hi everyone i'm a student in uni and i've got an essay assignment about the Hamlet. i've already decided to write about Branagh's Hamlet and the original Hamlet, but i just can't start! i would like to have some help. Quetion is 'A period stage play transformed in to film is successful only when renderd in a contemporary style' i disagree with it! what do u think?

-- ryota takebayashi (rtsan@hotmail.com), September 25, 2003

Answers

Well I guess Branagh's proved that that's bull. But I do think they don't work in 20th or 21st century settings. They need something with a bit of glam, long dresses, horses, a bit of distance, romance and mystique, and a time when the language sits more comfortably than in the mundane, 'modern' world.

-- catherine england (catherine_england@emailaccount.comm), September 27, 2003.

the only period film I can think of that was made to be modern (while not counting out allegories) is the Romeo and juliet Film. The reason I think of it, it because it was well marketed. the reason some stories ( and particularly Shakespeare ) work so well in a moder millieu is because the nature of the story is timeless. Granted, the Ethan hawke rendition of Hamlet pales in comparison to Branaugh's or Sir L of O's but it was doable because the running themes in the plot are ones we encounter in our own lives today. - There's greed, envy, deadly sins, lies corruption, honest and dishonest mistakes. Hamlet and many of Shakespeare's incarnations were the first manifestations of the modern mind. hell, the Bard invented much of the language we use today. Merry, here's my drift - Any story can be transported through time as long as the messages contained in the story aren't outweighed by custom and peridocal transition. For it to be successful it also takes Hollywood style capital and marketing. that's another story altogether.

Sean Kelly Charlottetown, PEI, Canada

-- Sean Kelly (The_stuff_is@hotmail.com), October 24, 2003.