Staging Shakespeare: (dis)solutions in intermedial processes

• Autor(a) principal: Flávia Rodrigues Monteiro
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UFMG
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/1843/30087
• topic: Shakespeare; intermediality; broadcast theater; solutions; entropy; reception; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. – Muito barulho por nada – Crítica e interpretação; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. – Coriolano – Crítica e interpretação; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 – Adaptações para o cinema; Literatura inglesa – Adaptações para o cinema; Intermidialidade; Arte e literatura; Entropia

Multiple theoretical contributions in media studies may generate conflicts that impair the understanding of key concepts. In order to mitigate these conflicts, this dissertation proposes an analogical approach inspired by nature, in which processes related to chemical “solutions” illustrate media dynamics. “Solvents” represent the materiality of the medium; “solutes” are connected to the human cognition. The result is an Art Solution. The configurations of solute and solvent, i.e. the possible variations and referential levels of their elements, are the entropy of an Art solution. As an artistic alchemist, Shakespeare provides material to illustrate my analogy concerning the internal dynamics of media manifestations (entropic remediations), and the interactions among hypotextual and hypertextual elements (palimpsestic entropy). An overview of the “Bard’s” legacy, from sources to contemporary derivations, reveals recurrent elements that touch on human nature. The political content of Coriolanus and the gender conflict in Much Ado About Nothing support this point. By (re)mediating Shakespeare, the arts channel human essence, either in simple configurations or in complex mediatic manifestations. A hybrid solvent, broadcast theater exemplifies the entropic peak in Shakespearean hypertexts. The introduction and analysis of its productions of Coriolanus and Much Ado About Nothing in comparison to other screen adaptations attest these entropic movements in solvent and solute. Ultimately, we learn that man-made phenomena are closely related to natural phenomena, sharing even future projections. Also, despite technological improvements, human societies are still moved by the same dynamics of power, supporting Shakespeare’s topicality.