Since the advent of film and television production, Shakespeare’s plays have been adapted, re-imagined, and performed on screen hundreds of times. Although many early Shakespeare adaptations remained faithful to his work, over time writers and directors selected only certain characters, plot lines, conflicts, or themes into their films. Many popular television shows and movies today have elements that derive from Shakespeare’s writing. Similarly, film adaptations are not restricted to the English-speaking world; they performed in languages such as Hindi, Japanese, Spanish, and Swedish. It’s fascinating to observe how Shakespeare’s plays have developed and flourished with new media, and to consider how his work is still relevant in a constantly evolving entertainment industry.
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Are there any great adaptations worth a mention? Let us know in the comments below.
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The animated movie ‘The Lion King’ was based on Hamlet, I believe.
Additions from Twitter:
“Looking for Richard”, 1996. (https://twitter.com/PeterDaser/status/695606600015470592)
You should add King Lear (Grigori Kozintsev, 1971), Hamlet (Grigori Kozintsev, 1964) (https://twitter.com/WagneroperaNET/status/695605740959109121)
Rome and Juliet (1968), Romeo+Juliet (1996), Titus (1999); (https://twitter.com/GeoffKeelan/status/695606795859939328)
Scwarzenegger. “To be or not to be? Not to be.” (https://twitter.com/rhepstein1/status/695604016500183042)
10 Things I Hate About You is also loosely based on Taming of the Shrew. Quite a few references to the Bard and the original play…
Joss Whedon’s 2012 version of Much Ado about Nothing is worth a mention.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2094064/
And Ralph Fiennes’ Coriolanus (2011), of course.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1372686/