Tuesday, April 23, 2019
Shakespeare: research blows away stereotypes and reveals teenagers actually love the Bard
theconversation.com: When you think of inner-city teenagers, what springs to mind? For many, it’s hoodies, video games – and probably hating Shakespeare. But my research proves that this stereotype is far from the truth.
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This is good news to hear! I always wondered if I was the only teenager who liked Shakespeare when I was in high school, but I guess not. And for good reason too. His work is really important, and so it is nice to know that people are actually still learning and appreciating what he did for theatre and the world. These compulsory topics like Shakespeare are always contradictory to me, because I never think it is a good idea to force anyone to study things that have no relevance or practicality with their lives, but his work is certainly not one of those. I think this is largely thanks to the teachers who are teaching his work. Being able to take something that is notorious for being difficult to learn and boring like Shakespeare and actually getting students excited about it is a feat that should not be overlooked. His plays are not going anywhere soon, so you can either learn to love it or learn to live with it.
As someone who has had a love-hate relationship with Shakespeare and his works, ever since I first had to read one of his plays, it's good to hear that this article doesn't see us all as anti-Shakespeare. I think perhaps, a more important point this article made was that students enjoy Shakespeare when they are taught it in an engaging, "non-boring" way. One of the students mentioned that they didn't like one of the plays because they had had to read it in depth so much that there wasn't anything new to do after a time. It is always my opinion that Shakespeare can be engaging, but the way you teach it should be as interesting as a theater performance, considering we always end up reading his plays (which were meant to be seen performed). I myself had a very boring relationship with Shakespeare's works in school, just boring analyzing of each line, writing papers, the high school english works. However, I don't hate Shakespeare, and I think that's because I had a relationship with the texts by seeing them performed. Suddenly everything makes sense when you put it into active context and can see it being played out in front of you.
Okay, first of all, if you asked me to name what comes to mind about inner city teenagers, I don’t think hoodies, video games, or a dislike for Shakespeare would have been anywhere near the beginning of the list. I think the thing this article is really pointing out is that we study Shakespeare to (what I consider to be) an absurd degree. Shakespeare’s plays are read more than the plays of any other playwright. In fact, I think I read more of Shakespeare’s plays for English classes in K-12 than the plays of any other playwrights combined. Obviously you will end up with a fair number of teenagers who like Shakespeare since they’ve been exposed to his work, and a fair number that will feel the need they say they do because they think they are supposed to. I think people often end up with the stereotype of all teens being rebellious and angsty and disliking anything “classic” or “traditional” but that really isn’t the case.
I’m one of those people that hated Shakespeare in high school. Sitting in Lit class, reading out of a textbook is just not the way that Shakespeare – or any theater, but especially older works – should really be experienced. It was painfully boring to sit there and listen to high schoolers stumble through old English in a droning monotone, completely missing the humor, and all the while not understanding the plot. It really wasn’t until college that I saw a production of Shakespeare’s work live and I actually really enjoyed it. Sure, it isn’t my favorite type of show, but I liked it. And that made me realize that I didn’t hate Shakespeare, I hated the way that Shakespeare was taught to me. The point it, I’m happy to hear that teenagers are enjoying his work and being taught in a more engaging and impactful way than I was. For many people, Shakespeare is their first introduction to theater, (which even with my new appreciation for it, I don’t understand because it’s so difficult to read if you’re not familiar with it) so I’m glad that it is becoming more accessible and enjoyable for young people.
First of all: “When you think of inner-city teenagers, what springs to mind? For many, it’s hoodies, video games – and probably hating Shakespeare.” Okay first of all what—has anyone ever thought this? This article’s opener was an attempt to be funny but was actually just stupid. Second of all: I don’t know why the author is acting so surprised that not only kids but INNER-CITY KIDS LIKE SHAKESPEARE??? WOW! Why are they making such a big deal out of something so simple? Why is it automatically assumed that they probably wouldn’t like Shakespeare? Shakespeare is AWESOME and creates so many fun opportunities for personal interpretations and interesting lessons and performances. I’d be more surprised if they didn’t like Shakespeare. I understand the point of this article, but I think it was poorly written and used a point of view that was meant to be slightly comedic, or maybe inspiring, but instead came across as a bit distasteful.
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