In high school, it’s mandatory that every student learns about Shakespeare and some of the many different plays that he wrote during his time on this planet. Our class was no different and our teacher Ms. Willemse chose to teach us about the Shakespeare comedy Taming of the Shrew. As part of all PLP projects we incorporate modern technology and/or media to help tell the story we are trying to convey. The driving question for this unit was: How can we create animated shorts that use “The Taming of the Shrew” to explain the social, cultural, intellectual, and emotional settings that shaped people’s lives and actions in the past?
An animated short is basically an animated movie that explains a topic. We would use these shorts or short stories to make a movie that would be set in a different time period as the original play but have the same storyline and dialogue as the classic play.
We started off this unit by actually going on a field school as a class. One of the things I like about PLP is that we get to experience a lot more real world experiences than any other class I know. We went to this very interesting rendition of Taming of the Shrew that was put on Bard on the Beach. This play was very well put together and told the story well. The ending had a little bit of a twist to make it a little more friendly with the current values of our society but you will have to watch the play to find out what I am talking about. After our class got an understanding of the play we set to work. We were put in groups of three or four to create our videos.
Before we started making our big group animated shorts we were tasked to create quick 1-2 minute animated videos about women’s roles in the different time periods we were assigned. My time period was World War 2, which made it very easy for me because this was about the time women were making changes in the workplace and at home. This was obviously due to the war with all the men going off to fight. Women were working in factories and making weapons for the war and manufacturing boats. Even a select few got to go in the fight and fly in the air. These women made up the WASP’S, an elite group of pilots that served in the war. Overall this video was very influential for me reminiscing on what I had learned in years prior about World War 2.
Next we moved on to the essay portion of the unit where we were tasked to write an essay explaining why Taming of the Shrew is a classic piece of literature. Feel free to read my essay that I linked below
Why has the taming of the shrew been re-enacted more than hundred times all over the world since its first performance in 1593? There are many different contributing factors that blend together to make up an acceptable answer. The relatable points of the story join with real life situations from present day and the diverse meanings behind all the different actions in the story draw the reader in. The conflict between the characters and the suspense of how the story will end keeps the readers attention. These are just some of the reasons that this book is recalled time and time again as a great classic. Six degrees of separation is a concept that every person in the world can relate to each other in six or less different social connections. Human nature hasn’t changed over the centuries and Shakespeare expertly illustrates the complex traits of humans and the complications that come up when they interact with each other. The play, the Taming of the Shrew can be related in a similar sense because in the book there are so many different situations that each character faces. For example the fact that Lucentio would do anything to win over his true love. This relates directly to the desire that most people have to find love in their life. Another degree of separation is the different traits that the characters share. The need for Petruchio to be rich outweighs the fact of him being actually happy and in love. Unfortunately that can be said for a lot people in today’s modern world where they are bombarded with images of material things and they need to be rich to have them all. This play is a classic that brings people young and old together and helps them to relate to the challenges of personal relationships and different socio-economic classes. Taming of the Shrew makes the reader or viewer think about the connection to present time no matter the time period the play is set in. This play has stood the test of time because of the depth and the meaning behind each minute action in the play. Each part of the play can be broken down and interpreted in many different ways. For example when Petruchio agrees to marry Katharine in the play, it may be because he feels as if he truly wants a wife and wants to find true love but can’t seem to find the right one. Or it maybe that he is a lower class man that wants to marry into a higher class family. This is just one of the many situations that can be interpreted differently throughout this amazing classic. This play refines the minds of viewers by the letting them dig deeper into meaning behind each individual line and really get at what message Shakespeare was trying to convey through his play. The universal appeal of a story such as Taming of the Shrew is unparalleled any other play of its time period. It stands next to some of the major movies of today in its ability to connect with people from all different walks of life. No matter their background this story has something for everyone to connect to. From a man trying to become rich in anyway he can to another man just trying to find true love. Ranging from woman becoming happy with being married to a father finally getting his wish. The story also raises awareness about the inequity that women had to deal with during this time period as well as through out history. The way women like Katherine were treated in this play should not be accepted in any time period. Although equality for women has improved today, the play is a reminder of how far things have progressed and how important it is to treat people from all different backgrounds and groups with respect and dignity. There are still inequities today that need to be addressed and the conflict and tension between the major characters creates intrigue and suspense for the audience. These are important features of a classic and the audience wants to know what the outcome is. They want to find out if the shrew is tamed and who really wins the power struggle. This suspense appeals to audiences of all ages and in any decade. The true definition of a classic piece of literature is a sample of writing that can stand the test of time and be relevant throughout the ages. The Taming of the Shrew fits the bill with its in depth script and complex characters. The meaning behind the story captivates the audience and reels them in. The message the book can send is a jarring wake up to people that don’t understand the hardships that come along with being a women back in these times periods. This play will continue to educate and spread knowledge for decades to come. Its ability to connect to men and woman of all walks of life keeps the book relevant and interesting.
The last part of the unit was the big animated short that we were assigned to create. This short story would show our understand of the time period that we were assigned as well as show the necessary parts of the play Taming of the Shrew that we felt need to be included to explain the social, cultural, intellectual, and emotional settings. My group that consisted of Adam Robbie and myself were assigned Act 4. Act 4 had a number of different scenes in it.
My group had a lot of experience making videos. Each person had a different set of skills. For example, Adam was a very good script writer. Robbie was a very good animator and I was an excellent editor. This project we wanted to do something different and share the work equally so we could better our skills in different categories and get outside of our comfort zone. We started off by tackling the script and translating the dialogue to better fit the time period to meet the criteria. We soon realized that this was a lot tougher than we first thought because it seemed to us like it was a whole new language. After translating a lot of the script we realized that it wasn’t nessasary and that to truly tell the story we wanted we only had to include that first scene because we felt that the rest would be distracting. We ended up focusing on just the first scene and really digging into that to better understand the dialogue.
After finishing the script we quickly moved on to the animation. As I previously said our group member and friend Robbie has a lot of experience in this field. We fed off this and used the app called Tune Tastic. We all learned to use it and experiment with it until we felt we were where we wanted to be. We set off and animated the entire movie. It was hard, and there were a lot of mistakes made but it was fun. After it was done we handed it in and received an assortment of points of critiques that we welcomed with open arms. We took those thoughts into consideration and we came out with our final product that I encouraged you to watch.
This project was very interesting for me because it brought me back to grade 8 or 9 were we made a lot of animated video. This project opened my eyes to the cruel and unfair way that all women were treated. Taming of the Shrew is about the taming of a women by her husband and nowadays that would not fly. This project has opened my eyes to the amount of change our society has gone threw and the amount of change our society still needs to go through to be fully accepting of women and for them to be equal to men.
