Review of Ophelia, directed by Claire McCarthy (original) (raw)
Related papers
Alzahra University, 2023
Ophelia in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet (2004) is a potent discursive site whose interpretive and critical valences have been salvaged through various adaptations of this play. Through the utilization of critical insights of critics, such as Jacques Lacan (1977), Elaine Showalter (1985), and commentators like David Leverenz (2004), Bridget Gellert Lyons (1977), and Philip Armstrong (1996), the study identifies Ophelia’s schizophrenic characterization, her reminiscences of the past, and her representation through the play’s iconographic values as the negotiable features for taping into Ophelia’s multi-layered characterization. The study chooses Laurence Olivier’s adaptation (1948) as the more theatrical rendition of the play next to two more modernized and experimental adaptations done by Michael Almereyda (2000) and Kenneth Branagh (1996) to discuss its identification of these discursively potent features in Ophelia’s adapted renditions. While utilizing its main critical insights, the study would also use the interpretive readings of commentators, such as Amanda Rooks (2014), Jessica Maerz (2011) and Gulsen Teker (2006) on the cinematic and literary significance of each of the selected adaptations in the continuum of the adaptations done on Hamlet. In the study, it would be argued that although none of the adaptations could deny the patriarchal dominance over Ophelia, the more experimental ones by Branagh and especially Almereyda do manage to tap into the ambivalent points of resistance which Ophelia’s characterization could create against this dominance. These ambivalent points expose the incomplete nature of strategies which are adopted by the patriarchy in containing and othering figures such as Ophelia.
Broken Silence in Claire McCarthy’s Ophelia (2018), a Reinterpretation of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet., 2022
Ophelia is considered the most silenced but yet more pictured figure of all Shakespeare’s female characters. Despite having an important role in the overall plot, Ophelia is seen as one-dimensional, with a scarce exposition of her thoughts. Ophelia’s role is constrictive: beautiful, young and compliant to her father Polonius, the Lord Chamberlain of the Danish Crown, and to king Claudius, for whom she acts as a pawn. She has long been read as a tragic and pitiful character, whose father’s death and the rejection of her beloved, Hamlet, leads her to insanity, converting her to the conventional mad woman that directly derives from the patriarchal law. However, her representation has undergone changes as Hamlet has been under constant reinterpretation. Claire McCarthy’s film Ophelia (2018) supposes a new and revolutionary approach of the classical play, in which Ophelia narrates her own story. This paper aims at analysing how Ophelia’s silence in Hamlet (ca. 16001) is put into words in Ophelia (2018) through the narration of her story told by herself.
Ophelia, more or less. Intersemiotic reinterpretations of a Shakespearean character
Open Linguistics
Ophelia, Shakespeare’s most tragic heroine, seems to be the character who has generated much more enthusiasm on the part of visual artists than on the part of literary critics. Consequently, there are a high number of artefacts, produced starting with the nineteenth century, which have been inspired by Hamlet’s unfortunate bride. Of this assortment of artefacts, we have picked some to deal with here. In analysing them, we survey through the history of the heroine’s representation in various visual media, comment on them from the point of view of intersemiotic translation, and verify, in broad lines, the hypothesis that they may be tributary to a number of factors ranging from some connected to the artist’s own identity and subjective interpretation of the original to factors connected to more general stereotypes, beliefs, attitudes, and socio-cultural trends.
Actes des congrès de la Société française Shakespeare volume 37, 2019
Asian directors leverage Shakespeare’s own propensity to undermine dominant ideologies of gender—notably through the Ophelia figure—in their effort to renew Asian performance traditions. How do Shakespeare and modern directors talk to each other across cultural and historical divides? How does Ophelia become “unbound” through supralinguistic structures of spectacle and music? With case studies of three Hamlet films: Haider (India, 2004), The King and the Clown (South Korea, 2005), and Prince of the Himalayas (Tibet, 2006), this article examines how Asian films negotiate with Asian cultural norms, ideas of Ophelia as an iconic victim, and the image of Hamlet as a brooding male intellectual. Outside their country of origin, these films attract audiences who are enthralled by the performance of the exotic, whether it’s Shakespearean or Asian motifs. Within their local market, the name brand of an editorialized Anglophone Shakespeare helps to boost their production value. Filmmakers see the co-presence of Shakespearean and Asian motifs as an asset, as “double kisses.” They use selective elements, such as conventionalized Bollywood dance and Chinese martial arts sequences, as common denominators and bonding agents between different periods and cultures. ============ Comment de nouvelles images d’Ophélie émergent-elles des scripts et discours narratifs modernes ? Certains metteurs en scène asiatiques ont choisi de tirer parti de la propension de Shakespeare à saper l'idéologie dominante sur le rôle des femmes, notamment à travers le personnage d’Ophélie, afin de renouveler la tradition théâtrale asiatique. Quel dialogue existe-t-il entre Shakespeare et les metteurs en scène contemporains au-delà des fossés historiques et culturels ? Avec l’analyse de trois adaptations d’Hamlet (Haider, Bollywood, 2004; Le roi et le clown, Corée, 2005; et Prince de l’Himalaya, Tibet, 2006), cet article se propose d'examiner l'approche que prennent ces productions sur l’image d’Ophélie comme victime emblématique ainsi que sur les normes culturelles asiatiques. En dehors de leur pays d'origine, ces films attirent un public fasciné par un certain exotisme, qu’il soit shakespearien, de motif asiatique, ou une combinaison des deux. Au sein de leur marché local, l’image de marque d'un contenu shakespearien d'origine anglophone renforce une valeur ajoutée prestigieuse. L’utilisation par ces metteurs en scène de conventions cinématographiques spécifiques, tels que la danse bollywoodienne, ou encore les séquences d'arts martiaux chinois, sert de dénominateur commun et de liant entre différentes périodes pour aboutir à une double identité culturelle.