A Study of Film Adaptations of Macbeth

          Movie Macbeth (2010)

         There have been various film adaptation of the Shakespearean play Macbeth, the most recent being Rupert Gold’s version of Macbeth in 2010. It stars Patrick Stewart as Macbeth and Kate Fleetwood as Lady Macbeth. There are various adaptations of Macbeth, and people usually prefer the Macbeth play in the Macbeth play vs. movie debate.

       There are quite a few differences between the play and the film. 

     Change in Timeline

      There are plenty of differences between Macbeth play and 2010 movie, and most of them don’t sit well with true Shakespearean fans. The original play is set in the late 1400s and early 1500s. However, the movie is set around the 1920s.

     With this change in the time slots, the setting and background of the entire movie had to be changed. Accordingly, it adds an interesting contrast in the movie. 

Change in Setting

    Macbeth (2010) is a very strange adaptation of the play and has a relatively modern setting. It is set in Soviet Russia, whereas the play was set in the medieval time, located most probably in Scotland. The idea that we have of Macbeth in our minds from our school and college days clashes with the idea of Macbeth depicted in this movie.

Death of Macbeth

       The death of Macbeth is a highly downplayed affair in the 2010 movie. He is sitting at his dining table all alone when Macduff attacks him, and the battle takes place privately. Moreover, Macbeth fights in a very hopeless way.

     We don’t see his death; Malcolm gets his severed head in the end. The whole character of Macbeth has been downplayed in this movie. In real Macbeth was the hunger for power, the fire, the craziness .

Portray of Witches

     The differences between Macbeth play and 2010 movie are very stark, and we can see that there is a complete deviation from the timeline in the movie.

      We all remember the witches from Macbeth. In the play, they met Macbeth in the forest or in uninhabited areas. However, in the movie, the witches are depicted as nurses, and they present in Macbeth’s house, lurking in the shadows.

      This is really weird since nurses are portrayed in all movies as kind and good, but here they depict evil. Furthermore, the witches don’t even say much; they just keep looking at the characters with big, weird eyes that creates awkwardness in the movie.

Apparitions (Ghost)

       Another one of the differences between Macbeth play and 2010 movie is present in the occurrence of apparitions.

      In the original play, there are apparitions of a bloody child, an armed head, and that of a little boy with a crown on his head. However, in the movie, there are only dead bodies inside the bags, and they speak through the witches. The only apparition that was shown in the movie was Banquo and the line of Kings.

The apparitions are one of the main reasons why Macbeth goes crazy. With all these changes, it seems as if the original spirit of the play has been changed completely.

Murder of the Mac duffs

      In the family, when the Macduff family is murdered, Macbeth is not there. However, the opposite happens in the movie, and Macbeth is present. Furthermore, in the movie, Ross sees that they have been murdered while in the play, he only hears about it.  The murder of the Mac duffs and all that it encompasses has not been portrayed in a great way in the 2010 version of Macbeth movie.

Conclusion 

    The movie has an overall great feel to it. But true Shakespeare fans will agree that there are a lot of changes in the movie, and the cutting and adding of some parts cause the story to lose its essence to some extent. We often have Macbeth play vs. movie debate, and many people don’t appreciate the changes made in the movie.

We have explained quite a few differences in our Macbeth play vs. movie analysis. Rupert Gold’s version didn’t stick to the main plot and time frame. It seemed as if he was trying very hard to be different. The madness and thirst for power depicted by Patrick Stewart seem to be lacking as well.

Movie JOJI

    The movie JOJI inspired from Shakespeare's Macbeth”. The cool highlands of Scotland have been transposed to the rubber plantation of steamy Kottayam, but greed is a universal vice .FAASIL`s JOJI—the film’s Macbeth—is the son, not the lieutenant, of the brutish patriarch KUTTAPPAM(Sunny PN). The Banquo figure is his elder brother, JOMON(Baburaj), and BINCY (UNNIMAYA PRASAD)—Lady Macbeth—is not his wife but his brother Jaison’s. SYAM PUSKARAM, who’s written POTHAN’s earlier films as well as KUMBALANG NIGHTS, goes easy on the witches, moving woods and hands that won’t wash clean of blood.

     Macbeth with audiences seeing the connection with the Shakespearean tragedy in some scenes and not in others, says Malayalam star FAHADH FAASIL who is drawn to lived in . There have set something inspired by Macbeth in today’s scenario.

     The story revolves around JOJI, an engineering dropout and the youngest son of the rich plantation family who lives with his aspirations of becoming a super-wealthy NRI. But his father sees down on him and thinks of him as nothing more than a loser. Driven by greed and blind ambition, JOJI finally decides to execute his plans following an unexpected event in the family.

Movie Maqbool

  Comparison of Maqbool and Macbeth

       Macbeth is an upright Scottish leader (a general) dedicated in his service of the royal throne. He is naturally inclined to preservation rather the destruction of life as is his duty as a soldier. However, Macbeth desires more than just the position of general. Blinded by his unbridled ambition, Macbeth resorts to succumbing to his evil desires by killing King Duncan and every other character he considered a threat to his ascension to royalty; Banquo and Macduff's wife and children.

        Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, is a strong willed lady considered even more than her husband, Macbeth. She desires nothing but to see her husband rise to the position of King. For this reason, she would stop at nothing to ensure her desired plans are realized. Lady Macbeth was responsible for persuading her Macbeth to accomplish the murder of King Duncan. Her unwavering determination even with Macbeth’s hesitation to commit cold-blooded murder led to Macbeth’s submission. However, Lady Macbeth’s ambitious nature seems to dwindle after Macbeth’s ascension to the royal throne. She is perturbed by her husband’s string of murders afterward.

     Maqbool, however, is an Indian crime/drama film based on Mumbai’s world of organized crime. The movie features the boss of the underworld, Jahangir Khan, and his right-hand man Maqbool. Maqbool happens to fall in love with the boss' mistress, NIMMI, who persuades him to revolt against Jahangir and take control of his empire. NIMMI encourages Maqbool to be ambitious, and he does so eliminate all possible competition. Ultimately, Maqbool succeeds in overthrowing Jahangir by killing him in his sleep. However, Maqbool and NIMMI live dreadful lives tormented by the ghosts of those they murdered.

      Maqbool’s plot is quite similar to that of Macbeth though several components have been altered such as the cultural setting. Macbeth is set in Scotland while Maqbool is based in Mumbai, India. For this reason, the characters had to be altered, and plot twisted to match the cultural surrounding. In Macbeth, the price was the king’s power while in Maqbool; the price being fought for was the love for a woman and subsequently the power over the criminal underworld.

       Similarly, NIMMI also manipulates Maqbool into fulfilling her wishes as Lady Macbeth did Macbeth. However, instead of exercising authority, she infuses Maqbool's mind with ambitious ideas. NIMMI eventually gives Maqbool the ultimatum of killing either her or the boss. Maqbool's love for NIMMI pushes him to execute the crime boss instead.

         The content changes whereby unlike in Macbeth; Maqbool initially has no earnest desires to overthrow the criminal boss and take over the criminal underworld. It is when he falls in love with the criminal boss' mistress that he is manipulated into desiring more. Maqbool wishes to take over the criminal empire so as to satisfy NIMMI. In this film, Maqbool's ambition is motivated by his love for a woman as opposed to Macbeth's natural ambitiousness.

       The film also differs from the play where unlike Lady Macbeth, NIMMI bears a child under unclear circumstances of whose child it is (Jahangir/ Maqbool). In Macbeth, the Lady Macbeth does not bear any children. In Macbeth, the Lady Macbeth ultimately commits suicide while in Maqbool; NIMMI dies in Maqbool’s arms.

Movie Scotland PA

 

Macbeth vs. Scotland, PA

       Mac Beth and his wife Pat Beth work at Duncan's, a fast food restaurant. Mac and Pat get the manager position. Norm Duncan, his boss, gives Mac the assistant manager position. Pat believes that Mac deserves more recognition for his hard work and ideas. She convinces him to rob and kill Norman Duncan. Norman gets killed by falling into a fryer. Mac and Pat then open up their own fast food restaurant with a drive thru called Mc Beth's. The guilt slowly eats at both of them. Mac kills two more people and Pat is consumed by her burn. McDuff is the investigator on the case who eventually kills Mac. Pat kills her self by cutting off her hand which was burned by the grease.

       The most notable difference in the portrayal of Mac and Pat, in Scotland, PA versus the portrayal of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, in Macbeth, is the atrociousness, or lack of, with which we view them and their crimes. Mac and Pat seem to be less despicable than Macbeth and Lady Macbeth for several reasons. One key reason is the omission of the ordered murder of Mac duff ’family. 

Movie  Men of Respect

Comparison of Men of Respect and Macbeth 

       Set in present day New York in 1991, "Men of Respect" is a story of New York gangsters, in particular a mad-dog thug, Mike Battaglia, and his ambitious, highly unscrupulous wife Ruthie. “Macbeth” created by William Shakespeare was re-created into this modern day movie version. The various warring kingdoms of the play become organized crime factions in the film: King Duncan becoming the  godfather of the main family, CHARLIE DI'MICO; Banquo becomes his buddy, BANKIE COMO; Macduff becomes Irish capo, Duffy. Screenwriter Reilly makes Macbeth over into ambitious Mafia underling, Mikey Battaglia, who is King Duncan’s lieutenant chief driven by a fortuneteller's prophecy and the influences of his even more treacherous wife to knock off the head of the D'Amico crime family and claim the top title for himself. The most significant aspect of the film is its total loyalty and devotion to the text of the play. The film follows the play scene for scene, at times line for line. A closer analysis of the characters and lines will compare the many differences and similarities between William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" and William Reilly's "Men of Respect".

The personality of Lady Macbeth or RUTHIE BATAGLIA remains instinctive yet ruthless in her goal to get Mikey to become the "PADRINO." Some lines are paraphrased to Shakespeare's original version word for word. 

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Citation:- Wikipedia, Essentially pop.com,prezi.com,https://lifestyle.livemint.com/how-to-lounge/movies-tv/joji-review-macbeth-in-the-time-of-covid-111617853222517.html,https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/25723618.2020.1844932