Willson breaks new ground because he contextualizes his discussion of these films with an understanding of the politics and aesthetic conventions/expectations of the Hollywood studio system. He considers the films as films in a way that Shakespeare specialists have often failed to, considering the films as products of an industry driven by box office receipts rather than aesthetic daring. Willson's forte is detailing the "Hollywood intertext": he relates Shakespeare films to other films made by the same studios as well as tracking performance histories of the participating actors. He peppers these presentations with socio-political and economic contemporary influences that precipitated/informed each film's production. The book will be accessible and interesting to those with or without a background in Shakespeare and/or film.
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