4 ms·

Why did Shakespeare remain popular in the age of the atom bomb? Wasn't every new reader in the 1960s just thinking "Hey, why doesn't Macbeth just nuke Macduff?"

tomjen3 2y ago
Good point. Harry Potter is about a friend group fighting evil in a world of magic. If there is no magic, if in fact that world is less magical than the real world, then a big part of the appeal of the book will be lost. Magic is not a big part of Shakespear, and the part that is (Ghost, fairies) are most dissimilar to the magic we have since created. I also think that Sherlock will continue to remain popular because the appeal of the stories - who did it and how did the detective figure that out - has not fundamentally changed.
- js8 2y ago
  > I also think that Sherlock will continue to remain popular because the appeal of the stories I am not sure Sherlock stories are that good.. I think what is really compelling is Sherlock as a character (at least for me). So perhaps the answer is that the characters are what makes it compelling even today.
VancouverMan 2y ago
I don't think that Shakespeare's works have been popular (in the sense of many people wanting to voluntarily consume them) for many generations. Yes, most people even today are familiar with those works to some extent, but that's just an artifact of those people being forced to consume those works repeatedly in high school and possibly again in college or university. When I was in high school in Canada decades ago, almost none of the students liked studying those works. To most people, they were generally incomprehensible, and the stories and characters were nearly impossible to relate to or to care about. A couple of the English teachers I had back then openly admitted to not like those works, too, and only taught them because the curriculum forced them to be taught. Even among those who claim to "like Shakespeare", they seem to be driven more by wanting to feel "highbrow" rather than any genuine appreciation for the works.
- mr_toad 2y ago
  > Even among those who claim to "like Shakespeare", they seem to be driven more by wanting to feel "highbrow" rather than any genuine appreciation for the works. This is amusing because evidence suggests that at the time his works were not considered highbrow, and they seem to have been popular with a wide audience.
  - lelanthran 2y ago
    > This is amusing because evidence suggests that at the time his works were not considered highbrow, and they seem to have been popular with a wide audience. Yeah. Shakespeare was the Justin Bieber of his time :-)
- bsder 2y ago
  > Even among those who claim to "like Shakespeare", they seem to be driven more by wanting to feel "highbrow" rather than any genuine appreciation for the works. The main problem with Shakespeare is that we are reading something that is supposed to be performed. A play strongly depends upon the actors to give it life. I had this driven home when I was reading a script for some play I found particularly particularly boring. We got together to read it aloud for rehearsal, and I uttered some line that caused a couple of chuckles. Wait, hold the phone! This character is supposed to be funny, and I, the actor, completely missed that from simply reading the script. Suddenly, I was rereading everything with a completely different tone in mind and paid a lot more attention to timing. The character suddenly had life where before it was simply flat. I think this is what causes the disconnect about Shakespeare. The people who praise Shakespeare are projecting their experience(s) of a play over top of what they are reading while those who do not have that experience cannot understand what is so interesting.
  - solumunus 2y ago
    People unfamiliar with Shakespeare who go and watch it performed by and large “don’t get it” and will never go again.
mr_toad 2y ago
Shakespeare’s reputation has grown over the centuries. While he was popular at the time he wasn’t regarded by critics as the greatest English playwright until at least a hundred years after his death.

tomjen3 2y ago

Good point. Harry Potter is about a friend group fighting evil in a world of magic. If there is no magic, if in fact that world is less magical than the real world, then a big part of the appeal of the book will be lost. Magic is not a big part of Shakespear, and the part that is (Ghost, fairies) are most dissimilar to the magic we have since created. I also think that Sherlock will continue to remain popular because the appeal of the stories - who did it and how did the detective figure that out - has not fundamentally changed.

js8 2y ago
> I also think that Sherlock will continue to remain popular because the appeal of the stories I am not sure Sherlock stories are that good.. I think what is really compelling is Sherlock as a character (at least for me). So perhaps the answer is that the characters are what makes it compelling even today.

VancouverMan 2y ago

I don't think that Shakespeare's works have been popular (in the sense of many people wanting to voluntarily consume them) for many generations. Yes, most people even today are familiar with those works to some extent, but that's just an artifact of those people being forced to consume those works repeatedly in high school and possibly again in college or university. When I was in high school in Canada decades ago, almost none of the students liked studying those works. To most people, they were generally incomprehensible, and the stories and characters were nearly impossible to relate to or to care about. A couple of the English teachers I had back then openly admitted to not like those works, too, and only taught them because the curriculum forced them to be taught. Even among those who claim to "like Shakespeare", they seem to be driven more by wanting to feel "highbrow" rather than any genuine appreciation for the works.

mr_toad 2y ago
> Even among those who claim to "like Shakespeare", they seem to be driven more by wanting to feel "highbrow" rather than any genuine appreciation for the works. This is amusing because evidence suggests that at the time his works were not considered highbrow, and they seem to have been popular with a wide audience.
- lelanthran 2y ago
  > This is amusing because evidence suggests that at the time his works were not considered highbrow, and they seem to have been popular with a wide audience. Yeah. Shakespeare was the Justin Bieber of his time :-)
bsder 2y ago
> Even among those who claim to "like Shakespeare", they seem to be driven more by wanting to feel "highbrow" rather than any genuine appreciation for the works. The main problem with Shakespeare is that we are reading something that is supposed to be performed. A play strongly depends upon the actors to give it life. I had this driven home when I was reading a script for some play I found particularly particularly boring. We got together to read it aloud for rehearsal, and I uttered some line that caused a couple of chuckles. Wait, hold the phone! This character is supposed to be funny, and I, the actor, completely missed that from simply reading the script. Suddenly, I was rereading everything with a completely different tone in mind and paid a lot more attention to timing. The character suddenly had life where before it was simply flat. I think this is what causes the disconnect about Shakespeare. The people who praise Shakespeare are projecting their experience(s) of a play over top of what they are reading while those who do not have that experience cannot understand what is so interesting.
- solumunus 2y ago
  People unfamiliar with Shakespeare who go and watch it performed by and large “don’t get it” and will never go again.

mr_toad 2y ago

Shakespeare’s reputation has grown over the centuries. While he was popular at the time he wasn’t regarded by critics as the greatest English playwright until at least a hundred years after his death.