Mordernizing Hamlet

After watching clips from Hamlet (2000) in class, my attitude toward modernizing works of Shakespeare turned unfavorable (at least for the way this film adapted the play). The combination of original Shakespearean dialogue and modern visuals slammed together two distant eras, and I found my self distracted by the juxtaposition. However, it also got me to think about the film, to the point at which I rented it . . . turns out it was just a matter of getting used to absorbing somewhat clashing visual and audio information. In fact, I think I now have a better understanding of the text, because I have seen it applied to a plausible modern scenario (makes the case that Shakespeare’s themes/plots are still relevant). There were many creative adaptions in the film that I picked up on, but to name a few that really stuck out:

- Ophelia is an amateur photographer who takes many pictures of flowers, rather than actually carrying them (you can see her darkroom in a montage video below).
- Fortinbras has an army of lawyers to aid him in his corporate takeovers (funny), rather than an army to conquest land.
- Guns are the cause of Laertes and Hamlets death (shoot each other), rather than poison tipped swords; there are also photographers watching the fight, when in the play, Horatio was the only remaining witness (2nd video below).

Watching this movie has also brought to my attention the underlying mystery of Gertrude (the character I’m doing my analysis on): whether or not she was involved in on the murder of King Hamlet. This film’s interpretation seems to suggest not, as the director has hers drink the poison wine herself when she finds out Claudius’ intentions (2nd video below).