BBC's short reproduction of The Winter's Tale--loved by those who do not care to read the play in its entirety--reduces the internal conflict inside the characters by cutting their lines down by more than 90%. This gives plenty of room for each character to be taken completely out of context, and in doing so BBC has created a world far from believable in which all characters are perfectly flat. It has embarrassingly become something not nearly related to Shakespeare in all respects save, perhaps, the plot.
In comparison to the live 3-hour professional production, this video is mockery. Earlier, I came to love the Leontes as an anguished man who represented the sad potential for those who let jealousy reign in their hearts, which makes his redemption so much sweeter. Camillo played as genuine and affable, grieved by the pain of a man he loved before he revealed the truth to Polixenes as if to demonstrate the internal battle of deciding right from wrong. This lessons are not here in BBC's professional Shakespeare squashing.
The true beauty of Shakespeare comes in the window it provides into our own hearts and emotions. Take away the lines of the characters, and pull the blinds on the dynamism of their personality. Take away that personality and you are reduced to flat, stale plot. You will have successfully murdered the poor 16th Century man.
Watching this video was has increased my respect for the emotional struggles Shakespeare seems to understand very well and portray artistically on stage. It is so sad how BBC totally annihilates this. As a few examples: Leontes, in this rendition, is always a malevolent fiend who loves to be angry. His act in front of his wife is horrifying, and his behavior to Camillo simply cold and cruel. Camillo demonstrates no hint of loyalty or compassion to his King at all, and Leontes personality never even comes out.
In comparison to the live 3-hour professional production, this video is mockery. Earlier, I came to love the Leontes as an anguished man who represented the sad potential for those who let jealousy reign in their hearts, which makes his redemption so much sweeter. Camillo played as genuine and affable, grieved by the pain of a man he loved before he revealed the truth to Polixenes as if to demonstrate the internal battle of deciding right from wrong. This lessons are not here in BBC's professional Shakespeare squashing.
The true beauty of Shakespeare comes in the window it provides into our own hearts and emotions. Take away the lines of the characters, and pull the blinds on the dynamism of their personality. Take away that personality and you are reduced to flat, stale plot. You will have successfully murdered the poor 16th Century man.
3 comentarios:
Yikes, I will have to watch this version now. It is a sad thing when Shakespeare's things are so twisted by spin-offs, but I wonder if he would've cared. Some people are sell-outs, and some people remain true to their art and don't make as much money. I wonder if he would've been an action-figure producer or not?
gosh, that's a little harsh, don't you think? perhaps some culture, even shortened version is better than none?
I was going to post that "the wicked take the truth to be hard", but that would definitely have been to harsh. Have you seen it? After Saturday, I was nauseated by this little clip. It's like eating cold cereal after having chocolate cake. Not that cold cereal can sometimes be taken as delicious... but not after chocolate cake!
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