Macbeth Modern Audiences

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luni, 11 martie 2013

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Modern Shakespeare: Fair? Foul? Or just a flop?

Has Wrights modernised gothic gangster film of Macbeth distorted the underlying attitudes embedded in the origional text? Isabelle Scherrer investigates

The english language has survived and adapted over centuries, however in our quickly changing world, could the more commonly used, text speak, one day become our 'New English'.

Roman Polanskis 1971 film version of Macbeth enables modern audiences to grasp the relevance and significance of deeper attitudes and values in the origional text, better than Geoffry Wrights, 21st century adaption which distracts from the everyday truths rooted in this tradgedy.

Fair is foul, foul is fair, the prevelance of good vesus evil and, disceining what is good and what is evil is one of the main themes of the play, is not respresented for a way that mordern audiences can understand in Georffy Wrights version. The film set in Melbourne’s underground drug world, replaces noble thanes with criminals living like royalty, which all beggs the question, where was the good to beggin with?

The opening scene for both films was extremely different, Wrights film opening with three girls vandalising a graveyard by gouging out the eyes of statuse of angels, was actually rather disturbing and sets a very tense atmosphere. However the witches look as if theyre in thier mid teens, and really, what is scary about a stroppy teenager?

For modern audiences this scene may be interpreted as a couple of drugged up goth chicks causing havoc which is mush differet to what they are in the origional text. Wright then goes on the portray the witches as part of Macbeths immagintion which further confuses audiences as to what thier purpose really is.

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Wrights Macbeth:

Josh Rosenblatt, Seattle Times

“It's probably best not to look...