Richard III and Looking for Richard

Richard III and Looking for Richard

            The rise of Hollywood has seen significant developments in the production of American films. William Shakespeare’s works have been identified as one of the most indispensable sources of action scenes in Hollywood. The American film industry has shifted from silent films to the use of 3-D productions. One of the most performed William Shakespeare’s works is the Richard III since the 1590s to the present. In 1996, an American actor-director Al Pacino did a production named Looking for Richard, which was a performance of particular scenes of William Shakespeare’s Richard III. The docudrama by Pacino is a guide to the plot of the play on the selected scenes where Pacino involves fellow actors to feature several characters in the play. Al Pacino reflects the concept of power and authority and characterizes Richard as an evil and manipulative character by reflecting the original text to the present occurrences, and uses soliloquy and juxtaposition to build the ideas developed.

Al Pacino employs an extensive use of soliloquy to present authority and power in Looking for Richard citing the characters borrowed from Richard III. Al Pacino gives his views about Shakespeare, “”The thing is that because you do something [like] Shakespeare that you feel whatever you are doing… You love it, and you think you’re communicating with it. And the person you’ve just said it [to] has not understood a word.” In Richard III, the pursuit of power is seen in several characters including the protagonist, King Richard. Also, several other characters are involved in betrayal, killing and lying to win their ways to the top in a bid to obtain power and authority. The actors in Looking for Richard appear fascinated by the way characters in Shakespeare’s play are involved in a serious struggle for power.

Al Pacino, however, fails to prove the duplicity of Elizabeth and Queen Margaret to Richard even after using several selected lines to Margaret. The female characters in the play are not presented to be as powerful as their male counterparts (Salamon, 2008). The women in the play are only given the power and authority to curse: Elizabeth says,” Go, tread the path that thou [shall] ne’er return…,” Pacino, 1996. When Richard and Elizabeth argue, Elizabeth curses Richard who appears unmoved by the curses hurled at him. The quarrel is based on the claim by Richard that Elizabeth had wrong thoughts about him and that Richard was not afraid of being reported to the king. The actors in Looking for Richard view the relationship with Elizabeth as being difficult and hard to manage. Pacino presents Elizabeth as a ghost that continues to haunt the Yorks for dethroning her during the civil war. Elizabeth is viewed as a ghost who can curse the Yorks for the problems that Elizabeth is going through.

The use of juxtaposition to present the character of Richard and other characters has revealed the evil and manipulative nature of Richard the play by Pacino. Richard manipulates Lady Anne who is seduced into marrying Richard by his flattery:” Rich, ‘Never came poison from so sweet a place’… Anne, ‘Never hung poison on a fouler toad’…,” Shakespeare, (1593).The character of Richard reflects the presentation given by Shakespeare in the play Richard III.  William Shakespeare represents Richard as a character who benefits from manipulative skills to rise to power. The successful rising to power is motivated by the kind of characters who surround Richard. Shakespeare builds the character of Richard by surrounding him with characters with moral weaknesses. Also, the murder of Clarence is done by characters who comment on the morality deficit of Clarence. In another instance, Richard manipulates the Archbishop into handing over a young prince to Richard to take away the protection of the church. A selected montage of Richard is shown to the audience simultaneously at a time when Pacino has an evil dream. The presentation of the montage is strategic in presenting the evil nature of Richard. A discussion in the car involving Kimball is aimed at revealing the evil nature of Richard. Kimball states that Richard has lost humanity and that no self is left for Richard. Kimball goes on to state that Richard has lost his humanity while pursuing power and that even his body has been lost.

Pacino produced a docudrama of Shakespeare’s Richard III, which is a historical play, by selecting various scenes that would meet the ideas that Pacino is willing to pass across. Pacino is only a director who gives his point of view concerning William Shakespeare’s play and thus does not present the original ideas by Shakespeare. For example, the actors appear to have different opinions concerning several characters in Shakespeare’s play. A specific event is when the actors appear fascinated by the characters’ struggle for power that has led to the loss of humanity by several characters. Also, Pacino’s play only covers selected scenes in Shakespeare’s play. The selection of the scenes is only made to fit the ideas that Pacino is willing to pass across. Also, the presentation of the character traits of several characters appears to differ contextually in the two forms of the plays.

In sum, the play by Pacino is a presentation of a point of view concerning William Shakespeare’s play, Richard III. The play aims at presenting the theme of power and authority and revealing the manipulative nature of Richard. However, the form of the two stories differs contextually depending on the ideas that are being put across. Generally, Pacino gives a different point of view of Shakespeare’s work from the already existing points of views by other actors.

References

Pacino, A. (1996). Looking for Richard.

Salamon, L. B. (2008). “Looking for Richard” in History: Postmodern Villainy in Richart III and             Scarface. Journal of Popular Film and Television, 28(2), 54-63.

Shakespeare, W. (1593). Richard III.