Progress Report Numero... Two

Progress Report: Phase 1 of Research Paper

I'm required to document my research and writing process for the Shakespeare research paper I'm doing this month. According to the assignment instructions, here are the components I must include. If I have met those requirements, I have included a link to a post or posts that document my efforts for that component:

Phase 1

Exploration   Reworking the Bard: Following the Fanfiction

Textual Analysis   Reworking the Bard: Peek Inside A Fanfic

Social Proof (finding)   Reworking the Bard: Chit-Chat's Where It's At

Phase 2

Performance Analysis  Reworking the Bard: From the Viewer's Mind ,  Reworking the Bard: Some Hammy Humor with Hamlet

Annotated Bibliography   Reworking the Bard: Annotated Bibliography

Digital media and online resources  Reworking the Bard: Waddle Around the Web

Social Proof (contacting) Reworking the Bard: Social Proof 2.0

Phase 3

"Tweethis" statement Reworking the Bard: Facebook-This!

Posted draft with peer interaction Work in Progress

Evaluation of a peer's draft Work in Progress, Paper Edition in Class

Facebook-This!

I am no lover of Twitter, as I've said before. Thus, my tweethis has become my Facebook-This. I'm more likely to get answers this way, anyways.
I started out with a general status update with my thesis statement and a quick plea for any input.

Hopefully, because it's mid-morning and everyone is checking Facebook, I'll get a lot of help. I'll post any results that I get in a follow up.

I wanted to be a bit more thorough, however, so I turned to some special friends. These are the childhood and teenage-hood friends that I had growing up, the ones that, while they didn't introduce me to fanfics, certainly kept me active in the world. In fact, these individuals were the ones to persuade me to write my own story. I sent them an actual message (along with tagging my old G.I.F.T.ed teacher, who always has great advice, and my father, because he's the fellow English-guru in our family--even if he is a computer teacher) letting them know a bit more detail, pleading a bit harder, and once again giving my thesis.

Hopefully they'll love me enough to give me some great insight!

I also thought about finding some communications on www.fanfiction.net, but that's slightly difficult. While they do have a forum option available, it'd be impossible to tag all of my followers and clients and Shakespeare peers into the forum so that they'd find it. I may post something to my author's bio, but not many people will know to look there. I don't know, I'll have to give it some more thought. Let's hope that I get answers!

Social Proof 2.0

Finding social proof was a bit more difficult this time around, just because I wasn't as likely to find a whole bunch of Fanfiction nerds that would be willing to find me a whole bucket-load of potential scholarly articles like they'd one with finding fanfics. I did have one minion go above and beyond by going through possibly every book on Shakespeare adaptation looking for stuff. I was eventually nice enough to just point her towards ProQuest, and we did a combined search together and pooled our results. One of my articles for the paper actually comes from that.

But what really helped was Mr. Greene. I think I mentioned him in maybe my second post here on the blog, but a bit more detail might be nice, yes? He was the Honors English teacher in my high school for ninth and twelfth grades (an intro and a conclusion to our high school education), and has a Masters in English Education... or whatever Masters it'd be. He's also a specialist on Shakespeare adaptations. When we were first going through Romeo and Juliet our freshmen year, he actually took a week out of the school schedule JUST so that we could watch Romeo + Juliet. Quite honestly, it was an amazing week.

He's also the one that took us to see the Westernized version of The Taming of the Shrew in my senior year. He's done a lot of research into the idea of adaptations--he loves Henry V with Branaugh... or whatever his name is...and knows quite a few people in the scholarly department concerning the topic. He had one article immediately on hand for me to ask about when I first emailed him--the one about staged versions of Shakespeare--because a friend of a friend was the husband of the author. At least, that's what he told me. But he also took the research even farther. He's a big believer in printed books--he's an English teacher, it's practically a criteria for the job--and he found me a few different ones on Google books that might have worked. In the end, however, the information that I was really looking for was again found on ProQuest (by him). We've taken time to email back and forth over the last little while, and he even helped me flesh out a basic thesis that I was able to build from once I got my final scholarly articles.

It should be noted, though, that he's a bit skeptical about Fanfiction. It's expected.

Waddle Around the Web

My online resources for the research paper are actually a lot of fun, because the lead right back to my research topic: Fanfiction! I needed a way to link an actual fanfic work into the paper, which started me back at reading the works that'd I'd first considered when Dr. Burton first planted the idea in my head. I've found two that I'm using in the research paper, and I wanted to include them as my online resources.

First, we have The Seussification of Romeo and Juliet. I've already gone on for a long while with the textual analysis of this piece, as well as including a link back to it for you, but I've decided to put it here again. Wah-la, la link: The Seussification of Romeo and Juliet. This one is a great online source because of the methods I had to use to find it. I went in under the usual Shakespeare category for "Plays" at www.fanfiction.net and began a quick perusal. Here's how my method of determining a good fanfic over a bad or decent fanfic comes in. Below the summary of each story, the site keeps track of specific details: when it was posted and/or updated, the genre it's playing with, the rating, and--the most important part--the number of reviews/comments. Now, because the category of Shakespeare is considerable for plays (something like 2000 stories have been posted), I'll give you this math. (Remember, in a bigger category like Harry Potter that has over 500,000 Fanfiction stories, math like this would need to be adjusted.) The story was posted in 2008, meaning that it's had four years to garner reviews, but it's also been pushed back to the 17th page (based on when it was posted), with each page holding twenty stories, making it harder to find. Now, it only has the one chapter, so, in a category like Shakespeare and given these variables, the math goes like this: one to six comments on the fanfic deem it 'bad' to 'tolerable', seven to thirteen comments make it 'average', and anything over fourteen comments makes it 'really, really good'. If you had a multiple chapter story you would multiply but also take off ten reviews or so for every three chapters, just because people aren't likely to post on every single update. Now, here's the commenting on The Seussification of Romeo and Juliet: 20 comments, making it 'really, really good'.

I go through and, rather than scanning the summaries to begin with, I look at the ratings-to-chapter ratio, just so I get that feel for it. Only then will I look at a summary and consider the story--just because sometimes it's REALLY not what you want to read. You have no idea how many Mercutio/Benvolio works are out there, the weirdos. That's exactly what led me to this and the other work, Modern Day Ghosts.

Modern Day Ghosts is actually one of the exceptions to the rule, because it only has five comments for a one-chapter story. There are other factors I haven't talked about, such as genre, that can complicate this system, which is why I only gave you the basic math. Anyways, the two genres listed for Modern Day Ghosts are supernatural and friendship, which can attribute to the lack of comments just because this aren't as popular of a story type. I read it because the summary actually sounded good. (The summary is: Being a ghost, when you get down to it, is really, horribly boring.) Simple and quick, but it led me in. Here's the link, if you wanted to take a look at that one (It's Hamlet): Modern Day Ghosts.

From the Viewer's Mind

Because my research topic is a bit more abstract and unusual, I had to come up with a different way of finding videos to view for the performance analysis. At the moment I'm still working out how to include the link between a primary source through Shakespeare and a work of Fanfiction. I've come to the personal conclusion that Fanfiction can be considered a primary source, so the two pieces that I've picked out led me to some of my performances, albeit a repeat of earlier consideration. One of the works includes a blurb using characters from Hamlet, which made me consider options. Fanfiction is considered a 'lowering' of the general Shakespeare adaptive process, making me think of children and their reactions. This, in turn, led me back to the Muppets. Just like fanfics, the Muppet videos I posted are legitimate adaptations, albeit tongue in cheek ones. So, to keep this short, I just linked the original blog post back here: http://beattycortnie382.blogspot.com/2012/02/some-hammy-humor-with-hamlet.html

Annotated Bibliography

Brief Narrative:
The research process for this type of paper was a bit unconventional. I had to go through resources that weren't scholarship in the beginning--the possible Fanfiction to be found related to Shakespeare, the people writing and reading it--to ensure that my idea was even around. Once I DID find sources that proved adequate, I had to go about finding a thesis about adaptations and Fanfiction. Once I had a general idea of what kind of argument I wanted to make, I turned to old professors and teachers to help me build the scholarship I needed. The final step was actually deciding what textual analysis I wanted to work with, which all depended on the type of Fanfiction I found.

Working Thesis Statement:
While professional adaptations of the Bard's works prove to be a great asset in teaching and analyzing Shakespeare, the true creative interpretations belong to the novice writers. It is they who will truly continue bringing a fresh outlook on William Shakespeare, using such diverse literary tools as fanfiction to achieve their means.

Annotated Sources:

http://search.proquest.com/docview/53706729?accountid=4488

• "Recent Shakespeare Adaptation and the Mutation of Cultural Capital"
• Lanier, Douglas. "Recent Shakespeare Adaptation and the Mutations of Cultural Capital." Shakespeare Studies 38 (2010): 104-13. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 29 Feb. 2012. 
• http://search.proquest.com/docview/855191414?accountid=4488
• The different methods used to adapt Shakespeare in film, especially from the nineties=a "rhizome"; adapting Shakespeare through graphic novels, focusing more on the visual than the textual. This will be a method of comparing professional film adaptations to the novice method found in Fanfiction. Found while searching the MLA International Bibliography site through personal research.
• "Not Not Shakespeare: Directorial Adaptation, Authorship, and Ownership"
• Mazer, Cary M. "Not Not Shakespeare: Directorial Adaptation, Authorship, and Ownership." Shakespeare Bulletin: A Journal of Performance Criticism and Scholarship 23.3 (2005): 23-42. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 29 Feb. 2012.
• http://search.proquest.com/docview/53706729?accountid=4488
• Questions the idea that adaptations of vast portions of Shakespeare no longer make it Shakespeare; uses the example of Shakespeare's R&J to explain the possible changes made to Shakespeare that would make it both the Bard's and the adapter's. The article will help prove the point that adaptation can be done by anyone, extending ownership beyond the boundaries of just Shakespeare. The resource was suggested to my by a former professor in Arizona, who is an expert on Shakespeare adaptation. He then led me to Proquest. 
• "The Real Thing? Adaptations, Transformations, and Burlesques of Shakespeare, Historic and Post-Modern"
• Draudt, Manfred. "The Real Thing? Adaptations, Transformations and Burlesques of Shakespeare, Historic and Post-Modern." Ilha do Desterro: A Journal of Language and Literature 49 (2005): 289-314. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 29 Feb. 2012.
• http://search.proquest.com/docview/53589014?accountid=4488
• Looking at the "burlesque" adaptation style found with Shakespeare productions; demonstrate the "blurring" of high and low in the representation of Shakespeare. A valid source that, based on the definition and explanation found within the article, proves that the 'low' variation of Shakespeare found within Fanfiction still stands as an adaptive style. This resource was also suggested to me by my former professor and found on Proquest.
• "Teens, Shakespeare, and the Dumbing Down Cliche: the Case of The Animated Tales"
• Colón Semenza, Gregory,M. "Teens, Shakespeare, and the Dumbing Down Cliché: The Case of the Animated Tales."Shakespeare Bulletin: A Journal of Performance Criticism and Scholarship 26.2 (2008): 37-68. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 29 Feb. 2012.
• http://search.proquest.com/docview/53503379?accountid=4488
• Suggests that the animated series is an adequate, insightful adaptation that educates and enlightens children and teens about works of Shakespeare rather than diminishing the Bard's work. It is relevant to the paper, because it is another piece of proof showing--by way of the animated series--that Shakespeare can be adapted to any level of literacy and still retain understanding. The source was found by way of a contact on Fanfiction, who'd been intriqued enough about a research paper involving fanfics to devote their own energies toward looking into the subject. They then provided the link to the article for me. 

Chit-Chat's Where It's At

So social proof about Shakespeare Fanfiction is a bit different that what you'd normally think to go on. While I do have a number of friends that DO read fanfics that I've known in my personal, REAL life, I didn't turn to them in this case. I mentioned--briefly, in passing, hoping that you wouldn't pay too much attention to that little detail--that I've also written and edited fanfics. Back-story to this happening is necessary, though I divulge it reluctantly.

I actually stumbled across Sailor Moon Fanfiction when I was... what, 11? 12? I know I was in junior high, because I remember sitting in my dad's computer lab at the school (He's the computer teacher, of course). I had actually been looking for the shows original SCRIPTS--because back then Youtube was banned in the schools and I wanted to reminisce about my childhood (my younger childhood) by getting caught back up in it. Little did I know, I actually stumbled upon OTHER people spinning their own yarns about it.

Well, I played the silent observer for a long while. I would read--I went from Sailor Moon to Harry Potter to Danny Phantom, and after that I lose track--rarely comment (which is a method available on most Fanfiction sites for reviewing a piece, just like any regularly published work), and, once I got an account, I would save my favorites (another option available on www.fanfiction.net) so that I could go back and reread them if I so chose. It wasn't until My last semester in eighth grade, two years after stumbling upon Fanfiction, that I got up the nerve to post my own story. Yes, I've read it since then. It was a complete joke, I've taken down, and no, you can't read it. I have also added other stories, however. If you're extra nice, I MIGHT give you my pen name so that you can go and check out the few things I still have up, though I've since started working on original works rather than Fanfiction.

Well, about a year and a half later, I became a beta. Beta, while a term familiar to most when thinking about testing out a project or app or game (etc.), is slightly different in the Fanfiction world. Essentially, it's an editor. You have the option of stating that you are willing to edit and pre-read for other authors before the post a completed work. You give your strengths, weaknesses, manner of editing, all that jazz. Now, you're required to have posted a number of stories and/or word count before you can become a beta, just so the potential author you'd be working with has a chance to see if you are actually a decent writer and know what they're dealing with stylistically and grammatically.

Well, I've done it all. With the many different ways that I interact on fanfiction.net, I had a ton of revenues to go through. As a reader and reviewer, I could directly talk to the authors of Shakespeare works and find out about other authors, leading me to new stories. As a writer, I knew a number of...I'll say fans, but they've become something more of lackies... that are willing to act as my scouts when I post on my bio page asking for help looking for Shakespeare references and story lines. And as an editor, I get the chance to look at works far ahead of time, meaning that, when I edit for one person on a Shakespeare work, they direct other people to me. Not only do I get insider knowledge, but I also help make the stories a bit more presentable. I won't use any of those as text examples in my paper, however.

It's difficult to explain or show examples about this social proof, just because the site is somewhat protected. Just because the works are Fanfiction doesn't mean they aren't pieces that authors have spent a fair amount of time on. For one, many authors end up rewriting their fanfics into actual, non-fanfic works that they'd like published. I know this for certain, because I've done it before. Also, much of it is about privacy. With my editting in particular, I can't post the conversations that I have with my 'clients' because it would break confidentiality,--not a law-breaking kind of thing, but definitely a moral-breaking thing. So, this is about all that I can say social proof wise. I will say this, though. One of my lackies was the one to lead me to The Seussification of Romeo and Juliet.


By the way, if you wanted to read that fanfic, you can go about it in two ways. One is you can do a general search at www.fanfiction.net (the search option will be up at the top at the main page) by typing in the complete title. Or, because I'm nice, I have it linked for you here: The Seussification of Romeo and Juliet. If you're really interested in Fanfiction, though, I recommend the search option. Just teaching you a new way to go about the site.

Peek Inside A Fanfic

I really want to do a textual analysis of a fanfic, just so that you get an idea of how it can be considered an adaptation. There are a few things to consider, however: fanfics are possibly the most singularly-creative works based UPON another person's subject. The author is allowed to come to whatever conclusion he or she likes, without having to base it upon any logical reasoning. Directors are able to do this to an extent, but because they have the set script they have to follow, they don't have as much leeway.

Also, there are DEFINITELY different ways to define a fanfiction. One of the options available on www.fanfiction.net that I love are the opportunities to pick a genre. The author has the choice of labeling the piece when it is first posted: different options available include hurt/comfort, horror, romance, family, a whole range that relate to the subject matter and/or tone of their piece. Quite frequently Shakespeare Fanfiction is based under the genre romance for Romeo and Juliet and angst for Hamlet. 


Also, there's some fanfiction slang that you might want to know. The author writes up a short (I believe it seventy-five words or less) summary about the work. These can be helpful--because you get an immediate sense of whether they know how to use a basic writing tool like SPELLING or GRAMMER--or harmful--because someone can be great at a quick, witty blurb and then totally blow it in the story. Most of the time they're helpful.

Anyways, slang. One important one to know is AU. This stands for Alternate Universe, meaning that the characters will be set in a different time and place, usually with a different story line, and can even change the age. A popular thing to do in Fanfiction is to place the characters in high school so that you get a lot of that extra hormonal-fueled drama.

Another is OOC. There's also IC, but the better authors are less likely to ever state this fact, so if it's in the summary or a note from the author in the beginning of a story, it's best to avoid it from the very beginning. As I was saying... OOC stands for Out of Character, meaning that the people being written about aren't going to be acting with the same personality that was originally given to them. Ginny-haters from Harry Potter are likely to make her vindictive, shallow, and self-absorbed (a agree with that analysis, but now isn't the time for that). Obviously, that's "out of character" with what Rowling wrote her to be.

There's a lot more slang involved in Fanfiction, and I'll probably teach you more as we go along, but for now let's stick with this. I told you AU just because it's the most common acronym found in fanfics,--a bit of knowledge if you're interested in looking into it (it's very cathartic for dealing with a plot line or ending to a show/book/movie etc. that you didn't like or left you feeling unfulfilled)--but OOC is relevant for the analysis I'm going to be performing with you.

The fanfic I've chosen is drabble length, and rather uncommon as it's not a poem but it's certainly not a prose piece. I'm certain you'll understand that confusing bit of logic once I give you the title: The Seussification of Romeo and Juliet. It's definitely an intriguing piece. So let's look at some of the information the author already provides us with:

• The two genres given to us about the piece are poetry and parody. That immediately tells us it's going to be more lighthearted than any original Shakespeare work. 
• It's rated K+ (I'll go into the rating system with you sometime later, but for now just know this: never read a rated M story. 'M' stands for 'mature', meaning INAPPROPRIATE CONTENT. On fanfiction.net it doesn't--usually--immediately show M stories (you select it under the ratings drop-down options) but if you do a general search it will. Don't read. I repeat, Don't Read. Rated K+ is safe . It's kind of the equivalent of a PG movie, meaning it's going to be kid-friendly. Also something not usually Shakespeare-ish, just because he's so complicated with the language. 

So with that under our belt, let's look at the fine details.  This is where the real anaylsis comes in.

•  The 'poem' is split into each of the acts, giving a general summary of each scene. 
• The 'acts' (stanzas) vary in length. Some are eight to ten lines, but another (when Juliet is talking to her mother) is only two. This means that the author is more interested in giving the big picture details. 
• The vocabulary is very NOT-Shakespeare. For instance, in referral to the ball that the Capulets host, the author uses the word--and I quote--'par-tay'. Also, one line refers to Juliet's 'boo', meaning Romeo. This is interesting in two ways--one, because word-play like this is very Seuss, meant to sound similar to 'beau'. Too, it's a very nickname-y, modern thing to do. 
• The work is further deconstructed by the author's casual nature. Even though the lines themselves very in length of syllables and rhythm, quite often Juliet is only called 'J'. Another modern, lowering feature. 
• The work breaks the 'fourth wall' in a few different instances. For example, when it speaks in the Act Four, Scene Two portion about Capulet marrying off his daughter, the final line says "Now Julie is worried 'bout the end of the play".
• The play on words is intriguing. For instance, the line about the Friar agreeing to marry the two young lovers calls Romeo a 'brood', which has two differing connotations. The first is the fact that he is the son of a prestigious family marrying a daughter of a prestigious family, making them each one of that well-known 'brood'. The second meaning, however, refers directly to Romeo's rather frequent moody behavior as a 'brood'. 
• Another characteristic is the author's use of nonsense words. There are plain wacky and silly occurrences, such as ' Tybalt-di-dybalt-di-dybalt-di-doo', 'boo-hoo', 'bumb-a-loon'.
• Finally, the most telling part that it is, indeed, a Fanfiction: The author has the liberty of changing the ending (a common occurrence in Shakespeare fanfics about the two star-crossed lovers). Just for fun--because I absolutely love the ending--I've included the entire last bit:

                   Everyone stares, baffled, as Juliet wakes,

                   And Tybalt and Mercutio! It was all a fake!

                  The families decide to end the silly feud.

                  (Sorry the ending is changed but the old one was crude.

                  A happier ending is quite due.

                  Well, now the story's over so "goodbye!" and "adieu!".

I don't know about you all, but this certainly seems like a clever adaptation to me. The author (who, as an author has the choice--and does so, in this case--to remain only under a pen name) took to completely different styles of writing, that of Dr. Seuss and Shakespeare, and combined it into one new tale. Also, he or she is completely original, because the rhyme pattern and syntax is just enough NOT-Seuss to make it her own work. 

Oh, and a side-note. Doesn't this seem a great way to teach children Shakespeare? Minus the inaccurate ending, of course. 

Following the Fanfiction

So for those of you who have no idea what Fanfiction is, be grateful. It means that you experienced a far less geeky, socially-neglected teenage-hood. For those of you who HAVE heard of it...you still probably had a far less geeky, socially-neglected teenage-hood. Don't worry.

But I supposed I owe a few explanations about what Fanfiction is and how it even correlates with Shakespeare. First and foremost, Fanfiction, or a fanfic, is an unpublished work (short story, drabble, novel, poem, or whatever piece of literature floats your boat) that uses characters and/or settings and/or plot ideas BORROWED from someone else. Think... someone writing a story based upon Harry Potter characters. It's obviously unpublished because attempting to have it sold is illegal via copyright laws. Fanfiction can also include any 'genre'. It can be based off of a movie (Inception is a popular one), an anime or manga (Sailor Moon or Inuyasha), a cartoon (Teen Titans), a comic (these can include anything from a Sunday newspaper comic like Garfield or a DC comic like Batman, although serialized comics like DC are usually covered under non-comic categories because of their likelihood of being turned into a cartoon or movie), a game (Mario Brothers), a play or musical (Seussical), a television series (Glee or Law and Order: SVU), or even something totally random. It can get (and generally does) get more complex than that, but I think I've loaded you down with too much information already. If you are interested in seeing a work of Fanfiction, I recommend going here:www.fanfiction.net. It is quite possibly the biggest retainer of Fanfiction open for others to read. Or, of course, you could always ask me for good details. If you so wanted, you could even tell me a category/tv show etc. that you'd be interested in, and I could ferret out a GOOD story for you to read. Because it's open to anyone, there are quite a few thrown-together, elementary students posting stories.

So how about Fanfiction and Shakespeare? Dr. Burton actually got me thinking about it way in the beginning of the school year--I don't remember how he found out I read it/wrote it/editted it, but he mentioned one of his previous students had done an entry in their eBook on Fanfiction--and it's definitely stuck with me. So, for fun, I decided to see if I could find anything that would be Shakespeare-y on fanfiction.net. What do you know, under 'Plays' it has an entire category just for the Bard! I went and scoped it out, and it's a lot of what I expected: rewrites of Romeo and Juliet, seperate musings from Hamlet meant to be a 'missed' moment from the play, modernized versions of Much Ado About Nothing. It took a bit of digging to find ones of actual quality (maybe one day I'll explain how I do so, but it's a bit to complex for an introductory session for Fanfiction at the moment), but I DID find some. Also, it's not hard to find stories under other categories (Glee especially) that borrow heavily from Shakespeare on ideas like star-crossed lovers and the like.

I don't know, my snooping around the different possibilities to be found within Fanfiction made me open my eyes. I've always known that Fanfiction is pretty much the ultimate form of adaptation, but I guess I didn't see it as a legitimate revenue to follow because it's done by amateur writers. It's certainly been an interesting project to consider.

Change of Plans

So it has become infinitely clear to me over the last five days that... I need to change my research paper. I had all of two pages written up about riddles before I realized that I had absolutely nothing less to say. Research and secondary sources were also nonexistent (making it had to have any sort of legitimate working argument) and so I've had to toss that plan into the scrap heap and start from scratch. Lucky, I have great sources and a completely nerdy history, so I came up with a Plan B. These next ba-gillion posts will be me going back and reworking practically everything, so please bare with me.

Cortnie

Progress Report

Progress Report: Phase 1 of Research Paper

I'm required to document my research and writing process for the Shakespeare research paper I'm doing this month. According to the assignment instructions, here are the components I must include. If I have met those requirements, I have included a link to a post or posts that document my efforts for that component:

Phase 1

Exploration   Reworking the Bard: Venice and Riddles

Textual Analysis   Reworking the Bard: Analyze the Riddle

Social Proof (finding)   Reworking the Bard: The Gathering of Riddles ,   Reworking the Bard: Facebook Is Not Just For Socially-Acceptable Stalk...

Phase 2

Performance Analysis   planning to watch: Batman Forever, The Maori Merchant of Venice, and Shakespeare's Merchant

Annotated Bibliography   open to research

Digital media and online resources   open to research

Social Proof (contacting)   open to research

Phase 3

"Tweethis" statement

Posted draft with peer interaction

Evaluation of a peer's draft

Analyze the Riddle

I've come to realize that, while I've posted about first being intrigued about the riddle, and even finding the social revenues of continuing riddle research, I have never done any analysis myself. Well, that seems foolish, considering I will need to analyze the riddles in order to come up with a working thesis. And while I'm still going back and forth about IF I want to do riddles--there's a chance I might do something about fanfiction, which, because I haven't gone into what fanfiction is yet, that probably makes no sense to you--I still want to at least take a little while to scrutinize the riddles.

So, in The Merchant of Venice, there are (as you know) three riddles. There are also three reasons for choosing a riddle revenue and three riddle answers, but for now I just want to focus on the original riddles themselves. In order to remind us all, I've bullet-ed them here.

• "Who chooseth me shall gain what men desire." -- Gold
• "Who so chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves." -- Silver
• "Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath." -- Lead

When I first started reading these, I had two thoughts. To make it simple, I'll break it into two different analyses. One will focus on word play, while the other will focus on (woman's) common sense.

So, word play... I focused on three separate words in the riddles: gain, get, and give. The way I looked at it, I saw three distinct interpretations, which then pointed to whether they were the correct answer or not. First, look at gain and get: I suppose one would think, looking at these, that it seems the logical choice. They are trying to receive (i.e., get or gain) a wife. But they are also limiting: By gaining something, or getting something, you have set the relationship on unequal ground--you haven't done anything to demonstrate YOUR commitment. Give, on the other hand, demonstrates a level of care and devotion. One may be hesitant to GIVE away something when he is not certain of a return, but (generally speaking) giving tends to lead to something better. Just by looking at these words, one would think the answer would be clear. 

But it that's a little chancy, I also looked at the riddles in a second way: the logical way. IF (And I suppose I am making some presumptions here, because I'm thinking of today's equivalent of a good father and a good marriage) a father is forced to give away his father, wouldn't he want the best care for her? By making his daughter a desire, he limits the amount of time she will be wanted. Bodies age, after all. Men can be flighty, and lose desire for something they are supposed to love if something younger and 'more desirable' comes along. By making his daughter something a man deserves, no one would ever get her! In a father's mind and heart, no one is ever good enough for his daughter. But by making his daughter valuable enough to be given everything for, it requires the potential husband to PROVE that the daughter is worth more than the world. Then, and only then, would a father possibly be willing to let his daughter go. 

But again, this is looking something from a woman's dreamy, idealist perspective. Things might have been different for Shakespeare. But that's the good thing about literature and dead people: in the end, it doesn't matter what they intended anymore. They're dead, they have no say. And we have the power to believe and state whatever we wish to, meaning that no thesis is a wrong thesis. So there.

Facebook Is Not Just For Socially-Acceptable Stalking

I've been TRYING to do this thing called social proof that Dr. Burton is so hyped up on, but I've run into a minor problem: I have little respect and/or need for social media websites. Over the years, I have acquainted myself with only two sites: Facebook, and blogger. Not surprisingly, I had to be forced into both. I've had my version of each before these, but I would only check Facebook maybe once a month, and my blog was less about interacting with people and more about keeping myself on track with my writing.

So what a change this has been! In order to get my social proof (a lot of which is happening over the phone and through email, which are still waiting for information) I've had to become a Facebook ninja, stalking it every hour or so to see if there is new information. Blogger...well, I'm still working on being social in THAT aspect.

But enough of my gripping! I wanted to post that I at least have a bit of progress on my riddle-research. I sent out a general wall post asking for riddle-info found in popular media and literature (new and old) and I've had quite the response. A lot of it was circulating back to my own ideas (Harry Potter, The Hobbit, etc), but some good stuff came out of it. One that I can think of right off the bat is fairy-tales. I have a friend bringing me a book on the OLD ones (I think even before Grimm) that have a lot of riddles in them. I also have a favorite forever-teacher of mine letting me borrow a book of children's rhymes from the Elizabethan period. Not exactly was I was looking for--I want proof that riddles help push plot, and stand-alone riddles don't do much in that regard--but something interesting to look into anyways. I have a few other sources, but I figured I'd post a few pictures of some of the wall-post and responses to stand as part of my proof.

(Also, just for fun, I've posted a complete-nonsense, nothing-to-do-with-my-research video that adequately explains my view on social media sites. Enjoy!)

From the Spectator's Seat

I've decided I don't like it. Sitting in the audience during a play, that is. There were so many times when I just wanted to jump up and change EVERYTHING!

                  ^Everyone else ^                     ^Me^         

                   in the audience                                                     

I think part of my frustration was stemming from the fact that it was aimed to reach the kids. I know that a bunch of you loved BYU's Merchant of Venice for that very reason, but it drove me bonkers. Maybe it's because I've only done serious plays and/or serious(ly evil) characters; all I really know is I had a hard time taking in the play with any sort of enjoyment. And considering how much I love Shakespeare's plays (I've been in at least a dozen), that's a pretty weighty statement.

But I suppose there needs to be something enlightening about the performance--other than my utter detest of it. I've decided, to keep MYSELF invested in the post, to comment on the acting. In order to do so, however, there are a few technical "actor" terms you might need to know to understand what I'm saying.

1. Objective: the overriding WANT/GOAL that the character has driving him. Must go through another character.

2. Tactic: a method/mean by which the character attempts to get his objective fulfilled. Better to go through another character.

So with those two definitions in mind, let me explain what I saw, mostly in the Narrator. She was, by far, the only non-detestable character in the entire show (which is ironic, considering the play doesn't call for a narrator). I say this because she had to play so many different parts. In the midst of playing each of these changing roles, she also had to keep track of each character's objective(s), as well as what tactics that character would use based on his or her established personality. The fact that she could switch from being peeved to mischievous to gloomy (and not necessarily in that order, or with those certain emotions) was... I suppose a close enough word is amusing. She, more than anyone, was directed towards the children, but she also pulled a number of 'adult' traits out of her hat for a few of her various roles. I wish that some of the other characters had been that well-rounded (Yes, I am talking about how whiny and silly Portia was).

I don't know, perhaps I'm biased. I have been happier (surprisingly) looking up scholarship for Hamlet and riddles than I was sitting in that theatre seat. Topics, of course, that I intend to address within the next few posts. Til tomorrow! ©Cortnie

Like the Ocean Waves

I've decided that I'm a visual person. I learn better when I watch someone else demonstrate what to do, I respond to visual images more so than music (for instance, I cry at a drop of a hat watching a music video, but very rarely get emotional just listening to a song), and I have to physically write something done--and thus see it--in order to remember it. And now it correlates to audio books, as well.

Listening to Hamlet was far more frustrating than reading it or ''watching'' the action in the (not a) manga. I know that might seem weird, considering how strange some of the words in the play are. But when I read I don't really SEE the words, I see the pictures the words seem to morph into. Just listening was hard because I didn't have anything to turn into a picture.

This would be me, listening to the audio book.

In fact, I found myself distracted from the play more than I was involved in it. This might be because I use things like ''soundtracks'' and dialogue to do homework to--I turn a movie on in the background when I do homework, because if I turn on music I HAVE to sing and thus get distracted, but movies have sound that I can tune out. Still, it became a problem. My brain seemed to think ''oh, background noise, time to think of other stuff'' and I'd spend almost an entire act plotting out my next chapter for my novel or reviewing for an ASL test. Then, when my head finally woke up, I'd have to go all the way back, wasting even more of my time.

I don't know, audio books seem like a good fit for some people. For one, you can get the idea of character voices. But if you are going to have one person read, why not have each character read by a different person? And if you are going to have different people read, why not act it out? If you're acting it out, why not film it? And then you're right back to the visual aspect that I so love. Hmmm.... I'm going in circles. Hopefully I'll have more luck with other Shakespeare mediums. There are so many ways to make new adaptations with art, after all. Til tomorrow! ♥Cortnie

The (So Not A) Manga Hamlet

Yes, it is I: the manga-reading, convention-going, anime-watching geek from class, talking about the (so not a) manga version of Hamlet. I decided to go for some of the classic artwork, so I picked the version drawn by Adam Sexton and Tintin Pantoja (picture to the left of the cover art if you aren't sure what I'm talking about). Just for some random manga information, when I say classic, I'm talking about the style of character drawing, meaning the large eyes (Hamlet actually looks somewhat normal on the cover, now that I look at it) and especially the narrow, elongated jaw.

So why do I keep saying not a manga? Well, here are a few more common manga facts: 1. The book is read from 'backwards' to 'forwards' (if you are thinking a typical English book), and from left to right going down. Here's a simple example of the order in which to read a manga page--->

What about manga artwork? Well, there's some leniency (for example, many manga artists--called artists, not authors--are moving away from the typical jaw-and-colorful hair shtick) but a few things are still quite universal. The drawing of men, for instance, is usually kept so they appear mostly emotionless (unless they're meant to be gay, in which case their expressions are usually overly dramatic and flamboyant). Their 'expressions' are communicated through external means, usually a universal sign--a 'sweat drop' can mean exasperated or worried, while a # sign on their forehead means they are extremely peeved or annoyed--or even the kanja (Japanese 'word') in an 'unbubbled' area of the current action space. 

Well, if that makes up a manga, why am I so frustrated? IT'S NOT A FREAKIN' MANGA!!! Or, it is a VERY loosely based-upon manga. It's formatted as a common American book (meaning left front cover to back right, and read from left to right). The one thing I'll say is that the artwork at least stays up to some Japanese manga styles. Also, I was pleased to see that it was written in the actual Shakespearean language. I say this because I've seen both manga and anime (Japanese animation, a.k.a. cartoons) interpreting Shakespeare works, and they usually 'update' the language so that it appeals to a wider audience. Now, I will admit that I've mostly seen this done with Romeo and Juliet (anyone else not surprised?), and never with Hamlet, but it is still a relevant factor to reading THIS media and specific version. 

In the end it was an interesting read. Even I, the experience manga reader, had a bit of trouble the first few pages. That was mostly because I had trouble deciphering who was saying what line, however. Once I was accustomed to the artist's preferred method of showing who was saying what, it was easy as pie. It became an easy read, as well, because with all manga I tend to sit and read, unblinking, until I've finished the entire volume. (I say volume because I have easily gone through an entire 18 volume series in one day, moving only because I had to go pick up the next one from of the shelf). 

So I've basically just revealed to you how much of a TOTAL geek I am, but I hope you've learned something. Also, if you want a bit of information about graphic novels vs. comic books (as I felt out during our discussion today), this link http://www.absurdintellectual.com/2009/04/24/graphic-novels-vs-comic-books/ will take you to a (I think it's a blog post) entry that clearly and simply breaks down the difference between the two. That way you will have adequate knowledge between the three different styles: manga, graphic novel, and comic book. Til tomorrow! ©Cortnie

Some Hammy Humor with Hamlet

I know I've been pretty much nonexistent on the blogging sphere lately, but what with one of the worst migraines of my life I couldn't justify causing myself greater pain just to stare at a computer screen in order to  post anything. I am (nearly) fully recovered, however, so I thought I'd hop back on the train. I have quite a bit to post--my roommates were so wonderful that they would read aloud articles on Shakespeare and Riddles and other miscellaneous tidbits (including a number of children's ditties) while I sat in a batcave-like dark bedroom, and I also need to update about reading my manga Hamlet and seeing the Merchant--but for tonight I wanted to start with something a little fun, just to get me in the mood of posting once more. So, without further ado, I present you two of my favorite things sharing the limelight together: Shakespeare, and THE MUPPETS!!!

Interview with William Shakespeare

 

Veterinarian's Hospital -- Shakespeare Jokes

Christopher Reeves, Hamlet, and Brush Up Your Shakespeare 

They're cute and funny and the Muppets, but it just goes to show that any manner of modern media can find its own way of interpreting and adapting Shakespeare. Until tomorrow! --Cortnie