Shakespeare Goes to the Movies

[orangerful]

Shakespeare Goes to the Movies

I got to write another blog for work :D This time it's all about Shakespeare to help promote our Shakespeare movie night.

Comments

[rhoda_rants]

Nice breakdown! I need to look up some of these--especially Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing and the David Tennant version of Hamlet. I've heard only good things about both.

[orangerful]

Thank you! It turned out to be a harder post to write than I originally meant but at first I was just fangirling about Joss' movie and then I remembered that legally we're not allowed to say what movies we are showing in the library (it's part of the licensing agreement). So then it morphed into this post. :) My soap box during the summer is always that students should not be forced to read Shakespeare because it does nothing but make 95% of them frustrated. I'm sure I'll rant about it later, wait for July.

[poniesandphotos]

Your library does such cool programs. Reading this made me want to watch Much Ado About Nothing again. Such a good movie.

[orangerful]

Thanks! We were lucky enough to have our Library Foundation purchase a movie license for us this year so we've been showing films like crazy. Most of the branches have just been showing kids movies but we have been showing classic Noir movies, Much Ado, and this summer we will have some blockbuster classics.

[bookishgeek]

How cool. I wish our library did stuff like this!

[orangerful]

Thanks! :D We've just started doing the blog and the movie showings, it's been an exciting year. (here's hoping someone actually shows up to my programs LOL)

[gillo]

I enjoyed reading this. You didn't even mention the half dozen or so versions of Midsummer Night's Dream, all of which I appear to own.

In more than three decades of teaching English one of my guiding principles was that children should first meet a play by Shakespeare either by watching or, preferably by performing it. It seems to have worked better that way.

[orangerful]

Well, I was limited by what the library had on-shelf and WOW we need to get some more quality Shakespeare plays. I remember a loooooong time ago we had Kenneth Branagh's Twelfth Night on VHS and it was so good. I'm not even sure if it's available anymore. And I think there was a Midsummer Night's Dream with Helen Mirren?? I dunno, but yeah, sorta had to limit my suggestions. (otherwise I would have also included the Ian McKellan/Judi Dench "MacBeth" and also "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead".)

I'm so glad you agree! I always feel horrible when the kids come into the library over the summer asking for a Shakespeare play they have been assigned to read. It usually puts me over the edge and I start to rant about how they should watch the play and then I'm trying to find it for them LOL.

Sidenote - have you seen the TV series "Slings and Arrows"?? It's a must for Shakespeare fans and fans of quality television.

[orangerful]

I took a course on Shakespeare's works in college because the professor was a HUGE fan and so fun to listen to. She really helped me "get" his harder plays and then my boyfriend-at-the-time's mother had season tickets to the Shakespeare Theater in DC and no one wanted to go with her but me. Saw some fantastic stuff.

10 Things I Hate About You is awesome!!! Sadly, I had to limit my blog post to what the library actually had on hand, I didn't want to tease people with titles that were not available. Believe me, the list would have been even longer ;-)