Jacek Fabiszak

Crossroads in literature and culture

Crossing thresholds of literary theories and critical approaches.- Remapping womens / mens moral and social borders.- Cross-language ventures.- Old world, new world and the space between.- Private territories, social spaces.- Across literary epochs, bringing together writers.- Extending the boundaries of genre and medium.- Countries and cultures at crossroads.

Kenneth Branagh's Multicultural and Multi-ethnic Filmed Shakespeare(s)

One of the most striking features of Kenneth Branagh’s approach to Shakespeare on screen is multicultural diversity most notably manifest in three dimensions: choice of the actors with differing ethnic backgrounds, choice of the place of action for his films, and choice of the time of action. Branagh has long been recognised as a director who carefully selects the temporal and spatial frame for the particular plays he chooses to film, one which he finds most fit in terms of the plays’ filmic equivalents and cinematic conventions. For this reason he “travels” across time and place, introducing even such exotic locations, exotic in the eyes of the Western (multi-ethnic) viewers, as the 19 th century Japan (As You Like It, 2006). On top of it, he does not hesitate to employ actors whose ethnicity may look, at first glance, rather odd when it comes to representing Shakespearean 16 th -17 th century Early Modern characters. 1 The aim of the article will be thus an attempt to find reasons and rationale for Branagh’s strategies; the search will centre around such issues as colour-blind casting, the cross-over between stage and screen, filmic realism and theatrical convention.

Social Attitudes toward Cerebral Palsy and Potential Uses in Medical Education Based on the Analysis of Motion Pictures

This study presents how motion pictures illustrate a person with cerebral palsy (CP), the social impact from the media, and the possibility of cerebral palsy education by using motion pictures. 937 motion pictures were reviewed in this study. With the criteria of nondocumentary movies, possibility of disability classification, and availability, the total number of motion pictures about CP was reduced to 34. The geographical distribution of movie number ever produced is as follows: North America 12, Europe 11, India 2, East Asia 6, and Australia 3. The CP incidences of different motor types in real world and in movies, respectively, are 78–86%, 65% (Spastic); 1.5–6%, 9% (Dyskinetic); 6.5–9%, 26% (Mixed); 3%, 0% (Ataxic); 3-4%, 0% (Hypotonic). The CP incidences of different Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) levels in real world and in movies, respectively, are 40–51%, 47% (Level I + II); 14–19%, 12% (Level III); 34–41%, 41% (Level IV + V). Comparisons of incidence between the real world and the movies are surprisingly matching. Motion pictures honestly reflect the general publics point of view to CP patients in our real world. With precise selection and medical professional explanations, motion pictures can play the suitable role making CP understood more clearly.

Sex-speare vs. Shake-speare: On Nudity and Sexuality in Some Screen and Stage Versions of Shakespeare’s Plays

Abstract The article attempts to address the issue of nudity and eroticism in stage and screen versions of Shakespeare’s plays. Elizabethan theatrical conventions and moral and political censorship of the English Renaissance did not allow for an explicit presentation of naked bodies and sexual interactions on stage; rather, these were relegated to the verbal plane, hence the bawdy language Shakespeare employed on many occasions. Conventions play a significant role also in the present-day, post-1960s and post-sexual revolution era, whereby human sexuality in Western culture is not just alluded to, but discussed and presented in an open manner. Consequently, nudity on stage and screen in versions of Shakespeare’s plays has become more marked and outspoken. Indeed, in both filmic and TV productions as well as stage performances directors and actors more and more willingly have exposed human body and sexuality to the viewer/spectator. My aim is to look at such instances from the perspective of realism and realistic conventions that the three media deploy and the effect nudity/sex can have on the recipient. The conclusion is that theatre is most conventional and stark realism and directness of the message need to be carefully dosed. Similarly to the theatre, television, more specifically television theatre, is, too, a most direct genre, as television is inherently a live medium, the broadcasts of which occur here and now, in the present tense (ideally). Film is markedly different from the two previous forms of art: it is narrated in the past tense, thus creating a distance between what is shown and the viewer, and allowing for more literalness. Naturally, particular cases discussed in the article go beyond these rather simple divisions.

Magic Storms on Polish Television: The Case of The Tempest

The aim of this paper is to look at the representation of the storm in selected television versions of Shakespeares The Tempest. Special attention will be paid to Polish TV productions in the context of other film and telegenic renderings of the play. Of course, the specific nature of the tragicomedy and the position of the sea storm and shipwreck in particular will be a starting point for the discussion of how television aesthetics shapes the representation of storms on the small screen. The following questions will be posited: whether the teleplay draws more on the filmic codes or theatre-oriented ones; what the place of television genres is and how they inform the framing of storms; how the genres relate to the nature of the storms in Shakespeares (Last) plays. Consequently, one needs to address the unnatural, supernatural and oneiric nature of Shakespeares Last Plays as well as the status of Prosperos art that make the storm a magic phenomenon, yet one which - in the eyes of Miranda as well as the characters aboard the ship - appears a most realistic, indeed tangibly real element. This leads to the problem of realism in the triad of stage-television-film which will need to be addressed, too: how the producers managed to render this double nature of the reception of the storm by the characters in the play.

Macbeth in (the Shade of) Iraq: Crossing the Borders of Poland, Nato and the Defensive War

Abstract The numerous Polish productions of Macbeth in an overt or covert fashion address issues that have been at the core of political debate in the past decade, such as the state’s engagement in military missions that are in fact real wars. Furthermore, they also comment on the new Polish political system (is it still “new”?) and the situation of individuals in it, how they can profit in it. The paper discusses productions such as Andrzej Wajda’s (2004) from the Stary Theatre in Kraków, Maja Kleczewska’s (2004) from the Kochanowski Theatre in Opole, Grzegorz Jarzyna’s (2005; the full title is “2007: Macbeth”) from the Teatr Rozmaitości (TR) in Warsaw, and Piotr Kruszczyński’s (2005) from the Polski Theatre in Warsaw.