Kurosawa's Ran, Shakespeare's King Lear, and Man's Self-Imposed Cycle of Folly

The plays of William Shakespeare have long been an inspiration for filmmakers from the very beginnings of the art of film, to modern adaptations such as 10 Things I Hate About You and Scotland, PA. In this case, though the events, scenes, philosophies and characters are rearranged and re-coded, other literary elements and influences circulate throughout, and the director definitely ingrains the film with his own ethos, Akira Kurosawa's Ran is the ultimate in Shakespeare adaptation …showed first 75 words of 4763 total…

…showed last 75 words of 4763 total…Peter. "Kurosawa Directs A Cinematic Lear." New York Times 15 December 1985: pg. 13 Jorgens, Jack. Shakespeare on Film. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1977 Goodwin, James. Akira Kurosawa and Intertextual Cinema. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994 Seaton, Henry. "All-licensed fool; all licensed film: Akira Kurosawa's Ran." The Shakespeare Project. 9 November 2003. <http://web.grcc.cc.mi.us/english/shakespeare/> Richie, Donald. The Films of Akira Kurosawa. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984 Shakespeare, William. The Riverside Shakespeare. Boston: Houghton, 1997