Cinematic Comparison & Analysis - Essay Example

?This article forms a cinematic comparison of main characters, creative execution and sequences in the cinematic adaptation of Shakespeare’s play Much Ado About Nothing (1993), directed by Kenneth Branagh and “Merchant of Venice”(2004) directed by Michael Radford. Two characters for Comparison The two characters that are would be considered for comparison would be the lead characters in a negative role in both the plays. The first would be Shylock played by Al Pacino in the Merchant of Venice. The other character is the character of Don Pedro played by Denzel Washington. The character of Shylock is that of a Jewish money lender who has been mistreated and misunderstood by the Christian community, particularly by the character Antonio. Shylock’s character stands out because in spite of his ridiculous demand at extracting revenge from Antonio, his character appears to have a great deal of depth. As the plot unfolds, the audience cannot help but feel sad of him as Shylock is a person who has been stereotyped and hurt by his daughter’s betrayal. According to Burnett et al. although the character of Shylock appears only in five out of nineteen scenes in the play, it is his role that captures the most attention. Al Pacino’s execution of the character is as close to perfection as any actor in today’s times could possibly achieve. The character appears to be an individual with an unkempt beard, who walks with a slight limp. Shylock’s role is that of a Jew, whose character can display a variation of emotions and impeccable dialogue delivery. Much Ado about Nothing cast comprises of a lot of big names that include Oscar winners Emma Thompson and Denzel Washington as Don Pedro, lead villain. The character of Don Pedro is that of the Prince of Aragon, of all the characters in the film, his appears to be most unpredictable. Unlike Shylock’s character that the audience ends up sympathizing with, in spite of the good intentions of Don Pedro, his character fails to attract positive attention. This character is that of a noble man who meddles in the love lives of two other characters in the film. Although the character appears to interfere with good intentions for his friend, the character ends up appearing as manipulative and one that exploits his authority. Although Denzel is a marvelous actor ad executed the lines well, in my opinion this role was not meant for him. Two Historical and Cinematic Adaptations We would consider the two different versions of the same play by Shakespeare “Merchant of Venice”. Michael Radford’s directorial eye tries to capture the Venetian setting of the sixteenth century. The film depicts the historically beautiful and watery landscape of Venice; the setting depicts brothels and courtesans as the integral part of the entertainment of the Christian society (Pittman, 2007). The film depicts a very racist society, where there are gates in the city to separate the Jews from the Christians who cannot cordially coexist. It is also noticeable that the director wants to identify Shylock as someone who is very particular about finances. He lays slight emphasis on this, when Shylock puts on his glasses while reading ledgers or calculating finances, which is does not appear to have use of in any other scenes. Kenneth Branagh’s Much Ado about Nothing is focused more towards generalization, where costumes, sets and props could belong to any period from 1700 to 1900s. The director has attempted to provide a fairy-tale setting to the film, which was shot in Tuscany Italy with her magical landscape which has not been touch by the modernization for present times (Kenneth Branagh). Two points of view in the Film Michael Radford in his interview with Cynthia Fuchs promoted his movie by suggesting that “… you have the capacity in movies to bring things alive in ways you just can't in the theater.” The main point of view propagated in the film is the utter mockery of the double standards of the Venetian society of the time in a humorous fashion. The stereotyping of Jews can be observed from the dialogue by Shylock, “If you prick us do we not bleed?” and the movie also shows how Jews were forced to live in a ghetto and required to wear red hats during their ineraction with Christians. The Venetians appear to be a self-indulgent society where they are willing to borrow money and take up immense debt for the upkeep of their societal obligations but at the same time stereotype the institution that is fulfilling their worldly desires. So although the central villainous character is brought to “justice” is audience is left with a feeling of discontent. There is a scene in Radford’s film that shows Antonio and Bassanio kissing each other in Antonio’s bedroom. Perhaps the director is trying to imply that Bassanio of the two is homosexual, such terminology was not common in Shakespearean times. Schajer also suggests that perhaps Shakespeare was trying to establish as stark contrast between Shylock’s and Antonio’s character by implying that the Venetians of the time had huge sexual appetites as opposed to Jews. According to Schajer (2012) this kiss should not appear to be something new as it has been performed on stage at many a times. In my opinion though, based on my observations of the Shakespearean period as depicted in Shakespeare in Love (Dir. John Madden, 1998), the plays of that time had men playing both male and female roles since in the sixteenth century women did not participate in acting. Based on that, an on-stage kiss between the male characters in the play of that period should not necessarily imply anything accept maybe a culturally prevalent norm. Original Contents Compared to Cinematic Version According to Pittman (2007), Radford through his modern-age depiction of the plat attempts to craft Shakespeare’s personality as that of an individual who is liberal, humanist and non-anti-Semite. Such a depiction although with good intentions makes the authenticity of such a claim questionable. Radford’s version of the film also puts into question the bigotry of the society at the time. The marked difference between the original play settings and the settings of this movie is that although Shakespeare mocks the two-faced society of the time, the audience fails to sympathize with the villain. But in Radford’s version of the film, the villain Shylock appears to be the most human character in the film that has been treated so unjustly that the chance he gets at extricating revenge seems almost justified. It is interesting to note that the original version of Much Ado about Nothing also comprises of almost three-quarter prose, that has perhaps made the execution of the play easier because Kenneth Branagh could retain a great deal of originality of the dialogue. However the director appears to have a partiality to the “Into Hey, nonny nonny” song; the song appears three times in the film including the opening scene which was not how the original play opens. Furthermore the director has also adapted the storyline keeping in mind the modern audiences with roles played by both British and American actors. The film gained a great deal of popularity at the box-office, with ratings as high as four stars. I guess the main reason of the extensive popularity in spite of odd casting is the fact that the Director managed to stick to the original plot and dialogues to a great extent while adapting the romantic play according to the needs of the target audience. Works Cited Branagh, Kenneth Charles. Much Ado about Nothing: The Making of the Movie. W. W. Norton & Company, 1993. Print Burnett,MT, Burnett, MT and Wray, R. Chapter 6 looking for Shylock. Screening Shakespeare in the Twenty-First Century. Edinburgh University Press, 2006. Pp.114-127. Print Pimman, Monique. Locating the bard: adaptation and authority in Michael Radford's The Merchant of Venice. Shakespeare Bulletin. 25.2 (Summer 2007) p13. Print Schajer, David. Shakespeare's Premiere of the Merchant of Venice. David Schajer, 2012. Print Shakespeare in Love. Dir John Madden. Performance:  Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes and Geoffrey Rush. Universal Studious. 1998. Film Much Ado About Nothing. Director Kenneth Baragh. Performances:  Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson and Keanu Reeves. BBC Films. 1993. Film The Merchant of Venice. Director Micheal Radford. Performances: Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons, Joseph Fiennes, and Lynn Collins. Sony Pictures. 2004. Film Read More