William Shakespeare’s Star Wars and the Power of Iambic Pentameter - Summer of Shakespeare the First
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- Опубликовано: 30 май 2016
- Ian Doescher’s parody series is a fun read, but just how does it mimic Shakespeare’s style so well? Here are just a few of the Bard’s techniques.
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THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO LENT THEIR VOICES:
(in order of appearance)
CHARLIE CALLAHAN
As Jabba the Hutt/Chancellor Vallorum/Red Seven
/ rbgprods
/ rbgprods
HILARY THOMAS
As Padme Amidala/Lady Macbeth/Red Ten
/ airspaniel
BRIAN HEINZ
As Emperor Palpatine/Red Three
/ ingeekwetrust
/ thelastangrygeek
HALEY BAKER CALLAHAN
As R2-D2/Red Nine
/ tricksterbelle
/ tricksterbelle
LUKE SIENKOWSKI
As Jar Jar Binks/Red Six
/ thegreatlukeski
/ thegreatlukeski
lukeski.bandcamp.com
Dum-dum-dum/ Dum--da--dum/ Dum--da--dum.
Iambic Imperial.
That... is great!!!
Nice!!
Holy crap it actually fits perfectly!
Molossus Cretic Cretic, so a variation on Tri-Cretic?
YOU MANIAC! YOU MADE THE STAR WARS CHRISTMAS CAROL IN IAMBIC PENTAMETER!
Man, that comparison of Anakin and Padme’s love banter really drives home the point that execution is what matters most
I want to hear the whole thing as a radio play.
AMEN
I wish to see't perform'd upon a stage.
Pocket Fluff Productions And for Attack of the Clones, it should all be performed in front of a green wall.
Audible has book 4-7 as audiobooks. Not sure why they don't have the first 3.
@@stevethepocket It sounds pretty hard to stage.
"Again, it's like poetry, so that they rhyme. Every stanza rhymes with the last one... Hopefully it'll work."
Highly underrated comment. I see what you did there
You know, I've said it before, and I'll say it again: People all too wrongly assume that Shakespere is too high-brow for the masses, while forgetting that Shakespere wrote his plays FOR the masses. He adapted stories from older playwrights to make them palatable to his target audience. He wrote infinitely quotable lines. He coined words that became cornerstones of the English language. He INVENTED Tropes.
Shakespere was the Hollywood of his day. He would look down on "Shakespere's Star Wars" and smile, nodding approvingly.
I always joke that so called "classical literature" like Shakes or Chaucer are more akin to South Park than high art. The only people who object are the actual masses but my English teacher friends merely chuckle.
That's because of a little thing called the "culture cycle". A lot of things that are now considered "high art" or "classics" were once mass entertainment. Heck, in the "literature" section of a bookstore I once found a copy of Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tarzan of the Apes (a pulp novel and perfect example of low-born culture) with a foreword written by Gore Vidal.
And he would probably try to demand royalties.
You should read it, Tarzan and John Carter are awesome!!! @@AdamYJ
Adam Hoffman one has to wonder if 400 years from now, Adam Sandler films and the Transformers series will be considered high art, studied and over analyzed by scholars of the day. Makes me shudder just thinking about it.
I so badly want to read that star wars holiday special script.
James Phillips That’s a Shakespeare comedy in the making, Bea Arthur’s song is soliloquy.
SOMEBODY MAKE THIS!
Since then, Doescher's already released "The Force Doth Awaken", and it's litterally epic!
KYLO REN (Act I, scene 4)
The dark side is the calling I embrace,
For 'tis the heritage I have receiv'd:
To bring the final Jedi to disgrace.
The Knights of Ren did first give me my place,
And in their care my gifts were first conceiv'd--
The dark side is the calling I embrace.
Luke Skywalker's last steps my mind shall trace
Until, at last, his capture is achiev'd
To bring the final Jedi to disgrace.
Thus I'll interrogate this pilot base,
Until the information is retriev'd;
The dark side is the calling I embrace.
And when, at last, Skywalker I outpace,
The dark side's strength by all shall be perceiv'd--
To bring the final Jedi to disgrace.
Thus let the interview proceed apace--
Mine expectation shall not be aggriev'd
The dark side is the calling I embrace,
To bring the final Jedi to disgrace.
Once again, despite years of failed academia, you succeeded where the learned quit.
I actually learned something new. Same as with your Beatles video.
Kyle, you explained iambic pentameter ten times better than any English teacher I ever had (which is saying a lot considering English was one of my best classes) I'd love to see this version of Star Wars performed on stage, which isn't very likely to happen, but would be fun to watch all the same.
How did your teacher explain it?
My teacher never explained it, or that the plays were in verse. Or anything. Why is RUclips a better teacher than my teachers were? I feel like I missed out on so much.
wayfareangel More I hear stories like this, more I think your schools suck.
Martin Šriber Agreed. It did suck (I'm out of highschool now). I wish RUclips was around when I was in school. Turns out I love to learn when my teacher is actually engaged. My Math Teacher used to just hand out photocopies and made us read from the textbook. He was no help at all.
But yeah, at least we have RUclips now, and can make up for lost time ^_^
Also, KYLE! Do the Shakespeare plays rewritten with Doctor Who! It's an awesome book!
The more I read stories like the, the more I feel lucky I had an amazing teacher for Shakespeare. It was thanks to her and the production we went to see that now I love Shakespeare.
The original version of the Anakin/Padme scene sounds like a No Fear Shakespeare translation
That Twitter bot is quite a piece of work. I think I'll have to follow it right now.
EDIT: DUDE YOU DIDN'T EVEN MENTION THAT IT RETWEETS THEM OUT OF ORDER SO THEY FORM COUPLETS I'M DYING RIGHT NOW
Not gonna lie, your Yoda impression was pretty good! I may also have to pick these books up for myself now
1. Yeah, he did Force Awakens, the only mystery is if the spin offs will get scripts.
2. You left out the actual best gimmick in the series. Every single god damn line Mace Windu features the title of something that Sam Jackson was in. And it's rarely intrusive, I mean he somehow managed to get Iron Man Two and Die Hard With a Vengeance in without being forced.
3. This isn't a reoccurring joke, but it was hilarious... When Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Maul are about to face off, Qui-Gon gives the threat from Taken.
Boba all "FUCK THE IAMB"
Kyle, I am but a tenth of the Shakespeare student you are, and these videos give me the greatest joy of all of yours. If I may add a notion: this collection may be the opposite of the Klingon Shakespeare.
Ian Doschester eventually went on to write a Shakespearean monologue for Darth Sidious, in this style, in an official Star Wars book called a certain point of view! It's really great! You should check it out!
I'd highly recommend Two Gentlemen of Lebowski. Very well written, hilarious.
yes, this one next kyle!!!!
The only bad thing about these videos is that they end too soon...
I always got the feeling revenge of the Sith was attempting to be a Shakespeare tragedy, a literal space opera....by someone who doesn't understand Shakespeare or operas or even story telling
It's like poetry; it rhymes.
I really need to read these books now.
I would also love to see them performed on stage. I’m not the only one, right?
For some reason I didn't learn Shakespeare in highschool. We had the option of Shakespeare... or Ender's Game. Guess which my class did?
I've loved your Shakespeare videos, because I've learned so much, especially that it's not as intimidating as I may have once felt!
sensibleGamer Why would you give that choice to teenagers?
sensibleGamer - ...and...why Ender's Game? A lot of my friends, including myself, did Ender's Game in High School but to this day I have no fucking idea why. If you're not going to read the sequels or really delve any deeper into the way Orson's later politics play against his earlier works then you're just analyzing a kind of B-list at best science fiction story. Like, it's never The Dispossessed or Childhood's End or Mote in God's Eye or Dune or Foundation or Hyperion, but people I know from Alabama to New York have read Ender's Game for school. Is it because it's also YA fiction? That's the only way it makes sense.
SO EXCITED FOR SUMMER OF SHAKESPEARE 2K16 AAAAAA
We need this as movie before we loose James Earl Jones.
Or an audio drama, if nothing else.
Subject: PLEASE get the audiobook version! It's AMAZING!!!!!
I wanted to thank you for introducing me to this 'Shakespeare Star Wars' series. I bought an audio-reading of the 'The Jedo Doth Return' from amazon, and it's SO FRIGGEN FUNNY!!!! By the way, I very, VERY strongly recommend getting the audiobook version. It's not just a reading of the work, but a full on performance, with multiple voice talents, sound effects and the score of the original Star Wars film blended in for a full audio drama experience. It's fantastic!!!!
3:50 "iamb mimics a human heartbeat" A more probable explanation is that it mimics the flow of a regular English sentence. Polish rhymed poetry usually uses trochaic tetrameter, which is how Polish normally sounds, because the words are often about two syllables long and the stress always falls on the penultimate syllable. Greeks and Romans loved their dactylic hexameter and considered it the most dignified meter in poetry.
And since most Romanic languages change more their stressed syllables, they don't use meters as the basis of the poem (tho they are used, but the basis is still always the number of syllables and not the namber of meters of one type).
a MORE PROBaBLE explaNAtion is that it MImics the FLOW of a REgular ENglish SENtence. POlish RHYMED POeTRY usually USEs troCHAic teTRAmeTER, which is HOW POlish NORmalLY SOUNDS, beCAUSE the WORDS are OFten aBOUT TWO SYLlaBLES LONG and the STRESS ALways FALLS on the peNULtiMATE SYLlaBLE. GREEKS and ROmans LOVED their dacTYlic hexAmeter and conSIdered it the MOST DIGniFIED MEter in POeTRY.
Some of what you said supports what you said, and some of it doesn't. :)
Shakeperian Luke vs Klingon Hamlet?
In physical combat Klingon Hamlet would destroy Shakespearian Luke but in words I would take Shakespearian Luke as the traditional Klingon Hamlet interpretation don't see the to be or not to be monologue as anything but a farce. Also it is a language that closest interpretation of the verb in Klingon is "to continue" which kinda limits the question? But both have their merits
Awesome episode! Learned a lot about how Shakespear wrote. But oh my gosh that ending gag! Pure comic gold! It would take a lot more than just a dream to mend that one!
Kyle, have you ever considered being an actual professor?
For real though. There's only a handful of youtube critics and reviewers I hope become professors one day (or at the very least, make it a point of publishing scholarly works or giving taped guest lectures), and Kyle is definitely one of them (/^o^)/
I didn't get a great English education as a kid. I was *good enough* in a school full of otherwise-struggling students to just basically be ignored.
As such, my experiences of Shakespeare have always been shallow and, consequently, dull. School made his works a chore, and I've never been able to enjoy them.
I love that I can watch your videos, and get a feeling for what I'm missing. And I feel like I get more of an understanding and appreciation of the works, even if I can't sit through them myself. Goes for most of the stuff you talk about, actually.
So thank you!
I need to incorporate the phrase “soul-shittingly stupid” into everyday conversation
oh my god, that christmas special reference
SUMMER OF SHAKESPEARE 2016!
YES SUMMA A SHAKESPEARE THAS MY SHIIIIIIIIIIIIT
SUMMER DOST COMING!
Brace thyselves!
YES! I was hoping you'd get to this!
Palpable. Ha, I get it.
A single line of Shakespeare fills an entire breath? no!!! *tries it*...oh my God....
I don't know what an iambic pentameter is from HS English, I learned it from you. Thanks Kyle!
[Talks abut Iambic Pentameter]
[Uses one of the most famous songs in 5/4 time as a music bed]
Oh...I see what you did there you cheeky fellow you!
10:40 had to pause a moment because I started choking on popcorn.
I legit thought that was Rob doing the Palpatine voice. Kudos to the voice actor!
THERE YOU ARE! Ever since you kinda waddled off Channel Awesome and then Blip died, I had no idea you kept on making videos. Woop!
also follow him on tumblr, very interesting and intelligent posts (or reblogs, or whatever you call them in tumblr)
I will never forgive your impressions, and you should never ask forgiveness of them, they are absolutely perfect!
really appreciated that flashing iambic pentameter graphic
I hope you get to talking about The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged.
Oh my god, I laughed so hard at the ending.
Kudos, good sir!
This is some pretty clever stuff! I think I've walked by a couple copies of this series at work a few times, maybe I'll check it out now
Hey, look! Peter Capaldi!
I broke out into real life applause when you told me Yoda was in haiku. I am so happy right now, that is too damn clever.
I think you're one of the few people who actually make learning about Shakespeare interesting and fun. While my memory is foggy about all the books I read over the years in homeschool, I DO remember having to read Hamlet at least in high school. And it was not a good time as I remember being completely bored out of my skull, once I realized that it was just dialogue, people talking about subjects I could care less about and they would just go on and on and on and on. It was a play, a script, so I expected to read movements, stage directions, expression in how the actors should act, hear sound effects in my head such as the clashing of steel upon steel (which admittedly was why I was anticipating the sword fight at the end and was disappointed at the lack of action) and got none of that.
My cast for Jedi Macbeth (the show you saw in 2014...thank you so much again, btw, for accepting my invitation) gave me the first two books of the trilogy as their show gift, and I adored them. Not everything is perfect (Yoda speaking in haiku is cute, but one form of poetry vs. another is not the same thing as "typical" speech vs. "backwards" speech), but they're very clever.
Yoda's speech-quirks is not "backwards", it is meant to emulate Japanese syntax. Subject-object-verb order (although they sometimes switch his subjects and objects around to make it easier to understand), having "not" at the end of negatary sentences (to simulate the Japanese auxiliary verb "nai" that do the same ) and ending questions with "hmm?" (to simulate the final interrogative particle "ka?"). Giving a character that spoke with pseudo-Japanese syntax a Japanese form of poetry makes sense.
That's really clever, actually...and if it's on purpose, that has to be a Lawrence Kasden thing. I wouldn't trust Lucas to come up with something that clever language-wise, lol.
I love this series!!! Thank you, Kyle! You+Ian=awesomeness 😄
It's actually very appropriate for Yoda's speech to be in haiku. Because he's modeled after Japanese actor Takashi Shimura, whose been in movies like "Seven Samurai", "Ikiru", and even "Godzilla".
I hope there never comes a day where your inbox isn't full of our thanks and gratitude. These videos are the gift that keeps on giving, and I know from personal experience as a writer and director that we are all the better for it. My interest in Shakespeare essentially started at the end of high school, and while it grew and grew from there it exploded into something so much more when I discovered "Summer of Shakespeare" at the end of college. Your insights have never left me, and now I'm taking so much of what you've shared and showing it to my own students today. You've actually done a better job of explaining Iambic Pentameter than most of my teachers have, and since I'm now co-directing 12th Night this video's become all the more relevant. I just wanted to say, thank you, Mr. Kallgren. You helped a guy get a job, teach kids, and so much more. I am never going to forget that, and I hope that you don't either.
- take care, beannacht de duct
Take Five was a nice touch when you started explaining iambic pentameter.
Did I hear the last angry geek as the emperor
Yeah. It's in the description.
Aw YEAAAAAH, baby! I'm so glad you talked about this. What a great start to Summer of Shakespeare. I especially love how you pointed out all the great references, how much this style improves the lame love dialogue, and how R2's asides are amazing. Gah, so great.
This deserves more views for that note about the verse used for Jar-Jar Binks alone..
Best use of Take Five EVER EVER EVER.
Kyle, you actually made me burst out laughing. Thank you so much. Btw I'm writing an episode on the mythology behind the Hulk, I remember your BTL about the Avengers and you talked about the Hulk and asceticism. If you have any notes or other sources on this I'd love to know.
Am happy to report that, yes, he’s done Episode VII! The Force doth Awaken
And he will also write "Jedi the Last".
Incidentally, both 'The Force Doth Awaken' and 'Jedi the last' are out in bookshelves today!
2:13
I had to listen to this part twice because halfway through I started to realize what scene it was adapting and I almost died
AWESOME USE OF TAKE FIVE
I HAVE WAITED SO LONG FOR YOU TO TALK ABOUT THESE
You are not the only one to sit comfortably in that Venn Diagram. I bought the first one based on the concept alone. Crushed the other 2 of the original trilogy as they were released. Tempted to go through the prequels just to complete the set.
I'm so glad you did these -- they're such fun to read with a group. Personally, I love the battle scenes as narrated by side characters like the AT&T walkers and the asteroid monster.
Spectacular work as always my good man.
this is wonderful how have i not heard of these works before now
I, personally, loved that "Your love has blinded you" scene, though I thought it was delivered poorly. It sounded entirely like two love-struck children just spouting romantic nonsense at each other to prove how much they loved one another. But then Padme, being the more intelligent and worldly of the pair, playfully picks apart Anakin's romantic nonsense to tease him.
Unfortunately, Padme ruined it by giving that line so seriously, like she was actually concerned that Anakin's love had blinded him. Regardless of who made the decision to play the scene that way, I feel like it could have been delivered better. Maybe if it had, there would've been a little more chemistry between that incredibly awkward couple.
I loved this! Post-college, you provide my hit-fix of English analysis that is missing in my life. Thanks!! :)
I just got back from the Stratford Theatre Festival in Stratford, Ontario and they sold the entire series of this in the Festival Theatre gift shop! They also sold a book called "Pop Sonnets", which is a collection of popular songs rewritten in the style of a Shakespearean sonnet. I HIGHLY recommend it if you liked this book series.
This is more geeky than you've ever been haha!!
The Holiday Special? The HOLIDAY SPECIAL?!? You sadist! I loled.
I've had this on my shelf for ages. Time to read it. Incredible.
Now this....was very interesting. Didn't know someone made Star Wars into Shakespeare tone. Now I love to see what other works can be Shakespeare-ified.
I thought that we would see summer go by before we would hear from our good friend Kyle.
Can I just say that you are incredibly good at explaining this sort of thing? Even if you're not necessarily the most authoritative, the passion with which you speak is enthralling.
I've read these. Lotta fun. Helped me read poetry, especially sonnets a lot better.
I do admire the little touches the writer added, like how obi-wan is more jaded and angry about staying on tatoinee while the rest of the galaxy suffered and he give Leia a moment to truly morn the death of everyone on Alderan.
It's a shame he never went further.
I would have loved to have seen his own, else world versions of episode 1 to 3.
He did do episodes 1-3.
I have to admit, the Last Angry Geek does a pretty sinister Palpatine. Well done!
I just noticed that the music you used during the explanation of iambic pentameter is Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five”. Well played.
I've seen these things in bookstores for YEARS, but you might've just finally convinced me to give them a chance. I was worried they'd just be cheap parodies, but they look surprisingly well-thought-out. Thanks, Kyle!
I just want to point out how completely hilarious it was to me that the musical cue that you played when talking about iambic pentameter was Dave Brubeck's "Take Five", it's little touches like that that gives the jazz nerd and the punny side of me life.
Okay, you've sold me on these books.
The holiday special in iambic pentameter. Fucking hilarious!
that was an adorable ending
Hold fast, fill thy subscription box with words asweet.
I have a box set of the original trilogy books. Thanks for reminding me that I have to get around to reading them. I'm even more excited now.
YES! DO THE WHOLE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL!
I always love the shakespeare videos / perhaps in part because it is so fun/ to then compose my comments and replies / in rhythms aping those of shakespeare's work.
I love the art that was done for those book covers!
What makes this even better? The author is doing this for the new ones too. I'm pretty sure he only has "The Force doth Awakens" so far, but I'm looking forward to him tackling Rogue One and The Last Jedi as well.
I have the episode 2 book. real, genuine effort and respect for the materiel but never forgetting how to be fun and weird is always a great combination
There's some misunderstanding that Haiku poems are written with 5-7-5 syllables. The unit of meter used in Japanese poetry is the mora. A mora consists of a vowel (V), a consonant+vowel syllable (CV), or /n/, the only consonant in Japanese that can go at the end of a word without a vowel following it. An example from Wikipedia:
江戸の雨 (e-do no a-me (5))
何石呑んだ (na-n go-ku no-n-da (7))
時鳥 (ho-to-to-gi-su (5))
"Nan" in the second live is considered a single syllable in English, but in Japanese it's made of 2 morae. Let's use the first Yoda line quoted in the video, "Nay, size matters not." Assuming that haiku is measured in syllables, its divided into
"Nay, size mat-ters not" (5)
but considering that final consonant sounds and semivowels can be considered morae in Japanese poetry, it can be divided as
"Na-y, si(sa-i)-ze mat-ter-s no-t" (10).
Just a heads-up.
I love this, it's so awesome.
this was awesome!
Kudos, this was really well done, and you convinced me that there's more to Shakespeare's Star Wars than I gave it credit for. It got some chuckles out of me, but I was really put off by the instances of bad grammar (e.g. "art" being used in the 3rd person like in the conversation you quoted between Anakin and Padme) and what I would call really over-the-top attempts to sound "Shakespearian" that just sound absurd. Honestly, when I remember how much people in English class struggle with it, Doescher's control of iambic pentameter is impressive.
This made me cry.. Thank god I'm going to US in two weeks..
2:53 can't unhear the laugh track from the Plinkett review in that scene
Using Dave Brubeck in the background while explaining the 5 iambs in iambic pentameter: I see what you did there.
I have a hunch that Kyle really likes "Rey's Theme"
now that's the one of thegreatest life lessons I've ever learned from an editorial!!