Can One of the dilemmas facing a modern day director in the presentation of the witches is making them seem menacing to a modern day audience. In Shakespeare's Macbeth.

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Analyse the presentation of the witches in selected versions of Macbeth

Can One of the dilemmas facing a modern day director in the presentation of the witches is making them seem menacing to a modern day audience. In Shakespeare’s day witches were feared as they were believed to wield tremendous power and thus the stereotypical image of a witch would be enough to invoke genuine respect and fear in the audience. However, current audiences find the stereotypical image of witches more amusing than fearful therefore directors have incorporated different personalities to make sure the witches induce fear in the modern day audience.

In the 1998 Channel 4 films version of Macbeth the witches are dressed in colourful mismatching garb this suggests that the witches would not have bought the clothes and that they are in fact someone else’s that they have scavenged or stolen. This version is intended for a younger audience therefore their costume makes the witches seem more realistic because a modern day street hawker would evoke similar emotions  (those of alarm and respect) in younger audiences to those evoked by stereotypical witches in Shakespeare’s era. The age of the witches also differs when compared to the Animated Tales and Japanese version. The witches are more middle aged and much younger then the ones in the Animated Tales and Akiro Kurasawa versions. This is effective in giving making them seem more dangerous to modern day audiences as they genuinely possess the physical strength to harm younger audiences. The though the script of the 1998 Channel films version of Macbeth remains faithful the original Macbeth the appearance of the witches does not. However, both of them have the same impact on their very different types of audiences, successfully giving them the role of the instigators of the crimes to be committed.

Cultural differences meant that Akiro Kurasawa had to use the Japanese equivalent of a witch in order to evoke a similar emotional response from the intended audience that European audiences would feel towards the witches in Macbeth. In the Japanese version Throne of Blood instead of three conventional witches there is only one Japanese “evil spirit” which is suggested by her costume consisting of long white hair and traditional Japanese dress. The director also further maximizes the effect by shining an intense spotlight on the witch making her seem deathly pale, and unnatural. The use of white is important, as it can be symbolic of death in Japanese culture a contrast to European cultures where it would symbolise hope and good. The media used is a black and white movie that increases the contrasts between the white “evil spirit” and the human characters which are in observed in darker tones. Not only does this make the audience more fearful of the spirit but it also makes it easier for them to empathise with the Macbeth and Banquo characters in the movie who are genuinely fearful of the spirit. The script of the play differs from the original as it is in Japanese, however, Kurasawa does use a setting and script that would be equivalent to the language of the original script and has a similar impact on the audience and characters, thus truly being faithful to it.

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The Animated Tales version of Macbeth directed by Serebryakov is a cartoon in which the witches are depicted as old hags dressed in rags. They are clothed in dark tones that suggest death and decay, indicating their dark and evil powers as well as the dark themes in the play. Dark colours are generally associated with the gothic and thus fit their stereotypical image. Their costume also looks weather beaten giving them a sense of timelessness and which makes it seem like the witches have survived many centuries and thus definitely inhuman. They are stereotypical witches however; they are ...

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