Spoofs Allow for More Possibilities: Thank You, Shakespeare!

One of the positive of "spoofs" is that they allows the givens to remain givens, so the writers don't have to keep excusing themselves.

I came upon this thought when I considered the problem of updating/modernizing/making superheroes supposedly more progressive. Literature Devil does a thorough job proving that Stan Lee was always more interested in story than in politics. However, writers run the risk of being criticized no matter what they do--hence, growing reader interest in manga, which still focuses primarily on story. 

My suggested solution is to "pay tribute to" a classic, which is code for, Use the classic characters and plots but switch people around.

In a recent viewing of The Hollow Crown, I realized, Shakespeare allows for such tributes! Shakespeare is the preeminent example of using and reusing basic plots-- which Shakespeare somehow encapsulated better than everyone else--to achieve numerous ends. 

So one of the main characters of Henry VI is Margaret, the bulldozer of a political powerhouse who marries the inept Henry VI. Some critics believe that the three plays that make up Henry VI are really about her, rather like how huge chunks of Henry IV are mostly about Falstaff and his cronies. (The plays are named for their kings, not necessarily their plots.) 

And I realized that Sophie Okonedo is able to play Margaret--and play her magnificently--without automatically being labeled misogynistic BECAUSE the play is Shakespeare. 

Shakespeare is endlessly usable--one reason, perhaps, that he has remained such a seminal figure in literature. His plays can be modernized or spoofed (see Trevor Nun's spoof of, and tribute to, the itself-a-spoof-play Comedy of Errors). Shakespeare's plays can be cut to focus on different plots and characters. They can be set in different countries and even in space--or animation! 

Okonedo becomes the powerful and complex Margaret and excels--without apology.

Thank you, Shakespeare!