COLLECTION: Hamlet Allusions/Retellings

[Ryan Goble]

This post is a place to collect Hamlet teaching reources & Allusions. The post was started in 2009 and updated March 5, 2015 to include many suggestions from MC POPPERS below.

RETELLINGS

My favorite loose retelling of Hamlet is the film Strange Brew. After that you've got to love the Simpson's Hamlet (with some Homer thrown in) "Tales from the Public...

Hamlet in 7 Disney Movies

This American Life Act V
We devote this entire episode to one story: Over the course of six months, reporter and TAL contributor Jack Hitt followed a group of inmates at a high-security prison as they rehearsed and staged a production of the last act—Act V—of Hamlet.

PBS’s New Shakespeare Uncovered Series / Hamlet with David Tennant

Song Parodies -> "Shakespearean Pie" - Lyrics / Music

Veggie Tales does a version of Hamlet called "Omelet" - "Lyle the Kindly Viking" - summary/ video

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (the whole film from the Tom Stoppard play works but here are clips)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi3on5AKym0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LO4EQcMR2Q

Reduced Shakespeare Company Hamlet - Pt. 1, 2, 3 & 4 and on DVD The Reduced Shakespeare Company - The Complete Works of William Sha... (Abridged)

Hamlet 2 not totally OK to show the whole film in class. Just clips!

This little gem from Sesame Street Monsterpiece Theater is priceless:

Hamlet Goes Business (1987)
Having tackled Dostoevsky with his first feature, Finnish malcontent Aki Kaurismäki confronted Shakespeare with his fourth: the somewhat clueless son of a deceased business magnate is visited by his father’s ghost and, finally, given something to do. Lusciously shot in black and white and edited with the crisp pace of a B-movie, Hamlet Goes Business is remarkably faithful to its source—albeit rendered in Kaurismäki’s trademark deadpan style. The final act, in which Hamlet re-stages his version of The Murder of Gonzago, is one of the comic highpoints of the director’s career.

InstaHamlet Video @ The New York Times

BOOKS

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
Hamlet: The 30-Minute Shakespeare
How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare
Shakespeare's Hamlet: The Manga Edition Manga Shakespeare: Hamlet
Hamlet (No Fear Shakespeare Graphic Novels)
Folger Library's Shakespeare Set Free Series - Hamlet
YA BOOK "The Total Tragedy of a Girl Named Hamlet"

LESSON PLANS / RESOURCES

“To Be Or Not To Be”: Close Reading Hamlet’s Soliloquy(Folger Library)
Enter Players: Pre-reading Hamlet (Folger Library)
A Guilty Gertrude: Performing Spoken and Silent Moments in Hamlet (Folger Library)
Paparazzi Shakespeare: Ophelia’s Madness Revealed!(Folger Library)
Teaching Shakespeare with the New York Times Learning Network (woza collection)

Thy Name Is Woman- “To be or not to be a female Hamlet - that is still the question."

GENERAL RESOURES THAT INCLUDE HAMLET RETELLINGS- MOSTLY BOOKS

ShrinkLits: Seventy of the World's Towering Classics Cut Down to Size
Ophelia Joined the Group Maidens Who Don't Float: Classic Lit Signs...
Twitterature: The World's Greatest Books in Twenty Tweets or Less plus an NPR interviewwith the author.
Infographic Guide to Literature (Infographic Guides)
Texts from Jane Eyre: And Other Conversations with Your Favorite Li...
Tales from Shakespeare Paperback(these are amazing 4 page comics of shakespeare plays - a hybrid children’s book / comic)
More Tales from Shakespeare

Calvin & Hobbes anyone?


Please share your favorite Hamlet retellings/allusions below so we can add them to the list! 

Ryan:)

[Jennifer Lee]

It isn't Hamlet "straight up" but, I love Tom Stoppard's play Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern are Dead which tells the Hamlet story from these minor characters' point of view.

It was made into a movie with Gary Oldman and Tim Roth in the leads as well as Richard Dreyfuss as The Player whose character is featured heavily in this version.

Here's one clip - the leads try to make sense of Hamlet's story (in 20 seconds or less)


And another showcasing Hamlet and Polonius (and the weirdness that is soliliquizing)...

[Alan Teasley]

Well, it's not my favorite (that would be R&G Are Dead), but it's the weirdest: Disney's The Lion King.

[Ryan Goble]

Weirder than Strange Brew?

[Patricia Cone]

I think there is a video (and a Fringe play) called The Complete Works of Shakespeare in 90 Minutes. They do Hamlet forwards AND backwards.

[Ryan Goble]

Oh yeah, That's right - I mentioned in the MacBeth post that the Reduced Shakespeare Company does a wonderful short Hamlet - you can buy this on DVD or watch the clip here...

Also, I forgot to mention Hamlet 2 - this film is written by a former South Park Writer. When I saw it in the theatre this fall I remember thinking there is no way you could use this film in its entirety in a class due to Super-R content - however, there are lots of wonderful very teachable clips in the film that make it worthwhile and funny to watch or buy the whole film. Trailer here:

[Jasmine Tyler]

Ryan,

These are fabulous. Where did you get the "rights" or these copies? Who do I contact for them?

Veggie Tales does a version of Hamlet called "Omelet" and changes some of the story to be more about sharing.... but students like it.

I also use Calvin & Hobbe's "To be or not to be..." comic as a introduction.

[Ryan Goble]

Jasmine,

Well, first off all these clips are out there on the web - if they are in violation of any copyright issues the copyright holders can pull them off-line. Since this is a password protected website dealing with media literacy, education and pop culture we're safely in the fair use zone. For more on this see Dr. Renee Hobbs Renee Hobbs work at Temple's Media Education Lab she wrote a nice short overview on fair use for NCTE and has a monster website at Temple that includes the Code of Best Practices for Fair Use in Media Literacy Education.

Glad you liked the resources everyone has put up and I know at least one other teacher (at my school) LOVED your C & H comic. You know it is awesome that you attached. You might also consider uploading jpegs into your discussion by clicking the camera icon above your comments so that it just comes up right away in the post for everyone to see.

Might be worth a try?

Thanks for sharing your stuff and glad you liked the thread!

RRG:)

[Ryan Goble]

More Hamlet

Hamlet Goes Business / Hamlet liikemaailmassa
Series: The Bard Goes Global: Shakespeare on the International Screen
Director: Aki Kaurismäki, Country: Finland, Release: 1987, Runtime: 86

Having tackled Dostoevsky with his first feature, Finnish malcontent Aki Kaurismäki confronted Shakespeare with his fourth: the somewhat clueless son of a deceased business magnate is visited by his father’s ghost and, finally, given something to do. Lusciously shot in black and white and edited with the crisp pace of a B-movie, Hamlet Goes Business is remarkably faithful to its source—albeit rendered in Kaurismäki’s trademark deadpan style. The final act, in which Hamlet re-stages his version of The Murder of Gonzago, is one of the comic highpoints of the director’s career.

[Jeannean Berglund]

THere is also a work called the 15 minute Hamlet (I'll look up more info when I return from break). If you have a few comedic hams in your class, give them that script, some crayons, paper, scissors, and a few old sheets and turn them loose. It's quite hysterical to see Hamlet turned into a comedy.

Also, my favorite retelling is The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. I LOVE this book!

[Ryan Goble]

You and Oprah, eh :) Thanks for sharing!! Do tell us more on the 15 minute Hamlet when you return from break!

In the meantime have a wonderful holiday - it is great to have you here!

Ryan:)

[Megan Allen]

I was going to say this would be a great opener for class after looking at it to get them interesting in Hamlet. If you think about it all of Shakespeare's stories are retold over and over, so why not introduce the class to something they commonly watch like The Simpsons or The Lion King. I think this would be interesting.

As fo rmy favoirte retelling it's The Lion King. I know it's odd and strage but it's my favorite.

[Ryan Goble]

Megan, Thanks for writing! These things tend to be nice "during reading" activities - I think, so that students don't resort to cliff notes and spark notes right away it is always good to do pre-reading like:

Shakespeare's Hamlet: The Manga Edition
Manga Shakespeare: Hamlet
Hamlet (No Fear Shakespeare Graphic Novels)

or - my personal fav (because they are incredible four page summaries) Tales from Shakespeare (Paperback)

or, check out the blog about these incredible Classical Comics from the UK:

GRAPHIC NOVEL SERIES: The British Invasion of Classical Comics