So for my scholarly article that I brought to class, I looked for something to do with pop culture and Shakespeare. That's actually the focus of my blog (I believe I made not of this quite a few posts ago actually) and I'm attempting to make a connection between Shakespeare and music, as well as movies, books, plays, and other digital mediations.
The article I found was entitled"Introduction: Whither Shakespop? Taking Stock of Shakespeare in Pop Culture" by Elizabeth Abele. This article was really interesting to read. It highlights the many forms of pop culture that Shakespeare's works have taken. To quote the article, "From being a marker of highbrow elitist fare, Shakespeare has become a commodity and brand that producers and marketers can exploit."
The article is more of an overview of many other articles looking at different uses of Shakespeare in pop culture, and the effects these adaptations are having on the inherent meaning. One such question is "Does Shakespop represent an enhanced appreciation or has it merely bred contempt—and exploitation?"
There have been many spin-offs, from numerous modern plays, to movies as well known as "10 Things I Hate About You" and "West Side Story", to corporate training manuals such as "The Bard of Enron: From Shakespeare to Noir Humanism", to comic books.
The conclusion reached in the text is best summed up in this quote. "Hamlet nor Cahban can escape the narrative logics in which they are inscribed (1966,212)—but in the narratives of American texts that appropriate Hamlet, our favorite prince can and often does escape his inherited burdens."
This article has been a good springboard for me to look at other sources that try to study Shakespeare and pop culture. It has given me good overview, as well as other sources to utilize for more in-depth research into other angles and avenues!
