Shakespeare and the cinema of excess

Van Heerden, Jacques

Shakespeare and the cinema of excess

Master Thesis

2012

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

Department of English Language and Literature

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Abstract

This dissertation examines the notion of excess in film adaptations of Shakespeare's plays. It takes its critical approach from the work of Georges Bataille, who used "eroticism" to describe a confrontation with excess that destabilises the individual’s sense of identity. Bataille suggests that art can allow audiences to experience a measure of eroticism by presenting subjects that transgress established taboos and by undermining the formal conventions that allow the audience to interpret the text. This dissertation examines these ideas through an analysis of Julie Taymor's Titus and Roman Polanski’s Macbeth from the perspective of Bataille’s writing on transgression, taboos, and excess. By doing a comparative reading of each play and film, I will examine the meaning of excess in these plays and how this has translated to screen...

Description

Includes bibliographical references.

Keywords

English Language and Literature

Reference:

Collections

Masters

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