Comparing Hamlet Films

Comparing Hamlet Films

This next three and a half weeks we will be studying film. In class, we will be watching six different versions of Act I scene 2 from Hamlet, including the following:

·         Laurence Olivier (1948)                 

·         Derek Jacobi BBC (1980)                               

·          Mel Gibson (1990)                         

·          Kenneth Branagh (1996)

·          Ethan Hawke (2000)

·          David Tennant BBC (2010)

We live near Hollywood, but how many students know how to use a film in the same way we use texts? Students who are used to “finding quotes” for their essays will have to adjust to this new text? How does one ‘quote’ a film? How does one even watch a film critically to write about it? If we stop films, how do we analyze the composition and framing of the still shot? How do we separate the story from the acting? We are so used to talking about characters from movies as if they were people, but how does seeing Branagh, Tennant, and Gibson act the same exact line tease out the performances? What if the scripts were always the same and that we supposed directors and actors were constantly making directorial choices to emphasize different aspects of every line? We might even pay attention to which word in every line is emphasized in different versions? With this level of microscopic scrutiny, we might be able to make claims about different versions.

We are preparing for next year’s college writing this year. What new skills will we be learning from this slightly different assignment?

·         Visual literacy, with the ability to ‘read’ what’s going on visually in a still or short clip

·         Understanding that all staging is interpretation, with the script as a mere blueprint for a building and directors and actors making small choices at every stage that accumulate into larger choices and interpretations

·         Writing out descriptions of visuals to use as evidence in one’s essay

·         Making bold claims based on what you see

·         Taking into account other factors of film: lighting, shot cuts, music, setting, and many other aspects of film

·         Narrowing down what you are focusing on: picking only two films, picking only a few lines, focusing on one character or one relationship, or perhaps picking out from all the other factors only one aspect of the films: transitions, shot angles, lighting, music, etc.

·         As usual, sustaining an argument from a small observation and structuring your essay with support that convinces the reader of your bold, interesting, and original claim

All of this is possible in this one assignment if you really engage with it. There are no right answers. Place yourself in the director’s chair and see what you can discover by comparing films.