Shakespeare on Zoom, Fandom, and the Uncanny Humor of Imperfections and Plurality: A Comparative Study of The Show Must Go Online and Zoom Shakespeare Productions

<p>This thesis surveys the phenomena of Shakespeare performance on Zoom (‘Shakespeare on Zoom’) that have emerged during the current Covid pandemic in order to illuminate a complex intersection of lockdown culture, fandom, and new media’s techno-social archive, including its affective resonances. As case studies, this study pays attention to <em>The Show Must Go Online (TSMGO)</em> and <em>Zoom Shakespeare Productions (ZSP)</em> to examine countercultural fandom, vernacular creativity, and technologically imperfect aesthetics (or anti-aesthetics) in ‘Shakespeare on Zoom’ performed by underfunded artists or amateur fans. In analyzing <em>TSMGO</em>’s and <em>ZSP</em>’s endeavors of production and dramaturgy, I bring in Sigmund Freud’s notion of “The Uncanny” to approach the experience of encountering the disembodied and often grotesque double of self on Zoom from our pandemic ‘cave.’ My analysis of ‘Shakespeare on Zoom,’ however, channels the surprising experience of “The Uncanny” into the humorous realization of our enforced isolation at home and our inordinate reliance on technologies for the make-believe of connection. In the comparative study of <em>TSMGO</em> and <em>ZSP</em>, in favor of <em>ZSP</em>, I advocate an imperfect theater of ‘Shakespeare on Zoom’ where a creative mundanity of glitches or imperfections proliferates with the festive suggestions of presenting heterogeneous self-expressions and plurality to the media-sphere and its affective participants.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

Master

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Digital Humanities

Grantor

The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York

Year dc:date.available

2023

Author dc:creator

• Kim, Hyemin

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Mario DiGangi

Committee member dc:contributor.committeemember

• Matthew Gold

• Acting
• Digital Humanities
• English Language and Literature
• Film and Media Studies
• Other Film and Media Studies
• Other Theatre and Performance Studies
• Performance Studies
• Theatre and Performance Studies
• Shakespeare
• Zoom
• Covid-19
• fandom
• vernacular media
• The Uncanny

Repository record dc:identifier

https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/5206

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:academicworks.cuny.edu:gc_etds-6336