We have just started reading the play called Twelfth Night, which is a comedy I have been looking forward to reading. Hearing that the movie She’s the Man makes me want to investigate the similarities and differences that the movie has from the play. The greatest thing about the work of Shakespeare is that each generation is free to interpret his stories to suite the circumstances and situations prevalent to their times. Shakespeare’s plays encompassed every possible aspect of the human condition form the tragic to the ridiculous making younger generations able to relate and retell his stories.
The first references to the play in She’s the Man are the similarities in the names. Such as Olivia, Sebastian and Viola. And the main reference is the main character is attempting to pass as a boy. The movie presents Amanda Bynes in the role of the heroine Viola, who pretends to be her twin brother in order to play soccer after the girls' team at her school is disbanded. Bynes displays a flair for comedy, especially when Viola studies guys walking down the street and mimics their gait and mannerisms. Bynes uses her elastic face to show Viola's every thought making the transition and doing her darnedest to pull it off. The largest problem comes in the form of her roommate Duke Orsino. He is a sensitive young man that is more than willing to open up to what he thinks is another guy. Duke is romantically interested in a girl at the school, Olivia. The problem is she has eyes for Sebastian. Viola completes the strange romantic triangle when she begins to fall for Duke. This naturally places Viola in some uncomfortable circumstances. Since this genre is far from subtle the lamentable Viola finds being a guy is not as easy as she had hoped. This plot parallels the love triangle present in the Twelfth Night. One small reference to the play is that the pizza joint that the kid frequent is called Cesario, a reference to the name Viola uses as a man in Twelfth Night.
Although the movie uses loose references to the play it has inspired the inspiration for the concept of the chick flick comedy. After I’m done reading the play I’m sure I will find more secret inserts from the writers that reflect the inspiration from the play.
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