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Much Ado About Nothing Duality

Decent Essays

The Duality of Much Ado About Nothing: Opposites, Similarities, and Love in Shakespeare’s Romantic Comedy
Shakespeare’s romantic comedy play, Much Ado About Nothing, is a play full of love, laughter, and friendship; however, it also contains many lies, tricks, and doubles. Director Joss Whedon combines these merriments with their counterpart, deceptions, and plays them out to their fullest extent in his film adaption of the play. In an analogous way, lead characters Benedick and Beatrice are shown to be two sides of the same coin through a combination of visual techniques, parallel scenes, comedic interpretation, and black-and-white filming. After experiencing stress from the big-budget, commercialized Avengers movie, Whedon used Much Ado as …show more content…

He describes it as, “the most relaxing and fulfilling thing [he] could do after a year of being involved on a giant blockbuster” (Orr). Whedon wanted to make a film handled both comedic and serious moments with grace, which is one of the reasons he decided to film in black and white. This decision was also based on his understanding of film noir, as he felt that genre is where “criminal darkness and screwball comedy frequently coexist” (Hindle 80). He also wanted the film to have a mysterious element to it, explaining that the idea of noir attracted him because, “these people are basically espionage agents or spies, and they spend all their time just making up schemes...and tricking each other” (Pascale, 359). This interpretation lines up with the dialogue of the play, as tricks and lies are what launch the main premise into actin. Benedick notes to himself that, “This can be no trick” after hearing Claudio, Leonato, and the Prince discussing Beatrice’s supposed ‘love’ for him; however, we as the audience clearly know it is a trick (Much Ado About Nothing, 2.3.223). Later on, after some of the men see Margaret at Hero’s bedchamber window, Leonato exclaims something similar, stating, “Would the two princes lie and Claudio lie…?” (4.1.161). Once again, the audience is completely aware that this whole situation is a scheme. Whedon …show more content…

As I previously stated, the film invites us into Whedon’s house, giving us an intimate glimpse into his life and producing a feeling of closeness between the audience and the story. However, the audience is constantly reminded by two things that they are not within the same world as the film. First, there is the play’s inherent dramatic irony, as displayed in the paragraph above. Second, shooting certain scenes partially obscured by tree branches or brush puts viewers into the position of someone who is spying—similar to the characters themselves, yet totally outside the narrative. For example, when Don John is being taken into the house, we view the characters entering the gate from behind a bramble. One particular scene that stands out occurs when servants are preparing for the wedding. We see the photographer from behind two candles, and unlike the rest of the characters, she looks back at us. This mutual gaze suggests that perhaps she is as out of place as we are; after all, there certainly wasn’t a photographer character in the original script, and Whedon actually stated that she was their real on-set photographer (Orr). This surreal moment of recognition from someone within the film is striking, and makes the audience feel like they are out of place, overhearing or seeing something that they shouldn’t be. While this is much like the premise of the play, it

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