Woodcocks to Springes

Generic Disjunction in The Banquet

Authors

Scott Hollifield University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Abstract

Cluster: Asian Shakespeares on Screen: Two Films in Perspective

Edited by Alexa Huang

Directed by Feng Xiaogang, Ye Yan ("The Banquet") is an amalgamation of visual styles and narrative tropes: a detailed period epic developed from a mere historical sketch; a lush and stately study of court intrigue that favors whisper over decree; an artfully choreographed wuxia film that tempers precisely constructed sequences of action and movement with the subtleties of Chinese theatrical forms; and a reciprocation of Chinese cinematic influence on Western action films. As a generic hybrid, Ye Yan effectively establishes its rules of appropriation and balances them against a complex network of audience expectation and influence: a wuxia rooted in the literary-psychological rather than mytho-historical tradition; a film formally designed and structured, yet informed by the latest trends in wirework and CGI; Hamlet, and yet not Hamlet. At the same time, wary of overwhelming spectators in its whirlpool of source and influence, the film unsuccessfully attempts to outdo its virtues as its tightly wound, majestically paced narrative unravels.

Author Biography

Scott Hollifield, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Scott Hollifield, a doctoral candidate at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, earned a B.A. in Film Studies and an M.A. in English Literature from Wayne State University in Detroit. An intense interest in the process of adapting Shakespeare to film led by mysterious logic to his dissertation in progress: "'Myn auctour shal I folwen, if I konne': Shakespeare Adapting Chaucer," under the supervision of Dr. Evelyn Gajowski. His critical review of Kenneth Branagh's As You Like It (2006) appeared in Borrowers and Lenders.