The other day I watched Four Brothers with Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese, Andre "3000" Benjamin, and Garrett Hedlund. I was thinking to myself this is a pretty decent revenge story, and how can I relate it back to Shakespeare (what can I say I idolize the man). Of course he is a man "not for an age, but for all time," according to Ben Jonson. The one good thing about my English degree is that I can relate anything back to Shakespeare. So, after watching it I seriously contemplated how "Shakespearean" is the movie?
It's totally Titus Andronicus, one of Shakespeare's bloodiest, revengiest, coolest plays!
In Titus, Titus comes home from a war with the Goths bringing with him their queen Tamora (vile woman), her two sons (I personally wanted to kill them and put them in a pie, like in Fried Green Tomatoes "Secrets in the sauce"), and Tamora's lover a Moor named Aaron (he is so warped and would do anything for love, but not the healthy kind of way, but criminal style). While Titus is at war (for 10 years) the emperor dies and his two sons, Saturninus (the oldest) and Bassianus, fight over the throne and Titus' brother, who happens to be the Roman Tribune, decides to wait for Titus to come back to make the decision--that's good thinking to have the war hero decide who the next emperor is-- and he picks Saturninus (duh!), Saturninus ends up marrying Tamora, very poor strategy on his part considering she is the enemy, a slave, spoils of war, and the bad guy. Titus ends up sacrificing Tamora's oldest son, Tamora's justification for revenge, and she, along with Aaron, plot revenge against Titus, and then Titus seeks revenge on Tamora, and it goes back and forth 'til they're all dead (no one is off limits), but of course it's way cooler than that (the details are not G-rated like most of Shakespeare). Aaron doesn't die though, he just gets buried up to his neck and starves to death.
Doesn't that sound like the basic plot to Four Brothers? The brothers' mother is murdered, they seek revenge, the murderer is like a Union boss or something (he has people doing his dirty work like Tamora), innocent people die along the way, and there is a big fight scene at the end. Shakespeare is more tragic, in that the main character dies, and it has more of a
Renaissance feel to it; whereas, Brothers has a happier ending and a 21st century feel, the main character, Mark Wahlberg, doesn't die (a lot of unhappy ladies would have left the theater very sad that night). Another reason he couldn't die in the movie: he was Marky Mark (the pants dropper) that carried a cane with an 8 ball on it(I wonder if it told the future), and one of the few white guys in Hollywood with "real street cred."I highly suggest reading or seeing Titus Andronicus. There is a pretty cool movie with Anthony Hopkins just titled Titus, that's how cool he is, he doesn't even need a last name!
I wonder if I could teach Titus in Utah schools?
Links to images (taken from google images):
Titus BBC
Four Brothers, cinemashelter.com
4 comments:
Was your comment supposed to inspire me? Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah!!!!
No, I was just not feeling well this morning, and I just got back from a "Come to Jesus Meeting" at the school I will be STing at about the writing program, and so I was just in a funk mood. When I say "bored" I mean there wasn't any voice. blah, blah, blah, blah. My last entry has a lot voice (thus a lot of parentheses), and when you read it, it's almost as if I'm saying it right to your face. I didn't get that from your last entry. You need to come out of the page, or screen, whatever medium this is being read from. Sorry if I'm being too critical, but I have to practice on someone before I start teaching. I just figure you're a little more forgiving than hormonally charged entitled whiney high schoolers.
Hey, I just found out that The Lion King was based on Hamlet and Richard III.
Hey Mark, I just learned that Strange Brew is based off of Hamlet too!
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