The Great Debators © discussion

The fact that MSnD is a comedy, and such an odd one, with satyrs and other magical beats, causes it to be, in my mind, misplaced as being represented as a work of Shakespeare's, much less one of his finest works. In fact, I sometimes doubt (as do many others) that it was even WRITTEN by the King of Tragedy, but another. Whether the intention was to his benefit or not is an unnessicary mystery to solve.

(Needless to say, I do not particularly like some of Sir Shake-the-Spear's comedies.)

I agree with the fact that MSnD is a comedy, and such an odd one, with satyrs and other magical beats, but from my pov, THIS is what makes it so good! It managed to make an unseen connection between what is real and what not [I don't know, have you seen it on a theatre stage? I've seen it, and it's great how in the lower part of the stage the humans debate, and in the upper side the fairy king and queen, it looks greate for stage!]
Also, as you may know, Shakespeaere, althought being the writer of great tragedies, he didn't particulary enjoy doing it. He liked his comedies more. I enjoy the fact that it is a very well written script for a show, considering it has Puck's ending monologue especially made to involve the audience. Practically, it makes you literally part of the story. I've seen it in a least three theatre performances and two movies, and each time it was different. Everyone can see it as they wish, but I guess it's great idea involves the mariage problem in Antiquity, and the fact that the girls had to marry at such a young age, when they still believe in fairies [innocence and so on], without having the ability to chose, or even the capability to make a choice, due to their unexperienced life and innocence!
Also, if you will, you may choose the superficial view upon it; it is indeed, a cute little stories with a big misunderstanding and a whole lot of "cheap magic". Althought in my opinion, magic is a great subject in all the stories throughout the world, and an essential piece, taking this argument in consideration, think about the fact that many of the Bard's great tragedies involve magic [Hamlet, Macbeth]..and also, the superficial point of RJ is that they weren't allowed to be married because their parents hated each other. Yes, a very valid subject to this day, and yes, the fact that they had some moral principles it's great, they really did "taught their parents a lesson", but isn't this what today's teens are always accused? Of defying their parents and never getting their point? And also, don't you think it was a bit of going over the top with that sollution? Of course, it's a hypotetical question, because both RJ and MSnD have a sum of interesting and weird coincidences, too many to make it possible for them to be related with reality. Yet, I enjoy MSnD more, because it seems to me that it doesn't have exagerated ambissions. Yes, it is a good, humorous story, with a happy-ending and withall types of humour, from the actors to the discussion with Puck; yet, RJ tries to be this huge tragedy, but fails, because it doesn't have the structure to support that. Hamlet does. RJ is based on a fairytale, and tries to be the real deal. Truth is, stuff never goes like that in real life.

1. Sorry for my bad english, not my native language.
2. Sorry for writting an essay.

Thank you!
My native language is romanian, thanks for asking:)
I also memorised Puck's final monologue in english, and I have to perform it, and the one with "I am the merry wanderer of the night" for my theatre admission this autumn! But unfortunately, in romanian.
What's the song called?

And? Do you have any idea how many pop culture icons, movies, books, etc. Romi Juli has influenced? over 350! And all directly, not "Oh, dreams mentioned here, oh, made a reference, let's assume that's what it's about!"

California? What about the rest of the country and the world?

I found 60 influences only in movies and a couple of magazines/books on Wikipedia. I agree R&J is a more known myth, but consider what main motive influenced your play [forbidden love between two teens that makes two opposed families fight] and what motives are there in ours [the shadow realm, the real realm, divorce and custody fight (if you will, on Titania and Oberon), feminism, ambiguos sexuality, (I don't want to use more common themes, like play in a play, also found in Hamlet, or parents agains young love, also present in R&J)]. Also, I don't think there are any interactions between the shadow realm and the real realm in R&J.
As for the number of influences, I'd rather not count them, not because we have less, but because there are many more unknown. For example, your "over 350" also includes a romanian musical of R&J you probably didn't know about. Also, do we really want to include in this debate the Disney adaptations? I know I wouldn't in mine.
Next step probably would be to count how many views & dollars has each famous adaptation of the plays made, and on what countries..and we'll get lost in numbers, instead of arguing with arguments that stick just to the play solely.
Admin? Some rules maybe in this direction?

Why did it fail? I don't know what the other team did with their arguments, but obviously they aren't here so it is safe to asume they weren't interested in this or simply didn't have any arguments. I tried to give my best.