Dr. Joubin is the author of the recently published book Shakespeare in East Asia (Oxford University Press, 2021), which raises such intriguing questions as: How did Kurosawa influence George Lucas’ Star Wars? Why do critics repeatedly use the adjective Shakespearean to describe Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite (2019)? How do East Asian cinema and theatre portray vocal disability and transgender figures?
In the talk above, Dr. Joubin illustrates through entertaining examples how Shakespeare is connected to theatre, film, and literature in East Asia. Her book identifies four themes: Japanese formalistic innovations in sound and spectacle; reparative adaptations from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong; the politics of gender and reception of films and touring productions in South Korea and the UK; and multilingual works in Singapore and the UK. These adaptations are reshaping debates about the relationship between East Asia and Europe, and this book reveals deep connections among Asian and Anglophone performances.
Learn more about her work at ajoubin.org
Alexa Alice Joubin writes about race, gender, Shakespeare, and film and theatre. She teaches in the Departments of English, Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Theatre, International Affairs, and East Asian Languages and Literatures at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where she serves as founding Co-director of the Digital Humanities Institute.
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