Did anyone see the first episode of the second series of Rome? It deals with the aftermath of Caesar's assassination. Shakespeare is what I believe high theorists might call a structuring absence. We see Antony and Brutus meet to agree that both will give orations at the funeral. We see Caesar's body being burnt, but we don't hear the orations. We then cut to an angry confrontation between Antony and Brutus in which Antony says that Brutus' oration was good but might have been a bit cerebral for the audience. Then later, a plebian in a tavern gives an account of the two orations saying that he didn't understand a word that Brutus said but that Antony gaving a cracking speech, holding up Caesar's bloody toga. Seems that the scriptwriters wisely decided that they couldn't compete with Will!
Roberta Pearson
Professor of Film and Television Studies
Director of the Institute of Film and Television Studies
School of American and Canadian Studies
University of Nottingham
Nottingham
NG7 1RD
UK
44(0)115 9514250
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