Yes, we're supposed to empathize with anyone but Claudio. Because Claudio is a gigantic idiot, and in a just universe, the girl would be macing him. If you think about the Hero and Claudio plot too much, you'll probably want to vomit.
I read that bit of filmography as a comment on the way we handle (or don't handle) literary and historical incidents of casual racism. That Ethiope line almost never gets cut, so just about every time a non-white person sees Much Ado About Nothing (which practically deserves its own entry in Stuff White People Like), there has been that reaction. Putting it on camera did more service to it then it otherwise gets.
I didn't spot any modern terms either.
My big issue with this was the same as my big issue with ANY performance of Much Ado - everyone is basically reenacting the Kenneth Branagh version. (There were actually some places in this one where Alexis Denisof was visibly trying not to be Kenneth Branagh, or to use his inflection. Every time I noticed it, I thought he'd have been better off not working so hard.) There's nothing wrong with Kenneth Branagh, but there's nothing new either. There is a ton of material in the text, and it bugs me that director after director comes in with no plans to uncover the less-worked ground.
The only new thing here was the bit with the cupcake.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2013-08-07 09:24 pm (UTC)I read that bit of filmography as a comment on the way we handle (or don't handle) literary and historical incidents of casual racism. That Ethiope line almost never gets cut, so just about every time a non-white person sees Much Ado About Nothing (which practically deserves its own entry in Stuff White People Like), there has been that reaction. Putting it on camera did more service to it then it otherwise gets.
I didn't spot any modern terms either.
My big issue with this was the same as my big issue with ANY performance of Much Ado - everyone is basically reenacting the Kenneth Branagh version. (There were actually some places in this one where Alexis Denisof was visibly trying not to be Kenneth Branagh, or to use his inflection. Every time I noticed it, I thought he'd have been better off not working so hard.) There's nothing wrong with Kenneth Branagh, but there's nothing new either. There is a ton of material in the text, and it bugs me that director after director comes in with no plans to uncover the less-worked ground.
The only new thing here was the bit with the cupcake.