Alicia Matz hosts this year’s Film Series for the Honors Program. Catch these free films in Wyatt 109 at 7 p.m. every Tuesday this month. It’s a chance to see some classic Shakespearean plays adapted to modern times and modern audiences.
The Honors Program selects a student each year to pick a theme for a series of films that will be shown on campus. Matz selected “Shakespeare for a Modern World.”
10 Things I Hate About You, based on Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, was shown on Sept. 30, and She’s the Man, based on The Twelfth Night or As You Like It, was shown on Oct. 7.
The crowd that gathered to watch the movies consisted mostly of Honors students, but there were a few others who were either friends of Honors students or those who had heard about the screening. Matz was happy with whomever could attend.
Matz contrasted the movies that were just like the stage productions, but with a modern twist, with the movies that were only similar to the plays in that they shared the same general characters and storylines.
“Showing a Shakespeare play in a movie adaptation makes the subject matter more accessible to a wider range of audiences. I chose 10 Things I Hate About You and She’s the Man because they are relatively accurate productions of the plays that use almost none of Shakespeare’s actual dialogue. They are an example of one way in which society has decided to embrace Shakespeare,” Matz said.
She felt Shakespeare was a very important part of our society as a whole, not just in terms of his influence on our stage plays and movies. She felt that changing his work to reach a wider audience was actually a wise move.
“I think that Shakespeare is one of those things that will be relevant for many years to come. With that being said, I think that it’s very important that Shakespeare is understood by today’s society.
“As society changes and modernizes, it will find new ways to keep Shakespeare relevant. I believe that modernizing the plays is one way to do that, because it allows people to see that the themes from Shakespeare’s time are still relevant today,” she said.
She briefly explained the purpose of the film series as well.
“[10 Things I Hate About You] is being shown in conjunction with the Honors Program Film series, and will be going on through the end of October. Each year the Honors Program asks students to design a film series on a subject of their choice, one of its many cultural events.
“While I don’t know when and why the Honors Program decided to start putting on yearly film series, I like to think it’s because they want to provide the campus with cultural entertainment while letting students exhibit their personal interests,” she said.
Hamlet, starring David Tennant and Patrick Stewart, will be shown Oct. 14. Finally, Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing will be shown Oct. 28. Both of these films will be shown in Wyatt 109 at 6:30 p.m. Food is provided as well. Matz put a lot of thought into her selection and hopes to see a large crowd every night.
These movies are a great way to take a break from studies and hear a sample of this great playwright’s most famous works. Bring a friend, bring a pillow, and lend your ears to the world of Elizabethan theatre.