Transatlantic Dialogue in Popular Culture & Shakespeare on Screen: Trans-cultural Translation and Distort

Recommended Prerequisites

NA

Teaching Methods

The classes will take place in the classroom. Expositive component, as well as analysis and discussion of texts and materials previously provided, some of which will be presented by the students.

Learning Outcomes

The student should have/be able to:
a. Acquire knowledge as a basis for originality in the development and/or application of ideas in the context of research in modern European literatures, cultures and societies.
b. Apply knowledge and problem solving skills in multidisciplinary contexts related to modern European literatures, cultures and societies.
c. Locate specialized bibliographic sources on modern European literatures, cultures, and societies, as well as handle online and offline documentary collections applying information technologies.
d. Know different methodologies for the interpretation of texts on modern European literatures, cultures and societies.
e. Knowledge of the different contact situations between modern European literatures, cultures and societies.
f. Incorporate the study of heritage cultures in the comparative research of European literatures, cultures and societies.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

Focusing on key scenes in the tragedy (the uncanny apparition of Hamlet’s father’s ghost; the encounter between Hamlet and Ophelia orchestrated by eavesdropping Polonius; the ‘mousetrap’ to catch the conscience of the murderer; the confrontation between Hamlet and his ‘lustful’ mother; Ophelia’s madness and drowning; the gravediggers’ scene; the final sword fight between Hamlet and Laertes) in the films by Laurence Olivier (1948), Grigori Kosintsev (1964), Franco Zeffirelli (1990), Kenneth Branagh (1996) and Michael Almereyda (2000), this seminar will invite a comparative approach, in which both socio-political stakes and aesthetics choices are taken into account, so as to analyse timeless notions such as dread, fratricide, regicide, revenge, intelligence, repudiation, action, sacrifice and madness, and to see how film directors both adapt a play dating back to 1600 to their own cultural context and time, while still transmitting its timeless pieces of thought on human nature.

Assessment Methods

Assessment
The assessment criteria is defined by the University of Poitiers: 100.0%

Bibliography

NA