1970及其前因后果 :: 只能是电影

 >1970<+itself :: Pure films   

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William Shakespeare's The Tempest(1979)

 

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Summary: This film is director Derek Jarman's adaptation and interpretation of what may have been Shakespeare's final play. Jarman radically reinterprets what is presented in Shakespeare's dramatic text. Jarman's Prospero seems to manipulate the whole scheme of revenge and restoration, but characters and events threaten to go beyond the control of the internal director Prospero

The film is set on a barren island where Prospero on his 19th century clothing resides in his ghostly Stoneleigh Abbey. Ariel's presence symbolizes Prospero's desire and unconscious. Ariel's performance of the tempest that shipwrecks the king and his men is seen in Prospero dream, and this dream becomes a nightmare that wakes him up.

Caliban's abrupt laugh and swallowing of raw eggs, while speaking lines from Shakespeare's text, draws our attention to his attempts to destroy Prospero's plan: by distaining Miranda's virginity Caliban may people his island and perpetuate his race. Without Miranda Prospero could never succeed with his plans for restoration. Caliban intends to subvert those plans by showing the possibility of eating Prospero's royal seed, but this subversive power is only temporary.

The heir apparent Ferdinand, separated from his father King Alonso and others, reaches the shore naked, carrying only a sword. He goes to Prospero's house to get warm near the hearth and falls asleep. Prospero wakes him up and threatens him with a sword; the patriarchal manifestation, suggested by the sword, now seems to be taken by Prospero. Prospero even downgrades Ferdinand to a servant: "this is a Caliban." Caliban is happy to see Ferdinand as a slave; he plays a musical instrument when Prospeo is locking up Ferdinand and ordering him to work.

At a different spot on the shoreline the king and his men fall asleep, except Sebastian and Antonio. The two conspire to murder and take the place of the king, but Ariel calls out to the king and others to wake them up. Prospero tells and shows Miranda the history of their family by use of his magic staff, emphasizing their orthodoxy and royal position, while at the same time Caliban stands silently and motionlessly behind them.

At yet another place on the shore, the sailor Trinculo and the cook Stephano meet Caliban. Caliban expresses his humbleness and obedience to them, and he tells them how his island was robbed by Prospero. The three form a revolutionary team and march toward Prospero's house. In the house Ariel asks Prospero about his liberty. Prospero recalls Ariel's memory of the tyrannical Sycorax, who is presented in a scene from the past as a smoking, fat, naked woman, breast-feeding Caliban and enslaving Ariel. By demand from Prospero, Ariel performs magic, first, creating the sound of a hound to scare off Caliban's drunk rebel, and, second, playing attractive, sweet music to Alonso and his men as dwarfs tease them. Then Alonso and others are cast into a spell in which they are imprisoned and fall asleep.

The wedding of Miranda and Ferdinand opens with dance music and a sailors' circle dance, which is performed in front of the still-sleeping king and others. When the dance and the music are stopped, Prospero wakes them up, and they are reconciled. Alonso blesses the marriage of Ferdinand and Miranda. Ariel then is allowed to go free into the elements. Walking through the chorus line of sailors, the veteran black musical comedy star Elizabeth Welch sings "Stormy Weather."

The last scene presents Ariel on Prospero's throne while Prospero is sleeping at the table, and then Ariel runs and disappears while singing. Prospero delivers the epilogue: "life is rounded with sleep." His desires seem not to be gone with Ariel's liberty into elements. Jarman's movie is a depiction of desire, power and revolt, presented as a space that links reality and sleep.

From www.eng.fju.edu.tw/English_Literature/Shakespeare

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