(no subject)

[mamculuna]

One of the good things we did on my family Christmas get-together in Berkeley was to go over to San Raphael to see The Tempest. We all loved it, not just Mirren, but also the way Taymor handled Ariel and Caliban, the island, etc. But I was the only one of us who is familiar with the play, so can't appeal to any of them to discuss Ursula LeGuin's objections to Prospera (not Mirren's acting, but the whole concept of making a male figure female). I can agree that there are many parts that wouldn't do well with a gender-switch (I can imagine some various Othellos, but not a female one)--but I thought it was fine in this play. The only thing that bothered me was some of the familiar lines' being changed(Miranda can't say she's never seen a woman other than herself, for example.

Have any of you seen it? How'd you feel about the gender switch? And for that matter, why did we have to go to San Raphael to see it? I understand why it's not in SC, but expected it to be in some art theaters in major cities. Also not playing near anything in Chicago.

Comments

[scrollgirl.livejournal.com]

How did they handle Caliban, if I may ask? Just from the trailer, I was a bit apprehensive of race-fail.

I haven't seen it, nor do I plan to. But it does look interesting! I can see LeGuin's point about gender being essential to certain characters--King Lear is a great example. But I suppose fandom has taught me to not be such a stickler with gender when it comes to being creative with source material. Genderbending and (even more so) racebending are thought experiments. Of course the character in question is going to change, be not quite the same as the original: that's one of the reasons *why* you make the change, to see the differences that shake out. I don't know if that was a specific goal of Prospera's director, but it's certainly true in fandom.

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

Scroll, I can only give you my impressions, and don't know that I'm avoiding fail myself. But it appeared to me that Caliban was at least complex, partly victim and partly agent. I thought the final scene focused totally on him, not Prospera. And it was not about forgiveness, though possibly about increased awareness on both sides. The two actors, Djimon Hounsou and Mirren, handled that well. There's something very troubling in just reading the play, and to me the movie did somewhat better.

[usedtobeljs]

I blinked-and-missed its airing 'round here -- will have to wait until DVD.

That having been said, I was troubled by LeGuin's argument (including the whole "men don't play Rosalind" line. I mean, Adrian Lester was a famous Rosalind in a males-only Cheek by Jowl production). Essentialist casting is important for some realist drama, true enough -- I wouldn't want a white man to play one of August Wilson's protagonists -- but other than those specific artistic cases, I think it's pretty anti-theatre.

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

Indeed. And particularly weird in the case of Shakespeare, because of all the gender-switching in so many plays. I can easily imagine a female Hamlet (suspecting audiences have changed since Bernhardt's time). And as LeGuin herself points out, Propero/a is not a sexually charged part. .

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

Also, it's extremely hard to find even in New York and LA. I know it won't play here at all. And a shame, because it's really a big-screen movie.