…is a modern re-telling of the King Lear story set to the back drop of a strong Cuban family and the three sisters running the scene in Miami. Told through the eyes of the one daughter who truly loved her father, Cordelia delves into a world of secrets, lies and complex family bonds that are constantly tested but ultimately never broken.
I suppose it could be interesting? Given the name it almost makes you wonder if somebody heard about the movie that’s coming out and said, “Somebody makes us one of those!” Hey, that’s how we got Antz before A Bug’s Life, if you remember. If the movie studios want to compete over Shakespeare adaptations as well as animated features, I’m totally ok with that.
Somebody should totally tap John Leguizamo to play Edmund. Dude’s already got a Shakespeare resume that includes Romeo+Juliet and Cymbeline.
I have a very vivid memory of studying Othello in high school, some thirty plus years ago, and getting to this pretty famous passage, where Othello explains how he won Desdemona’s heart:
My story being done,
She gave me for my pains a world of sighs:
She swore, in faith, twas strange, ’twas passing strange,
‘Twas pitiful, ’twas wondrous pitiful:
She wish’d she had not heard it, yet she wish’d
That heaven had made her such a man: she thank’d me,
And bade me, if I had a friend that loved her,
I should but teach him how to tell my story.
And that would woo her. Upon this hint I spake:
She loved me for the dangers I had pass’d, And I loved her that she did pity them.
This only is the witchcraft I have used:
Here comes the lady; let her witness it.
The problem is that I remember reading, “that she did not pity them.” I couldn’t tell you how or why, it would have been one of those things where teachers photocopy an excerpt out of a book into a few pages and staple them together to pass out to the class. Additionally it would have been my first exposure to Othello, and I was maybe fifteen years old? So I wasn’t exactly looking to document the citation at the time.
Later during that same class (not literally within that hour – days or weeks later while still taking that same class with that same teacher) I remember seeing the passage again, seeing it as “did pity them”, and immediately seeing the discrepancy. But when I went back to locate the documentation for “did not pity them”, I never found it.
I never really gave it much thought over the years. But now I’ve got access to a certain amount of resources I didn’t have then. I’ve got professional Shakespeare researchers who can do things like check to see if Shakespeare ever wrote it down that way, or if any editors chose to make that alteration.
So far we haven’t come up with any. And yet — Googling for the phrase “and I loved her that she did not pity them” turns up some results. Where’d those come from? I can’t decide if I find it amusing or upsetting that most of the hits come from quizlets and essay sites.
One of the hits is from a 2015 novel called Vienna by William S. Kirby. I’ve even gone so far as to write to the man, to see if he remembers why he thinks that’s the line. I’ll have to update this post if I ever get a response.
I’m mostly documenting this here in case there’s other people out there that have a vague memory of this, as I do. Bardfilm suggested that “an ill-prepared edition” could have made it into use by the schools at some point. If that’s the case, which certainly seems reasonable if we assume that my memory is not faulty. Maybe some day we’ll know for sure!
Our pal Bardfilm is mad as hell, and he’s not gonna take it anymore!
He is so over Romeo and Juliet, that he’s decided no more productions for him. It has been plumbed to its depths, we have wrung all possible angles and meaning from it, it has been set in every possible time and space in the continuum. He’s seen enough, he can’t see any more. In fact, he wants to eradicate it completely. Sort of.
Here’s his proposal. We keep the text, and we can read it whenever (if ever) we want. But if we elected some crazy dictator who’d been horribly bullied in high school for being a theatre geek and takes out his emotional issues by banning Romeo and Juliet from ever being produced again … Bardfilm’s totally ok with that.
Which of the works brings out similar resentment for you? You’re in charge, you get to declare a complete moratorium on one Shakespeare play never to be performed again.
What’s it going to be? Shall it be Merchant of Venice, so people can stop arguing with you whether Shakespeare was anti-Semitic? Comedy of Errors, so directors can stop worrying where they’re supposed to find two sets of identical twins? Maybe A Midsummer Night’s Dream so we can stop having kindergarten productions with five-year-old butterfly-looking fairies?
I’m totally going to take the easy road and pick Merry Wives of Windsor. I’ve literally never seen it, nor even read it (except during my brief “read them all” period in college). But I also don’t know how much it “makes life better,” otherwise it probably would have hit my radar by now. So, having never missed it, I figure I won’t miss it going forward.
Last week there was a bit of nonsense in the news when some politician called another politician and “empty barrel” making the most noise. I do know the names of all parties involved, but we’re not here for the politics so why get into it? The comment probably would have gone unnoticed, like so many idioms might, if it were not for the fact that woman on the receiving end of the comment immediately said, “That’s racist.”
Many people, myself among them, would be quick to point out that it’s not racist, it’s Shakespeare. Henry V, Act IV Scene 4:
I did never know so full a voice issue from so empty a heart: but the saying is true ‘The empty vessel makes the greatest sound.’
I even repeated on Twitter that Shakespeare is the source of this quote. But, for the record, he’s not. It even says so right there in context if I’d been paying attention — “the saying is true”. It was already a saying when Shakespeare wrote it down.
The saying seems to date all the way back to Plato, although I can’t find any specific references as of yet. Anybody got one, so we can make it official?
What I’m finding interesting is that the more I look into it the more I’m not sure I know what it was originally supposed to mean. These days it’s used to imply that the people without anything intelligent to say (the empty barrels) are precisely the ones that won’t shut up. But I’m not sure that’s what Plato would have meant? I could just as easily imagine it as more complimentary — “The person who is always open to learning new things is the one who will make the biggest impact in the world.” That’s pretty much the opposite.
There’s supposedly a second half to the quote, “So they that have the least wit are the greatest blabbers,” which would clearly suggest the first meaning is the intended one. But I learned a long time ago not to simply believe something is true because it shows up in a quotes database on the internet.
A good video game starts with a good story, and anybody looking for a good story heads straight for Shakespeare. I’ve seen many video game versions of Hamlet over the years, and even wrote about virtual reality Shakespeare back in 2015. Now it looks like we’re one step closer.
I think that the problem with VR has always been one of interface. There’s just too many ways that your body is interacting with reality – site, sound, smell, touch, not to mention peripheral vision, not to mention more specific senses like balance and proprioception (knowing where your limbs are in space). You can only do so much putting on a headset and some gloves.
Don’t get me wrong, I think that the OMG COOL! factor is very real. Even putting on something like Google Cardboard (not to mention Oculus Rift) is still something to be experienced before you’ll believe it. But the same was true of Pacman and DOOM once, too. The excitement wears off, and you’d better have a good story to tell when it does. From the perspective of the plot, yup, you’ve got Shakespeare. But have we just reduced it down to going through the motions? Escape the pirates, save Ophelia, kill Claudius? Or are we saying that one day we’ll act it out as well?
I’m not a “gamer” by modern standards, and will likely never have the necessary gear to play most of these. I’m hoping that eventually they become the new video arcade, and I can go somewhere like a Dave and Busters to try my hand for a couple bucks. I’m sure it’ll last 30 seconds, but maybe if I manage to kill Laertes and Claudius I can win enough tickets to a shot glass! 🙂
movie that’s coming out and said, “Somebody makes us one of those!” Hey, that’s how we got Antz before A Bug’s Life, if you remember. If the movie studios want to compete over Shakespeare adaptations as well as animated features, I’m totally ok with that.
