(no subject)

[chelseagirl]

I'm finding myself unable/unwilling to articulate my feelings about the Zimmerman verdict on the page except to express deep sadness at the brokenness of our country. Since we've been looking at both jury trials and racial (and gender and economic) injustice in my law/lit summer classes, I'm hoping for some interesting discussions in class today/tomorrow (one of my classes meets MTWTh just this month, the other has been going on longer and meets TWTh).

It seems inappropriate to mix that with anything happy, but I went to see Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing yesterday evening, and I am strongly in favor. I don't think it's the best Shakespeare ever, but it was visually just delightful, and the naturalistic approach really worked, and it was tremendous fun to see various members of the Whedon Stock Company in the various roles. I see why Nathan Fillion got raves as Dogberry -- usually a seriously annoying role, but he made it genuinely amusing, and Tom Lenk, who's always been among my least favorite of the Whedon Players, did really well as his second in command (Verges, right?). Hero is a thankless cipher of a role, but Jillian Morgese did as well with it as she could. She acts mostly with her eyes, not her voice, which is appropriate for the role. I wouldn't have imagined casting Fran Kranz in a romantic role, but he was perfectly adequate; Claudio again is a limited role, and the whole problematic Hero/Claudio plot is what the audience sits through to get back to Beatrice and Benedick . . .

Which is where my inner fangirl came out to play. Casting Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof felt like an apology to fans who've suffered through Fred dying in Wesley's arms and then Wesley in Illyria's. (Again and again on DVD, since being a Jossverse/Buffyverse fan involves a certain amount of masochism, I think.) There's so much in that second half of the final season of Angel that just wrecks me. The reviewers are right in citing Acker as the strongest performance, but I found Denisof more than adequate as Benedick, as well -- he handled the banter and the physical comedy especially well, but I believed him at the end, too, even if it was partly the fangirl in me wanting these two performers to play characters with a happy ending, finally.

I don't buy much on DVD anymore, but this, definitely.

Comments

Claudio(us)

[executrix.livejournal.com]

Did someone named Claude owe Shakespeare a lot of money, or what?

Fran Kranz was the Man of the Match for me--I hated Claudio, of course, but for the first time I actually *cared* what happened to him.

I really, really hope that ballerina lamp doesn't actually belong to Joss' kids, it's AWFUL.

Re: Claudio(us)

[chelseagirl.livejournal.com]

*g*

I thought/hoped they probably exaggerated the girliness of the room for comic effect. Or it was a gift from a dear but clueless great aunt? Mostly, though, I was impressed by how much I liked the house, especially as I'm not particularly a fan of the California aesthetic most of the time.

Re: Claudio(us)

[executrix.livejournal.com]

I fully expected the ballerina's mouth to open showing the triple row of fangs.

And I missed the Deformed Thief, Fashion!

Re: Claudio(us)

[chelseagirl.livejournal.com]

*g* again . . .

Speaking of girliness, loved the dresses . . .

[bethynyc.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad that you got to see it! I thought you would enjoy it, and I'm another one who is eagerly looking forward to the DVD.

[chelseagirl.livejournal.com]

It was a delight.

I just wish the DVD was listed so I could wishlist it now. It's obviously going to sell a lot better on DVD than it will bring people into theaters, especially with the limited release.

[silme.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you liked it!!! Much Ado, I mean, not the trial outcome. Stupid Florida and its stupid laws and stupid racism. *sigh*

[chelseagirl.livejournal.com]

My friend Jessica posted something on Facebook which has me thinking, though. There is no Stand Your Ground law in New York, thank god, but there have been some notorious cases in this area (Amadou Diallo, Sean Bell, etc.) in the not-too-far-off past. Not to mention the way stop-and-frisk is administered by the NYPD. And we are the notorious liberals of the nation.

Something is really broken. And I don't think it's just in the US, even, much less just in Florida.

[silme.livejournal.com]

I was saddened when Colorado's Make My Day passed in the 1980s, but at least it only concerns uninvited/forced entrance to a house -- not someone walking about on the street.

But, yes, racial profiling is used all over. You're black? You're a bit darker skinned than most whites and you have a beard? Etc. The probable spark of the 'riots' over here in August 2011: Mark Duggan's murder -- with police officers claiming he'd shot at them first, but the evidence didn't support that assertion. :(

Maybe it's because I was raised by a woman who was raised Quaker, but I just don't understand guns and people's love of them. :(

[chelseagirl.livejournal.com]

Hey, my dad even had a hunting rifle -- not that he ever used it, he got it when he was a teen to try to fit in with his dad and older brother -- and I still don't get it. Eric and I would get on him to get rid of it, until we realized as long as he owned it, it would never even be assembled, much less used. He definitely didn't own any ammo, either. Unfortunately, at some point he did sell it, I recently found out.

Gun culture is one thing that's definitely worse here, that's for certain -- although, again, also in some other parts of the world, too. But the association of guns and freedom, I will never understand.

[jennetj.livejournal.com]

I saw Much Ado for the second time yesterday and liked it even better on second viewing. I have the same problem I always have with contemporary stagings of Much Ado, and that's the idea that Hero would accept Claudio back (it's why I loved the Shakespeare Retold with Damian Lewis and Billie Piper - she basically tells Claudio to take a hike), but on a second viewing saw a touch of steel in Hero at the very end that made it a bit more palatable. And I thought most of the cast was perfect in their roles.

[chelseagirl.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I have that Shakespeare Retold DVD -- and am interested in seeing Damian Lewis in another role now that I've watched Homeland -- I'll have to check it out.

It's such a strange play because Beatrice and Benedick seem like such a . . . modern? . . . couple and Hero and Claudio quite the opposite.