Play or Film

In our reading guide this statement and question caught my attention. "King Lear is one of Shakespeare's more famous tragedies. This play, however, might rank among his most "tragic". In what ways does the play push the bounds of loss?" The play absolutely is a tragedy with such a dramatic ending where almost everyone dies. Not only does the number of people who die make the play tragic but the fact that they are all lying together. The film we watched played out the tragedy very well in this scene. All of the daughters and Lear were dressed in white to point out their lifelessness. Lear is destroyed especially by Cordilia's death and he dies with her in his arms. The director of the film made the setting for this scene tragic as well. In the background you can see the barren land that was clearly war stricken and destroyed. The land was dead along with all the people. This leads me to the topic of director interpretation and the differences between plays and film. I personally like both because each has their own positives and negatives. I think plays are more personal and the actors can make you feel included in the tragedy, comedy or romance more so than films because you can almost interact and reach the actors. Films however can show characters in different angles and close ups where as a play you see the actors from the same place, for the most part. The film we watched in class played with angles in an interesting way, to make the viewer feel as if they were King Lear like when Cordilia responses with "nothing." 

Reading a play and then seeing it live or watching the film can really make these differences apparent. Also it can change your view of the play, by developing a scene differently than you did in your mind while reading. For example the choice of actors, for me, can really determine whether I enjoy the play or not. If the actor doesn't fit how I imagined the character then the whole play can seem "off" in a way. However, that is what makes every play and film unique according to the director's interpretations.