Cowboy Hamlets and Zombie Romeos - (Manchester University Press) by Kinga Földváry (Paperback)

About the Book

The book focuses on the interpretation of Shakespeare film adaptations in commercial film genres, from the classical Hollywood era to contemporary blockbuster cinema. Its genre-based analyses revisit old favourites and rediscover long-forgotten treasures of film history, taking adaptation studies in a new direction.

Book Synopsis

The book presents a systematic method of interpreting Shakespeare film adaptations based on their cinematic genres. Its approach is both scholarly and reader-friendly, and its subject is fundamentally interdisciplinary, combining the findings of Shakespeare scholarship with film and media studies, particularly genre theory. The book is organised into six large chapters, discussing films that form broad generic groups. Part I looks at three genres from the classical Hollywood era (western, melodrama and gangster-noir), while Part II deals with three contemporary blockbuster genres (teen film, undead horror and biopic). Beside a few better-known examples of mainstream cinema, the volume also highlights the Shakespearean elements in several nearly forgotten films, bringing them back to critical attention.

From the Back Cover

Cowboy Hamlets and zombie Romeos offers a new method for interpreting screen adaptations of Shakespearean drama, focusing on the significance of cinematic genres in the analysis of adapted literary sources. The book's central argument is grounded in the recognition that genre can provide the most important context for a film's production and reception. Its originality lies in its use of genre-based interpretation as the organising principle for an analysis of Shakespeare film adaptations.

The book is organised into six large chapters, discussing films in broad generic groups. Part I examines three genres from the classical Hollywood era (western, melodrama and gangster-noir). Part II deals with three contemporary blockbuster genres (teen film, undead horror and biopic). The writing is accessible but always grounded in up-to-date critical literature. The analyses identify elements that the films inherit from Shakespeare, while emphasising how the adapting genre leaves a more important mark on the final product than the textual source.

Film adaptations are a constantly expanding field in academia and a popular area of study at all levels of higher education, so the book will be of interest to both scholars and students. The interdisciplinary approach, connecting Shakespeare and media studies, will also appeal to a broad range of readers.

Review Quotes

'Kinga Földváry's new book is a masterful treatment of numerous genres that not only provides crucial descriptions and historical information but also lucidly explains the intersections between various generic discourses and their disparate iterations.'
Melissa Croteau, Adaptation

'[T]his is a well-structured study that examines a wide variety of movies in some detail. It provides a useful reference for the genre, adaptation, and Shakespeare studies and is an entertaining addition to the discourse on screen Shakespeare.'
Peter Lewis, Cahiers Élisabéthains: A Journal of English Renaissance Studies

About the Author

Kinga Földváry is Associate Professor at Pázmány Péter Catholic University in Budapest, Hungary