The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 9.1010 Monday, 19 October 1998.
[1] From: Richard A. Burt <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Sunday, 18 Oct 1998 19:38:27 -0400 (EDT)
Subj: Truman Show / Disney Hunchback
[2] From: Richard A. Burt <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Sunday, 18 Oct 1998 19:42:43 -0400 (EDT)
Subj: Elizabeth Rex, Godmother
[3] From: Richard A. Burt <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Monday, 19 Oct 1998 07:20:59 -0400 (EDT)
Subj: Elizabeth Godmother II
[4] From: Richard A. Burt <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Monday, 19 Oct 1998 11:04:46 -0400 (EDT)
Subj: _Unspeakable ShaXXXspeares: Queer Theory and American Kiddie
Culture_
[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: Richard A. Burt <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Sunday, 18 Oct 1998 19:38:27 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Truman Show / Disney Hunchback
I can't recall whether anyone mentioned this before, but Christoff, the
director of the Truman show in _The Truman Show, compares his show
negatively to Shakespeare at the beginning fo the film: "This isn't
Shakespeare." Also, one of the gargoyles in _The Hunchback of Notre
Dame_ (the cartoon with Demi Moore as the voice of Esmerelda)
paraphrases a bit of Shylock's "If you prick us, do we not bleed."
[2]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: Richard A. Burt <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Sunday, 18 Oct 1998 19:42:43 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Elizabeth Rex, Godmother
I was in London last week and saw the film _Elizabeth_. It is worth
seeing if you have an interest in filmic reconstructions of the
monarch. The film is about Elizabeth's becoming the virgin queen (she
has an affair with Dudley) on a bad hair day (she cuts her hair off in a
scene that recalls an opening shot of a woman Protestant martyr having
her hair shaved off quite brutally (blood is drawn from her scalp by the
straight razor) before she is burned at the stake. The Duke of Anjou is
a gay cross-dresser.
[3]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: Richard A. Burt <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Monday, 19 Oct 1998 07:20:59 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Elizabeth Godmother II
I forgot to add two things. the ending of the movie is ripped off from
the ending of _The Godfather_ (when the Corleone's enemies are all taken
out). Also, I picked up the screenplay by Michael Hirst (lots of nice
color photos) and a novelization of the film by Tom Mcgregor. ISBNs are
0-7522-2454-9 and 0-7522-2459-X respectively. Both are paperbacks.
[4]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: Richard A. Burt <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Monday, 19 Oct 1998 11:04:46 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: _Unspeakable ShaXXXspeares: Queer Theory and American Kiddie
Culture_
Forgive the ad, but my new book, _Unspeakable ShaXXXspeares: Queer
Theory and American Kiddie Culture_ is now out and may be ordered
directly from the publisher, St. Martins, for 20 percent off. The list
price is 29.95. the sale price is 23.906 (hardback only for at least
the next 18 months). Orders may be sent to:
St. Martin's Press, Scholarly and Reference Division
c/o Garnette Collins
175 Fith Ave
New York, NY 10010
They take checks, money orders, VISA, AMEX, and Mastercard.
There are 21 illustrations. 336 pp. Contains bibliography and film and
videography as well.
Anyone interested in Shakespeare spin-offs may find the book of use. If
you have any questions about the book, please feel free to contact me
directly.
Here is the table of contents:
Preface: Dumb and Dumber Shakespeares: Academic Fantasy, the
Electronic Archive, Loser Crticiism, and Other Diminished Critical
Capacities
Chapter One: The Love That Dare Not Speak Shakespeare's Name: New
Shakesqueer Cinema (this chapter revises and expands an article of the
same name in _Shakespeare, the Movie_. The chapter includes readings of
_In and Out_ and _The Object of My Affection_ and archives a number of
new films in which Shakespeare is a signifier of gay sexuality).
Chapter Two: Deep Inside William Shakespeare: Pornographic Film and
Video "classics" and the Castrated Gaze (discusses a number of
Shakespeare porns as well as P's Books and the Polanski Macbeth).
Chapter Three: terminating Shakespeare with Extreme Prejudice:
Postcolonial Cultural Cannibalism and the Cinematic Spectacle of 1990s
American Cultural Imperialism (discusses The Last Action Hero, Naked
Gun, The Postman, Independence Day, Skyscraper, and Star Trek VI).
Chapter Four: When Our Lips Snych Together: the Transvestite Voice,
the Virtuoso, Speed, and Pumped-Up Volume in Some Over-heard
Shakespeares (discusses a number of films and TV shows, including an
episode of Giligan's Island, P's Books, the Luhrmann R and J, Nunn TN,
and Kiss Me Kate).
Chapter Five: My So-Called Shakespeare: Mourning the Canon in the Age
of Post-Patriarchal Multiculturalism, or the Shakespeare pedagogue as
Loser discusses Renaissance Man, Quiz Show, Harry and Tonto,
Here are the blurbs:
"Film has been pervasive in modern society, and Shakespeare on film is
almost as old as the medium itself. This book is an exciting and
original anatomy of what is arguably the most influential, and certainly
the least studied, area in the history of Shakespearean performance. I
found it perceptive, informative, and compulsively readable."
Stephen Orgel,
Stanford University
"_Unspeakable ShaXXXspeares_ takes up a fascinating array of
appropriations of Shakespeare that no one has hitherto analyzed. This
book will inevitably both provoke and fascinate a variety of readers."
Laurie Osborne,
Colby College
"The best book on the best wordsmith in history. Burt's treatment of
the Bard's soul is extremely entertaining and extremely informative.
Shakespeare would love this terrific, sensational book."
Lloyd Kaufman, President, Troma Entertainment and director, _Tromeo and
Juliet_
