Friday, May 22, 2009

In conclusion, another kind of Macbeth

Scotland, PA. Dir. Billy Morrissette. Perf. James LeGros, Maura Tierney, and Christopher Walken. 2001. DVD. Sundance, 2005.

We at Bardfilm have spent a considerable amount of time studying the dagger speech in a number of different productions—both adaptations and derivatives. Before we move on to a new subject, let's take a brief look at another derivative version of Macbeth.

In the darkly-comic Scotland, PA, the plot is no longer about taking over a kingdom. Instead, it's about taking over a fast-food restaurant. The reduction of the prize (even though there's potential for the burger joint to grow into an earth-striding colossus) is part of the comedy, but there are other points. Observe the trailer for the film:



I'm afraid there's not really an equivalent to the dagger speech itself, but the film, on the whole, is successful.

The film does have a considerable amount of uncouth language (or, at least, language that is less-than-couth), and a fair amount of violence. Forewarned is forearmed!

Links: The Film at IMDB.

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Bardfilm is normally written as one word, though it can also be found under a search for "Bard Film Blog." Bardfilm is a Shakespeare blog (admittedly, one of many Shakespeare blogs), and it is dedicated to commentary on films (Shakespeare movies, The Shakespeare Movie, Shakespeare on television, Shakespeare at the cinema), plays, and other matter related to Shakespeare (allusions to Shakespeare in pop culture, quotes from Shakespeare in popular culture, quotations that come from Shakespeare, et cetera).

Unless otherwise indicated, quotations from Shakespeare's works are from the following edition:
Shakespeare, William. The Riverside Shakespeare. 2nd ed. Gen. ed. G. Blakemore Evans. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997.
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