Many of us use film clips in the classroom when we teach plays, especially when we teach Shakespeare. This makes a great deal of sense, as we’re teaching something that’s meant to be seen. But how do we actually use these clips? Or even full films? And why are we doing this, from a pedagogical standpoint?
I’ve used portions of films so that students understand what’s happening in the play. For example, watching the ending of A Doll’s House has more emotional impact on students than only reading it, which increases their appreciation for the play. So, there’s utility there. But sometimes this method feels almost like a cop-out to me. I worry that I’m showing students a lengthy (30 minute) clip just to avoid having to actually lead discussion.
So I’ve been working on using film in other ways – beyond simply making sure that students understand the plot.
Plays are, of course, highly collaborative in nature. That collaboration continues well after the playwright is dead, since the plays continue to be performed and re-imagined by various and varied directors. This is especially true in Shakespearean plays; each director imagines a different version of Shakespeare, each actor brings something different to the role, and the filming can draw our attention to different aspects of a scene or soliloquy. I’ve found it useful to compare these collaborations, and thus far I’ve attempted this sort of comparative work with Hamlet (in intro to lit) and King Lear (in my senior-level Shakespeare course).
For Hamlet, I use three versions of the “To be or not to be” soliloquy. I begin with Derek Jacobi in the role. This is the BBC version, so it’s very much like a filmed stage play, and the costumes are more-or-less Elizabethan-looking. Jacobi stares directly into the camera for much of the speech, something that breaks the fourth wall (and often unnerves the students). While I’m changing DVDs, I have the students write down their impressions of the soliloquy – what is the performer wearing, where does he look, what does he seem to focus on in the speech. Then we take a look at Branaugh’s 1996 version of the same speech, which is in part a nice homage to the film Taxi Driver, with Hamlet speaking to himself in the mirror and pointing his dagger at his own reflection. While switching to the third clip, I again have the students write down their impressions, as well as commentary on what’s different between the two. We finish with Michael Almereyda’s Hamlet, which gives us Ethan Hawke in the lead role, wandering through a Blockbuster store filled entirely with an action section. (It’s a little heavy-handed, but it makes the point.) I have students write their final set of impressions. Then we talk about it.
I also did this with the final scene of King Lear, when Lear enters carrying Cordelia and howling. We watched the wrenching Lawrence Olivier turn at Lear, when Lear comes out with such power, and his howling reaches a high pitch. We watched the same scene with Ian McKellen in the role, and his bass howl strikes the students as a different pain. We also watch Orson Welles’ wonderful howling, which is simply Lear repeating the word “howl” – not a howl at all. We focused especially on the idea of howling as the breakdown of language, and we watched for the way that Lear expresses his grief for his dead daughter, and his final descent into death. Again, I think the emotional impact is important for the students, because the simple “howl” on the page isn’t quite enough to convey the staggering loss and the profound nihilism of the play’s end. It also gives us the opportunity to parse the language and to talk about the multiplicity of interpretation of a given text.
For me, figuring out how to best utilize film is a work in progress. I’m not entirely convinced that I’m doing it as effectively as I can – partly because I’m relying on my students to be savvy about the differences they see onscreen. But I think it’s worthwhile to work on film this way – if only to make sure that I’m not just using it as filler for class time.
How do you use film when you teach plays?