Things in which frog is overly invested!
So I don't think I have subjected you all to a rant about that stupid fucking movie about how Shakespeare didn't write all those plays, but hoo-boy does its very existence make me want to spit nails. Not least of all because people who know I dig Shakespeare keep asking me if I've seen it, and I have to explain how there is no way I am financially supporting that shit.
I mean, there are some people I really respect who doubt that Shakespeare actually wrote all those plays (Mark Rylance, I am looking at you, sir) and I'm sure most of them know way more about the topic than I do. But what I do know makes me think that they are WRONG WRONG SO VERY WRONG AND DID I MENTION WRONG.
And the main problem with this film is that, from what I have heard, it is presenting this theory completely uncritically, and so some people who are not terribly familiar with Renaissance and Early Modern theatre history are going to come away from it thinking it makes a lot of good points, and hey, maybe it's the actual truth! Granted, I have not seen the film, but I am guessing that it does not dwell heavily on the fact that the theory it is promoting was first proposed by a British schoolmaster. In 1918.
Poor Joyous, if she is reading this, is probably having traumatic flashbacks to watching the history channel with me and having to listen to me scream at the TV about SPECIAL SNOWFLAKE SCHOLARSHIP AND NO YOU ASSHOLE YOU HAVE NOT DISCOVERED THE HIDDEN TRUTH OF THE MATTER AT HAND YOU ONLY HAVE A THEORY THAT MOST OF THE RESPECTED SCHOLARS IN YOUR FIELD DO NOT AGREE WITH STOP SAYING WORDS.
But, of course, "I have an alternate theory to the prevailing paradigm" does not sell advertising or tickets nearly as well as "WATCH AS I REVEAL WHAT EVERYONE ELSE WAS TOO STUPID TO DISCOVER A WINNAR IS ME."
In conclusion, if you want to read a really balanced and easily accessible summary of the issue, you should check out Bryson's biography of Shakespeare*. And until you can get your hands on that, you should check out this piece by Eric Idle, which makes me want to hug him.
*Really, you should probably check this out anyway if you haven't already, because it is a book by Bill Bryson. About Shakespeare.
I mean, there are some people I really respect who doubt that Shakespeare actually wrote all those plays (Mark Rylance, I am looking at you, sir) and I'm sure most of them know way more about the topic than I do. But what I do know makes me think that they are WRONG WRONG SO VERY WRONG AND DID I MENTION WRONG.
And the main problem with this film is that, from what I have heard, it is presenting this theory completely uncritically, and so some people who are not terribly familiar with Renaissance and Early Modern theatre history are going to come away from it thinking it makes a lot of good points, and hey, maybe it's the actual truth! Granted, I have not seen the film, but I am guessing that it does not dwell heavily on the fact that the theory it is promoting was first proposed by a British schoolmaster. In 1918.
Poor Joyous, if she is reading this, is probably having traumatic flashbacks to watching the history channel with me and having to listen to me scream at the TV about SPECIAL SNOWFLAKE SCHOLARSHIP AND NO YOU ASSHOLE YOU HAVE NOT DISCOVERED THE HIDDEN TRUTH OF THE MATTER AT HAND YOU ONLY HAVE A THEORY THAT MOST OF THE RESPECTED SCHOLARS IN YOUR FIELD DO NOT AGREE WITH STOP SAYING WORDS.
But, of course, "I have an alternate theory to the prevailing paradigm" does not sell advertising or tickets nearly as well as "WATCH AS I REVEAL WHAT EVERYONE ELSE WAS TOO STUPID TO DISCOVER A WINNAR IS ME."
In conclusion, if you want to read a really balanced and easily accessible summary of the issue, you should check out Bryson's biography of Shakespeare*. And until you can get your hands on that, you should check out this piece by Eric Idle, which makes me want to hug him.
*Really, you should probably check this out anyway if you haven't already, because it is a book by Bill Bryson. About Shakespeare.