Re: [OT] Diversity cult coming for Shakespeare

On 2025-03-20 18:45:03 +0000, moviePig said:

On 3/20/2025 12:10 PM, Rhino wrote:

William Shakespeare is apparently so "problematic" that activists are working hard to "de-colonize" him. Leo Kearse explains:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuNgnoBSXAA [18 minutes]
 As Kearse points out, it is *extremely* ironic that the people in the Shakespeare Trust, who are supposed to be fans of his work, are the ones trying to "de-colonize" him. With "friends" like that, who needs enemies?

Among many others, there has already been:
  - in America, a production of "King Lear" on Broadway with Glenda
    Jackson in the lead role.
  - in New Zealand, productions of "Taming of the Shrew" with an
    "all-female-identiying" cast and a "feminist version" of
    "Henry V". (For the sake of 'equality', there has also been an
    all-male production of "Twelftth Night", although that of course
    is how plays used to be performed.) There have also been various
    Shakespeare plays done fully in the Maori language.

Shakespeare was a playwright and poet.  His actual verbiage is what we admire,

*We* don't admire anything of the boring garbage writings by Shakespeare. *We* were forced to read the useless nonsense in high school.   :-)

rather than whatever philosophy we might gratuitously infer from it.  "Polishing" his words would be like applying CGI to the Mona Lisa.

Not really. The Mona Lisa is a good painting, and adding CGI would ruin it. Polishing Shakespeare's boring words is like polishing dog poo ... it's still going to be dog poo, just shiny.  :-p