When it comes to academia, my specialism lies within adaptation and appropriation theory - I like looking at how people take plays, novels and poetry and integrate them into popular culture mediums.
The first thing you need to know is that transtextuality is a fancy word for the links between different texts. Gerard Genette argues that a text is linked to every other text the author has read, whether the influence of that text is obvious or not. There are five main subsections of transtextuality:
- intertextuality (quoting from another text, or making direct reference to it)
- the paratext (that which literally binds the text - ie. the cover, chapters etc)
- metatextuality (where references to other texts are there to critique or comment on them)
- architextuality (a layer of reference that is implied by the reader)
- hypertextuality (any relationship uniting text B to an earlier text A)
Hypertextuality lends itself most easily to theories of rewriting. Transplantational rewritings, however, are significantly similar
to the metatextual subsection of transtextuality, differing in one main
way. Whereas metatextuality provides a
commentary or a criticism of the original text, transplantation merely uses its
legacy and position within the popular culture of its setting to support an
argument or develop the narrative. Romeo and Juliet’s legacy lies in the longevity of the two lovers; Romeo and Juliet are the
ultimate couple, despite their deaths, and references to their love are part of
our everyday vernacular.[1] As a result, transplantational appropriations
of the lovers and their story reoccur within popular culture through such a
large variety of artistic media.
Taylor
Swift’s 2008 hit single ‘Love Story’ is one such appropriation. The song compares the singer and her lover to
Romeo and Juliet, both by referring to the lovers by name and by making references
to the balcony scene and the Capulet ball:
I close my eyes and
the flashback starts,
I'm standing there, on
a balcony in summer air.
See the lights, see
the party, the ball gowns,
See you make your way
through the crowd
And say hello.[2]
However, Swift is obviously not appropriating the plot
of the hypotext, as her lovers are reunited at the end of the song with a
marriage proposal and a happy ending.
Jim Malec argues that her referencing tells us less about Shakespeare’s
play and is instead used to develop Swift’s own narrative:
Swift utilizes metaphor and symbolism–coupled with our
common knowledge of the play–to dramatize the narrator’s own ‘love story.’ That
the lyric ultimately resolves into a made-for-Disney cliché doesn’t undermine
the fact that, to the narrator, the complications and difficulties surrounding
her affair are just as grave as Juliet’s … This is the foundation of Swift’s
lyric–that any ‘love story’ is rife with complications, peaks and valleys,
extreme joy and unbearable heartache. And by comparing the song’s characters to
Shakespeare’s, she’s simply alluding to the idea that all love stories are
fundamentally the same, regardless of their origin or outcome.[3]
[1] With a ‘Romeo’ referring to a womaniser and
‘star-crossed’ referring to a forbidden love.
[2] Taylor Swift, ‘Love Story’, Fearless (Big Machine Records, 2008).
[3] Jim Malec, ‘Taylor
Swift – Love Story’, 16/09/08 (http://www.the9513.com/taylor-swift-love-story/)
No comments:
Post a Comment