Introduction: Whither Shakespop? Taking Stock of Shakespeare in Popular Culture

Abstract

"Crossover Dreams" explores contemporary Shakespearean scholars' relationships to the popular culture of their own time within the framework of the author's autobiographical reflections on her own development as a scholar of both Shakespeare and popular culture. The essay argues that when Shakespearean scholars engage in the study of popular culture, they may do so in part as a way of responding to the fact that Shakespeare, the primary subject of their teaching and scholarship, is so heavily mediated, so culturally powerful, and ultimately, so elusive. As it examines the author's work on popular culture as a response to, rebellion against, and sometimes an escape from these features of Shakespeare studies, the essay suggests that Shakespeareans turn to the study of popular culture for the pleasure of practicing their scholarly craft in the freer, more playful space of a field of study that is not as densely mediated as Shakespeare studies.

I saw my first Hamlet when I was about eight. It was a musical adaptation, set to Bizet's Carmen. To emphasize the indecisive nature of Hamlet, Gilligan was cast in the title role. Mr. and Mrs. Howell played Claudius and Gertrude, Ginger was totally miscast as Ophelia, and the Skipper's Polonius gave fatherly advice to Mary Ann's Laertes. Even now, whenever I hear Bizet's "Toreador Song," I sing: "Neither a borrower, nor a lender be. Do not forget—stay out of debt."

The successful comic integration of this lowbrow American sitcom with Shakespeare's Hamlet is indicative of the familiar relationship American culture has with the "shreds and patches" of this complex tragedy, its strong identification with a collection of cultural signfiers, often independent of any real understanding of the play as a unified text. As Michael Bristol writes: "Shakespeare's name, together with his image, has extraordinary currency at a time when the practice of reading and careful study of his works appears to be in decline" (1996, 4).

Annalisa Castaldo (co-guest editor of this issue) and I began our work interrogating Shakespeare's position in American popular culture nine years ago, when we put together a panel for the West Virginia Shakepeare Conference. Annalisa and I came to our studies from complementary positions: Annalisa is a Renaissance scholar, specializing in film; I study American culture, drawing on my previous experience as a theater administrator. Both of us had problems squaring with our own experiences Lawrence Levine's characterization of Shakespeare's position in twentieth-century America as solely highbrow, a position that he documented first in his 1984 essay "William Shakespeare and the American People: A Study in Cultural Transformation" and then more fully in his 1990 book Highbrow/Lowbrow: The Emergence of Cultural Hierachy in America. Despite his thorough research, the picture seemed somehow incomplete. Annalisa was well aware that Capt. James T. Kirk (and the writers of "Star Trek") shared her affinity for Shakespeare, and that the Bard's presence was accepted by the series' fans. Rebecca Steinberger (a valuable reader for this collection) also joined us on this panel, discussing further examples of Shakespearean sci-fi; in the discussion that followed, the Shakespeare scholars and teachers debated the value of Shakespeare appropriations: did it move beyond the famous quotes? did the appropriating authors know Shakespeare beyond their forced high school experience? had Shakespeare replaced the Bible as the common moral source? were these new texts re-energized Shakespeare or the equivalent of "bad quartos" or the Restoration's bowdlerized versions? and of particular importance, can popularized Shakespeare aid in the teaching of Shakespeare or does it merely create new challenges? Over the past eight years, the "Shakespeare in Popular Culture" area has attracted 3-4 panels each year at both the Mid-Atlantic Popular/American Culture Association Conference and the Popular Culture/American Culture Conference where scholars have continued to examine Shakespeare-infused texts, and asking these and further questions about the significance of the growing presence of Shakespeare in popular culture, particularly in North America. Frequent and key presenters at these conferences have included Michael Marler, the other tireless reader...