So I title my last post "Shakespeare as Everyman's Bard," but want to note really quickly that not everyone knows it. I watched Gnomeo & Juliet over the weekend and thought it was funny and kind of interesting how our modern culture likes to make fun of Shakespeare and yet harbors a notion that his works are just too intellectually advanced for normal people to understand.
Enjoy these clips!
Well, sorry, I'll try to figure out how to upload the clips, but until then, here are the links to them.
Gnomeo & Juliet Intro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXZXSjDzpBE&feature=relmfu
Gnomeo Chats Up Shakespeare: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXZXSjDzpBE&feature=relmfu
Balcony Clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6HpUndEtP8&feature=relmfu
Doomed Love: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp-JeYRgvGg&feature=relmfu
*And for the record, I think Gnomeo (see the second clip) has a great point! Stupid suicidal tendencies... ;)
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Carpe Diem: Shakespeare as "Everyman's" Bard
"Let me play the fool.
With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come,
And let my liver rather heat with wine
Than my heart cool with mortifying groans."
The Merchant of Venice, 1.1.79-82
When I read this passage, I was amazed to recall that I wrote something very similar in my journal nearly two years ago to the day. I'd been writing about how much I loved the sun: "I love being in its light and warmth, & it's especially nice when the weather's like it has been (perfect temperature, with a faint breeze, and familiar smells and beautiful colors all around).... It reminds me of God's love for me and my Savior's love for me. It's so perfect & I love to feel it. I don't care if I get skin cancer--no one can keep me out of the sun that I love so much!"
This is one of those moments that I find easy to appreciate where Shakespeare has said something that rings true with his audience. It doesn't matter, really, whether the person reading or listening is rich or poor, male or female, Asian or American: here, Shakespeare has found something that vibrates to an ideal that I think every person wishes to achieve.
With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come,
And let my liver rather heat with wine
Than my heart cool with mortifying groans."
The Merchant of Venice, 1.1.79-82
When I read this passage, I was amazed to recall that I wrote something very similar in my journal nearly two years ago to the day. I'd been writing about how much I loved the sun: "I love being in its light and warmth, & it's especially nice when the weather's like it has been (perfect temperature, with a faint breeze, and familiar smells and beautiful colors all around).... It reminds me of God's love for me and my Savior's love for me. It's so perfect & I love to feel it. I don't care if I get skin cancer--no one can keep me out of the sun that I love so much!"
 | ||||||||
| Each of us will come to the end of our roads someday. The real question is, "How will we get there?" According to Graziano (and a voice deep inside each one of us), the journey is to be made with smiles and joy. Even President Gordon B. Hinckley said that life is meant to be enjoyed, not endured. |
Carpe Diem, everyone!
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Hmm...What to Do, What to Be?
Most of the learning objectives that we've been given for the semester aren't going to be very hard for me to achieve: I feel that I'm already pretty good at critical analysis and (along the same lines--at least, they're similar things to me) finding interesting interesting connections between two unrelated things ("engaging Shakespeare creatively"), and that it won't be very difficult for me to gain literacy of Shakespeare. So, I'd like to give more focus, then, on sharing Shakespeare meaningfully and becoming digitally literate (I often find myself quoting Weird Al, calling myself "technologically impaired"). Becoming more social in my classwork, rather than just minding my own business and getting things done on my own, is something that I'd like to work on, so I'm making it a goal to make meaningful comments on others' blogs this semester (which of course requires that I prioritize to get all the reading & work done in good time so that I can provide meaningful, timely feedback for others. I'm also going to try to become more independent on the computer and not seek for outside help whenever I run into issues with the blog & other digital tools, but try to figure it out myself first, & then ask for help if I really can't get it. I also want to make it a goal to not just find applicable pictures for my blog, but to take some myself and give that talent of mine some more experience.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Why I'm in Shakespeare 232
Thursday, January 5, 2012
I've been exposed to Shakespeare about as much as the average person: from studying his plays and sonnets in high school and college to watching eggs explode in a microwave as one person's interpretation of Macbeth.
Shakespeare has always been pretty interesting, but my attitude toward him has changed as I've developed and gotten to know him better. When I was younger, I revered him because everyone else did; it didn't occur to me that anyone might not; then, as we began to study his works in school, I learned to appreciate the good things he wrote while ignoring the more unpleasant ones, such as violence and sexual innuendo, since I didn't want to break the good image I had of him. Toward the end of high school, I began to be somewhat disgusted with Shakespeare because we studied only some of his darker plays; but I still latched on to whatever good nuggets I could find in them. At this point, I still appreciate and cherish those nuggets (like Portia's speech on mercy), but I'm learning to be more tempered as I read Shakespeare--that is, to not take offense when he introduces dark, unwholesome things, but use them to stretch myself and increase my learning.
So, when it comes to Shakespeare, I don't appreciate his mockery of sacred things (this is a reference to sexual innuendo as well as some other things), but I'm willing to tolerate and learn from him, and in many cases I like what he's done.
My reasons for taking this Shakespeare class are that:
1. It seemed like a great experience, what with participating in an experimental classroom setting, becoming digitally literate, and setting our own personal learning goals in addition to becoming more familiar with Shakespeare.
2. I want people to know that FACS Ed majors are intelligent people and not just soft-minded homebodies.
3. I need it for my English Teaching Minor.4. It sounded like lots of fun, according to the preview last night!
I've been exposed to Shakespeare about as much as the average person: from studying his plays and sonnets in high school and college to watching eggs explode in a microwave as one person's interpretation of Macbeth.
Shakespeare has always been pretty interesting, but my attitude toward him has changed as I've developed and gotten to know him better. When I was younger, I revered him because everyone else did; it didn't occur to me that anyone might not; then, as we began to study his works in school, I learned to appreciate the good things he wrote while ignoring the more unpleasant ones, such as violence and sexual innuendo, since I didn't want to break the good image I had of him. Toward the end of high school, I began to be somewhat disgusted with Shakespeare because we studied only some of his darker plays; but I still latched on to whatever good nuggets I could find in them. At this point, I still appreciate and cherish those nuggets (like Portia's speech on mercy), but I'm learning to be more tempered as I read Shakespeare--that is, to not take offense when he introduces dark, unwholesome things, but use them to stretch myself and increase my learning.
So, when it comes to Shakespeare, I don't appreciate his mockery of sacred things (this is a reference to sexual innuendo as well as some other things), but I'm willing to tolerate and learn from him, and in many cases I like what he's done.
My reasons for taking this Shakespeare class are that:
1. It seemed like a great experience, what with participating in an experimental classroom setting, becoming digitally literate, and setting our own personal learning goals in addition to becoming more familiar with Shakespeare.
2. I want people to know that FACS Ed majors are intelligent people and not just soft-minded homebodies.
3. I need it for my English Teaching Minor.4. It sounded like lots of fun, according to the preview last night!
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