Mariam-Much Ado About Nothing ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing nearly tumbled me off of the Shakespeare wagon. I almost tapped out. I almost thought I hallucinated that I liked the last couple of Shakespeare's. It was a rough two hours. 

But backing up. 

Easy, breezy listen. The internet told me if I couldn't find a Folger audio then to try Arkangel and it was a good recommendation.  It's not the funniest thing I've ever read, but it was good. I had NO idea why Don Jon, the bastard prince was ruining innocents' marriages except *villainy* but no matter. Being illegitimate seems to be motivational enough in Shakespeare. The comedy of the watchmen and the constable went totally over my head too. But I laughed out loud in the scene where Benedick overhears his friends saying that Beatrice loves him and his great conversion from adamant bachelor to deciding "the world must be peopled." Such a humanitarian, that Benedick. I give the audio a 3 stars.

No Great Courses lecture for this one. 

We decided to go with the Joss Whedon one. 2 stars. I was bored and I watched it in 20 minute increments. Here are my criticisms as best as I remember it. Black and white film for no reason that I could tell. The delivery was flat and one-dimensional. (I didn't understand this until I watched the Branagh version.) 

Beatrice was man-hating at all times including at the most inappropriate times. She didn't even make it sound like she was joking. Couldn't stand her, to be honest. 

Claudio, a giant red flag. He was incredibly insecure and expressed all of those insecurities as anger. So unattractive. 

Nathan Fillion as Dogberry was the best character by far. The rest of the characters felt like they'd were trying to make an Elizabethan social setting relate to modern times and failing. Nathan Fillion made it feel like an inept cop is a timeless joke. 

The "Remember, I am an ass" running joke was great. 

Missy recommended I watch the Branagh. I was not enthusiastic but I decided to give it a try. It was wonderful. 4 stars.

Emma Thompson as Beatrice made her much more likeable. She was deprecating enough that when she said all of those man-hating things, you knew she meant it half as a joke and half that joke was pointed at herself. 

Claudio was insecure but he expressed it not only as anger but as hurt and a fair amount of giving up. There was anger too but it was clear that Don Jon worked him up into it. 

The romance between Beatrice and Benedick was sweet and not just slapstick as in the Whedon. When they made their speeches after discovering the other "loved" them, you felt that all their bravado around singlehood had been hiding a vulnerability about being loved. 

Also great cast. Young Denzel Washington!

Keanu Reeves, as his brother! I still do not know why Don Jon was up in arms against his brother, but Keanu Reeves convinced me that whatever it was, it deserved cold fury.

I had several discussions with Missy about servants and hierarchy, the historical accuracy of the costumes (fairly accurate it seems), but I'll share the one about false accusations here. I was most indignant after watching both movies at how easily Claudio and Don Pedro were able to falsely accuse Hero and then suffer no consequences.

Perhaps it is my Muslim understanding, but in Islamic law, the amount of evidence required to bring a charge of sexual immorality is so massive, and the consequences for a false or unprovable accusation so severe, that it is actually meant to discourage making such accusations even if you are correct--much less willy nilly making false accusations in a public setting and then reciting a poem in atonement when you're wrong. 

Missy reminded me of the women as chattel in Shakespeare's time. It was however, she mentioned a litigious time. People sued a lot, even women, but a man had to do it on behalf of a woman and Hero's dad who seemed a little suspicious of his own wife's fidelity and immediately believed the worst of his daughter, was clearly not the man to do so.

My modern sensibilities want to believe that Shakespeare was pointing out social wrongs, but Missy corrected me. No, this was normal back then and people would have just found it funny, maybe sweet.

Next: Romeo and Juliet. We are choosing between Zeffirelli:

And a modern version with guns and Leonardo DiCaprio:

I, of course know what the story is about. Angsty teenagers led to extremes because of bad decisions made by the adults. I imagine it was the Titanic of Shakespeare's time.