pavlinski

A Thousand Acres is a severely underrated Shakespeare adaptation. I know they are a dime a dozen but this one is of great value. Like Kirosawa's Ran, A Thousand Acres takes the story of King Lear and brings it to another setting with startling results. In A Thousand Acres, a father must leave his farmland to his daughters. And that's all you need to know to realize how it quite simply parallels King Lear. Of course, Jane Smiley has to pick her spots and the societal situations she wants to present as focuses of study in her narrative. In this case, sex plays a prominent role. It is a weapon, a fear, a desire, etc. I believe, as a reasonably well-read Shakespeare fan, when it comes to his extremely popular works, one relates to Romeo and Juliet and then Hamlet and then King Lear as one grows older and older. I am in the stage of my life where I am lost somewhere in between the world of Hamlet and King Lear, but A Thousand Acres presents ideas that are not in Lear at all that I find very enriching and that in turn help me understand what Shakespeare is saying in King Lear. Still, I like to think I am quite some years off from fully embracing the story of King Lear or A Thousand Acres as partly my own. The point is, she uses King Lear, but she does not rehash it. The story is new and fresh and very intelligent. It is nicely considered a noble attempt. I think it is a triumph.

2020-12-27 14:32