Macbeth by william shakespear
Macbeth by william shakespearMacbeth by William Shakespeare Year 10 GCSE English Coursework: Media
Compare the two films of Macbeth. How do they differ and in what ways are they similar? Which film do you prefer and why?
William Shakespeare wrote Macbeth the play. Many directors in their own style have interpreted this play. I will be comparing two films played by different directors. Different directors make the two films. The two films are based on the same story but the differences occur in the way each director has interpreted the text. The traditional style of Macbeth was done by Roman Polanski and the modern version was done by Penny Woolcock. The traditional version was made in 1979 and the modern BBC vision was made in 1997. The traditional version was made in Scotland and the modern version was set in Ladywood in Birmingham. The actors used in the traditional version were pretty famous and known but in the modern version ordinary people who have little knowledge of acting play the characters. The traditional version was made for a worldwide audience and to be put on cinema. The modern version was made for the BBC to be put directly on TV for England.
Both films tell a story of Macbeth. Three witches prophecy that he will be King and this leads him to kill Duncan the King of Scotland. He becomes more and more involved in murder and terrible deeds. He arranges for his friend Banquo to be murdered because he is afraid that Banquo’s after sons will become Kings. Macbeth goes back to the witches who tell him that "no man of woman born will harm him”and until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane (his castle) he will not be harmed. Macbeth gets so obsessed with this prophecy that he has Macduff’s wife and children murder. Lady Macbeth who encourages Macbeth to kill the King goes mad and dies. Then Macduff comes back to seek revenge for his family and kills Macbeth because Macduff was "from his mother's womb untimely ripped".
The two films were set in very different settings. Polanski’s Macbeth was set in the open countryside in Scotland and his castle was more like the setting of the play, which made it more traditional, and there were the mountains and woodlands where the whether created an atmosphere. By putting the music on in the background the weather was cloudy and made it look eirie. The witches where more traditional and lived in the moors. Whereas the BBC version is set in the Ladywood flats and local facilities we used as film sets such as the playgrounds and parks. Then made a very good use of outdoors and indoors. In the BBC version there is not much use of dark because most of it is going on in the light unlike the traditional version where they use light and dark wisely to reflect shadows of...
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