Consuming the Royal Body: Stillness, Scopophilia, and Aura in Lear and Macbeth on Screen

Kirwan, Peter

Abstract

Drawing on Hilary Mantel's evocation of the frozen body of the monarch as an object to be gazed upon and consumed, this article revisits three cinematic Shakespearean films in order to demonstrate the ways in which kings are made abject. By applying Laura Mulvey's language of scopophilia to instances in Ran (Kurosawa, 1985), King Lear (Brook, 1971), and Macbeth (Kurzel, 2015) where kings are framed as still, this article sees royal bodies at the mercy of the camera. In their stillness and fragmentation, especially at moments of trauma, these bodies both draw the gaze of the camera while at the same time being subject to exploitation by it. Further, by applying an ecocritical framework, this article argues that these bodies are consumed both by and along with the landscape as well as the camera, aligning the fate of the abject king with the fate of the land they inhabit, if not rule. Through reframing the relationship between Shakespearean screen monarchs, the filmed environment, and the camera as one of hungry scrutiny, the article concludes that the power relationships of Shakespearean tragedy are open to subversion.

Citation

Kirwan, P. (2021). Consuming the Royal Body: Stillness, Scopophilia, and Aura in Lear and Macbeth on Screen. Shakespeare Bulletin, 39(1), 39-55. https://doi.org/10.1353/shb.2021.0011

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 11, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Dec 1, 2021
• Publication Date: 2021-03
• Deposit Date: Oct 6, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 9, 2020
• Journal: Shakespeare Bulletin
• Print ISSN: 0748-2558
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 39
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 39-55
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/shb.2021.0011
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4942719
• Publisher URL: https://www.press.jhu.edu/journals/shakespeare-bulletin
• Additional Information: © Copyright 2020 Johns Hopkins University Press