helen-cooper-fan-account

[helen-cooper-fan-account]

I have hamlet on the brain but I’m unsure of what to do with it help

[helen-cooper-fan-account]

Thinking about that one version of hamlet where hamlet fails to kill Claudius and dies so then Horatio kills Claudius

[helen-cooper-fan-account]

I want to talk about the globes recent production of much ado about nothing again

Nothing was more incredible than being in the audience when everyone cheered for Beatrice after she screamed “if I were a man I would eat his heart in the market place”

The actors had to just stand there for a minute as everyone in the audience screamed and cheered and applauded. From what I saw everyone of any gender cheered for her. It was such a beautiful moment to witness.

[helen-cooper-fan-account]

The Shakespeare scene my area is unfortunately very dead after the closure of the local Shakespeare in the park during Covid. However, a theatre not too far away is putting on a production of Hamlet in the summer and I am so excited to go see it. I haven’t seen Hamlet performed live before so I’m so happy.

[helen-cooper-fan-account]

Whoreatio

[helen-cooper-fan-account]

Kenneth Branagh’s 1996 Hamlet is terrible (I want to apologize for this post as it is a bit all over the place)

1. While Branagh might be a fine stage actor (I have never seen him perform live so this is based on what I’ve heard), he doesn’t understand how to translate a performance from stage to screen. One of the fundamental differences between performing live vs on film is that theatre needs to be over the top and larger than life so that people in the very back of the audience can see. This style of performing doesn’t look good on screen because film allows the audience to appreciate the subtleties of a more natural performance. Branagh’s performance as Hamlet is far too over the top for film. Everything from his facial expressions to his vocal inflections are too grand for the films close up’s.

2. This may be more of a criticism of Kenneth Branagh as a person but I cannot get over the fact that Kate Winslet was cast as Ophelia at about 17 and played the role when she was 20. If you have seen the film you might know about a certain scene a 36 year old Kenneth Branagh decided to add. In general I find that scene unnecessary and I can’t help but feel weird about it knowing that it isn’t in the original text and how young Kate Winslet was. I know this is common in the film industry, unfortunately, but Branagh has a bit of a bad history with women. I do want to add that Kate Winslet as Ophelia was honestly the best part of this movie, she is incredibly talented.

3. Hamlet’s death in this film is painfully awkward. When reading the play everyone in my class imagined Hamlet dying in Horatio’s arms, when you look up “Hamlet’s death” on google every image is of him dying in Horatio’s arms. From what is in the text, it seems like Hamlet physically takes the cup of poison from Horatio and almost every production I’ve watched of Hamlet has had similar blocking. However, Kenneth Branagh decided to go in a completely different direction. Instead of Horatio holding Hamlet, he has Horatio stand awkwardly at a distance. Instead of Horatio quickly trying to drink the poison and Hamlet throwing it away, Branagh has Horatio awkwardly shake while holding the cup as Hamlet screams at him. There is no tenderness, no camaraderie between two close friends, Horatio doesn’t comfort his best friend in his final moments. Horatio’s actor, Nicholas Farrel, does the best he can with the direction he was given. He looks heartbroken, but the blocking really doesn’t work. I’m not sure why Branagh decided to do this especially because if you look at photos from when he played Hamlet on stage, Hamlet died in Horatio’s arms. I feel like this decision reduces Horatio’s character to simply a loyal servant. In my opinion it gets rid of a very beautiful moment. No matter how you read Hamlet and Horatio’s relationship, it’s undeniable that they are an important part in one another’s lives and deciding that that isn’t the case shows a clear misunderstanding of the text.

4. Once again, while I don’t know why Branagh decided to block Hamlet’s death like that, I can’t help but feel it’s because he wanted Hamlet to seem more masculine. Branagh has a tendency to overdo the masculinity in his films. His Agatha Christie films, for example, all have added unnecessary action scenes, action as a genre is typically very masculine. Hamlet doesn’t have too much added action aside from the absolutely ridiculous blocking in the final act, but I feel like Hamlet is masculinized in other areas, his death possibly being one of them. Another is his more aggressive nature than that of other Hamlet portrayals. A core part of Hamlet’s character is his “femininity.” While one could argue that Branagh’s Hamlet’s over the top display of masculinity could how he decided to show Hamlet’s struggle, but considering Branagh’s choices in other films he has directed I don’t think I can give him that much credit.

5. The cinematography and editing in the film is terrible. This is apparent in every Kenneth Branagh film, it’s especially painful in Hamlet and Murder on the Orient Express. In Hamlet the shots are awkwardly set up and the editing doesn’t help. I will never get over the nauseating shot where the camera circles the characters.

6. A lot of Branagh’s direction is incredibly showy. If you need to rely on cheap stunts to draw in an audience, you shouldn’t be directing Shakespeare. It’s a hard sell for sure, but people who like Shakespeare know how exciting his works are. Hamlet is a masterpiece, if Branagh seriously thought the work alone wasn’t enough why on earth would anyone let him make his own adaptations. He doesn’t even trust the source material!

7. In an interview Kenneth Branagh said something about how you need to be older to understand how to play Hamlet and I already made multiple posts about how stupid that idea is so I won’t go over that again, yall should check out my other posts though.

8. Back on Hamlet’s death: the Jesus motif is so… so Kenneth Branagh. I think in general Branagh believes he has a deeper understanding of Hamlet than he actually does. Hamlet is not a god, he’s a scared and stupid kid (A 30 year old can still be a stupid kid shush). He sees Hamlet as a far more grand story than it really is. It’s similar to how people don’t understand Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet is not a love story, it’s a tragedy. Hamlet is not your traditional hero’s journey, it’s a tragedy. Tragic hero’s are not the same as hero’s you would find in something like an epic or an action film, they aren’t larger than life hero’s they’re just people. Shakespeare’s tragedies are meant to explore human emotions by exaggerating them and creating extreme scenarios that would lead the characters to act in the way that they do. Hamlet is about grief and what it can do to a person. A tragic hero is helpless, what makes it a tragedy is not punishment for a characters actions but something that is completely undeserved being thrown upon the character. This concept is something I just don’t think Branagh understands.

I have more to say about this film but I think that would require a rewatch for me to get everything down. I also apologize if I didn’t get my points across very well, and feel free to disagree with me on any of these. I will say I am very biased. As a long time Agatha Christie fan I have absolutely hated his takes on her books for a while now. I went into this film with an opinion on him but this film did not help.

Anyway, I think any and every interpretation of Hamlet is valid but Kenneth Branagh’s is the incorrect one.

[helen-cooper-fan-account]

Reblogging this just to say I love moulin rouge

Production of hamlet where the actor who plays Horatio is also the director so Horatio really is telling hamlets story

[helen-cooper-fan-account]

This is the best thing anyone could ever say to me thank you

Production of hamlet where the actor who plays Horatio is also the director so Horatio really is telling hamlets story

[helen-cooper-fan-account]

This is me trying to rationalize me directing hamlet someday while also being in it (I do not wanna be like Kenneth Branagh)

Production of hamlet where the actor who plays Horatio is also the director so Horatio really is telling hamlets story

[helen-cooper-fan-account]

Production of hamlet where the actor who plays Horatio is also the director so Horatio really is telling hamlets story

[helen-cooper-fan-account]

Dead poets society edit 😱

[helen-cooper-fan-account]

The recent production of much ado about nothing at the globe theatre did something that I didn’t think was possible. It made me not hate Claudio.

Claudio is absolutely terrible to Hero yet it ends with the two of them “happily married” which I hated when reading the play and watching the film adaptation. However, the direction and acting for Claudio at the globe was different and far more sympathetic.

Claudio was portrayed as a naive kid. He wasn’t played as arrogant or harsh, he seemed genuinely heartbroken over what he thought Hero did. He didn’t confront her at their wedding out of hate but out of sorrow. He truly felt so betrayed. When he confided in the prince he was just so sad and the prince was more quick to jump to anger which led Claudio to do the same. They built up this decision really well throughout the play too because they constantly showed Claudio feeling out of place and small in this unfamiliar environment. The actor who portrayed Claudio carried himself in a way that really felt like a kid trying to fit in and figure out his new role.

The globes recent production of much ado about nothing was overall incredible and even months after seeing it I can’t stop thinking about it.

[helen-cooper-fan-account]

hate it then hamlet adaptations completely cut out the whole character of horatio:( why would you take away hamlet's only friend do you hate him do you want him to be alone with his secret... :((

[helen-cooper-fan-account]

Nobody understands the struggles of being a teenage girl better than Prince Hamlet of Denmark

[helen-cooper-fan-account]

Pls do

bring back tumblr ask culture let me. bother you with questions and statements

[helen-cooper-fan-account]

Bro will do anything except be with his wife bruh 😭🙏

[helen-cooper-fan-account]

Kenneth Branaghs Hamlet is so funny to watch because why on earth does Hamlet have bleach blond hair and why on earth did they have the kid who played young Hamlet wear such a terrible bleach blond wig