Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Introduction: The Necessary Film
- Part I Children and the Cinema
- Part II Literature and Adaptation
- 4 “Outing” Edward, Outfitting Marlowe: Derek Jarman's Film of Edward II
- 5 Theater and Fiction into Film: Notes on Paradigmatic Scenes and Emblematic Adaptations
- Part III Views and Interviews
- Part IV World Enough and Time
- Bibliography of Related Criticism
- Index
- Plate section
4 - “Outing” Edward, Outfitting Marlowe: Derek Jarman's Film of Edward II
from Part II - Literature and Adaptation
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Introduction: The Necessary Film
- Part I Children and the Cinema
- Part II Literature and Adaptation
- 4 “Outing” Edward, Outfitting Marlowe: Derek Jarman's Film of Edward II
- 5 Theater and Fiction into Film: Notes on Paradigmatic Scenes and Emblematic Adaptations
- Part III Views and Interviews
- Part IV World Enough and Time
- Bibliography of Related Criticism
- Index
- Plate section
Summary
The reign of the English king Edward the Second (1307–1327) has long been a subject of study, discussion, and debate for scholars and artists alike. Indeed, there is much in what has become the legend of this sovereign to draw one's attention. Arguably one of the first clear historical cases of a regularly troubled regime, the reign of Edward has become an ideal subject for the exploration of the nature of power by historians and sociologists, as well as by novelists, poets, and dramatists. Their studies, however, have been regularly subject to complications and distractions due to the many potentially prurient aspects of this reign: multiple murders, a grossly unhappy marriage, revolutions, rebellions, and, especially, Edward's engagement in homosexual activity. While the importance of Edward's sexuality is obvious as a means to explore the nature and treatment of sexuality in early English history, it has almost invariably distracted from or colored discussions of the more central, political issues of his rule.
The most significant artistic examination of Edward's reign has been subject to similarly skewed treatment. So resonant is Christopher Marlowe's play Edward II (1592) that it has become a veritable locus for cultural discourse on sexuality. Both in studies of the text and in performances of the play, the emphasis has been on questions of Edward's sexuality, whether through direct address of the subject or a conscious moral choice to avoid it.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Screen WritingsPartial Views of a Total Art, Classic to Contemporary, pp. 39 - 50Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2010