Deadwood

i really don't get the shakespeare comparison.

  On 7/21/2009 at 7:15 PM, zaphod said:

i really don't get the shakespeare comparison.

because all the talk in deadwood is done like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36yhvZo91rU

maybe i'm not far enough into the series or i'm just not picking up on something obvious, but verbosity doesn't make something shakespearean.

yeah, i didn't mention the "shakespearean" thing because i never really understood why people called it shakespearean. maybe it's the same sense in which people called 'the wire' dickensian? like it's not the dialogue so much, but the characters and scope?

i never thought of deadwood being "shakespearean" either, but i guessed it's because of the funny language. but, as usual - i'm probably wrong.

I think it's a combination of things that feel "Shakespearian" to me about the series. . . part of it is, of course, the rather dense dialogue, but I really think it's more than just being "verbose." E.B. is somewhat of an exception, as he sort of makes his living on using 20 words when 5 are sufficient - which is sort of the point. The rest of the writing, though, is extremely nuanced and subtle, with characters who are at once archetypes yet also unique.

The structure of the scenes, when characters speak past one another so that the audience can hear their inner thoughts (although the rest of the characters seem unaware of what's being said), the soliloquies, the pacing, the reflection of themes between characters, the use of weather to reflect internal conflict, the humor - it just all feels extremely Shakespearian to me.

It's Shakespearean in that it combines high and low culture, provides even minor characters the chance to deliver soliloquys in empty spaces, and Milch is quite notorious for using iambic pentameter. The comparisons don't stop there, but they become less convincing. Eg. Swearengen to Falstaff as Bullock is to Hamlet.

You could argue that calling Deadwood Shakespearean is a lazy catch-all, but it's still there.

  Quote

Francis Walcott: Including youth, Mr. Manuel? And why not beauty? Not credibly restored, perhaps, but as a new non-negotiable term? Would you not have, too, your brother Charlie resurrected? Would you stipulate your envy of him being purged? Surely, you insist that Charlie retain certain defects - his ineffable self-deceptions, for example, which were your joy in life to rebuke, and purpose, so far as you had one. I suppose you would see removed those qualities which caused you to love him, and the obliviousness to danger which allowed you to shed his blood.

huzzah

Drinking game: Drink every time someone says "cocksucker"

I enjoyed some things about this show, but overall just couldn't love it. I used to read that it was in this trifecta with The Wire and The Sopranos, but I don't think it's quite there. Maybe I'll try it again someday. 

wire isnt there either

  On 11/8/2018 at 4:36 PM, dr lopez said:

wire isnt there either

What are your top picks?

sopranos 

thats about it. in terms of best hbo shows or best television show ever

  On 11/8/2018 at 5:45 AM, Candiru said:

Drinking game: Drink every time someone says "cocksucker"

 

I enjoyed some things about this show, but overall just couldn't love it. I used to read that it was in this trifecta with The Wire and The Sopranos, but I don't think it's quite there. Maybe I'll try it again someday. 

No joke, earlier this year my wife and I were re-watching this and decided one Friday night to do this. Initially, we were going to play it like "drink every time someone says something vulgar" but then realized we'd be unconscious within 15 minutes. 

Suffice to say, we were trashed before the end of the episode we were watching.