As written by Wendy Faunce<\/p>\n
Since its earliest performances nearly four centuries ago, Shakespeare\u2019s Hamlet<\/em>\u00a0has displayed a distinct and compelling surveillance motif. Postmodern productions continue\u00a0to employ the motif and sometimes allow it to dominate both plot and characters. For example the use of security cameras in Gregory Doran\u2019s Hamlet<\/em> foregrounds this domination. These\u00a0modern means of surveillance contribute a haunted, ghostly ingredient that saturates the entire production in ways very different from productions past.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Doran\u2019s film is an adaptation of the Royal Shakespeare Company\u2019s 2009 season play. In the play, security cameras were used as props to represent a constant presence. The film takes this conceit a step farther, as Elizabeth Klett points out in her analysis of the role of surveillance in Doran\u2019s film. She refers to the use of security cameras as a representation of CCTV and its ghostly presence: \u201cThe CCTV effectively functions as an invisible yet visible presence, whereby those in power (Claudius, Polonius, unseen security forces) can watch and control those who might pose a threat to the social order (Hamlet, Ophelia, Laertes, etc.)\u201d (Klett 106).<\/p>\n Not only do the characters in the film make use of the cameras, as they had done on stage, but many scenes in the film are presented as footage captured by the security cameras. This allows the audience to see from the camera\u2019s point of view, creating an experience in which those in the audience survey the few players. This enables the audience to experience the performance from a reverse-panoptic point of view. Doing so shifts their position from one of being on the outside looking in, to one of being on the inside looking in. The audience is positioned not only within the play, but in a position of power and authority. This allows the audience to understand the role and influence of the security cameras and the characters behind them in a deep and personal way.<\/p>\n The very nature of surveillance facilitates an evident correlation between security cameras and ghosts. Like ghosts, security cameras are both present and hidden. In Ghostly Matters<\/em>, Avery Gordon states, \u201cthe ghost\u2026is one form by which something\u2026 barely visible, or seemingly not there to our supposedly well trained eyes, makes itself known or apparent to us\u2026\u201d (8). It is understood that the ghost is in a constant state of limbo, straddling the threshold between the known world and the unknown world. A ghost is understood to be present because one senses a presence or perceives an image. However, a ghost is also absent because one understands it as incorporeal and recognizes that it cannot fully take part in reality. The ghost is simultaneously visible, invisible, and \u201cbarely visible\u201d because it is both there and not there. The same can be said for the use of surveillance in Doran\u2019s adaptation. Like ghosts, the security cameras are both always seeing and yet often unseen.<\/p>\n The security cameras are visible to Hamlet in the \u201cGet thee to a nunnery\u201d scene\u00a0(Shakespeare 3.1.119). As Hamlet, played by David Tennant, argues with Ophelia, played by Mariah Gale, he notices a camera on the wall swiveling and focusing on them. Hamlet\u2019s awareness of the camera\u2019s movements gives new meaning to his following line, \u201cWhere\u2019s your father?\u201d (Shakespeare 3.1.126). The camera\u2019s visibility alters the meaning of the line and leads him to the accurate conclusion that Polonius is watching them.<\/p>\n However, this direct reference to the camera is a relatively rare occurrence as the security cameras remain seemingly invisible to the characters throughout much of the film. Their omniscient presence is made known with short footage clips as Hamlet and Laertes prepare to\u00a0duel. But during the duel between Hamlet and Laertes, played by Edward Bennett, the\u00a0cameras in no way affect the actions that follow. They presumably capture the unashamed slashing, poisoning, treachery, betrayal, and death, suggesting that even if the characters are aware of the cameras, they don\u2019t perceive them as deterrents to violence and destruction.<\/p>\n Recent renditions of Hamlet<\/em> have advanced the play into postmodern contexts while staying true to its original emphasis on supervision. The prominent use of technologies like security cameras has pushed Hamlet\u2019s surveillance motif to a new depth, reflecting the age-old yet ever contemporary anxiety of being watched. Postmodern audiences in particular are able to relate to these kinds of\u00a0productions since security cameras and other means of surveillance are increasingly commonplace. Doran\u2019s use of this theme permits the audience a glance from the other side of the camera as well as making explicit their anxiety at being watched.<\/p>\n Bibliography<\/p>\n Gordon, Avery. Ghostly Matters: Haunting and the Sociological Imagination.<\/em> Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2008. Print.<\/p>\n Doran, Gregory, dir. Hamlet<\/em>.\u00a0Perf. David Tennant, Patrick Stewart, Penny Downie, and Oliver Ford Davies. BBC Company, 2010. Film.<\/p>\n Klett, Elizabeth. “The Heart of the Mystery: Surveillance in Michael Almereyda and Gregory Doran\u2019s Films of Hamlet<\/em>.” Literature Film Quarterly<\/em> 41.2 (2013): 102-15. Web. 4 Nov. 2013.<\/p>\n Shakespeare, William. The New Cambridge Shakespeare: Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.<\/em> Updated ed. Ed. Philip Edwards. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Print.<\/p>\n Doran’s\u00a0Hamlet\u00a0<\/em>as found on Youtube: Part One<\/a>, Part Two<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As written by Wendy Faunce Since its earliest performances nearly four centuries ago, Shakespeare\u2019s Hamlet\u00a0has displayed a distinct and compelling surveillance motif. Postmodern productions continue\u00a0to employ the motif and sometimes allow it to dominate both plot and characters. For example the use of security cameras in Gregory Doran\u2019s Hamlet foregrounds this domination. These\u00a0modern means of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[7,18,19],"class_list":["post-251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-issue-1","tag-bsudlr","tag-hamlet","tag-postmodern"],"yoast_head":"\n