The Tempest: The movie

While reading The Tempest in class, I envisioned an island that was very small and with lush green forests. I did not envision the weather to be sunny or windy, but I imagined that it was always cloudy with gray skies. Also, I did not think that Prospero and Miranda lived in a home with such well-built infrastructure. Perhaps it was magic that Prospero and Ariel used to create their living space, but the elaborate staircase in the movie does not seem like it could be made through the use of magic, especially since Ariel and Prospero use natural types of magic by using the elements of nature. Also, in my mind, I thought that most of the characters were younger than they are portrayed as in the movie, like Trinculo, Sebastian, Alonso, and Antonio. The one character that matched with my personal image in my mind was Miranda. It would be pretty difficult to miscast her as she is a young, beautiful girl, which is a pretty generic image. Overall, I am glad that I was able to create these own images in my mind of what I envisioned everything in the play to be, instead of letting Disney decide the images for me.

Comments

  1. BenjaminNovember 2, 2017 at 7:57 PM

    Camille,
    it's pretty interesting how the environment of the island changes the connotation of Gonzalo's speech about utopia at the opening of the play. In the movie, his discussion of the potential to create a more just society and a paradisaical garden out of the island seems like utter nonsense and truly blind optimism in the face of the bleak, windy, dry grass plains of the island. It seems like the film makes a concerted effort to portray the idiocy of Gonzalo's optimism, while in the play it's ambiguous if Sebastian and Alonso are being realistic, or if they're just pessimistic dissenters (which seems very possible considering how immoral they are). Therefore, the virtue of the movie's isle is largely imagined, while the play seems to mirror the optimism and opportunism of early colonialists, who viewed the bounteous territories of the Americas as new frontiers of prosperity. I have to say, I prefer the idea that the island is lush and somewhat like a paradise, simply because Miranda is supposed to be this pure product of a paradise, untouched by the civilized yet convoluted societies of Europe. Furthermore, Caliban and Ariel often speak of the isle's natural wonders, so much that it seems like a second Eden. The movie's island is no second Eden. It looks a lot like the plains in England.

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