"Taming" Feminism: Tracing Women and Culture Through Adaptation

Shakespearean adaptation is not just about Shakespeare. Rather, Shakespearean adaptation tells us as much about the cultures that adapt the plays as it does about Shakespeare. My particular focus in this thesis is film adaptations of <i>The Taming of the Shrew</i> and the messages that these adaptations send about cultural responses to feminism. The staging of the play--and the nature of Kate and Petruchio's relationship--acts as a barometer of sorts, measuring cultural attitudes about women's proper societal position. Film adaptations of <i>The Taming of the Shrew</i> are especially notable for the ways they speak to cultural anxieties about women's sexual and psychological autonomy. Their increased production during certain decades points to heightened cultural concern about the role of women at that time. I examine four different adaptations of <i>The Taming of the Shrew</i>, produced during four different cultural moments, and analyze how each adaptation reveals societal reactions to feminism. I look at the ways in which each adaptation speaks to its culture and reifies--or resists--the cultural ideologies of the time. By examining four different adaptations from four distinct cultural moments, I thus trace the trajectory of cultural responses to feminism from the early 1900s to the present moment. As I map out society's reaction to feminism through my analysis of these four adaptations, I demonstrate the advances that feminism has made and the work that still remains to be done for feminists in the 21st century.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English/Literature

Grantor dc:publisher

Bowling Green State University

Year dc:date

2013

Author dc:creator

• Springer, Stephanie M.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Coates, Kimberly

• Literature
• Womens Studies
• Adaptation
• Feminism
• Taming of the Shrew
• Culture

Statement dc:rights

• unrestricted
• This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1363353110

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:etd.ohiolink.edu:bgsu1363353110