O'Neill, Stephen
(2011)
Uploading Hamlet: Agency, Convergence and
YouTube Shakespeare.
Anglistica AION : an Interdisciplinary Journal, 15 (2).
pp. 63-75.
ISSN 2035-8504
Abstract
“To Tube or not to Tube, that is the question?”, or so asks YouTube user
Xelanderthomas in his upload, modifying that most instantly recognizable of
Shakespearean lines to address and defend online expression and vlog (video
blog) especially. “Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows
of asinine comments | Or to take arms against a sea of idiots | And, by posting,
end them”. There is a long history to the expropriation of Hamlet’s words.
“Shakespeare sampled, Shakespeare quoted without quotation marks”, as Marjorie
Garber reminds us, “has become the lingua franca of modern cultural exchange”.
But our exchange with Shakespeare is increasingly experienced in and through a
fluid mediascape, a mediascape that includes YouTube, the most popular videosharing
platform on the web. Most students or teachers of Shakespeare will be
familiar with the Shakespeare film or theatre production reappearing in clip form on
YouTube. Accessing Shakespeare through such a platform might be construed as
“Shakespeare-lite”, with the plays condensed to short clips, quite literally minimized
by the YouTube screen, or set alongside humorous, often-ridiculous content. “What
would Hamlet look like if it were performed by cats?” Cue Hamlet performed by
animated talking cat-heads. This is typical of the YouTube video: “easy to get, in
both senses of the word: simple-to-understand – an idea reduced to an icon or
gag – while also effortless to get to: one click! … Understandable in a heartbeat,
knowable without thinking, this is media already encrusted with social meaning or
feeling”. This upload has over 2.9 million views, relatively small in comparison
to the 1 billion view counts for pop stars like Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber, but a
significant view count nonetheless.
| Item Type: |
Article
|
| Keywords: |
Uploading Hamlet; Agency; Convergence; YouTube; Shakespeare; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Arts,Celtic Studies and Philosophy > School of English, Media & Theatre Studies |
| Item ID: |
6176 |
| Depositing User: |
Stephen O'Neill
|
| Date Deposited: |
09 Jun 2015 13:32 |
| Journal or Publication Title: |
Anglistica AION : an Interdisciplinary Journal |
| Publisher: |
Università degli Studi di Napoli 'L'Orientale' |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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