Shakespearean Adaptations

Throne of Blood

She’s The Man

This week we paid homage to the stories we hate to read but love to watch in the movies, the work of a theatre kid named Shakespeare. My official statement on Shakespeare is that I would probably be very okay if I’d never been forced to learn about him in school, but I’m thankful for the iconic and campy interpretations that have come from his plays which, as they stand, are confusing and boring. There are truly SO many Shakespearean film adaptations to choose from, but I wanted to explore two of the most significant films of this category—so naturally we viewed Akira Kurosawa’s 1957 classic Throne of Blood and the oft-beloved She’s The Man. Tonight’s films were both emblematic of Shakespeare’s proclivity for deceit, betrayal, and gender performance—but these films are leaps and bounds above all of his endless damn stanzas. Legendary filmmaker Akira Kurosawa gave new life to Macbeth with Throne of Blood, reaching even greater peaks of melodrama than I’m sure the play ever achieved. I haven’t actually read Macbeth, but the episode of Jimmy Neutron where they perform Macbeth in Space was enough of a reference for me. Throne of Blood was a slow but captivating retelling of a story that I’d imagine, on its own, is slow and boring to read, so it wins points for that alone. Also, the fact that Kurosawa planned to make this film much earlier, but was sideswiped by Orson Welles’ 1948 adaptation of Macbeth, gives Kurosawa more kudos—because we’ve both been inconvenienced by this man’s ubiquitous presence and, presumably, Kurosawa also feels nothing but disdain for Mr. Welles. The star of this film, Toshiro Mifune, and his over the top facial expressions as the great warrior Washizu, combined with Isuzu Yamada’s paranoid performance as a chilling Nancy Reagan-level puppeteer wife was such an excellent coalescence. With adaptations of literature, the endings and arcs are often predictable, but Throne of Blood built enough tension and intrigue to keep me guessing. There were some exceptionally dark and profound quotes in this movie like: “Human beings are so strange, terrified to look into the bottom of their own hearts”, that only add to the film’s intensity and warrants Kurosawa’s implementation of over the top acting. Part Shakespeare, part Japanese feudalistic drama, with vibes of an old Western, Throne of Blood was far more entertaining than I predicted, and certainly earns a spot on the list of best Shakespearean adaptations. Also on this list, is the 2006 teen rom-com adaptation of Twelfth Night, the lovably ludicrous She’s The Man. Okay, so obviously we’ve come a long way in terms of gender identity and expression from the narrow lens that 1601 and 2006 had available, and thankfully our explorations of this topic in media have begun to move beyond the archaic binary—though there’s much more we could be doing—but this movie is just so damn charming. I will be the first person to tell you that Shakespeare is overrated, but this just works. From the dedicated and inspired performance of Amanda Bynes, to the instant steely magnetism of Channing Tatum, to the impossibly quotable script that naturally came from the same women who wrote 10 Things I Hate About You, Legally Blonde, and The House Bunny. If you read any review of this film from when it came out, it’ll tell you that this was a misguided, stupid attempt to reenact Shakespeare, and that this just leans further into dangerous stereotypes associated with masculinity like objectifying women and stifling one’s emotions. But the very purpose of this film is to point out the prevalence of these themes within our reality, and in its playful but concise criticism of our patriarchal society, we’re able to see that strength and confidence and sensitivity and creativity are not factors dependent on gender. The entire point of this movie, like many chick flicks that came before it, is to point out the absurdly frustrating and damaging double standards that women and femmes are forced to deal with, and its in the poking fun of these tropes that we’re able to feel some catharsis or even just laugh, and yet these movies remain misunderstood by the elitist men who seem to own film criticism. As Anne Cohen of Refinery 29 put it, “…if the intended audience is not white men in their 40s, does it even exist?” There is the potential for depth in these movies, though, regardless of what the critics try to convince us of, there are a myriad of important topics to explore within the stories of youth. She’s The Man is just one in a long line of feminist tales of teenage troubles, but this movie goes beyond the perspective of femininity and far beyond the perspective Shakespeare gave us. While male critics took issue with the exaggeration and exploitation of masculinity, upon my rewatch I found this film to be far more caring and considerate with these topics than I remembered. Channing Tatum’s character has an issue with talking to girls, but has no problem opening up to Viola when she’s Sebastian. His vulnerability and sincerity is cast aside when he’s caught up in the machismo and aggressiveness of the soccer team, but he trusts Sebastian because he’s able to offer him an open space to talk that isn’t available on the field of toxic masculinity. She’s The Man is not the clearest or most coherent in its position on the gender binary, but it certainly offers a fun and frankly, ridiculously realistic portrayal of the norms and expectations of gender performance. There’s still more exploration to be done, and far more point of views to represent, but for the time it was made and the material it was borne out of, She’s The Man is a triumph, and makes any Romeo and Juliet adaptation seem like an episode of Riverdale.