***{Please press play for your reading and listening enjoyment.}***
Joss Whedon's adaptation of *Much Ado About Nothing* gives a modern audience at least a glimmer of what a 17th century audience might have experienced having watched this play when it was contemporary. This film left me feeling as though I had just watched a comedy. I cannot say that about the reading of the play. Perhaps that's due to the effort required simply to understand the text. The elements that make the play a 'comedy' are identifiable, they just aren't that funny. But then, I suppose the only real requirement is that it not be a tragedy. Anyway, after reading the play, I am left thinking that the humor is specific to 400 year olds. Of course, part of that, as discussed in class, is because plays aren't meant to be read. I could not agree more with that sentiment, as all my experience reading Shakespearean plays have been a struggle, to say the least. But Whedon's adaptation gives me hope. It makes me think I may be able to appreciate or even enjoy Shakespeare's work in a way that I have not thus far.
I have seen the '93 Kenneth Branagh version, and I liked it. It was very well done, and the acting was great. It was clever and witty; but, cleverness and wit do not a comedy make. I went away from that film still thinking that 17th century comedy is just different--they simply had a different sense of humor. Whedon's version, along with some of our class discussion, has changed my mind about that.
As has been highlighted in class, Shakespeare's plays are formulaic and deal with universal themes. With minor variations that are particular to time ( horses vs cars, armor vs suits, the importance of chastity before marriage, etc...) his stories could take place anywhere and in any time period. Whedon's film is a perfect illustration of this. It is a version that feels relevant to a modern audience even though the language is from the original play. In fact, I think the use of the original language adds to the comedy. I walked into the viewing a little late, and the first thing I saw were these men in modern suits speaking to one another in Shakespeare's early modern English. This absurd linkage was immediately funny to me.
And then of course, there is plenty of individual improvisation like this great bit in which Benedict treats Beatrice to an exhibition of his casual calisthenics, stretching and flexing like a schoolboy trying to impress a young girl. As this clip reveals, all of that was totally unscripted.
Nathan Fillion does a fantastic job of showcasing Dogberry's comic potential--an element easily missed in a reading of the play.
The film is both a literal translation (word for word) and a radical translation (with regard to time and place) and does maintain a close equivalence of meaning. But it is the ability of Whedon and the actors to unlock and artfully convey the often enigmatic meaning and subtext through physicality, expression, and emotion that make this adaptation of a 400 year old play a comedy that's funny today.
