The More Things Change...
For the past three months, my 14-year old daughter has been involved in the school play, a contemporary retelling of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. The cast was sworn to secrecy about the costumes and the set design, so imagine my surprise when, on opening night, they came on stage riding skateboards and roller blades, to the accompaniment of loud rock music! The Faeries were Goths, The Mechanicals were skater dudes and mischief-maker Puck was a punk rocker.
At first I was taken aback by this modern interpretation of a favorite Shakespearean comedy of errors, but soon I was completely enthralled by the story, the characters, and the surprising talent of the young actors. Looking around the auditorium, I could tell the teenagers felt the same way.
I was left with a sense of how dynamic and relevant Shakespeare's plays are to the world we live in — we share the same temptations, struggles and pleasures. The human condition is timeless. Shakespeare isn't about olden times, it's about the struggles we all face searching for love.
It also made me realize how much I enjoy a good retelling of an old favorite. I've read many modern versions of old classics, and when the author gets it right, they can be unforgettable. I especially love modern twists on Greek myths or fairy tales. So it sort of makes me scratch my head when an editor rejects a story as being "too familiar." With the right skill, an author can take a classic plot and twist it just so, and have a story that's unique and yet familiar, relevant, and hopefully a keeper.
What about you? Do you enjoy when an author takes a classic tale and mixes it up, or do you prefer they leave well enough alone?
OMG!
That picture has me howling! LOL
What a riot. I took a Shakespeare course where we had to study all the various interpretations of one play for our class project, from the old folios up to new interpretations. I did Measure for Measure, and I loved it. I love Shakespeare, and what I find is that while some plays, like this one, are overt revisions of the plays, many of us carry out Shakespearian themes and storylines even when we're not aware of it.
Little known fact, my second book, About Last Night, was done in rough (very rough, but some readers did pick up on it, and emailed to ask me, LOL) approximation of a Shakespearian format. Was fun. :)
I love new interpretations if they hold on to what's the core of what made the original so great. There's a trick to that, I think. Like with vampire stories, some writers can reinvent a lot with their vampires, but they have to stay true to a certain core of the vampire mythology for me to enjoy the story. For example, I just finished reading Kimberly Raye's A Body to Kill For, a vampire Blaze, and she does a fantastic job restyling some of the myth, in very interesting ways (for instance, a vampire can become human again if they kill their maker -- but what if they are in love with their maker? And better yet, what if the people they made into vampires don't want to be unvamped?). So her reinterpretation holds on the the basics -- they drink blood, they're killers, and they can't go out in daylight, etc -- however, she turns just enough of the myth to make it good and interesting (She also has an ST series that has been optioned by ABC for a TV show, if anyone is interested -- I have to see if I can get her to stop by...:)
Anyway, so in that sense, I love re-interpretation. I don't like it when it crosses some invisible line of going too far, though. You can always tell, because when they go too far over the line, it lacks the elements that make it so compelling. It's a fence to walk, I think.
Sam
Yes, this was a pretty
Yes, this was a pretty hysterical photo. I snuck backstage during intermission and snapped it while the parent chaperones were trying to shoo me away. She also wore a short denim skirt and black & white striped thigh-high stockings.
I'll have to go check out Kimberley Raye's website!
It really depends
on the exectution. I got a kick out of the cuteness of "Sydney White" for example, though there were some parts that were just over the top or straight rip offs. I like updates, though, if done well. I don't like mockeries, though. Where you do something just to make it look stoopid. :) I like the charm of classics and I definitely think they apply to today's world.
Kind of like black and white movies. Hubby almost flatly refuses to watch anything older than color. I'm like, dude, you're missing some EXCELLENT movies! It took forever to get him to watch "It's A Wonderful Life"---remember Phoebe on Friends watching it for the first time? It was a lot like that. In the end, he loved it though. (Ironically, I can't stand remakes of that one, lol.)
Yes, it's definitely the execution. Every voice should bring something unique to the retelling.
Hugs,
Dee
Oh, Dee, I'm with you on
Oh, Dee, I'm with you on those black & white movies! I even have copies of some silent movies that I love.
Great Photo!!
And I love the whole idea of it! Very clever and timely. And isn't that what it's all about? Taking a classic and giving it a modern twist?
I read once that there are only, something like, 65 plots. After that they're all variations on a theme.
And I, too, like a lot of the modern twists on old favourites, Shakespeare and fairy tales, etc.
But, as Sam said, they have to hold true to some common themes. If you twist it too much its unrecognizable.
Although I'm a fan of Twilight and the next 2 books (I haven't read the last and don't intend to), there was one thing that really bothered me. I don't want to give anything away but it was her take on why vamps don't go out in the sun. It was just too...different.
And there's a very popular author who started a long running series with Greek G-ds and demi-g-ds that I thoroughly enjoyed. At first. Then she brought in other myths and it ended up trying to juggle all these different myths and remember who was what (did I mention that they were all paranormal on top of it) or spent so much time reading up on the myths and legends just to understand the whys and wherefores that I gave up the series.
I shouldn't have to work that hard at reading a 300-400 page book.
ani
Ani, my daughter loves the
Ani, my daughter loves the Twilight series, but she would tell you NOT to read the fourth book, LOL! We were talking about it last night, and she said part of the appeal of the first and second books was that the vampires retained their creepy/scary factor, and as the reader you were always aware that they could revert to their baser instincts at any time. By the third book, however, my daughter said a lot of that feeling was gone, and that the author sort of lost that thread that made the story so compelling.
Twilight
from the Amazon reviews, I knew not to pick up the fourth book. I stuck with the third because I wanted to know if she'd go back to Edward or stay with Jacob. I'm actually a Jacob fan.
And I've read all of Kimberly Raye's vampire stories in Harlequin form and they're TERRIFIC!! I like them better than her non-Harlequin books.
Sometimes...
it can really work, and I've also seen/read some remakes that would have been better left undone. I think it depends on execution and sometimes on my mood ;p Sometimes something that strikes me as cute/clever one day will seem completely lame if I'm not in the mood.
I do tend to enjoy remakes or take-offs on mythology for some reason--playing with the idea of gods and goddesses in the modern day usually clicks with that "hee! clever!" switch in my crazy brain.
I love a retelling of the
I love a retelling of the classics. One of my favorites is O Brother Where Art Thou? which is a retelling of the Odyssey. I also enjoy a retelling of Shakespeare's stories. All I need is a twist and an interesting setting. I'm easy. :)
Jeannie
Jeannie, I loved that movie,
Jeannie, I loved that movie, and I listen to the soundtrack frequently. My favorite scene was with the Sirens in the stream...what a great job they did!
I'm with Dee...
I'm totally with Dee on this - it depends on the execution!! A re-telling of a familiar tale can be very enjoyable. In fact, one of my favorite retellings was done by the theatre department of a local university. They put on a production of Hamlet, set in Africa. It was complete with African drums and music. It was a bit startling at first, but we quickly got into it. What fun it was!
Cathy, that does sound like
Cathy, that does sound like fun. I remember when DH and I were in England and I had to, had to, had to visit Shakespeare's birth place and see a live performance while we were in Stratford-Upon-Avon. We got tickets to see The Merchant of Venice, and I was disappointed to see it was a contemporary version, complete with modern day office equipment and business attire. I thought I was going to get to see a period piece, but we enjoyed it anyway.
Great picture!
I think that re-telling a classic story or fairy tale is a wonderful idea if it's done right. Which means it can't just be a re-telling, but has to have a new twist. Teresa Medeiros did a Beauty and the Beast type of book a number of years ago that sticks with me as being really really good. And I've seen the Pygmalion redone a number of times too--some good and some not so much.
J.K. Coi
Immortals To Die For
www.jkcoi.com
Great Photo
I think retelling a story is a great thing to do.Sometime they come out better the second time around.
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