Localizing a Global Myth: Contemporary Film Adaptations of King Lear

Abstract

Examining five recent film adaptations of Shakespeare’s King Lear, the chapter looks at the ways in which the ancient myth of division and disruption is manifested in contemporary cinema, arguing that these films tend to offer specifically localized conflicts behind the conflicts and divisions they represent. My Kingdom (dir. Don Boyd, 2001); The King Is Alive (dir. Kristian Levring, 2000); The Last Lear (dir. Rituparno Ghosh, 2007); A Bunch of Amateurs (dir. Andy Cadiff, 2008); and Life Goes On (dir. Sangeeta Datta, 2009) set the well-known story in very specific contemporary locations, but they also represent the mythic power of the Shakespearean text and performance to act as a catalyst to destroy old lies and to heal all wounds.

Love cools, friendship falls off, brothers divide: in cities, mutinies; in countries, discord;

in palaces, treason; and the bond cracked ’twixt son and father.

(Shakespeare 2005, 1.2.106–109)