Hamlet and Mediation: The Film's the Thing
Before viewing Michael Almereyda's 2000 film, Hamlet, please consider the questions below. For your written assignment, please type just a 3 sentence responses to each question.
The casting of the film is as follows: Hamlet (Ethan Hawke), Claudius (Kyle MacLachlan), Ghost (Sam Shepard), Gertrude (Diane Venora), Polonius (Bill Murray), Laertes (Liev Schreiber), Ophelia (Julia Stiles), Horatio (Karl Geary), Marcella (Paula Malcomson), Rosencrantz (Steve Zahn), Guildenstern (Dechen Thurman), Barnardo (Rome Neal), Gravedigger (Jeffrey Wright), Osric (Paul Bartel), Fortinbas (Casey Affleck).
1. Hamlet is described in the play as the "observed of all observers." How does the camera lens in this film work to shape our experience of observation in Hamlet, or to thematize aspects of vision in the play? Taking just one example from the film: where and how do camera angles (or, if you prefer, uses of film technologies such as close ups, slow or fast motion, etc.) position us as a "spectator"?
2. How do different filmic or audio-visual genres figure into this interpretation of Hamlet (for example, the use of black and white film; silent film; fifties television genres; interviews; home movies; video rentals) and what might be at play here in terms of the attention to different theatrical modes at work in Hamlet, the play? What "genre" are we in (that is, how is the "revenge drama" of Shakespeare's Hamlet translated into contemporary terms) in this film? (Remember, Shakespeare's Hamlet is a play-maker...this Hamlet is a filmmaker).
3. More broadly, how does this film reflect on the concepts of image, mirroring, reflection and visual representation? (Here you might think on the use of mirrors, portraits, photography, and other forms of representation at work in the film).
4. What do you make of the color scheme at play in Hamlet (in terms of costumes, environment, lighting), or, if you prefer, what do you make of the structure and architecture of particular scenes: what are interior spaces like? What does it mean to inhabit one's home in this film?
5. Why does the ghost vanish into a machine for "Pepsi: ONE"? Is he thirsting for revenge or is there another metaphor at play here in this particular scene? What other moments in the film made you think twice?
6. What do you make of the representation of "madness" in this production: both Hamlet's and Ophelia's? Is it different than your own interpretation of madness after reading the play? If so, how?
7. What parts of the play were cut (select a few that struck you) and what lines were added? What difference did this make?
8. What social metaphors of power imbalance, corruption, and generational conflict were at play in this film? How might they have worked to emphasize particular social and familial tensions at work in the play?
9. Francis Bacon's essay, "Of Revenge," notes: "This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well." What is the relationship between memory, mourning, and revenge in Hamlet (as both play and film)?