Post by mikef6 on Sept 1, 2019 14:54:39 GMT
Haven’t seen the 1979 production but the 2010 (directed by Julie Taymor) has much to recommend it. The gender switch from Prospero to Prospera works. The mother/daughter relationship makes a lot of sense and fits the lines they are given to speak. American actors David Strathairn and Chris Cooper comport themselves like experienced Shakespeareans, which they may very well be. All Shakespeare productions have to have some contemporary references (I think it is international law) so casting Djmon Hounsou as Caliban and emphasizing that he was the island’s original inhabitant who had been forced into servitude by the newcomers, strongly alludes to the British (and American) history of colonialism and slavery.
I understand what you mean about the disconnect between the main and sub-plots. That is a flaw in Taymor’s film. However, I saw a live Shakespeare In The Park production last decade and everything fitted together smoothly so I think this is something directors have to deal with to make it work – but it can work.
I never bought into the idea that Prospero – renouncing his magic – represents Shakespeare, himself, retiring from show business. For one thing, this concept was unknown until Samuel Taylor Coleridge came up with it about 1807. (The whole idea that Shakespeare revealed his inner life and the events of his life in the plays and sonnets is pernicious in many ways.)
Before this film I never realized that Alfred Molina was British.
Helen Mirren (as Prospera) and Felicity Jones (very fetching as Miranda)
I understand what you mean about the disconnect between the main and sub-plots. That is a flaw in Taymor’s film. However, I saw a live Shakespeare In The Park production last decade and everything fitted together smoothly so I think this is something directors have to deal with to make it work – but it can work.
I never bought into the idea that Prospero – renouncing his magic – represents Shakespeare, himself, retiring from show business. For one thing, this concept was unknown until Samuel Taylor Coleridge came up with it about 1807. (The whole idea that Shakespeare revealed his inner life and the events of his life in the plays and sonnets is pernicious in many ways.)
Before this film I never realized that Alfred Molina was British.
Helen Mirren (as Prospera) and Felicity Jones (very fetching as Miranda)