Staging Shakespeare
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Flávia Rodrigues Monteiro Staging Shakespeare: (Dis)solutions in Intermedial Processes Belo Horizonte Faculdade de Letras Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais 2019 Staging Shakespeare: (Dis)solutions in Intermedial Processes By Flávia Rodrigues Monteiro Submitted to the Programa de Pós-graduação em Letras: Estudos Literários in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor in Literatures in English. Dissertation Advisor: Prof. Thaïs Flores Nogueira Diniz, PhD. Belo Horizonte Faculdade de Letras Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais 2019 Ficha catalográfica elaborada pelos Bibliotecários da Biblioteca FALE/UFMG Monteiro, Flávia Rodrigues. S527.Ym-s Staging Shakespeare [manuscrito] : (Dis)solutions in intermedial processes / Flávia Rodrigues Monteiro. – 2019. 293 f., enc. Orientadora: Thaïs Flores Nogueira Diniz. Área de concentração: Literaturas de Língua Inglesa. Linha de pesquisa: Literatura, Outras Artes e Mídias. Tese (doutorado) – Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Faculdade de Letras. Bibliografia: f. 266-281. 1. Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. – Muito barulho por nada – Crítica e interpretação – Teses. 2. Shakespeare, William, 1564- 1616. – Coriolano – Crítica e interpretação – Teses. 3. Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 – Adaptações para o cinema – Teses. 4. Literatura inglesa – Adaptações para o cinema – Teses. 5. Intermidialidade – Teses. 6. Arte e literatura – Teses. 7. Entropia – Teses. I. Diniz, Thaïs Flores Nogueira. II. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Faculdade de Letras. III. Título. CDD: 822.33 Monteiro iii Acknowledgements “Love sought is good, but given unsought, is better.” (Twelfth Night III. 1. 141) “I count myself in nothing else so happy As in a soul remembering my good friends. .” (Richard II II.3.46-7) To my parents, João and Marci Iôni. Thank you for teaching me that “ignorance is the curse of God and knowledge is the wing wherewith we fly to heaven.” To my father, thank you for your constant support and encouragement, for “it is a wise father that knows his own child.” So, thank you for understanding me, directing me to “above all, to my own self be true.” To my advisor, Professor Thaïs Flores, thank you for your patience, generosity, and motivation. You taught me that “it is not in the starts to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” Thank you for believing in me! Also, I want to thank Maria Lucilene dos Santos for her kindness, “for never anything can be amiss when simpleness and duty tender it.” To my “step-advisors,” Professors Gláucia Renate, Eliana Lourenço, and Márcia Arbex: thank you for your generosity and for the occasional advice, helping me “know who I am and who I might be.” To Professors Solange Ribeiro, Célia Arns, Maria Clara Galéry, and Aimara Resende. Thank you for your time and contributions, but above all, for accepting the task “to find the method in my madness.” To Professor Tom Burns, thank you for everything: your generosity, thoughtful contributions, patience, and incentive. Above all, thank you for accompanying me “once more into the breach, dear friend.” I wish you an endless supply of “cake and ale.” Monteiro iv To Professors Miriam Vieira and Camila Figueiredo, my “step-sisters”: thank you for your friendship and guidance. For more than the academic support, thank you for teaching me to “live a little, comfort a little, and cheer myself a little.” To Professor Jørgen Bruhn, thank you for your patience, generosity, and for opening my eyes to the Anthropocene and its intermedial paths, pointing “How hard it is to hide the sparks of nature!” To the companions of academic life, Clara, Marcela, Amanda, Luiza, Melissa, and Carol, among others: I have learnt with you and from you. In our classes together, I confirmed that “pleasure and action make the hours seem short.” To my students-teachers, Luísa O., Luísa F., Maria, Arthur, Elisa, Marianna, Eduarda, Karine, and Gabi, among others: thank you for being “this happy few band of sisters and brother” interested in my teachings. We learnt with each other. To my canine family: thank you for soothing my anxieties and for making me “feel within me a peace above all earthly dignities, a still and quiet conscience.” To Las Chicas: Aline, Rayane, Nayara, Guilhermina, Raíssa, Danielle, and Vivi; and Guilherme. Thank you for your support, patience, constant source of joy and positivity. With you, I always “lay aside life-harming heaviness, and entertain a cheerful disposition.” To Fernando, thank you for being my Horatio, my faithful friend. Thank you for lending me your ears, eyes, shoulder, and room! Thank you for the “words, words, words.” Above all, thank you for teaching me that “self-love is not so vile a sin as self-neglecting.” Also, to Cristofane, thank you for being “more than kin and more than kind” since you entered our lives. To Fernanda and her/our siblings, Nancy and Bráulio: thank you for your friendship, care, humor, and patience in teaching me that “our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt.” Monteiro v To my students-friends-teachers-family Ana Lídia, Fran, Lira, Andréa, Lídia, Débora, and Fred. I cannot compare the little I taught to the much I have learnt from you! Thank you for the tons of love and care. The kindness of your hearts reflects that “good heart that shines bright and never changes.” Keep the positivity! To Delzi and Juliana: thank you for the friendship, the good talks and laughs… And since “a smile recures the wounding of a frown,” let us have more talks, more laughs, and more ale! To my students-friends Dayana, Fabiano, Sirley: thank you for teaching me with nice food and talk that “our bodies are our gardens, to the which our wills are gardeners.” To Leise, Bianca, Letícia, and my friends at CENEX: thank you for surrounding your work with love and kindness. For you: “God be praised, that to believing souls. Gives light in darkness, comfort in despair.” To the Invisible but Perceptible, the More “in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy.” Thank you for teaching that, “this our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.” To all of those who might not have your name here and offered me your love, sought or unsought. Thank you for the love! Thank you for the learning! “What's past is prologue.” (The Tempest II. 1. 252) “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 I. 1. 79-82) Monteiro vi Abstract Multiple theoretical contributions in media studies may generate conflicts that impair the understanding of key concepts. In order to mitigate these conflicts, this dissertation proposes an analogical approach inspired by nature, in which processes related to chemical “solutions” illustrate media dynamics. “Solvents” represent the materiality of the medium; “solutes” are connected to the human cognition. The result is an Art Solution. The configurations of solute and solvent, i.e. the possible variations and referential levels of their elements, are the entropy of an Art solution. As an artistic alchemist, Shakespeare provides material to illustrate my analogy concerning the internal dynamics of media manifestations (entropic remediations), and the interactions among hypotextual and hypertextual elements (palimpsestic entropy). An overview of the “Bard’s” legacy, from sources to contemporary derivations, reveals recurrent elements that touch on human nature. The political content of Coriolanus and the gender conflict in Much Ado About Nothing support this point. By (re)mediating Shakespeare, the arts channel human essence, either in simple configurations or in complex mediatic manifestations. A hybrid solvent, broadcast theater exemplifies the entropic peak in Shakespearean hypertexts. The introduction and analysis of its productions of Coriolanus and Much Ado About Nothing in comparison to other screen adaptations attest these entropic movements in solvent and solute. Ultimately, we learn that man-made phenomena are closely related to natural phenomena, sharing even future projections. Also, despite technological improvements, human societies are still moved by the same dynamics of power, supporting Shakespeare’s topicality. Keywords: Shakespeare, intermediality, broadcast theater, solutions, entropy, reception. Monteiro vii Resumo Múltiplas contribuições teóricas em estudos de mídia podem gerar conflitos que dificultam a compreensão de conceitos-chave. A fim de mitigar esses conflitos, esta tese propõe uma abordagem analógica inspirada na natureza, na qual processos relacionados a “soluções” químicas ilustram dinâmicas midiáticas. “Solventes” representam a materialidade da mídia; “solutos” estão ligados à cognição humana. O resultado é uma Solução Artística. Configurações de soluto e solvente, isto é, as possíveis variações e níveis referenciais de seus elementos, são a entropia de uma Solução Artística. Como um alquimista da arte, o Shakespeare fornece material para ilustrar minha analogia sobre a dinâmica interna das manifestações midiáticas (remediações entrópicas) e as interações entre elementos hipotextuais e hipertextuais (entropia palimpséstica). Uma visão geral do legado do “Bardo”, das fontes às derivações contemporâneas, revela elementos recorrentes que lidam com a natureza humana. O teor político de Coriolano e o conflito de gênero em Muito Barulho por Nada apoiam esse argumento. Ao (re)mediar