Kinga Földváry: From early modern theatre to zombie cinema –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Shakespeare in Genre Film

The lecture looks at the processes of cultural transfer that we can observe when the traditions of early modern theatre and Shakespeare become canonised and institutionalised through publication, education and criticism. At the same time, Shakespeare can be approached from various viewpoints, through the lenses of literary criticism or performance criticism as well, emphasising textual or performative aspects, and pointing out the medium-specificity of the two parallel but often contrasting manifestations – Shakespeare on the stage vs Shakespeare on the page.

At the same time, we can also witness the opposite cultural processes in contemporary popular culture, when canonised, high cultural texts are poached and appropriated into popular media and contexts. First and foremost film and serial adaptations, but fragmented, loose quotations and passing references or memes all testify to the continuing presence, but a significantly changed position of Shakespeare and his oeuvre.

Part of these processes also involve cultural hybridisation, when the so-called Western cultural heritage travels to Eastern contexts, meeting e.g. Japanese or Indian theatrical and cinematic traditions, and these encounters produce hybrid products that can also reflect on the socio-historical context of colonisation and the postcolonial era.

The lecture will be conducted in English.

Kinga Földváry, senior lecturer at the Institute of English and American Studies from Pázmány Péter Catholic University in Piliscsaba, Hungary, pursued several research projects related to early modern English literature and presented a paper at the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, which she attended with Nanovic fellow Susannah Monta. Földváry’s research interests include Tudor chronicle and choreography, film adaptations of Shakespearean drama, and modern and postmodern British fiction.