Introduction
The great feature of the film industry is that it often tries to use classical narratives, which the majority of the western public knows to reflect on the problems and issues of the modern world. For example, many art pieces like Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange or Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace have many film adaptations. In this essay, the adaptation of Shakespeare’s play Macbeth will be taken into analysis. Here it will be the film Macbeth, directed by Rupert Goold and premiered in 2010. This version found the balance between the use of the original plot and the author’s adjustment of some details. The modernization of old literary works through the symbolic elements makes the audience remember the classical authors and rethink their legacy through the lens of modern times.
Main body
Generally, this story is about how dangerous is excessive lust for power. Macbeth’s rule, which started after his seizure of power, is based on fear and repression, which eventually becomes his weak point. As a result, retribution triumphed – Macbeth was killed, and his dictatorship ended. In this sense, the film Macbeth is similar to the play of the same name because it repeats all the key storylines of the film. Nevertheless, the director of the film adds symbolic elements of the dictatorships in the 20th century to make a political statement.
The symbolism of this movie is achieved through the use of specific costumes which resonate with every viewer. All the costumes resemble the clothes of NKVD officers during the time of the Great Purges in the USSR in the 1930s. In some scenes, Macbeth’s costume and his mustache look like the appearance of Joseph Stalin. It seems that it is the political statement of the movie’s director who blames the totalitarian nature of 20th-century states. In general, this story is not only about the Stalinist USSR but also about the tyranny of Ceausescu in Romania. Therefore, the proper use of clothing can frame the audience’s attention on the special problems of the recent past or modernity.
The academic community encourages film directors to modernize Victorian stories through the addition of special markers indicating the new calls of modernity. There is a sense to use Primorac’s article about the practice of film adaptation of Victorian literature to answer this question. She recognizes that “instead of a chasm one finds a fairly dynamic interactive field in which adaptors increasingly find themselves in dialogue with their intended audiences as well as scholars” (Primorac 457). Thus, one of the key goals of film adaptation scholars is to provide relevant links between Victorian texts and contemporary social issues (Primorac 457). Indeed, texts of this era can be adapted and changed to address current reality to make this literature more appealing to people.
Summary
To sum up, Goold’s Macbeth is a well-done adaptation that touches upon the important process of modernity. It does not miss any important scenes from the original text, so the main idea of Shakespeare’s plot is preserved. Nevertheless, the fresh look at this play makes this film a work of art that is definitely worth watching. Because of this actualization of text, the film stands on the same level with Shakespeare’s masterpiece. It is hard to say that the film is better than the original play because it may downgrade Shakespeare’s genius. The film proves that modern directors should not be afraid to work with such texts because it will open this literature to a broader audience.
Works Cited
Macbeth. Directed by Rupert Goold, BBC Four, 2010.
Primorac, Antonija. “Victorian Literature and Film Adaptation.”Victorian Literature and Culture, vol. 45, no. 2, 2017, pp. 451-459.