Preview

Comparing King Richard III And Al Pacino's

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
926 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Comparing King Richard III And Al Pacino's
“Texts on their own are interesting, but when you compare them to other texts they become illuminating.”
How has your exploration of the connections between King Richard III and Looking for Richard moved you to a heightened appreciation of each text?

William Shakespeare’s, King Richard III, and Al Pacino’s film, Looking for Richard, conversely explores key ideas and values portrayed in both texts. The comparison accentuates the deep similarity of ideas and values, which drive the two texts. Villainy and power in King Richard III highlights the values of moderation and stability of the Renaissance age. Similarly, Al Pacino examines these same ideas to emphasise the values of creativity and artistic integrity. Examining how each composer relies on an exaggerated and heightened characterisation of Richard
…show more content…
Pacino’s docudrama ‘Looking for Richard’ idolises Shakespeare’s key values and ideas intertwining them into the film to associate and connect with a modern audience. Pacino examines Shakespeare’s text, deconstructing and expressing the text giving his own personal opinion and teachings of King Richard III. The subtle modifications of the original text allows Pacino to reach out and grab the audience connecting with modern day Shakespeare, allowing them to realise that Shakespeare is still relevant today. This is highlighted when the cast approaches random public figures asking them about Shakespeare, a man replies, “He’s a great export. ” The random selection and interview of an average man draws the audience to realise the Shakespeare is still culturally valued and important because of the contextual change forcing a modification in values. Pacino creatively adjusts his film to resonate with a modern audience drawing them out to connect with the values and context in a modern

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Through exploring connections between Shakespeare’s Richard III and Al Pacino’s Looking for Richard the values of the era are often a product of the context of the text. However, through studying the theatricality of man and the pursuit of power, it is clear these notions transcend time and context. Shakespeare valued the way an actor could act within a play and theatre was valued in this context. Shakespeare also demonstrated how Richard pursued political power, whilst Shakespeare himself pursued cultural power. Similarly, Pacino demonstrates the power of acting through connecting to an audience, this harnesses cultural power.…

    • 1018 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Intrinsic to both texts, there is the notion that art is used to directly influence and impact existing historical perceptions. Shakespeare’s “Richard III” explores this idea, using the most influential artistic medium of the time, theatre, to further publicise the ‘Tudor Myth’ perception. On stage, the visual motif of Richard’s appearance as “deformed, unfinished” reflects his moral deficiencies, reinforced by his soliloquys and asides that expose his underlying treachery. He forges a duplicitous role as both director and actor within the play, stating in the opening soliloquy “plots that I have laid, inductions dangerous…” Richard seemingly ‘stage manages’ the entirety of his world, creating a sense of dramatic irony from the juxtaposing of the different “masks” he feigns in contrast to his true intentions; he plays the role of the “grieving” brother, “Christian prince,” etc. As such, Richard’s meta-theatricality engages us on a psychological level that reinforces the perception of the Tudor Myth given not just the heinous nature of his crimes but the “villainous”…

    • 1036 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Write a comparison between 'Richard III' by William Shakespeare and 'The Homecoming' by Harold Pinter…

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Th ink sw ap Do cu me nt Question: In what ways does a comparative study accentuate the distinctive contexts of King Richard III and Looking For Richard? Question 2: To what extent have the connections you have made between the two texts shown how particular concerns, although timeless, impact differently on individuals in different contexts.…

    • 1076 Words
    • 35 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    William Shakespeare’s “King Richard III”, an Elizabethan play written as a piece of Tudor propaganda, and Al Pacino’s 1996 docudrama “Looking For Richard” set in contemporary New York, have distinctive parallels in what values they concern themselves with despite their markedly different contexts. Our understanding of both texts is advanced through exploring the composers’ contrasting values of free will clashing with Providentialism and the importance of integrity and honesty in the Murder of Clarence scene from “Looking for Richard” as well as its corresponding scene from “King Richard III” (Act 1 Scene IV) and the Coronation scene (Act 3 Scene 7) and from an examination of how these flow from the changes in context.…

    • 1028 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Castle

    • 903 Words
    • 4 Pages

    “Texts convey certain attitudes and beliefs that help define who we are and how we relate to the world around us”…

    • 903 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Our values and morals remain timeless as they form the basis of our interaction with each other and are instilled as part of our humanity defining us as beings. The Shakespearean play, “King Richard III” and its hybrid doco-drama appropriation, “looking for Richard’ directed by Al Pacino, reveal inherent values of power in relation to our morality and justice. As Shakespeare focuses on the human psyche and the role of god’s Devine retribution in the Elizabethan era, Pacino on the other hand emphasizes the American context to allow audiences to re-evaluate the significance of the political and social values present in KRIII, thus enriching our understanding of the original text.…

    • 1231 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The widely admired work of William Shakespeare has been, over the span of decades, adapted into films which originate from the same source but differ in context and means of portrayal. Filmmakers, as generations grow and society evolves, must master the art of successfully reaching out and empathizing with differing audiences whilst taking in the social, cultural and economic values widely appropriated by societies, into serious consideration. Kenneth Branagh directed and interpreted his adaptations of Hamlet by Shakespeare. Branagh, in his adaptation (1996), have interpreted Act 5, Scene 1, quite distinctly in means of sound/music, costumes and make up, lighting, camera angles and shot compositions, and editing. All of these factors are relevant…

    • 681 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Jane Eyre

    • 1260 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Our interest in the parallels between King Richard III and Looking For Richard is further enhanced by consideration of the marked differences in textual form. Evaluate this statement in the light of your Comparative Study of King Richard III and Looking For Richard.…

    • 1260 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Richard Iii

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Shakespeare also gives great insight on Richard’s mind via diction. In Richard’s opening lines he specifically says, “Our dreadful marches to delightful measures” (1,1,8). Instead of fighting the Lancasters Richard (and his family) are in a time of harmony. He intentionally changes the negative word to a positive. Lines like these are all throughout the opening soliloquy. Richard allows the audience to see that he is at peace, that he is relaxed. By his big soliloquy in Act 5, Richard’s attitude is down. He’s worried about all the deeds he’s done. He directly states, “Is there a murderer here? No. Yes, I am:” (5,3,211). Not only does he leave the negative word of “murderer” in the sentence, but he…

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    No matter what critics say, Luhrmann’s film was a masterpiece. He was dared to make something new, whereas in this matter, as it seemed, everything has been told, seen and created. The film was an experiment which can be described as blending two substances, of which no one would have ever thought that they can go together this well. It was a kind of play with conventions, which was based on an assumption that if one takes a work of a great dramatist, a couple of talented actors, adds some modern set and seasons it with good music, the outcome must be delicious. And actually the assumption turned out to be right. The ‘modernisation of Shakespeare’ tends to be one of the few possible ways of popularisation of his plays within the contemporary society.…

    • 947 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Critical Lens

    • 431 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Setup: This quote suggests that true literature evokes an emotional or meaningful response in the reader; it in some way changes how we view things.…

    • 431 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Chosen Topic: Many directors have staged and filmed conceptualized versions of Shakespeare’s work, hoping to derive new or unexpected meaning from old plays. Does Almereyda’s 21st century interpretation of Hamlet intensify or diminish the play’s “greatness”? Make a strong case, using examples from the film to support your argument.…

    • 1109 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Hamlet Rhetorical Analysis

    • 1632 Words
    • 7 Pages

    In spite of the fact that the plot evokes the implication that it occurred between the close of 16th century and the start of the 17th century, Shakespeare’s Hamlet surpasses the constraints of time and muses upon both the primitive and contemporary man. In the late 16th century in England, people of all classes on the social echelon, with the exception of royals, were able to publicly eyewitness theatre. Audiences craved new plays to assuage their appetites. One of numerous dramatists that capitalized this abundance of opportunity was Shakespeare. Opposed to the modern time, audiences spectated the play to hear it rather than see it. The articulation of the lines and significance of how the story was recited was crucial…

    • 1632 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    Shakespeare’s works are not limited to expressing the concerns and interests of a narrowly confined historical period. They have in them the…

    • 3051 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Best Essays