Sexuality and Gender Roles in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing and its Cinematic Adaptations by Kenneth Branagh and Joss Whedon

This master’s dissertation compares Shakespeare’s play Much Ado About Nothing and two of its film adaptations: the 1993 film directed by Kenneth Branagh and the 2012 adaptation by Joss Whedon. Although both adaptations used the original lines from the play, they are very different: Branagh’s film is pseudo-historical, whereas Whedon’s was modernized. The aim of this dissertation is to analyze whether the directors have modernized the play, and to what extent. In addition to analyzing the modernization of setting in the films, I have observed whether the directors modernized the two main themes of the play: gender roles and sexuality. The analysis of those themes in both films shows that Kenneth Branagh’s movie, although filmed in period costumes, modernizes the main themes of the play by questioning the notions of masculinity and feminity, as well as presenting a film full of sensuality. Joss Whedon goes even further by changing the genre of a few male characters and by presenting a modern version of sexuality. To sum up, the evolution of gender role and sexuality in society has led to an evolution in its portrayal in the adaptations of Shakespeare’s play.