Girls Studies in Shakespeare
Written by Claire Hansen in Criticism and Research | 24.03.2015
Our last blog post explored female actors taking on some of Shakespeare's most well-known female roles. In keeping with this focus on Shakespeare and women, today's blog post looks at Shakespeare and 'girl studies'. This is inspired by the current issue of the open-access, peer-reviewed Borrowers and Lenders: The Journal of Shakespeare and Appropriation. This issue focuses on girls and girlhood in Shakespeare adaptations.
The introductory essay to this issue provides a useful overview of the relatively new field of 'girl studies', situating it within a broader public movement that seeks to 'reverse centuries of discrimination and marginalization' (Deanne Williams, Introduction: Girls and Girlhood in Adaptations of Shakespeare). According to Williams, girls studies explores contemporary girl cultures, theories of girlhood, girls and education, psychology, global and historical girlhoods. As such, it sounds like a fascinating topic to introduce to classroom discussion. This area of research could enrich both Shakespeare studies and Shakespeare education.
The Borrowers and Lenders issue covers a wide range of Shakespearean adaptations that may be of interest to both educators and students: interpretations of Ophelia on YouTube; a discussion of 10 Things I Hate About You and The Taming of the Shrew; and 'the afterlives' of Miranda and Ariel in The Tempest.
As always, we are keen to hear your thoughts on the ideas raised in the Shakespeare Reloaded blog. We invite you to start a conversation with the team and our followers on Facebook.