Monday, November 12, 2012

Improving Macbeth & Marketing

          As it has been for many colleagues here on the blog, the social media research methods of my paper is going positive thus far. I just got an email response about half an hour ago from my Creative Writing professor here at BYU and she gave me really helpful suggestions as to how Macbeth could be marketed in a better light to attract more audience members. Here is what she suggested:


  • With a play like Macbeth, where possible, use a young cast. The Cedar City Shakespeare Festival did this a few years ago and it was fantastic to see how much the audience connected with the younger Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. (As opposed to a show I saw years before, in which I didn't connect at all with the older character.)
  • Capitalize on the way contemporary/timeless themes that viewers will connect to in Macbeth: peer pressure, deception, fate, jealousy/power, guilt. What does your audience like? How does that relate to the themes of the play.
  • Formula pitches: 3 witches + 9 (?) ghosts + a lot of blood = Macbeth (or something like that)
  • Popular casting. If popular contemporary actors are good enough for Shakespeare, use them! Sir Patrick Stewart's Macbeth was brilliant, and I loved Jeremy Irons and Tom Hiddleston in the Henriad that the BBC put out earlier this year. (Unfortunately, the British have better luck at this than we Americans do. See also, nerds.)
  • Appealing to genre fiction: mystery/science fiction/fantasy/horror
  • Start kids on Shakespeare young. My ten-year-old-sister has seen eight Shakespearean plays and she can't get enough of them. My brother was Oberon in Midsummer Night's Dream when he was eleven. If it's part of their culture, they have a better chance to acquire it.

          The tough part about my thesis is just getting scholarly sources that can relate Macbeth to Marketing. I suppose I could always use sources that indirectly reference these two, while maintaining the sources' scholarly nature but tailoring their use to fit my arguments. 

          I also spoke to a librarian via the chat function on the HBLL's website and him/her suggested that I find different movies and plays produced, then search through popular publications of the times looking for specific marketing for them. Again, this is a good idea, but it might veer away from a more scholarly approach.

          Feel free to give suggestions and comments. 

          Thanks! 


       


3 comments:

  1. You have such a unique topic I'm not surprised you're having a hard time finding good material linking the two ideas. First off, that's probably in some ways a good thing. You've got an original argument, and that's interesting. On the other hand it does mean you have to do extensive research. You're going to have to research the aspects of marketing you see in Macbeth outside of the context of its connection to the play.

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  2. This is a great topic! Trying to market Shakespeare to a modern audience is no small task! We have all been trying for the last few months! I am intrigued by what your professor said regarding the use of contemporary actors. My wife isn't the biggest Shakespeare fan in the world, but she did enjoy the Mel Gibson Hamlet. I think that is a point well worth flushing out!

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  3. This will sound ridiculous but try the THICKEST book on Shakespeare on the 4th floor of the library. It's in the Shakespeare section and the librarians at the desk know where it is. I think the title is riverside Shakespeare. . . maybe? I read through (okay skimmed) through most of the contextual stuff and it talked about how different actors portrayed different characters and how it either worked or didn't work with audiences. If I remember correctly it's in the section about "production of Shakespeare." Sorry I couldn't be more specific but I hope that helps.

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