Shakespeare Electronic Conference, Vol. 5, No. 0555.  Wednesday, 22 June 1994.
 
(1)     From:   Steven Marx <
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        Date:   Tuesday, 21 Jun 1994 08:47:20 -0700 (PDT)
        Subj:   Re: SHK 5.0548 Re: Shakespearean Disney
 
(2)     From:   Rick Jones <
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        Date:   Tuesday, 21 Jun 94 13:35:51 EDT
        Subj:   Re: SHK 5.0548  Re: Shakespearean Disney
 
 
(1)----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Steven Marx <
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Date:           Tuesday, 21 Jun 1994 08:47:20 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: 5.0548 Re: Shakespearean Disney
Comment:        Re: SHK 5.0548 Re: Shakespearean Disney
 
William Proctor Williams says "Disney is the total negation of what we're all
about."  I disagree. In fact, I generally begin my first class of "Introduction
to Shakespeare" by comparing Shakespeare to Disney--both masters of public
media, of corporate show business, of national and international cultural
traditions, and of multiple worlds of the imagination.
 
Steven Marx
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
 
(2)----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Rick Jones <
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Date:           Tuesday, 21 Jun 94 13:35:51 EDT
Subject: 5.0548  Re: Shakespearean Disney
Comment:        Re: SHK 5.0548  Re: Shakespearean Disney
 
I guess I'm confused about what William Proctor Williams would have us do: deny
or ignore the apparently self-conscious Shakespearean references in Disney
films?  Chastise the nearest seven-year-old for preferring "The Lion King" to
"Hamlet"?  Insist that only the originator of a plot idea may use it (thereby
wiping out the entire Shakespearean canon)?  I have no desire to "give aid and
comfort to the enemy": but please, someone, lest I stray again: tell me who
that enemy might be, and how I am betraying the cause.
 
Sidebar: I have this recurring vision of the academic response to the premiere
of "Comedy of Errors"... a group of bejowled, terminally constipated "scholars"
complaining about "this new play I heard about...  a re-arrangement of
perfectly good Plautus and... (sit down, you're not going to believe this) in
(GASP!) the VERNACULAR!!!  Aaaaiiieeeee!!!!"
 
Perversely yours,
Rick Jones

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