What makes Shakespeare so famous and universally loved? Perhaps it's his wondrous creativity and wit that withstands the test of time. But perhaps, its the adaptability factor of his plays. Think about it: you can take nearly any one of Shakespeare's plays and adapt it to nearly any plot or time period. It's this versatility that has allowed Shakespeare to become the greatest playwright of all time; his stories are universal and his themes fit the mold of any story you'd like to tell. For this reason, Shakespeare can remain relevant in modern culture, although he deceased hundreds of years ago.
As a result of the versatility of his plays, there are some very crazy adaptations of Shakespeare. There is a TV Movie adaptation of The Tempest that takes place in the Mississippi Bayou during the Civil War. There is a 1956 movie which also tells the tale of The Tempest...in space that is. Consider even the 2006 film She's The Man starring Amanda Bynes, which adapts Twelfth Night into the story of a high school girl becoming a star on the male soccer team. The point of all these examples is that Shakespeare's adaptability is second to none; his stories can take place at any point in history with any type of character. So the next time you go to the movies, watch out for your favorite actor or actress playing the role of Romeo, Macbeth, or Hamlet.
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