The Merchant of Venice: Stage vs. Film

The Merchant of Venice: Stage vs. Film

The Merchant of Venice, by William Shakespeare is a play of hatred and racism. In this play, it specifically follows the journey of Christianity versus Judaism. The Merchant of Venice, runs at the University of Northern Colorado from April 23-25 and May 1-3, 2009. The play at UNC is set in 1600 in Venice and Belmont, Italy. During this time, Italy is racist towards the Jewish people. Showing their hatred the Italian people would lock the Jewish people up in Ghettos’ every night. The Merchant of Venice, has issues the United States and other countries around the world still encounter today. The characters in this show can be anyone who encompasses hatred for others who are different from themselves. This show is a mirror to human behavior and emotions. It is interesting to see how a Shakespeare play still has an effect on society today. Comparing the stage version to the movie version is also interesting; there are a few differences, but also many similarities in script, characters, and staging.

The script in the movie and the stage version are very similar. Since William Shakespeare is so well known, and is completely a classic playwright, the writing in his shows stays the same. William Shakespeare writes in Prose and Iambic Pentameter. Nerissa speaks Prose in this play and everyone else speaks in Iambic Pentameter. The script in the movie and the stage are completely the same. The only difference is the staged show had a few different cuts then what the movie expresses. Tracy Salter, who directs The Merchant of Venice, at UNC, made very good cuts on the show. Watching the show, the audience stays attentive and drawn in to the world of the play. It is difficult to feel that way while watching a movie. The difference with watching The Merchant of Venice on a television verses on stage is simple. With one, a small box displays what has been filmed and edited to portray a certain meaning. With the other, it is right in front of you on stage. Each audience member can make their own interpretation of the lines and discover their own meaning. Someone may completely see the theme of hatred and racism. Whereas, others may discover the themes of friendship and true love or the important search for justice and mercy. The script reveals the themes. Seeing a Shakespearean play on stage enhances the language William Shakespeare wrote. Seeing a movie of a Shakespearean play diminishes the language. It just is not the same hearing the language live versus on the screen. Hearing the language and seeing acting right in front of you, is more effective, because you can react to what you see with everyone else giving you a heightened experience. The audience and you are seeing this for the first time, and everything is always enhanced when seeing it for the first time; not knowing what to expect.

The characters in the movie, script, and stage show are surprisingly all similar. There are qualities that are enhanced and diminished within the movie and the play, and each character portrays them. Watching the movie, the character of Portia comes to mind. In the movie, she is a fair skinned girl, who is preparing to get married to a suitor who “chooses” the right chest that hopefully contains a portrait of herself. The suitor must find her counterpart. It was interesting to see the similarities between Amanda Clark in the UNC staged version and the girl in the movie. Amanda also has fair skin and has a similar strawberry blonde hair color. With how Tracy Salter, cast the show it is crazy to see the resemblance some characters had to the movie. In ways, this diminishes the play, because the characters are so similar, however, in this case it enhances the play. People who have seen the movie version, and then see The Merchant of Venice staged will enjoy the show more, because the characters are similar and thus more relatable. Audience members may feel that they know the characters more, because of what they have seen before. The character of Launcelot Gobbo in the movie is diminished. He however, is enhanced on the stage. Greyson Lewis who plays Launcelot, is a tall, thin guy. Greyson is an amazing actor, and can physically become the actor. He also uses a different voice inflection to portray a character that is of lower class then the rest. Launcelot Gobbo in the staged performance is extremely remembered. He is so out there, that the audience grasps on to the unfamiliarity that is Greyson’s character. The character of Shylock was spectacular in both the movie and staged performance. In the movie, Al Pacino, played the role of Shylock and in the staged performance, Director of the School of Theatre Arts and Dance, David Grapes plays Shylock. Al Pacino portrayed the role of Shylock with commitment and passion. Watching him in the court scene was phenomenal, because it was so clear that all he cared about was furthering his business and gaining money. He does not even realize that his own daughter Jessica has left him to be with her true love. Even when he notices, he does not fight to make amends with her; he goes on to court trying to gain back what he lost financially. David Grapes portrays the character very well too. Not only with a physical walk that is different from his normal everyday walk, but he was mentally focused in the character. David Grapes and Al Pacino had a similar “look.” They both wore the red hats which at that time emphasized the fact the Shylock is Jewish. They also were similar in the way they spoke the lines. Of course, the script was the same, however, these two actors knew what Shylock overall desired, which made their characters in the way they were acting similar. Each actor enhances the character of Shylock in their own way.

The staging of The Merchant of Venice, is completely different. The movie is filmed and the UNC version is acted. The show at UNC takes place on one set, whereas the film version is clearly filmed in different locations. Shylocks house, Portia’s house, everything is seen, and in a way that enhances the script. Seeing the different settings for each character allows the audience to see the world that each character lives in. At the same time, one may think that the staged version diminishes the ability of seeing the different settings of the play. Some audience members may want to be given all the information, and not have to use their own imaginations, but that is what is needed when seeing a Shakespearian show live. Everything is enhanced in person, however, in this case there are things that worked and that did not work. The film version was more visually appealing then the staged version. Both have wonderful costumes that are appropriate to the period that both portray. The costumes done by Anne Toewe in the UNC performance were gorgeous and amazing. They were definitely enhanced seeing them in person versus on the screen. Seeing the different types of fabrics and the details that each costume possessed was outstanding, and consequently are diminished in the film. Michael Radford and Tracy Salter the directors of The Merchant of Venice obviously directed the shows differently, one was on stage and one was on film.

The Merchant of Venice, is a great show, and the University of Northern Colorado’s production of it is spectacular. The movie that was filmed in 2004, is also well done. The cast of the movie and the cast of the show did an amazing job. Memorizing and speaking Shakespeare is not always the easiest thing in the world. It takes a bit more time to become familiar with the language and feeling confident to speak. They did wonderfully and conveying to the audience the meaning of the language as well. If given the chance to see Shakespeare either on screen or in live theatre, take that opportunity. It is so rewarding.

Creativity in the Arts Speaker

Today, April 16, 2009, at 5pm, there was a Speaker that my class and I went to. My last blog entry was about sematics; the way people relate to things in inspring their imagination. Well, today, we heard a speaker talk about the same things.

Dr. Tania Zittoun, from Switzerland, Professor of Education came to UNC to give a speech of her theory. She is a Psychologist with a background in literature. She works as a Psychologist and in Education. Her speech was about: How Young people use cultural elements in their life or experiences in their trajectories.

She talked about social pyschology. A pyschology as a person, interacting with other objects; they all are in constant change. Imaginations, interactions, the way we interpret things. The meaning is very important; primacy of meaning processes.
Socially shared (meaning) <=> personally significant (sense)
AN example of this is: The room is different from you who come here everyday compared to me who is just speaking here once.

Dr. Zittoun says youth changing from childhood to adulthood is not a transition, but the youth are going through a period rich in transitions. Examples of this is school to work, leaving perents house, etc. We as humans go through life growing and changing. We have a routine, we understand our lives to a degree and if little things aren't quite normal we can deal with them to a degree. Well, Dr. Zittoun uses the word RUPTURE; something that challenges the daily routine, something like a good friend who moves far away. This rupture causes some changes. Life slowly goes on until there is anohter rupture, and we learn to adapt and get used to a new way of doing things again.

In my mind...I think of this at the UPS and DOWNS, the Rollercoater Ride that is life. There are different interpretations, but in the sense of Dr. Zittoun's study, a Rupture is what causes the challanges we as humans face.

She also discussed Symbolic resources; little punctrues of things that can affect us to change. Things like social, cultural, personal elements that are used to mediate psychological elements. Using something with intention links it to something else, giving the person a symbol of something. Listening to music after a hard day at the University or discussing about films with someone to know him or her better. These Symbolic resources are to give the youth in this case or any person for that matter the elements needed to understand something better.

The main point of her study is: ***Cultural elements used as symbolic resources can support youth transition processes (learning, identity, senses).***

She gave an example of this young girl Julia. Julia's grandma recently died and she recently also left home to go to University. The Manic Prechers (I think that's the full band's name) was a music group that Julia listened to quite frequently. The Manic Prechers helped Julia get through the transition of this change. They helped change her. She began to become more and mroe interested in the band and other bands with a simular sound, message, and lyrics that relate to how she was feeling. Julia also began to read books that this band may have particularly mentioned. She be gand to think about other things, but more importantly the world she lives in. AND, consequently with the music as her LINK through this transiton, it was used as the way she was able to understand everything.

I found this speaker very interesting. One...she had a French accent, so I was just listening to her accent, and as a theatre major was trying to mimic it slightly in my head...but once I GOT over the whole thing, and focused myself on the presentation at hand, I really understood what she was saying. It helped hearing it explained better then reading about it, like the the Torino article I discussed in my last blog entry. I realize that this theory is an interesting one. I never really thought about development in this way, and it was nice to see another view. It makes sense why we are the way we are. :)

Signs of Imagination :)

Thomas Turino from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, wrote this article on: Signs of Imagination, Identity, and Experience: A Peircian Semiotic Theory for Music.

I read it for my Creativity in the Arts class at UNC, however, it was a really long article, and I didn't want to print it off and waste trees and ink, so I read it online over the Library reserves, and wrote this blog on it.

Thomas, has in this article, laid out the components he believes provokes emotional musical composition. The process sounds very detailed and in depth.

"Semiosis involves a type of chaining process through time in which the
interpretant at one temporal stage becomes the sign for a new object at the
next stage of semiosis, creating a new interpretant which becomes the next
sign in the next instant, ad infinitum until that "train of thought" is interrupted
by another chain of thought, or by arriving at a belief or conclusion" (Torino 2).

Thomas, looks at other people and kind of discusses what they say as well, and it helps make his point = his research!! haha. The quote above is just saying that the process of interpreting the "chains" in the creative process is one way of arriving to a single thought...that could be used in a understanding the emotion of thought for the power of music.

To him, "Music involves signs of feeling and experience rather than the types of mediational signs that are about something else." In a way, I kind of agree. I mean, music is esentually feelings, otherwise people who listen to the music don't have "connections" to the songs. I believe that music is also experences...where he differs, because good songs come from real live experiences. I've always been told to write what I know, and in music...I believe that's what makes music emotional.

Thomas Torino's article, is very well written, and has a lot of research and examples to back up what he is saying. It sounds somewhat complicated at times, and to me, I feel that signs of imagination are different for every person. I don't think that there is a one way of preceieving things. His article was interesting...long...but interesting, and although I disagree on some things, it was a different view on imagination, and I liked seeing another interpretation.

My Musical Compostion!!!

I recently had the challenge of composing a musical piece. I took into consideration all the readings I've done lately on composing, and I tried to find something that inspired me.

The challenge? I had to write a composition in non-traditional notations, for at least four people, that lasted about 5-7 minutes. :)

I thought for a while, and I was listening to music, and memorizing lines for a one act, that I am currently rehearsing for, and it came to me. I remembered this one show I did in 2008. I looked at it and found the scene I did, and it happened to be the scene that at the time, we the cast, recorded. WE chose to record this scene (particularly written in the Laban Technique) so that we could express the words with movement instead of Acting them out. Laban has nine words that are involved in this technique: Flash, Flicker, Float, Wring, Dab, Burn, Press, Punch, and Slash. I decided to use the song that we made, combined with the song: Latika's Theme from the movie SLUMDOG MILLIONARE. :)

The concept of my composition was to convey this image of days where your life is out of control, and you feel that you can't control life and the things happening around you. Whether it be as simple as a lot of homework and projects are due to things like, your job is overwhelming, you've got taxes to file, and things to do for your family or friends that just seem to be crazy. Then the next song of Latika's Theme was to convey the calmness that FINALLY does arrive when life is done being overwhelming.

I then added things like a hole punch, a flash light, a nail polish bottle, a cell phone, a box of tick-tacks, and a vending machine case and prize to add more levels of sounds to the piece. WHAT I didn't take into consideration was that my sounds were all VERY SUBTLE, and with the music...didn't work as well as I wanted. SO, if I was to revamp the piece, I'd get things that made more noises.

In class, I presented it, and realized that I had a completely different thought when I was working on it. It seemed to sound better in my head, and even though I was working with the objects at home, in the class room it sounded all different. It's hard to explain, but I do wish I had used different objects.

The composition I did, was very hard for me to compose, this project was out of my comfort zone, but I hope I did okay. :) I feel like it went as well as it could, and I feel like I'm a lot more open to trying new things with composing music. I really enjoyed this project, however, hard for me...it was a lot of fun! :D