{"id":158,"date":"2016-01-10T18:38:17","date_gmt":"2016-01-10T23:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.klcameron.com\/cdm\/?p=158"},"modified":"2016-01-10T18:38:17","modified_gmt":"2016-01-10T23:38:17","slug":"joss-whedons-much-ado-about-nothing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.klcameron.com\/cdm\/joss-whedons-much-ado-about-nothing\/","title":{"rendered":"Joss Whedon’s “Much Ado About Nothing”"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/em>While Joss Whedon\u2019s 2012 film Much Ado About Nothing<\/em> might be considered an adaptation of Shakespeare\u2019s original play, I argue that it is more of a remix than an adaptation. The word \u2018adaptation\u2019 suggests that original content is the truer, more meaningful content than the adapted work. On the other hand, the word \u2018remix\u2019 suggests that the \u201ccreative reworking\u201d of previously made content provides for a brand new product, which may stand on its own. Whedon\u2019s film remixes the original content of Shakespeare to create an entirely new product with changed meaning. The original content for Whedon\u2019s Much Ado About Nothing<\/em> is the text of Shakespeare\u2019s play; however, it should be noted that Shakespeare\u2019s text was always meant to be a visual experience on stage. In a way, a staging of Shakespeare\u2019s plays may also be considered a remix of Shakespeare\u2019s text. Film is a different visual format than plays because editing, soundtrack, and realistic setting are tools that provide a different kind of viewing experience.<\/p>\n

The remixing that Whedon does is through his use of modern day setting on film, rather than the stage. The setting of a vacation home changes the meaning of Shakespeare\u2019s play. The home provides a physical enclosure for the characters that provides a sense of claustrophobia through the whole film. The drama that ensues throughout the entire film is justified by the fact that all of characters are in such close quarters of one another. The modern day time period also transforms what might be considered an \u201cantiquated\u201d text into a story that could be easily placed in today\u2019s world. Whedon\u2019s choice to not change the text into modern day speech shows that the exact plot and themes are mutable to present day times. Whedon\u2019s remixed product uses the exact original content to show that Shakespeare itself is not historical, but that Shakespeare\u2019s themes remain relevant today.<\/p>\n

As for Much Ado<\/em>\u2019s audience, one could say that Whedon makes Shakespeare \u201cmore accessible\u201d to modern day audiences or that through his use of original text, Whedon shows that Shakespeare has always been accessible to any audience and was intended to be \u201cremixed\u201d as a changing visual experience.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=BzuWf66R2HY<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While Joss Whedon\u2019s 2012 film Much Ado About Nothing might be considered an adaptation of Shakespeare\u2019s original play, I argue that it is more of a remix than an adaptation. The word \u2018adaptation\u2019 suggests that original content is the truer, more meaningful content than the adapted work. On the other hand, the word \u2018remix\u2019 suggests […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.klcameron.com\/cdm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.klcameron.com\/cdm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.klcameron.com\/cdm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.klcameron.com\/cdm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.klcameron.com\/cdm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.klcameron.com\/cdm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":159,"href":"https:\/\/www.klcameron.com\/cdm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158\/revisions\/159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.klcameron.com\/cdm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.klcameron.com\/cdm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.klcameron.com\/cdm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}