On a Romantic Island: Shakespeare and Mamma mia

Authors

  • Jana B. Wild Academy of Performing Arts Bratislava, SK

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/2083-8530.20.11

Keywords:

Mamma mia, musical, popular culture, Shakespeare, The Tempest

Abstract

The paper concerns the blockbuster musical film Mamma mia, loosely using some of Shakespearean patterns, topoi and plots. Set on a small Greek island, idylic and exotic, the film offers a contemporary romantic story with new/reversed roles in terms of gender, parenthood, sexuality, marriage and age, pointing to a different cultural paradigm. While the Shakespearean level is recast, remixed and probably less visible, the priority is given to the utopia of the 1970s and to the question of its outcome and transformation.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Jana B. Wild, Academy of Performing Arts Bratislava, SK

Jana B. Wild is professor of theatre studies at the Academy of Performing Arts (VŠMU) in Bratislava. Among her several monographs on Shakespeare in Slovak language are Shakespeare: Zooming (2017), Malé dejiny Hamleta [A short cultural history of Hamlet] (2007), Začarovaný ostrov? Shakespearova Búrka inak [An Enchanted Island? Shakespeare’s The Tempest Otherwise] (2003). She edited international collections Shakespeare in Between (2018, in English), Mirrors of/for the Times: Shakespeare in Central European Theatre (2015, in Slovak), In double Trust: Shakespeare in Central Europe (2014, in English). As visiting professor at BISLA (Bratislava School of Liberal Arts) she has launched the course Political Shakespeare (2007 and 2008). She organized several international Shakespeare conferences in Bratislava (2013, 2016, 2018, 2019) and established the platform www.shakespeare-slovakia.info. In 2017, she was elected board member of ESRA (European Shakespeare Research Association). Beyond her academic work, she is author of a book of nonsense poetry between fooling and dada entitled Mámenia a preliezačky [Teasings and Scrabbles], 2017.

References

Adelman, Janet. Suffocating Mothers. Fantasies of Maternal Origin in Shakespeare´s Plays, Hamlet to Tempest. New York and London: Routledge, 1992.
Google Scholar

Anderson, Benny G. B. and Bjoern K. Ulvaeus. “Slipping Through My Fingers.” https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/abba/slippingthroughmyfingers.html 13 August 2019.
Google Scholar

Bourdieu, Pierre. Masculine Domination. Trans. Richard Nice. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2001.
Google Scholar

Bžochová-Wild, Jana. Začarovaný ostrov? Shakespearova Búrka inak. Bratislava: Divadelný ústav, 2003.
Google Scholar

Carlson, Eric Josef. Marriage and the English Reformation. Oxford: Blackwell, 1994.
Google Scholar

Colarusso, C. A. Child and Adult Development. New York: Springer Science + Business Media, 1992.
Google Scholar

Cressy, David. Birth, Marriage and Death: Ritual, Religion, and the Life-Cycle in Tudor and Stuart England. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Google Scholar

Doherty, William J., Edward F. Kouneski, and Martha F. Erickson. “Responsible Fathering: An Overview and Conceptual Framework.” Journal of Marriage and Family. 60.2 (1998): 277-292. National Council on Family Relations. DOI: 10.2307/353848 https://www.jstor.org/stable/353848 20 July 2019.
Google Scholar

Dymkowski, Christine, ed. The Tempest. Shakespeare in Production Series. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Google Scholar

Garforth, Lisa. “Interview: Lisa Garforth on Green Utopias: Environmental Hope before and after Nature. Sociology Lens, 16 June 2018 https://www.sociologylens.net/article-types/opinion/interview-lisa-garforth-green-utopias-environmental-hope-nature/20893 22 July 2019.
Google Scholar

Griffth, David. “Caliban on the Stage.” William Shakespeare’s The Tempest. A Casebook. Ed. D. J. Palmer. London: Macmillan 1991, rpt 1990. 184-200.
Google Scholar

Hyland, Peter. An Introduction to Shakespeare. London: Macmillan, 1996.
Google Scholar

Jardine, Lisa. Reading Shakespeare Historically. London: Routledge, 1996.
Google Scholar

Kahn, Coppélia. “The Absent Mother in King Lear.” King Lear. Contemporary Critical Essays. London: Macmillan 1993. 92-109.
Google Scholar

Lenker Tallent, Lagretta. Fathers and Daughters in Shakespeare and Shaw. Westport, Connecticut and London: Greenwood Press, 2001.
Google Scholar

Locke, John, Some Thoughts concerning Education. (1693). Online Library of Liberty: A Collection of Scholarly Works about Individual Liberty and Free Markets. Arts and Humanities Research Council. Copyright 2004-2019 https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/locke-the-works-vol-8-some-thoughts-concerning-education-posthumous-works-familiar-letters 22 July 2019.
Google Scholar

Mamma mia. Dir. Phyllida Lloyd. Film. Relativity Media, Littlestar Productions, Playtone, distr. Universal Pictures, 2008.
Google Scholar

Mitterauer, Michael. Ledige Mütter. Zur Geschichte illegitimer Gebürten in Europa. München: Verlag C. H. Beck, 1983.
Google Scholar

Orgel, Stephen. “Prospero’s Wife.” William Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988. 99-112.
Google Scholar

Overstreet, Laura. “Lumen: Lifespan Development.” Lumen Learning: Simple Book Production. Module 9: Middle Adulthood. “Introduction to Middle Adulthood.” https://courses.lumenlearning.com/lifespandevelopment2/chapter/introductionto-lesson-9-middle-adulthood/ http://opencourselibrary.org/econ-201/ 22 July 2019.
Google Scholar

People Magazine 2001. 22 July 2019 https://people.com/celebrity/the-sexiest-manalive-2001-pierce-brosnan/ 13 August 2019.
Google Scholar

Rose, Mary Beth. “Where Are the Mothers in Shakespeare? Options for Gender Representation in the English Renaissance.” Shakespeare Quarterly 42.3 (1991): 291-314.
Google Scholar

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Emile, or Education. Trans. Barbara Foxley. London and Toronto: J. M. Dent and Sons, 1921; New York: E. P. Dutton, 1921. Online Library of Liberty: A Collection of Scholarly Works about Individual Liberty and Free Markets. Arts and Humanities Research Council. Copyright 2004-2019 https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/2256#Rousseau 22 July 2019.
Google Scholar

Shakespeare, William. The Complete Works. The Oxford Shakespeare. General editors Stanley Wells and Gary Taylor. 2nd ed. 1997. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.
Google Scholar

Stone, Lawrence. The Crisis of the Aristocracy 1558-1641. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965.
Google Scholar

Stone, Lawrence. The Family, Sex and Marriage in England 1500-1800. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1977.
Google Scholar

Vaughan, Alden T. and Virginia Mason Vaughan. Shakespeare’s Caliban: A Cultural History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
Google Scholar

Walters, James and Linda Henley Walters. “Parent-Child Relationships: A Review, 1970-1979.” Journal of Marriage and Family 42.4 (1980): 807-822. Published by National Council on Family Relations. DOI: 10.2307/351826 https://www.jstor.org/stable/351826 20 July 2019.
Google Scholar

Williamson, Marilyn L. The Patriarchy of Shakespeare’s Comedies. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1986.
Google Scholar

Downloads

Published

2019-12-30

How to Cite

Wild, J. B. (2019). On a Romantic Island: Shakespeare and Mamma mia. Multicultural Shakespeare: Translation, Appropriation and Performance, 20(35), 151–161. https://doi.org/10.18778/2083-8530.20.11

Similar Articles

<< < 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.