Shakespeare in popular culture

World Book and copyright day, as established by Unesco, is celebrated on April 23rd (except for the UK and Ireland, where it is celebrated on March 5th), in order to honour Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare, among other authors who died on that day. In actual fact, even though they are thought to have died on the same day (23rd April 1616), apparently it is not exactly so, due to the use of different calendars in England and Spain at the time. In any case, both writers are relevant enough to be given the status they deserve.

Plenty of events are taking place in Spain this year to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the publication of the second part of Don Quixote. For English teachers, this April event is a good an excuse as any other to work on many aspects of English culture and literary heritage related to the figure of the Bard.

Biography:

Source: http://bit.ly/1atZbc2

Shakespeare and the English language:

Shakespeare contributed some newly-coined terms and expressions to the English language, at a crucial moment in its history:

Source: http://bit.ly/1FHp2rV

Other versions of the same (more colourful):

Source: http://bit.ly/1FHoRwT

These quotes are also discussed in “Shakespeare and the History of English ” (Open University):

(Subtitled in English: http://watchinenglish.blogspot.com.es/2015/04/the-history-of-english-shakespeare.html)

Some of these expressions might be familiar to students. If that is not case, at least, they may find them funny:

Knock, knock, who’s there? as in Knock, knock jokes. Here’s an example for kids:

and another from The Big Bang Theory:

Off with his head! (from Henry IV and Richard III) as referenced in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland:

(subtitled in http://watchinenglish.blogspot.com.es/2015/04/alice-in-wonderland-off-with-his-head.html)

Fair play / foul play, as used in sports
Come What May: an original love song written for the film Moulin Rouge, featured in two climatic moments of the film

As an activity, students may guess, for example, what the expressions mean, in what contexts they might be used…To find examples of how they’re used in printed media, you may search for them in fraze.it.

Theatre in Elizabethan times:

Theatres tended to be built on the outskirts of cities, secluding the world of artists from the well-to-do. You might see on Google maps, for example, how both the Globe theatre and the Rose were set up in Bankside / South Bank of London, in a marginal area (at the time, not now!), separated from the City by the river.

Map of Shakespeare’s theatres (The Globe, The Rose):

Click on the image to see the map

Remains of the Rose theatre (Bankside): http://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2011/07/16/visiting-the-remains-of-the-rose-theatre-hidden-under-an-office-block/
To see what theatre in Shakespearean times felt like, you may take a virtual tour of the rebuilt Globe theatre in London
You may also watch the trailer for Shakespeare in Love (1998):

(subtitled in English: http://watchinenglish.blogspot.com.es/2015/04/shakespeare-in-love-trailer.html)

N.B. I know it’s a blockbuster, filled with clichés and Hollywood stars to attract mass audiences, at the expense of being true to reality; and yet, it seems to me that it serves the purpose of illustrating Elizabethan theatre in a general way: the feel of the theatre, the fact that all parts (both male and female) were played by male actors who had to cross-dress in many occasions… It may also raise certain topics of discussion about the English language, for example: how American or Australian actors such as Gwyneth Paltrow or Geoffrey Rush got pitch-perfect British accents by employing voice coaches.

Shakespeare in contemporary popular culture

Many films are based (or loosely based) on Shakespeare’s plays:

The Lion King– Hamlet

Simba’s royal father is murdered by his evil uncle, who then takes his crown. Timon and Pumbaa can also be identified with the characters of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

Source: http://bit.ly/1Fxi4IN

Gnomeo and Juliet (2011)– Romeo and Juliet

10 Things I Hate About You (1999)– The Taming of the Shrew

Teenpic: A new kid (=Lucentio / Cameron James) must find a guy (Petruchio /Patrick Verona) to date the meanest girl in school (Katherine / Kat), the older sister of the girl he has a crush on (Bianca), who cannot date until her older sister does (source: imdb)

Source: http://bit.ly/1Hfsb4m

She’s the Man (2006)– Twelfth Night

Another teenpic

Source: http://bit.ly/1Nqu96X

West Side Story (1961)– Romeo and Juliet

Source: http://imdb.to/1O2bEAv

Romeo + Juliet (1996)- Romeo and Juliet

Source: http://imdb.to/1z5Waod

Othello (1995)- Othello

Source: http://imdb.to/1O2c7mg

Much Ado About Nothing (1993)- Much Ado About Nothing

Romantic comedy, rescued from a certain oblivion in the 1990s by Kenneth Branagh’s film version, which read the original text in a more contemporary light, by tackling issues of gender relations, homoeroticism, and even race relations. Interestingly enough, D. Pedro of Aragon was played by Denzel Washington.

Source: http://imdb.to/1CEDSeb

The central, more powerful role that women allegedly assume in Branagh’s version is best exemplified, as Celestino Deleyto argues, in the opening scene of the film, where Beatrice’s (Emma Thompson) voice-over can be heard reciting a poem that in Shakespeare’s text only appeared marginally in the middle of the play:

(I just love Emma Thompson’s pronunciation)

A Thousand Acres (1997)– King Lear

Source: http://imdb.to/1D7uh39

Hamlet (1996)- Hamlet

Source: http://bit.ly/1FKLobY

Shakespeare’s works are quoted or referenced in other popular culture products, such as:

Shakespeare quotes and allusions in pop songs
The Beatles– “I Am the Walrus”. John Lennon decided to include at the end of the song part of a BBC recording of King Lear, to be heard in the background of the fade-out for the song. If you listen from 3’50”, you might hear (faintly, I’ll admit) these lines from the play:

Shakespeare sketch (Hugh Laurie & Rowan Atkinson): sketch toying with the possibility that somebody else “edited” Shakespeare’s plays, namely Hamlet. Very good sketch for literacy / literature lessons: there is plenty of vocabulary about the theatre (soliloquy, the wings…), and it mentions the best-known parts of Shakespeare’s tragedy. High culture mixed with colloquial, contemporary English, and two of the funniest (maybe cleverest) writer-performers of our time (and their lovely accents, of course):

Click on the picture to watch video with subtitles in English

The Simpsons– season 13, ep. 14, “Tales of the Public Domain” (spoof of, among others, Hamlet):

Click on the picture to watch the episode (subtitles in English)

(Hamlet’s spoof from 15’56”, some adult content)

The Simpsons– season 19, ep. 8 “Funeral for a Fiend” (Lisa outwits the Simpsons’ arch-enemy, Sideshow Bob, by showing her knowledge about Shakespeare, and Macbeth in particular)- from 8’45”.

Click on the picture to watch the episode (subtitles in English)

Reference to Othello in The Gilmore Girls (season 3, ep. 15, from 25′):

click on the picture to watch the episode subtitled in English

Even Sesame Street made their own spoofs of Shakespeare’s plays. For instance, The Taming of the Shrew turned into ‘The Taming of the Shoe’:

Watch it subtitled in English: http://watchinenglish.blogspot.com.es/2015/04/sesame-street-taming-of-shoe.html

Finally, a guilty pleasure: as a child, I remember loving Moonlighting‘s spoof of The Taming of the Shrew (only for die-hard fans of the show, probably) (especially, the scene at 26′ 58”)