Re: ShakespeaRe-Told
It isn't such a big deal: people who want to read/watch Shakespeare's original words, can.
I don't know that it's about "dumbing down". Maybe it's about making it more accessible to people who otherwise wouldn't consider reading/watching Shakespeare. And some of those people, if they like this version, might like it enough to read the original text or go to a theater performance of Hamlet or whatever.
It's not like they're taking away the original version.
But someone who watches a performance of a Shakespeare play that's been adapted to contemporary (and simpler) language will undoubtedly miss out because Shakespeare's genius isn't on plot and character alone but also on the words spoken.
I don't think it's a bad idea; certainly not worse than a remake. The original will still be available for anybody who prefers it.
@Steven R: I'm afraid you're missing the point re: your comments about art. It's not about making those artworks easier to relate to: it's about subverting a certain idea of art, of reverence to the masterpieces of great artists of the past, of a work of art as something fixed and finished; it's also about introducing a certain playfulness and irreverence. We now take those things for granted--well, maybe you don't, but there's nothing challenging about it to art students or people familiar with contemporary art--but at the time Duchamp painted a mustache on a print of the Mona Lisa, it was quite daring and controversial to defend that as art.
It isn't such a big deal: people who want to read/watch Shakespeare's original words, can.
I don't know that it's about "dumbing down". Maybe it's about making it more accessible to people who otherwise wouldn't consider reading/watching Shakespeare. And some of those people, if they like this version, might like it enough to read the original text or go to a theater performance of Hamlet or whatever.
It's not like they're taking away the original version.
But someone who watches a performance of a Shakespeare play that's been adapted to contemporary (and simpler) language will undoubtedly miss out because Shakespeare's genius isn't on plot and character alone but also on the words spoken.
I don't think it's a bad idea; certainly not worse than a remake. The original will still be available for anybody who prefers it.
@Steven R: I'm afraid you're missing the point re: your comments about art. It's not about making those artworks easier to relate to: it's about subverting a certain idea of art, of reverence to the masterpieces of great artists of the past, of a work of art as something fixed and finished; it's also about introducing a certain playfulness and irreverence. We now take those things for granted--well, maybe you don't, but there's nothing challenging about it to art students or people familiar with contemporary art--but at the time Duchamp painted a mustache on a print of the Mona Lisa, it was quite daring and controversial to defend that as art.
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