hi I just found your blog because of your answer about reading and enjoying Shakespeare. I was wondering if you would like to "rage against whedon’s 2013 travesty" in greater detail?
a lot of it comes down to interpretation. i interpret much ado as a comedy. whedon clearly interprets it as something akin to a soap opera mixed with a superbowl commercial. i don’t really know what he was going for, but he seemed to believe that shakespeare’s beautiful iambs were best shat out in monotone the same way one would speak to an associate at the DMV when one is having trouble getting one’s license renewed. no one in the cast or crew (save for nathan fillion whose comedic instincts overrode whatever apparent vendetta whedon has against shakespeare insofar that he’s willing to destroy one of the few perfect things that exist in this world) seemed to have any history acting or directing a shakespeare play, and their “we have a weekend to do something, what can we try that is in the public domain” mentality was apparent. watching whedon’s much ado about nothing felt a lot like eating a soggy peanut butter and jelly sandwich: familiar and digestible, but at what cost?
once, i drunkenly chucked a copy of much ado at my friend and told her to read a line, any line, and i would see if i could remember the next, considering i’d watched it on a loop for nearly two months. i butchered nearly all of it, but we still managed a better performance than whedon did.