which inherently take some time due to their language and complexity; you will also be assigned assorted other texts related to Cinema Studies and/or the Renaissance period. Hence, the old cliché about college time-management will likely hold true: you can probably expect to spend 3 hours outside of class for every hour spent in class. Because reading is central to our course, your daily reading/preparation will ultimately be a key component of your ‘homework’ grade. To encourage you to read carefully and read well, you will be assigned a variety of short homework writings throughout the semester, most notably the focused series of ‘Screening Responses’ you will be asked to compose, which will task you with a variety of forms of analytical thinking relative to Shakespeare on film. These assignments will be clarified in class, and should help you to develop the skills necessary to comprehend the material at hand and also to successfully complete the larger, formal writing assignments. In addition, you may be asked at a particular time to “report” to me your thoughts/ideas/questions on a given play or film, which I will in turn use to guide us in a given day’s class meeting. In light of all of this, please work ahead as much as you can, and be sure to leave yourself plenty of time to read – and to read carefully – so that you’re not waiting until the last minute to try and prepare everything for our class meetings. If you procrastinate and/or are not prepared, the full impact of the lectures and discussions will be lost. And getting behind will almost surely affect you when it comes to quizzes and exams. The lesson: work ahead, and work steadily, and you should be fine.
Participation: Without a doubt, discussion and the unraveling of meaning are at the very core of literary study. Therefore, active participation is absolutely key to your success in this class and will significantly impact your overall grade – playing a crucial role in your Homework/Participation grade (which will make up 15% of your overall class total). In this case, participation means being an active, engaged member of the class – listening in earnest to lectures, watching the films with care, completing the assignments to the best of your ability, and generally engaging the material at hand with close thought and due diligence. Although we are a large “lecture” class, we WILL be having discussions of the material during our daily meetings, so the most basic type of participation in the class will be any contributions you make to our large, class discussions, as well as any group work we might do. We’re all in this together, so I hope you are not daunted by the size of our class, and are willing to share your thoughts and ideas, which will help to make our course both energetic and insightful. In addition to the various types of discussion and discourse that will fill much of your time, you are also expected to participate in whatever way is deemed necessary for a given week. So, for example, if you are required to post questions or comments online or participate in class discussions, that will tangibly count toward the Homework/Participation portion of your grade. With all of this in mind, I strongly suggest that – even if you are shy – you take participation seriously. It lies at the very heart of English studies, and it will be at the very center of your grade and our machinations in class. Don’t see participation as a burden; rather, see it as an opportunity to voice your opinions, as something active and fun that lots of students in other classes don’t often get to fully experience!