The plays by Shakespeare have been adapted countless times. However, the original plays are often themselves based on other stories, or historical accounts. The history plays, for example, are...Show moreThe plays by Shakespeare have been adapted countless times. However, the original plays are often themselves based on other stories, or historical accounts. The history plays, for example, are written on the basis of historical accounts. In this sense, they are already adaptations in their own right. This makes any adaptation of one of his plays a double adaptation; an adaptation of an adaptation. This thesis will take this notion as its starting point. It will take a look at how Shakespeare used his sources in Coriolanus, and after analysing this play, two adaptations for the screen will be analysed, Ralph Fiennes 2011 film and Robert LePage’s 2019 stage adaptation. The focus of the analyses will be on which themes are emphasised in a particular adaptation, and how these themes are informed by the times in which the work was created. Fiennes and LePage move the political arena away from the speeches Shakespeare uses in his play. Instead, they create a modernised, media arena becomes the place where politicians fight for control over Rome.Show less
In this thesis, I examine the extent of the influence of John Gardner’s novel Grendel on the representation of Grendel in the film adaptations Beowulf & Grendel (2005) and Beowulf (2007). I use...Show moreIn this thesis, I examine the extent of the influence of John Gardner’s novel Grendel on the representation of Grendel in the film adaptations Beowulf & Grendel (2005) and Beowulf (2007). I use a comparative approach to specifically contrast Grendel’s character in the original poem with the ones in Gardner’s novel and the films. My aim is to demonstrate how the films provide us with a compromise between the ambiguously demonic Grendel in the Old English poem and the existential figure from the novel. I hope to offer a new insight into how the Beowulf story and characters are modernised in cinematic popular culture.Show less
In this thesis, two film adaptations of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Kenneth Branagh (1993) and Joss Whedon (2013), are analysed, each film representing a particular cinematic...Show moreIn this thesis, two film adaptations of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Kenneth Branagh (1993) and Joss Whedon (2013), are analysed, each film representing a particular cinematic tradition within the history of cinema. I argue that the main force at work in both adaptations is a complex nostalgia, one intrinsic to the very notion of 'heritage film' and likewise implicit in Whedon's indebtedness to American screwball comedy.Show less
This thesis looks at the influence of the public personas of King and Kubrick on the novel and the film adaptation, respectively. It outlines the precise persona of each artist, details why certain...Show moreThis thesis looks at the influence of the public personas of King and Kubrick on the novel and the film adaptation, respectively. It outlines the precise persona of each artist, details why certain changes have been in terms of plot, and describes the alterations made in the main protagonist of each work, in order to distinguish Kubrick's postmodern take on the horror genre with King's popular fiction take.Show less
