April 19, 2013
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The Daily News1 It’s FRIDEEEEEE!!!!!!!2 Thanks you. Just…thank you.
3 Zesty week.
4 One of the toughest, I might say.
5 Too much happening even to think.
6 Triumphant.
7 Students loved the Lurhman version of Romeo and Juliet.
8 Most teachers stay WAY away from that one.
9 In many ways, I can see why.
10 But that becomes shying away just because it doesn’t follow the original script.
11 My answer to that is this: Who does?
12 Given its raw script, Romeo and Juliet is ridiculous, and has put many demands on many directors. A lot of the script has difficulties.
13 For example, when Romeo goes to Juliet’s room after having killed Tybalt, how does he get past the Watch? Why is Juliet upset about the murder of her cousin, but when Romeo shows up, why doesn’t she hit him over the head with a frying pan?
14 After Romeo’s murder of Tybalt, why does Friar Laurence send Romeo into that situation? The kid is suicidal the entire play.
15 Oy.
16 Why is Juliet thirteen? That’s a pretty big elephant sitting in that room.
17 Meh.
18 These were questions that were the chat of the town in most of my classes.
19 Good darned questions, if you ask me.
20 I just kept pausing the film and telling them what took place in the script.
21 The interesting thing about art is that it ever evolves.
22 Paintings by the masters would take on a different perspective the second one would put a frame on them.
23 Where they would hang would also alter the original artist’s intentions.
24 And so it goes with Romeo and Juliet.
25 Purists would like to see it be performed untouched.
26 The very nature of its creation prevents that.
27 What eventually comes down the pike after over four hundred years looks nothing like the first performance, I can guarantee you that one.
28 Art changes. That’s part of what makes it art.
29 If you write a play, it will never look the way you want it to look, even if you direct it.
30 If you paint a painting, it might look perfect on your easel, but it might look out of place in a castle, or in a documentary.
31 There is no such thing as pure art.
32 The world will distort any piece, no matter how pure.
33 A good artist know this.
34 Did Lurhman mar Romeo and Juliet beyond recognition?
35 Perhaps.
36 But we might also share an audience’s angst in 1596 or 1597 that the mail that tells Romeo that Juliet is not dead will never be delivered.
37 Originally, it was because the mail deliverer was sequestered in a town that had been exposed to the Plague.
38 There is no trace of that in either of the two most famous films.
39 In both films, the mail not being delivered on time gets students out of their seats.
40 It’s not unlike a Korean drama.
41 I remember vividly the first time I saw a Korean drama.
42 I looked at the television and said, “What the hell is this?”
43 I glanced at it, read some of the subtitles, and blew it off.44 I shook my head and went into the kitchen. I kept going back out to the living room, somewhat riveted.
45 Twenty minutes later I said, “Who WATCHES this stuff?”
46 An hour later I was on my feet yelling at the teevee, “TELL HIMMMMMM!!!”
47 Ah, works of art.
48 How do we measure?
49 All I know is that my students were all over each other when Clare Danes opened her eyes during Romeo’s suicide.
50 Art borrowed from art. It was all fake. It was all controlled. It was all not believable.
51 And suddenly each class was screaming, “NOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
52 And an old fool of a teacher laughed, and loved watching them leave the room while the credits rolled, staring in absolute disbelief. One student said, “Korean dramas are awesome, but this is like a Korean drama with poetry, imagery, rhythm, rhyme, and history!”
53 One teacher smiled at all of that.
54 Great way to end the week.
55 They get it. There are good days.
56 Just thought I’d share.
57 Have a GREAT weekend.58 See you again.
59 Peace.
~H~
www.xanga.com/bharrington
Comments (1)
1. I can dig Baz Luhrmann.2. Thanks for the April 7 comment at April 1 entry (which I just saw moments ago).3. A LINK to an interesting essay on what’s wrong with our educational system.