Shakespearean (#2 Minor Sub-Genre)

William Shakespeare, a writer most known for his plays of tragedy and insults greatly impacts the world of literature, and even the film industry. Almost every Shakespeare play has been created into a film which remains true to the play, or, the film has been applied to modern times and has been created into a film as well. Some directors who first contributed to recreating the shakespearean works into movies were: Orson Welles (Macbeth and Othello), Lawrence Olivier (Henry V, Hamlet, Richard III), Jean Luc Godard (King Lear). Many of these films were recreated several times over decades to come.
After the classics of Shakespeare were adapted onto the silver screen, several directors decided to take a different approach to these movies. For instance, Baz Luhrman recreated Romeo and Juliet into a modern, yet tragic love story incorporating skyscrapers, fast cars, and machine guns to demonstrate the time period the story was being told. Another example would be John Madden, who directed Shakespeare in Love (featuring Gwyneth Paltrow,Judi Dench, and Geoffrey Rush). This film was inspired by several of Shakespeare's works including Romeo and Juliet and Twelfth Night Or What You Will. Another popular film demonstrating relation to Shakespeare's works is 10 Things I Hate About You directed by Gil Junger and inspired by Taming of the Shrew. By creating these films, directors expose the audience to different meanings of the plays and different ways to interpret them as well. Shakespeare is certainly a huge aspect of drama and famous love stories, and the films made to interpret the legendary plays have played a huge role in many viewer's lives to visually understand the text.

"Shakespeare Movies at AbsoluteShakespeare.com." Absolute Shakespeare - Plays, Quotes, Summaries, Essays... Web. 14 Dec. 2010. .