Description
Book SynopsisThe book presents a systematic method of interpreting Shakespeare film adaptations based on their cinematic genres. Its approach is both scholarly and reader-friendly, and its subject is fundamentally interdisciplinary, combining the findings of Shakespeare scholarship with film and media studies, particularly genre theory. The book is organised into six large chapters, discussing films that form broad generic groups. Part I looks at three genres from the classical Hollywood era (western, melodrama and gangster-
noir), while Part II deals with three contemporary blockbuster genres (teen film, undead horror and biopic). Beside a few better-known examples of mainstream cinema, the volume also highlights the Shakespearean elements in several nearly forgotten films, bringing them back to critical attention.
Trade Review'Kinga Földváry’s new book is a masterful treatment of numerous genres that not only provides crucial descriptions and historical information but also lucidly explains the intersections between various generic discourses and their disparate iterations.'
Melissa Croteau, Adaptation
'[T]his is a well-structured study that examines a wide variety of movies in some detail. It provides a useful reference for the genre, adaptation, and Shakespeare studies and is an entertaining addition to the discourse on screen Shakespeare.'
Peter Lewis, Cahiers Élisabéthains: A Journal of English Renaissance Studies
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Table of ContentsIntroduction: Shakespeare meets genre film
Part I: Classical Hollywood cinema
1 Will in the Wild West: western adaptations of Shakespeare
2 Shakespeare the tear-jerker: from woman’s film to global melodrama
3 Dark-minded Othellos, mobster Macbeths: film noir, gangster, gangster noir
Part II: Contemporary blockbusters
4 Back to school, Will: Shakespeare the teen idol
5 Shakespeare the undead: a renaissance of vampires and zombies
6 Will, Bill and the Earl: versions of the author in contemporary biopics
Conclusion
Index
