Shakespeare and World Cinema
Prof. Mark Thornton Burnett (co-ordinator)
This module examines recent translations of Shakespeare’s plays into the filmic medium yet it does so from the premise that criticism, for too long, has concentrated on a narrow, English-language based sample. By contrast, the films investigated in ‘Shakespeare and World Cinema’ are exclusively non-Anglophone and run the gamut of global languages and cultures. The module will introduce students to dominant concepts in film theory (such as the use of filmic language and terminology) as well as current theorizations in ‘world cinema’ (what the term means, how it is deploys and how the concept is linked to questions of market, distribution and the economy). In our discussions of the films themselves, we will be confronting issues of translation and translatability, representation and location, political context and cultural tradition. Further discussion will focus on the status of Shakespeare as an icon and signifier of cultural capital. DVD versions of the films will be available for viewing in the new library.