[ SECRET POST #3510 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3510 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.



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02.
[Stephen King]


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03.
[John Green]


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04.
[American Gods]


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05.
[Charlie Hunnam in King Arthur: Legend of the Sword]


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06.
[Penn & Teller: Fool Us]


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07.
[Steven Universe]


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08.
[Questionable Content]


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09.
[Ghostbusters 2016]











Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 53 secrets from Secret Submission Post #502.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

01. http://i.imgur.com/XI3vw88.png

[likeadeuce]

I don't know how much Shakespeare on film you have watched, and I haven't seen this film -- maybe it's really not for you, which is cool. However, if you're just worried you won't get it, I encourage you to take a chance. Directors can do really diverse + interesting things with filmed plays that can show the story and characters in an interesting light that you wouldn't get from reading or even watching a play in a theater.

[(Anonymous)]

Hmmm. I think the nice thing about watching Shakespeare movie adaptations is that you don't have to understand the language completely. The scene and peoples' actions and expressions give you a lot of clues. Have you seen Much Ado About Nothing? That's one of the easier ones, IMO, and the adaptation with Emma Thompson is delightful.

[lb_lee]

This is true! I have a much better time understanding Shakespeare when I'm watching people perform it, be it on stage or on screen. (And I have hearing problems, so usually prefer subtitles and text on everything.) Sometimes, an actor can help transcend.

It's still a little tricky though, for sure.

[(Anonymous)]

There are some study guides that do translate to more modern speech. Perhaps if you tried on of them you could follow?

[iceyred]

Check your library. There are several guides out there that have the play, and then explanations about what the characters are saying.

It's got Sean Harris in it, which is my only reason for seeing it asap.

[ginainthekingsroad]

I can understand that; it can be difficult. I read Shakespeare at a professional level, and I still find myself having moments of, "oh, that's what that means!"

Have you ever tried watching it just with regular subtitles? I haven't seen this new Macbeth, but subs can definitely help out when everyone's acting at full steam and then the language is already complicated. They made things a lot clearer for me on the Fiennes Coriolanus.

[likeadeuce]

Ditto as someone who watches a lot of Shakespeare, subtitles (or just following along w/ a copy of the play if it's one you've studied before) are a great help.

Also, love the icon :D

[(Anonymous)]

If you're not ESL then I judge you.

[likeadeuce]

oh hush

[(Anonymous)]

But it is in Modern English.

[(Anonymous)]

And you know the language is still different compared to present day English.

[bio_obscura]

I find that watching his work being performed is the best way to take it in. If you can't understand something, you can usually infer what's going on with visual cues like expressions, scenery, action, etc.

[ninety6tears]

Like others have said, the visual cues are helpful and some people find Shakespeare easier when they're not reading it. But I'm not ashamed to admit that No Fear Shakespeare subtitle options would be awesome.

[sparklywalls]

There is absolutely no shame in reading a plot summary if it helps you. If you know the rough story you might be surprised how much you pick up from what people are saying.

You have to remember as well that the language isn't always the main clue as to what is happening. That's the thing about plays, they kind of (comparatively) suck to just read and not have any kind of visual representation as you're reading it.

[starzki]

The most helpful thing that I was taught when learning Shakespeare is that you don't necessarily need to understand every word that is being spoken. The way it was put to me was that it's a bit like a foreign language with some idioms and turns of phrase that we won't understand, and that's okay. When watching the performance and the characters' reactions to those words, we'll have enough context to understand that phrase.

You're there for the story and the dialogue is only a small bit of it. Yes, a lot of the discussion of Shakespeare from academics is about the language, but that doesn't need to be your or any other audience member's focus. These are plays and are meant to be performed. The actors and directors are not doing their jobs if they can't convey the story in more than dialogue.

[(Anonymous)]

weeeellll... whenever I read/watch shakespeare I find new puns and plays on idioms so I wouldn't say it's a *small* bit exactly. the stories aren't that special or new, most of the time and the language is actually a pretty big part of it, I'd say.

[(Anonymous)]

I think Much Ado About Nothing (The Brennagh version) is pretty understandable if you're fluent in modern english. Sure, it's still Shakespeare but really easy enough to understand.
I'm ESL, myself. (Also, my 3 year old daughter loves watching clips from the movie because she's named after one of the characters. She loves all the shoving and crying and "when they do drama" - her words)

[(Anonymous)]

Is the movie any good? I like the top cast but 6.8 on imdb...

[(Anonymous)]

Macbeth in particular would be tough because the dialogue is for some reason chiefly delivered via mumbles and growls.

This might be a little more labor intensive than you'd like but

[(Anonymous)]

Sparknotes has a series of books called "No Fear Shakespeare," which feature the original text alongside its modern day English equivalent. I believe they have them for most, if not all of Shakespeare's plays.

All of the text is avaible online, or alternatively, you could buy a print copy (I know they're sold in brick and mortar as well as online book sellers) or even borrow it from a local library.

You can follow along with the text as you watch the movie so you can follow what's going on.

[(Anonymous)]

Honestly, watching the DiCaprio + Winslet Romeo & Juliet adaptation really made it more understandable. Half of grasping what the people were saying was in the gestures and body language.

Like, in the book Romeo talks in incomprehensibly flowery language about some girl, but on the screen you can see what he's basically saying is "she's so fine, 10/10 would bang" :P

[(Anonymous)]

I think Shakespeare can be easily understood, once you watch the actors perform it. Try the Zeffirelli Romeo & Juliet, Marlon Brando's Julius Caesar (avoid Charlton Heston's) and the Kenneth Branagh Hamlet from 1996 (avoid Mel Gibson's, plus Helena Bonham Carter's Ophelia is pretty bland. Kate Winslet does a better job at her madness compared to Helena) for more on this. Everything will come clear to the audience, once they've seen it.

[(Anonymous)]

Well, everyone is talking about Shakespeare in general making more sense in performance than on the page, and it's true that helps. But here, have a Macbeth synopsis (aka summary):

There's a bunch of Scottish clan chiefs/earls/petty nobles (aka thanes) ruled by King Duncan. Scotland is at war with Norway. Two of these chiefs are Macbeth, whose lands are called Glamis, and Banquo. They're friends, and they've just finished kicking the butts of some invading Norwegians and mercenaries when the play starts and they run into three witches, who greet Macbeth by going "hey, you, thane of Cawdor!"

And Macbeth is like, "you got the wrong guy, I'm thane of Glamis." And the witches are all "that's what you think. And you're gonna be king, too."

And Banquo's like "yeah? What about me?"

And the witches go "well, good news, bad news. You're not gonna be king. But all your descendants are."

And Macbeth and Banquo are like "right, uh huh..." until the witches vanish into thin air and then they're all "WTF? Where'd the ugly creeps go?"

So they meet up with some of King Duncan's other retainers, who go "hey Macbeth, for your loyal service, you get to be thane of Cawdor. The old one's still alive, but not for long, he was working with the Norwegians."

And Macbeth and Banquo are like "oh shit."

And then they meet up with King Duncan, who goes "and my son's gonna be my heir."

So Banquo's kind of like "tough luck, can't win 'em all, buddy."

And Macbeth is like "okay, brain, I do not like the way you went straight to 'murder the king and take his throne.' Shut the hell up, brain."

And then he writes to his wife and says "the king's coming to visit and also some creepy witches who can apparently see the future said I'll be king."

And when her husband comes home, Lady Macbeth's like "okay go kill Duncan."

And Macbeth's like "um, uh, I, uh--"

And Lady Macbeth is all "I didn't realize I married such a cowardly weakling."

So Macbeth goes to kill Duncan. Along the way, he hallucinates a bloody dagger pointing the way to Duncan's room.

After Macbeth kills Duncan and Duncan's grooms/servants, Duncan's sons run for it and Macbeth blames them so he can crown himself King of Scotland.

And then everything goes to shit.

Macbeth gets crazy paranoid and starts hallucinating more. He has Banquo killed and tries to have his kid killed so Banquo's kids won't take the throne from him like the witches implied they would, but the kid gets away.

Natural disasters, weird weather, and general nasty creepy shit (Duncan's horses eat each other) happen all over Scotland, basically proving that Macbeth's not fit to be king. Lady Macbeth starts hallucinating and sleepwalking too--that's where the famous "out, out, damned spot!" thing comes from, she sees blood all over her hands all the time.

Macbeth meets up with the witches again who (he thinks) tell him he's invincible, since "no man of woman born" can kill him, and he won't be defeated "until Birnum Wood come to Dunsinane"--until a forest gets up and walks, basically. Macbeth kills another noble's entire family.

Whoops. That noble dude? His name's MacDuff, and he was born via C-section from his dead mom's body. And he and Duncan's sons and a bunch of other Scottish nobles and their soldiers march on Macbeth's castle fortifications at Dunsinane. Along the way, they pass through Birnum Wood. Malcolm, Duncan's rightful heir, says "hey how about all our soldiers cut some branches and hold them up while we march so Macbeth's forces can't get an accurate count of our men?"

Then, while Macbeth is trying to rally his forces, there's a bunch of screaming--Lady Macbeth killed herself, and a messenger comes in and goes "you're not gonna believe this, but we're being attacked by a bunch of walking trees."

And Macbeth goes "fuck it, if I'm gonna die, I'm taking everybody I can with me," and goes out to fight.

He kills a guy, but then he runs into MacDuff. Macbeth goes "fuck off I've killed the rest of your family already and also I can't be killed by anyone born of woman," and attacks MacDuff.

MacDuff cuts off Macbeth's head and brings it to Malcolm, who becomes the new King of Scotland. And that's all, folks.

[(Anonymous)]

I've taught Shakespeare for years, so I'll just shout it from the rooftops -- Shakespeare is meant to be performed! It's more enjoyable to watch than to read! It's okay if you can't understand the language! Watch and enjoy!

But really, only English and linguistics majors and fans of language really get into reading the texts. The plays weren't meant to be 'read', but performed, and that's the best way to enjoy them. And like any performance, some will be better than others. I love 'classic' performances of the texts and modern versions, too, so just watch the film and see if you like it. And I have seen this one, and it's not too hard to follow, even if you can't understand every sentence.