Much Ado About Nothing |
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| Name of Work | Much Ado About Nothing | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Production Date | 1993 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Media Types | film | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| General Notes | This film has superb production values, and the art director, costumer designer, cinematographer, etc. etc. deserve praise in integrating this into a grand visual experience of lightness and joy in an idyllic setting. I found this a difficult artwork to categorize as to "Thematic" or "Experiential". I was inclined to make it Thematic because I found it extremely pleasurable visually. But on the idea that perceptual pleasure alone is not enough to make an artwork have a overarching deep idea, I decided to put it in Experiential. It is at the high end of Experiential, it offers great delight and pleasure. But in combination with the zany comedy aspects, I found it hard to claim it had any serious theme. Not that "serious" has to be troubled, or dramatic or difficult, since a story with great happiness and love can be a serious theme and thus Thematic, but the basic fact of how much a silly comedy this work was intended to be, I think it needed to go in Experiential. Not that I couldn't make some argument for putting it in Thematic, so this is a work that could be a classic "borderline case". | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Description
A story of love and a beauteous place, interrupted by a touch of malevolence. An idyllic world of privileged leisure is presented at the estate of Leonato. The men return from a war, and poetry, merriment and love ensues. But Don John, a bastard brother of the prince is intent of making everyone miserable, because he is. He engineers to convince Claudio and his brother that Claudio's betrothed (Hero) has been de-flowered and thus is not deserving of marriage. Meanwhile two sharp-tongued proto-lovers, Beatrice (Thompson) and Benedick (Branagh) wage verbal war at each other, but are connived by others in the household to show their true feeling for each other. The plot to sully Hero's reputation is eventually uncovered by the idiot sheriff (Keaton), and Don John is banished for his evil methods. Happiness and merriment reigns again.
Theme
Emotional Sum or Sense-of-life
Sweetness and light and beauty are what the world is made of.
Context Information
Tags
comedy
