ENG 450 HU William Shakespeare Much Ado About Nothing Time Marker Worksheet

Notes #6 Much Ado about Nothing

Due March 18^th by 5 pm

Assignment: Watch one of two recorded versions of Much Ado about Nothing. You may choose from one of two productions. Please watch either the Branagh film version or the New York Shakespeare play production for this assignment. Please do not watch the film directed by Joss Whedon nor the BBC version.

The first choice, chronologically, is the 1993 film directed by Kenneth Branagh and starring Branagh, Emma Thompson, Kate Beckinsale, Denzel Washington, and Keanau Reeves. At the beginning of the semester, it was available on Amazon Prime for free with a Prime membership. But now, it costs $3.99 to rent.

https://www.amazon.com/Much-About-Nothing-Kenneth-Branagh/dp/B000IZ8N56

So I encourage you to try the free version (with ads) using the following link:

https://lookmovie.io/movies/view/much-ado-about-nothing-1993

(Thanks, Desiree – I wouldn’t have known to look here without your suggestion earlier in the semester.)

undefined

The other choice – which I strongly encourage – is the 2019 NYC’s Public Theatre’s Shakespeare in the Park play production. I recently found out that it is re-streaming for free until March 19^th at 11:59 pm, which is why I have moved up Much Ado on our schedule. There will be a 30-second or so PBS ad that you’ll have to sit through. Then there’s a one-minute trailer of the performance. Then the performance will play.

https://www.thirteen.org/programs/great-performances/much-ado-about-nothing-rahlxp/

Written Notes Assignment: The greater goal is to collect as much evidence as possible in the form of your observations while watching the performance that you can use to contribute to class discussion and your paper. As you watch Much Ado about Nothing, please choose one of the “Approaches to Interpreting Drama” below. That will be your interpretive focus. As you watch the performance, write down details that can serve as evidence during discussions and if you include this film in your first paper. Details include things like a quoted line, specific concrete observations about things like character attributes rather than your impression or interpretation. Note the time markers, and please take notes throughout the entire performance. This assignment is designed to take you only as long as it takes to watch the performance.

Some Approaches to Interpreting Drama

(Choose one from below for the Much Ado about Nothing film)

Under each approach is a list of a few questions that approach usually asks.

1.) Psychological Studies

What motivates the characters’ behaviors? With Much Ado about Nothing, choose two characters to focus on.

2.) Class Studies

What does the play have to say about money and power? When do the characters mention money, wealth, class, status, and how are these things important to the plot and story? What economic values does the text implicitly or explicitly promote? What does the play have to say about social class? Could also think about the ways that wealth and rank are represented in this film (for example, in clothing, social customs, work / play, the set).

3.) Gender Studies

(Among other questions) How is gender represented? How are femininity, masculinity, and/or other gender identities constructed? Where do women have agency and autonomy in this play, and where is it limited? Where do men have agency and autonomy in this play, and where is it limited?

4.) Queer Studies

(Among other questions) How is sexuality represented? To what extent is the notion that heterosexually is “natural” subverted and challenged, or not? Also: how is homosociality represented? With the Much Ado about Nothing film, you might look for the moments when a character is being pressured to get married and have children, as well as times when they prefer to interact with, or are culturally forced to interact only with members of the same sex (e.g. in this film, the military is comprised of men).

5.) Postcolonial

(Among other questions) How are nationhood, race and ethnicity represented? Who is doing the representing? Which characters and what values are being affirmed and which characters are being represented as inferior, and how so?

6.) Performance Studies / Adaptation Studies

What is significant about the differences/similarities between Shakespeare’s text and the performed text? With the Much Ado about Nothing film, you might focus on what film can do to bring the text to life: costumes, music/sound effects, voiceovers, moments that are funny when watched that might not have made you laugh if only read.

7.) Cultural Historical

What cultural values do you see represented in the text? (Choose one or two to traces carefully throughout the film.) Some possibilities in this film: marriage, military, Catholicism, honesty, honor

Time marker Your notes on the Much Ado related to the interpretive focus you chose