The corrupting force of power: A contemporary re-view of Laurence Olivier's "Richard III" (1955)

• Autores: Manuel Casas Guijarro
• Localización: Proceedings of the 30th International AEDEAN Conference: [electronic resource] / María Losada Friend (ed. lit.), Pilar Ron Vaz (ed. lit.), Sonia Hernández Santano (ed. lit.), Jorge Casanova García (ed. lit.), 2007, ISBN 978-84-96826-31-1
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Laurence Olivier's "Richard III" (1955) proposes a critical reflection on the totalitarian authority of monarchy together with the corrupting force that absolute power has both to subdue and allure the human being. Olivier transcends the Shakespearean historical account to present a filmic production strongly based on the character of Richard, his relation with the spectator and his ambivalent attitude as both the "conspiring friend" and the "Machiavellian plotter." Framed within the boundaries of our perspective as Postmodern viewers, the film enables a re-analysis so that a network that entwines a multifaceted psychoanalytical and political intertextual network emerges reflecting on human's attitudes towards power, also hinting at a veiled parallelism between Richard's dictatorial obsession and the totalitarian threat of the Nazi empire. Moreover, we may highlight that significant concomitances arise within Olivier's approach to the discourses of power and the mass audience world-famous contemporary filmic enterprise 2The Lord of the Rings" (2001, 2002, 2003), by Peter Jackson. Both Olivier's representation of Richard's crown and the master ring of power figured by Jackson are brought to the screen as the epitome of the absolute power that enslaves all living creatures on earth and that seduces the human being to the point of consuming his soul, body and intellect.