Sunday, August 16, 2009

Tone and text

On August 2nd, I watched the Houston Shakespeare Festival's production of Twelfth Night. As with some of Shakespeare's other speedy developments, Olivia falls in love with Cesario (actually a disguised Viola) in one meeting. While I don't know the author's intentions, the play implicitly mocks the idea of two women loving each other, with Viola claiming it's simply impossible and hopeless. The mood of the production wasn't homophobic, showing that delivery certainly has an impact on message, but it can only do so much to change the original.

More recently I watched the film Wild Wild West. I thought Will Smith and Kevin Kline had good charisma and did fine comedy work, although their characters' relationship wasn't very developed. I also liked the fantasy tone of roughly the first half. The rest was a bit overtaken by action. This film had some jibes at homosexuality but not in a mean way (unlike Planes, Trains & Automobiles), aside from one moment-when Smith's Jim West sees a picture of lesbians and dismisses it as, "White folks."

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