Hoi! This video is sponsored by the British Council for Shakespeare No Filter
which I'll tell you a little bit more about later
Today I wanted to talk to you guys about some of my favourite films, books, and music
that have all been inspired by Shakespeare in some way
Even though you might not know it
I actually studied Shakespeare a little bit in both
secondary school and then at university and
hilariously, every time it was discussed, it was Macbeth.
I think I also studied Romeo and Juliet and Twelfth Night at university
But, over recent years, I've sort of become more and more curious about Shakespeare
and I've started reading some more of the plays, based on recommendations of friends
and I also did some videos this year talking about different plays
that I'd seen at the Globe and plays that I've read
so I will put those in the description if you want to watch them. Anyway
Obviously it comes with no surprise that lots of authors and song writers and film makers
are inspired by Shakespeare's work, and I love nothing more
than recognising little bits and bobs everywhere and trying to figure out
in what ways they interpreted the plays and how they think
the best ways to give this to a new audience.
so I wanted to give you some examples of different things, that are all
based on Shakespeare plays that I personally enjoyed, or found really interesting
Some of them you might have heard of, some of them you might not have
I just wanted to mention this one in passing, because when I found this out
I thought it was hilarious, The Lion King is based on Hamlet
It's got a revenge plot, it's got a ghost, and if you look at the storyline
you'd be surprised how many similarities there are
But I'm gonna leave that one there
But for all these examples there are loads of amazing resources that you can look up
and see character by character comparisons
So music wise, I really like Mumford and Sons
and I'd actually picked up some references to other books
but it wasn't until I saw and read Much To Do About Nothing
that I realized that Sigh No More, which is also
the title of the album, is actually a reference from Much To Do About Nothing
and the other two quotes that are hidden in Mumford And Sons songs are
'I gave you all', which is from King Lear
and 'Stars hide your fires' which is from Macbeth
I totally should have picked up on, but I didn't
So the first book I want to talk about is one that you're probably familiar with
and it's the young adult book We Were Liars
by E. Lockhart, which I've read and loved, and
E. Lockhart has actually talked a lot about how she got inspiration
from King Lear. The basics of the stories, based around sibling rivalry, and
greed, and there's actually in italics, in a couple of the chapters
some stories that kind of sound like fairy tales
but are inspired by King Lear.
'Once upon a time there was a king with three beautiful daughters.'
'As he grew old, he began to wonder which should inherit the kingdom'
It's something that I sort of picked up while I was reading it
and then I did some research afterwards, and
it is just such a cool thing to have incorporated in a book like this
where you maybe wouldn't expect it
then there is Chasing The Stars by Mallory Blackman, which is
also a young adult book set in space
It's actually the proof copy, and Mallory Blackman
said that she was really inspired by Othello and that
she wanted Othello in space, and in this
case the main character, who represents Othello, is
a teenage girl. I feel like when something is inspired by
a Shakesperean play, sometimes it is very specific characters that people will take,
or sometimes it will be the general theme or some of the setup of the plot
and it is quite fun to see how far you can stretch it, or
how closely you can actually follow it, depending on what you want.
and if I do read something that is inspired by a Shakespeare play
once I finish it, I will go and read up on it
and see where the similarities were.
In this one, it was an item that was used in a very specific way
that is similar to the way that happens in Othello
If you read it yourself, I'm sure you can figure lots of other bits as well
The next one is a film that makes it quite clear that is
based on a Shakespeare play, it is She's The Man
with Amanda Bynes, and actually on one of the starter screens, it
says that it is inspired by Twelfth Night. I have read Twelfth Night
and I've seen it performed and I've seen different versions of it
And I quite liked how closely this follows the play.
A lot of the names are very similar, so the Duke of Orsino is now called Duke Orsino
and the school is called Illyria, which is where the play is set
There are lots of mistaken identities and a girl dressing up as a boy
especially if you're studying this in school, I think this is such a
fun thing to read the play, and then watch it side by side
I'm not ashamed to say that I know way too many quotes from this film
the next film is the well loved Ten Things I Hate About You
with Heath Ledger, which is based on The Taming Of The Shrew,
and side by side with that I have Vinegar Girl,
which is also based on Taming Of The Shrew,
and in a video I recently said I actually haven't read
The Taming Of The Shrew yet, now having read two
different interpretations, I'm really intrigued to read the play, and see
if the picture that these two painted for me is similar
I think The Taming Of The Shrew is a very interesting one to adapt
for a modern audience, seeing as the views on feminism have changed quite a bit
so if you guys know of any other adaptations of The Taming Of The Shrew,
let me know and I'd love to find out some more
and then, finally, there is a book that I'm reading at the moment,
and mentioned in a recent haul, and it is Hag-seed by Margaret Hatwood
it started off with a script, and then it goes into the story of
this art director, who is preening on a modern adaptation of The Tempest
and gets dethroned by someone, and then has to go live in secrecy
and plan out his revenge. I like that there is a play within the book
and also, it is actually divided up into five acts, so there you go
those are all different interpretations of Shakespeare's works in music, in books
in films, and another example of this is that at the moment
the British Council is running a project called #Shakespearenofilter
it has actually just kicked off and it is a group of young performers
who are doing a modern interpretation of three different Shakespeare plays
over the next three months. It will start with A Midsummer's Night Deam this month
and then there will be Hamlet in September, and Romeo And Juliet the month after that
I might have mentioned it in previous videos, but
this year is the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death
and so this whole year they're celebrating Shakespeare lives to show that
Shakespeare's still relevant to people now
If you want to check out the Instagram page where the Shakespeare Project is happening
I'll leave a link to that in the description, with also another link
if you want to find out more about this whole project
I'm quite curious if you guys had to do your own adaptation of a Shakespeare
play, what medium would you choose, would you do it on social media,
would you do it as a play, would you do a short film
and what would your setting or what would your interpretation be
alright, that was it for today's video, if you guys know about
any other things that were inspired by any Shakespeare plays, do let me know
in a comment, don't forget to check out the Shakespeare No Filter Project
and I will talk to you guys later