Bus 3920 001 Paper 3 December 2019 Length Three
Bus 3920 001 Paper 3 4 December 2019length Three 3fu
The goal of this assignment is to encourage you to consider how plays, like any product, are created for specific consumer markets, and how the types of customers to whom plays are marketed (or adapted and re-marketed) materially affects both their presentation and their content. There are three distinct components to this assignment; you should budget roughly one page for each.
Part 1 requires you to analyze Shakespeare’s Henry V as a performance text aimed at audiences in early modern theaters. You should consider the intended audiences, their tastes, expectations, memory, cognitive abilities, nationality, and politics based on clues from the surviving text. Focus on specific scenes or moments, quoting at least twice, to illustrate how the play appeals to its audience and whether it satisfies or seeks to change them.
Part 2 prompts you to examine a printed edition of Henry V other than the New Pelican edition, analyzing its design, materials, and editorial choices. Determine the implied readership and how the edition appeals to or creates its market by considering its typography, layout, commentary, and overall presentation. Use specific details from the edition to support your analysis, quoting or describing features as appropriate.
Part 3 involves analyzing Laurence Olivier’s film adaptation of Henry V, focusing on its visual, editorial, and textual choices that appeal to or construct its audience. Identify specific scenes or moments to demonstrate how the film aligns with the audience’s tastes and expectations, and consider how it may shape its viewers’ understanding or emotional response, quoting or describing visual details accordingly.
The core emphasis of each part is close, detailed analysis grounded in evidence from the texts and film. While you may connect the parts with a broader thesis about their target markets and audience construction, focus primarily on specific scenes or features to support your insights.