As I said in my first post I would look into various adaptations of King Lear in both literary works and film. In 1985 there was a major screen adaptation of the play called Ran directed by Akira Kurosawa. It is about Hidetora, a 16th century Japanese warlord who divided his kingdom among his three sons leading to a rift with his youngest and most loyal. Eventually a civil war also sparked. The film just like King Lear had contrasting victims, those who were able to forgive and the vengeful ones. The film also incorporated a supporting actress with the same personality as Lady Macbeth.
Major elements from the play's plot have also been frequently used in other works such as Broken Lance where a cattle baron creates a separation with his three sons and of course, once again, the youngest remains loyal. In Where the Heart Is a father disinherits his three spoilt children. Francis Ford Coppola deliberately incorporated elements of Lear in The Godfather Part III, where Michael Corleone's attempt to retire from crime throws his domain into anarchy, and most obviously the death of his daughter in his arms. A Thousand Acres, based on Jane Smiley's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, is told from the viewpoint of the elder two daughters, Ginny and Rose. They were sexually abused by their father as teenagers. Their younger sister Caroline, had managed to escape this fate and is ultimately the only one to remain loyal. Parallels in all of the above just goes to show that regardless of the setting and specific details, King Lear's plot is universal and can be applied anywhere and it will still hold the same meaning.
The Immortality of Garrick
David Garrick, the eighteenth-century actor, playwright, and theater manager often credited with Shakespeare's 18th-century revival, is here lauded by a group of 17 actors in their favorite Shakespearean characters, as he is carried to his apotheosis
Interesting! The plot can definitely be slightly altered in terms of the motivations and intentions of the characters, but the basic plotline and the characters' functions are universal. Society seems to be fascinated with the same idea, renewed and repackaged, sold to us over and over again. We can see this fascination in action on the silver screen as we are enamored with certain ideas; for instance, the theme of love transcending all boundaries, specifically class divisions, is universally applauded as we attempt to live vicariously through our media. The idea of a rich upperclass woman unfortunately engaged to a man of her social class, falling in love with a lower-class, ruggedly handsome young man who teaches her the true meaning of love and spontaneity sounds familiar because it is. Tarzan, Titanic, we've seen it all.
ReplyDeleteIt's fascinating to see how a few clarifications of ambiguity within Shakespeare's King Lear leads to a variety of different stories- a different period of time, a different place, a different point of view. Furthermore, this sheds light on our discussion about the adaptations and changes the original undergoes when it is applied from the text to the stage, a novel to a screenplay, etc.