This weekend I watched a film entitled The Legend of the Black Scorpion or the Banquet. There were many things that stood out to me in this film - and many in part because of the things we have been considering in class. The film is a reference to Hamlet- with some of the plot aspects changed and characters adapted in various ways - but non-the-less connecting to the essence of Shakespeare's play.
So here was a film that looked at the story of a western author - and placed it in an ancient made up world in china. Having just watched some Butoh performances I was excited by the opening sequence that took place in an outdoor theatre amidst nature. The performers were all in white with white masks and the "dance" that was shown in this setting was a dance of death as the performers were killed by the kings men. The beauty of the scene was amazing. I kept thinking about our conversations of death and beauty as this scene brought both together.
Even though this was not a Japanese film I was struck by the strong visual images and the physical aspects of Japanese theatre that we had considered. (And even in many of their disagreements there are strong connections between these two cultures in their theatre worlds).
A film that looks at the consequences of desire and death is often a film that finds darkness and "decay" in our Western films - and yet the beauty of this film was breathtaking. The set, costumes, and fight scenes are filled with grace and beauty that reminded me of a ballet.
I know the story of Hamlet - yet watching it in this way was a reminder of some of the themes and parts of the story that I hadn't considered before. The poetry of the interpretation allowed me to consider a story so common to our western world in new light and enjoy the process of this film.
What struck me was that regardless of the culture, being consumed by your desires will drive you to death no matter where you live. Whether Hamlet is set in England or China - the desire for power with no balance leads to death - the desire for revenge leads to death.
As I grow to love the abstract and poetic nature of Asian Theatre I was again reminded that sometimes an image or movement opens the door for discussion and imagination in ways that words are sometimes inadequate for. Sometimes a picture of dance tells the story in a more holistic way that when we confine it merely to words. Watching films like this causes me to want to explore the possibilities of using movement and visuals in new ways in performance. I highly recommend this film - especially in light of conversations this semester.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0465676/
1 comment:
What an interesting film! Have you talked to Rinda about maybe adapting her version of Hamlet into a newer form for your thesis? I know you are more dance oriented so this might be a prime opportunity for you to begin to explore cross-cultural connections to text. Just a thought.
I also thought about the question that we have been proposing this entire time about the integrity of a script within other cultures and who owns it. I also realized that we tend to allow people to adapt, change, augment, reorder, and "culturalize" any script as long as it has nothing to do with national heritage or religion.
Is it because in other cultures that theatre is a ritualistic religous experience that they get more upset about other cultures adapting their work? In conjunction I think of Barbara Ann Teer's work at the National Black Theatre. It is very much a ritual/religious experience, however I do not think that it would bother her to have some of her work adapted to other countries. What constitutes problematic theatre?
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