Dumbing down of Shakespeare – The Return · Mon Jun 30, 21:37 by Eleri Straker
At the weekend I discovered another example of what the tabloids call the ‘dumbing down’ of Shakespeare. A Manga version of Romeo and Juliet! How brilliant is that?
When I found this book (along with Manga versions of Macbeth, Hamlet, Midsummer Night’s Dream (Yes honestly!) I was ecstatic. What an absolutely stunning idea!
The book is a beautifully illustrated graphic novel in the Japanese Manga style, which I believe lends itself naturally to the dark violence of some of the Bard’s plays. It uses the original language, but, being a graphic novel, it is, of course a bit abridged, something with which I don’t have a problem.
Anyway, I bought the book, and clutching it tightly in my hot little hand, I took it to school, with the idea of getting the department interested in buying a few.
The reaction of most of my colleagues was actually surprising. They were horrified. They couldn’t believe that someone who goes into raptures over the Bard’s language could possibly find anything remotely acceptable in this ‘travesty’. They told me in no uncertain terms that they wouldn’t give it house room and that it was an insult to Shakespeare. That students need to read the original text.
I don’t have an argument with that. But what of those students who, even after years of careful teaching of ‘genuine’ Shakespeare, still leave school hating it and seeing it as irrelevant to anyone in the 21st century? How do we get them interested? It’s not by getting all po-faced about Will. It’s not about going on about the purity of the language and the deathless verse and all that. It’s about telling a story. It’s about getting the ‘groundlings’ to understand why Shakespeare was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Without grasping that basic fact, the beauty of the language is wasted. Dead words on a page.
The people who devised the Manga Shakespeare are to be applauded. The Romeo and Juliet is updated to modern day Japan, with the families of two rival gangs. It’s brilliant because it shows how the R and J story is timeless and crosses national and temporal divides. I can see disaffected teens, fed up with being told how great Will was, reading the graphic novels and getting a handle on the famous ‘deathless verse’, because all of a sudden the visuals make sense of the words. Ideally, this would make the ‘proper’ stuff more accessible because they will be able to see for themselves the relevance of Shakespeare and it will be de-mystified. It will, hopefully, open doors; get students who would normally find Will a complete turn-off, interested.
We need to stop treating Shakespeare as if he was sacrosanct, as if he was writing for the rarefied air of academia. He was a jobbing actor who wrote plays for a living. Not an intellectual snob.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Shakespeare. I love teaching Shakespeare. But there is absolutely no point if the students simply don’t get it. Which is why I believe the Manga Shakespeare is so brilliant. It’s a way in. I think it’s an inspired idea and I honestly believe that Will would approve. It’s Shakespeare for the groundlings, for the masses. What’s wrong with that?
Manga is part of youth culture. This is a way to make Shakespeare part of it too.
