More on the Psychology of Romeo and Juliet

A couple weeks ago I stumble across a mention of The Romeo and Juliet Effect in a book about motivation and will power.

Today among the various Shakespeare feeds I scan I spotted this 2008 Psychology Today article entitled, "Romeo and Juliet's Death Trip: Addictive Love and Teen Suicide."  

There are no great insights to be found.  The author pretty much skims the story for various death references and ties them all back to suicide, including the claim that Romeo is suicidal over Rosaline at the opening of the play.  I think that's a bit much.  That's not suicidal, that's emo.  Not the same thing.

The article's at least entertaining, though, and I appreciate that.  I wonder how far his tongue was in his cheek while writing it?

Father Laurence tries cognitive behavior therapy:

I'll give thee armour to keep off that word:
Adversity's sweet milk, philosophy (read "psychology"),
To comfort thee, though thou art banished. . . .
rouse thee, man! thy Juliet is alive,
For whose dear sake thou wast but lately dead;
There art thou happy: Tybalt would kill thee,
But thou slew'st Tybalt; there are thou happy too:
The law that threaten'd death becomes thy friend
And turns it to exile; there art thou happy:
A pack of blessings lights up upon thy back;
Happiness courts thee in her best array.

But then (oy!!!) the good Father resorts to pharmacology: he gives Juliet a potion to make her appear dead.

College Shakespeare (in Boston)

Bard in Boston has been collecting a list of fall shows playing at some of our many Massachusetts colleges, including an all-female Taming of the Shrew, and a "a creative encounter with Shakespeare's Hamlet, incorporating movement, music, martial arts, sound and song"

Maybe I'll make it to some of these!  I really don't see nearly enough Shakespeare, relative to how much is around me at all times.  Maybe some of the more North Shore schools will get added to the list?  I'm looking at you, Merrimack College ...

A Dogberry Spinoff?

In this interview with Joss Whedon about the upcoming Much Ado movie we learn a couple of interesting bits:

• Although the Shakespeare readings at his house have been going on 10 years and started during Buffy, Sarah Michele Gellar did not take part.  I expect he threw this in there because it's a frequently asked question - she's still arguably the most well known name to come out of that series (that is, outside the Whedon universe).
• Nathan Fillion, cast as Dogberry, had never read Shakespeare before.  "People are thinking spin-off!" Whedon says.

He goes on to talk about how a Shakespeare movie is similar to The Avengers, but isn't that what all directors and actors do when they're interviewed?  Talk about how it's all basically drawing from the same source?  I get his point - that both works are ensemble pieces, and you need to clearly understand and present why each character is there - but I wouldn't call it a groundbreaking opinion.

What got me most curious was that spinoff idea.  Could you imagine that?  You take a well known cast of characters from a world where spinoffs and sequels abound (that being the comic/sci-fi world).  Then you drop some Shakespeare on them.  They don't need to glorify the text like we do - they just want to see their favorite characters having new adventures.  So, why not?

We've talked about Shakespeare sequels in the past, but I don't think we've ever done spin-offs.  What would a Dogberry spin-off look like?  Could you get a movie out of it, or a whole television series?