Selling Shakespeare to Hollywood The Marketing of Filmed Shakespeare Adaptations from 1989 into the New Millennium

by French, Emma

• ISBN13: 9781902806518
• ISBN10: 1902806514
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-02-01
• Publisher: University Of Hertfordshire Press

Summary

Breaking from traditional critiques of Shakespeare films based on either the aesthetics of the films or on a comparison between the film and source text, this new analysis of recent Shakespeare movies seeks to explain what makes such films commercial successes. Focusing particularly on three sub-genresthe teen Shakespeare film, the hybrid Shakespeare film, and the "faithful" adaptationthe author argues that the commercial success of the most popular films stems from blurring the line between the "traditional Shakespeare" and a more modern interpretation of the texts.

Author Biography

Emma French is a visiting lecturer in theater studies at London Metropolitan University. She has prepared two new editions of plays by Oscar Wilde, which will be published later this year. She is also the reviews editor at the Journal Theater Notebook.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
Preface	ix
Introduction: Selling Shakespeare to Hollywood	1	(25)
The use of posters and trailers to sell Shakespeare	26	(37)
Kenneth Branagh's filmed Shakespeare adaptations	63	(38)
Hollywood teen Shakespeare movies	101	(32)
Shakespeare in Love	133	(36)
Selling Shakespeare to Hollywood: Into the new millennium	169	(7)
Notes	176	(15)
Appendix	191	(4)
Chronological filmography	195	(3)
Bibliography	198	(14)
Press articles and reviews	212	(3)
Index	215