Dreaming of Orientalism in Kenneth Branagh's As You Like It

Authors

  • Elizabeth Klett University of Houston-Clear Lake

Abstract

Kenneth Branagh's As You Like It: A Review Cluster

Edited by Matt Kozusko

Kenneth Branagh's choice of Meiji-era Japan for Shakespeare's pastoral comedy inspires some visually pleasing imagery and tableaux in his film version of As You Like It, but the mingling of Asian cultures and marginalizing of Asian actors makes the film racially problematic and, ultimately, Eurocentric.

Author Biography

Elizabeth Klett, University of Houston-Clear Lake

Elizabeth Klett is Assistant Professor of Literature at the University of Houston - Clear Lake. She has published articles in Theatre Journal, Shakespeare Bulletin, and the recent collection Shakespeare Re-Dressed. Her book, Cross-Gender Shakespeare and English National Identity: Wearing the Codpiece, will be published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2009.

Issue Cover text: B&L, Vol. 3, No. 2, 2008. Image: Black and white still from Ten Things I Hate About You, Julia Stiles holds a guitar and Heath Ledger looks on.

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Published

2008-05-01

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 2 (2008): Fall/Winter

Section

Appropriations in Performance Reviews