This is the class blog for the class in Creative Writing, Spring 2017, at Aalborg University, Denmark.
Tuesday, February 14, 2017
She is Damn Hot
I am in love with a girl. She is
damn hot, more so than the sun. And thanks to me she will not die, for I wrote
this piece of text in which she will live on. Yay me!
What makes Shakespeare "Shakespeare" is how he writes and how such writing is not only pronounced but also performed. Thus I believe the best way for an adaptation of his work would be a play with actors who do NOT recite his writing, but speaks it fluently so that its delivery is natural. That is what actors such as Ian McKellen and Patrick Steward have proven. However, another style of adaptation of Shakespeare's work is to change it completely to a point where the result seems unrecognizable. Yet, somehow, the roots to the source are clear as certain features of the original story are still present. Examples of such would be what 'The Lion King' did with 'Hamlet' by maintaining the overall plot dealing with a kingdom; what '10 Things I Hate about you' did with 'The Taming of the Shrew' by keeping the idea of an unruly woman who needs to be tamed, while also changing the the setting to a high school (a place with a lot of drama and thus a perfect modern setting for Shakespeare); and also what you have done with 'She is Damn Hot': where one to read it with knowledge of the original sonnet, they would recognize the comparison with summer, the fact that the words themselves solidify the addressed's eternal beauty and - of course as part of the aforementioned - the arrogant tone Shakespeare is known for. Apologies for this overtly long comment.
The restrictions regarding one-syllable words are met, but I'm not sure whether the story restriction is fully met (it's the hard one...), as this doesn't seem to be as much a story as a statement/a brag. Most of the content of the sonnet is here, but there are some details missing as regards the season as a whole (it's not just the sun, it's all of summer that sucks).
What makes Shakespeare "Shakespeare" is how he writes and how such writing is not only pronounced but also performed. Thus I believe the best way for an adaptation of his work would be a play with actors who do NOT recite his writing, but speaks it fluently so that its delivery is natural. That is what actors such as Ian McKellen and Patrick Steward have proven.
ReplyDeleteHowever, another style of adaptation of Shakespeare's work is to change it completely to a point where the result seems unrecognizable. Yet, somehow, the roots to the source are clear as certain features of the original story are still present. Examples of such would be what 'The Lion King' did with 'Hamlet' by maintaining the overall plot dealing with a kingdom; what '10 Things I Hate about you' did with 'The Taming of the Shrew' by keeping the idea of an unruly woman who needs to be tamed, while also changing the the setting to a high school (a place with a lot of drama and thus a perfect modern setting for Shakespeare); and also what you have done with 'She is Damn Hot': where one to read it with knowledge of the original sonnet, they would recognize the comparison with summer, the fact that the words themselves solidify the addressed's eternal beauty and - of course as part of the aforementioned - the arrogant tone Shakespeare is known for.
Apologies for this overtly long comment.
The restrictions regarding one-syllable words are met, but I'm not sure whether the story restriction is fully met (it's the hard one...), as this doesn't seem to be as much a story as a statement/a brag.
ReplyDeleteMost of the content of the sonnet is here, but there are some details missing as regards the season as a whole (it's not just the sun, it's all of summer that sucks).