O’Neill, Stephen (2021) Bring yourself back online, Old Bill: Westworld’s media histories, or six degrees of separation from Shakespeare. Cahiers Élisabéthains: A Journal of English Renaissance Studies, 105 (1). pp. 93-116. ISSN 0184-7678

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Abstract

This article explores the polysemous intertextuality of Westworld, an example of ‘complex television’, and focuses particularly on its Shakespearean coordinates. In this futuristic show about sentient androids who quote Shakespeare is a deep web of connections to other Shakespeare adaptations in film, digital cultures, and popular music. Through the perspectives of fan studies and media studies, the article argues that what unfolds out of the show’s discourses and those of its fans, who engage with it through digital platforms and technologies, is a micro media history of Shakespeare. In turn, the show advances an understanding of Shakespeare as posthuman.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Cite as: O’Neill, S. 2021, "Bring yourself back online, Old Bill: Westworld’s media histories, or six degrees of separation from Shakespeare", Cahiers élisabéthains, vol. 105, no. 1, pp. 93-116.
Keywords:	Westworld; William Shakespeare; complex television; intertextuality; fan studies; posthuman;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Arts & Humanities > School of English, Media & Theatre Studies > English
Item ID:	17613
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1177/01847678211009414
Depositing User:	Stephen O'Neill
Date Deposited:	28 Sep 2023 10:16
Journal or Publication Title:	Cahiers Élisabéthains: A Journal of English Renaissance Studies
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	Publisher
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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