MacHomer

Just so everyone is aware, if you have enjoyed studying Macbeth in this class and you like The Simpsons, then this May, there will be a show on at the Stratford Festival entitled MacHomer. This is a one man show featuring many of the voices from The Simpsons put on in a multimedia spectacle.  Both entertaining and educational, MacHomer has been performed across North America to rave reviews.  Check it out if you so desire.

As well, there are clips on the website below in which you can see the creativity that one person has done in taking William Shakespeare's play and adapting it to a medium that our modern generation can enjoy.

Maybe this will help get the creativity flowing with the upcoming presentations of your Macbeth Movie Adaptations

**MacHomer Official Website**

Shakespeare vs. Polanski

I hope you enjoyed Roman Polanski's Macbeth.  Like I said to you in class - while it may not be a word-for-word representation of the play, I feel as though it is a great visual representation that also effectively grabs the dark mood of the play - ignore the low-budget graphics of the hallucinated dagger.

A couple of things to remember:

Besides Orson Welles' 1948 version of Macbeth which is merely a small theatre adaptation of the play, Roman Polanski's 1971 version is the first real movie production of the play for the big screen, and it generally stays true to the play itself, with minor changes here and there.  The movie is set in medieval Scotland with sweeping landscape scenes.  Unlike the play, however, violence is a major component and most deaths happen on-screen.

Lady Macbeth in the Polanski movie is far different from that of the real Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare's play.  In Polanski's movie, she is a much more simple and mousey character.  She still has somewhat of a forceful hand when pushing Macbeth to commit the murder, but the Polanski movie does play up other outside factors in driving Macbeth forward to murder Duncan.  Also, what is lost is the "I have given suck" speech from Act I, Scene vii as well as the whole dark, sexual desire that Lady Macbeth holds in the Shakespeare play.

Ross is given a far greater role in Polanski's film.  In Shakespeare's play, Ross is a simple thane who acts usually as no more than a messenger.  In Polanski's film, he is made into an amoral, opportunistic courtier and henchman who becomes a knowing accomplice in Macbeth's schemes once the latter has murdered Duncan and attained the crown, but later betrays his master. In the film, Ross is first brought to the attention of the audience during Macbeth's coronation ceremony at Scone when he shouts "Hail Macbeth, King of Scotland!" in a very ostentatious manner, and this causes Banquo to look upon him with suspicion.  As well, in the play, the identity of the third murderer who is sent by Macbeth to kill Banquo is never specified by Shakespeare. Whereas, in the film, Ross is clearly the third murderer of Banquo, sent by Macbeth separately from the first two murderers. Not only that, but it is Ross who eventually dispatches the two hired villains in a dungeon when they have outlived their usefulness to the king.

I want to remind everyone that when it comes to a test or an essay, please make sure you are referencing only Shakespeare's play and not Polanski's film.

Enjoy!

Macbeth Retold - BBC's Modern Version

I am always looking for various pieces of content that will help you out with your Macbeth Movie Adaptation project so that you are not feeling the pressure.  In my never-ending search I found a really cool retelling of Macbeth done by the BBC.  I hope everyone enjoys it.  Watch it at your own leisure!

But remember - tests and essays will only focus on Shakespeare's version.

Part 1

Part 2 

Part 3 



Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Macbeth - Movie Versions & Adaptations

To give everyone a sense for their own movie productions that are currently in the works, over the next few classes, we will be watching various adaptations of the play Macbeth.  I'm hoping that not only will they prove inspirational, but that you will notice that each version that has been made is varying in style, setting, and content.  The following are the versions that we will see bits of.

Famed Japanese director, Akira Kurosawa, created a Japanese production of Macbeth in 1957, but was hardly ever going to have it take place in Scotland.  Instead, he had the setting of the play in feudal Japan, calling it Throne of Blood.  The plot is the same, but the setting makes the movie more understandable and accessible for a Japanese audience.  Also, for the media portion of the assignment, note that for this poster, there is numerous scenes depicted.  My suggestion is that you could consider doing something like this, but only if you have the time.

More recently, in 1990, the play was converted into a Chicago mafia movie entitled Men of Respect.  By taking Shakespeare's play and adding the bonus of the ever-popular mafia genre, audiences in North America were able to sink into the plot of Macbeth without having to be put-off by Shakespeare's language.  The poster here is very traditional in its style - main characters standing out, the title of the movie and a tag-line.

In 2001, the movie Scotland, PA was introduced, where the action is moved to 1970s Pennsylvania and revolves around Joe Macbeth and his wife Pat taking control of a hamburger cafe from Norm Duncan.  This is a real clever re-imagining of the play set in a banal form of life.  Notice the simplicity yet effectiveness of the poster - the bloody spatula really emphasizes the tone and topic of the movie.

Finally, in 2004, Indian director Vishal Bharadwaj directed his own adaptation to Macbeth, titled Maqbool, which is set in the contemporary Mumbai underworld and is faithful to the plot and much of the dialogue, but has the traditions and concepts of a Bollywood movie.  The poster is in the same style as that of Men of Respect.

So you see - like every director, you are only bound by the limits of your imagination.


We will discuss each version of the movie in more detail in class.  You can look at the movies further if you so wish at IMDB  

Enjoy!

Macbeth Movie Assignment

The link below will provides the class with the overall assignment and what needs to be accomplished.  I have provided it in case you have lost your handout or missed today's class and are not willing to see me.

Remember, this task is meant to be fun.  You are to be as creative as you want with this project with the main guidelines being:

    1.) Your movie adaptation cannot be set in Scotland
    2.) It must follow the VERY basic plot of Macbeth

LINK - **Macbeth Movie Poster Assignment**