Scottish Play Adaptations
After reading and viewing three adaptations of the Scottish Play it is very clear that they are all very different. Each adaptation shaped the Scottish Play to fit into their own culture, to make work for their way of life. The film “Throne of Blood” was an adaptation of the Scottish Play made to fit into japanese culture. Most characters remained the same and had the same personalities like Lady Macbeth, who remained scary and wierd. Character names were turned into japanese and the scenary shifted. Instead of large castles, the thanes lived in forts. Lady Macbeth tried to get Wushizu to kill not only the king, but also his best friend Banquo in order to insure his mighty reign. Another change was that the war continued throughout the film while in the original it was only a battle. “Travesties” was written in the same old english writing but it was made to rhyme which really confused me at times. Sometimes they just wouldn’t make sense and it would throw me off as I read it. “uMbatha” was an adaptation of the play shifted into African culture. This was the most recently made of the three adaptations and was about uMbatha becoming tribe leader. All three adaptations were very enjoyable to view and read because it gave a diverse personality to the play.
I agree with your view on how the three plays were different and adapted from the original Scottish play. I thought that uMbatha was also a little confusing because the writing would throw the reader of sometimes. I thought that the author of uMbatha was trying to make the actuall writing like African culture. He should have written in a normal manner so the reader could understand what he is trying to change from the scottish play to make it African.
I agreed with your view on how the three adaptaions were diifferent and how they changed from the Scottish play. I thought that uMbatha was slightly difficult to read also. I think that the author was trying to make the actual writing seem like it was from an African culture, not so much as the meaning of the writing. Throne of Blood actually transformed the meaning of the play and established it in a chinese culture. The travesties were also just written differentyly. The meaning stayed the same.
I agree with most of what you said. I assume that you noticed the fog in Throne of Blood and in Roman Polanski’s production of the Scottish Play, which is a major piece of evidence that Roman Polanski borrowed some of the details from Throne of Blood. You mentioned that The Travesties were hard to understand. Most likely, they were not supposed to be easy to understand because it is a mock up of The Scottish Play. Your blog was very interesting.
I agree. The Throne of Blood definitly was related to Macbeth in many ways it had alot of similarities about it. The adaptations also really helped make the scottish play the way it was. uMbatha was trying to talk African and he was not really talking as an American would be able to understand.
wow dan! i also agree that the three adaptations were very disinct. However, I would correct the statement that u said all the adaptations used the same characters because the throne of blood left out the character Mcduff. I think that the director choose to leave out McDuff in order to concentrate on the relationship between Macbeth and Banquo. However, as our english teacher said, the director of the throne of blood has passed away and it’s to late to ask him =(