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    Bring yourself back online, Old Bill: Westworld’s media histories, or six degrees of separation from Shakespeare


    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,Celtic Studies and Philosophy > 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:
    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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