Culture Blog #3 :)

I decided to watch the movie Shakespeare in Love. This was one movie that I had heard of and one in which I thought would be interesting. I spent this afternoon watching it (since it was raining outside anyways) and I truly liked it. I think what really grabbed me was that I have always liked Romeo and Juliet. When I read it my freshman year of english, I really enjoyed the story and the time period. We watched the older Romeo and Juliet and the re-make but I have to say that out of both of those, I liked watching Shakespeare in Love because I was able to see the actual time period. I was able to see the conditions in which Shakespeare lived which really caught my attention. I think that the conditions were such a contrast between Queen Elizabeth and Viola compared with William. He was more of a simple man of the time while they lived in luxury.

I am such a sucker for love stories and the whole concept of forbidden love really grabbed at my heart. To me, I loved how William and Viola were in such a similar position as Romeo and Juliet and the fact that was shown in a film was what impacted me so much. I laughed at them in certain parts and wanted to cry in others. They couldn't do anything about the circumstances they were under at the time and it was hard to watch knowing that it wasn't going to work out.

Something else that was shown in this film was how women were treated. They were under the rule of man and their opinion did not count in any way, shape, or form. However, Viola did get the chance to act but she did not get to pick who she married. She loved William but was forced to stay with the man her father chose. The reason that this all happened was because Lord Wessex wanted money. This to me, was very sad and I thought it was neat to see how far women have come now. Seeing the line of respect for the Queen was really cool as well. They respected her so much that at times the Queen seemed tired of it. She was a person but they forgot to treat her like one sometimes.

There was some nudity....that I really didn't want to see so I closed my eyes. :P But other than that, Shakespeare in Love was a great movie that shows love, action, and really pulls on a person's heart strings.