King Richard
The Tragedy of Macbeth
February is Black History Month in the United States – an annual celebration and remembrance of the events, significant peoples, and history of the African diaspora in the country. While Leavenworth, and the surrounding Upper Wenatchee Valley, is not necessarily is the most culturally diverse area of the United States, we can just as readily participate in Black History Month by educating and immersing ourselves in stories of, and stories told by, African Americans. Two recent compelling chronicles are those of the tennis prodigies, the Williams sisters, and their father, Richard, as told in the film King Richard, and, the timeless play, The Tragedy of Macbeth, interpreted, again in film, by one of the leading male actors of our era, Denzel Washington, nominated for his portrayal by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for best actor.
Washington anchors the star-studded Macbeth cast, which includes fellow academy award winner, Frances McDormand, in the coveted role of Lady Macbeth, and is directed and produced by Joel Coen, working for the first time outside the famous duo completed by his brother Ethan. Because the Shakespearean tragedy, set in Scotland, was first performed over 400 years ago, the plot is not only presumed to be known, but not even the focus here. The nucleus of the film is Shakespeare’s language, and more particularly the meaning behind that language, together with spare setting, in black and white, with a 4:3 aspect ratio, which has the effect of squaring the picture and creating a stark, intense focus on individual characters.
Denzel Washington, who is in his mid-sixties, brings an experienced, weary, melancholic air to Macbeth, a man who all but knows in advance that he is on an inexorable journey of reckless abandon, which will engulf him in a tragedy of his own making.
Washington, himself, has downplayed the fact that an African American is leading the audience through the journey. Nonetheless, Washington does recall feeling, as a young man, “that Shakespeare wasn’t for me, for somebody who looked like me. But I think it’s important to see people of all ages in different colors, tapping into the stories that look like the world that we live in. If we can get past the barrier of the language, we’ll find that a lot of it is very timely.” Indeed, Shakespeare wrote the play in the aftermath of a wave of the Plague, which killed off twenty percent of the population of London and the Gunpowder Plot, a failed insurrection by extremists who almost tore down Parliament, events overfamiliar to us today.
As CHS freshman Pearl Wong, who recently read the play, remarked: “though most of Shakespeare is set in Europe with European characters, the canon of actors certainly can, and should, include African Americans, or any actor of any other skin color, because the themes are universal to the human condition.”
CHS Language Arts teacher and Publications Advisor, Roselyn Robison, expanded on Wong’s thoughts by observing that “having more diverse actors play classical roles” is key to “making the themes and concepts” of the classics “available and relevant to modern audiences.”
Few themes are more central to the stories told by filmmakers than that of family. Too few of them have been about African American families, particularly African American families who are ambitious and singularly focused on excellence. King Richard is a step in the right direction on that front.
Will Smith, already the recipient of four Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe and four Academy Award nominations, takes to the screen, in an Oscar nominated performance, with veteran actor, Aunjaune Ellis - also Oscar nominated here for best supporting actress. They are joined by Hollywood newcomers, Saniyya Sidney and Demi Singleton, to portray the early family life of tennis superstars, and sports legends, Venus and Serena Williams. Smith’s Richard Williams, raising his blended family in blighted Compton, California, a city immortalized in rap and hip-hop lyrics, dreams big and devises an improbable plan to make Venus and Serena, not just the best tennis players in the world, but the greatest tennis players ever and world mega-stars.
Venus and Serena, their first names alone enough to identify them across the planet, went on to bestride women’s professional tennis, winning, between them, 30 Grand Slam singles titles, and 14 doubles titles as teammates. Perhaps more importantly, the Williams sisters, under the guidance of their single-minded father, “King Richard,” reshaped tennis by demonstrating that the refined sport of tennis, its highest levels previously confined within the hedges of country clubs, can, and should, be open to people from every background.
King Richard is not only a sports drama, but also an examination of the dynamics in highly accomplished families. Richard (Smith) and Oracene (Ellis) Williams are raising a brood of five girls all of whom excel – and are expected to excel - in school and on the playing courts and fields. While their marriage is far from perfect, and at times even sloppy, their central familial focus – the girls – is uninterrupted. Audiences know coming into the movie that the Williams’ discipline and drive are lavishly rewarded. Yet, the pacing, storytelling, and, especially, the acting compels the viewer to root on Venus and Serena and admire, though possibly at arm's length, Richard and Oracene.
In addition to the nominations for Smith and Ellis, King Richard Academy Award Nominations include for best picture, screenplay, editing, and original song – the latter written and performed by none other than the world-famous superstar Beyoncé. The Tragedy of Macbeth has garnered not just the Oscar nomination for Washington as best actor, but also for best cinematography and production design. Those nominations, alone, are enough to recommend these films. However, their depiction of African Americans as the leading characters and interpreters of timeless stories is all the more captivating. Art, as portrayed in film, and on the stage, has so much more to give when it comes at us from diverse sources of interpretation and portrayal.
Freshman Blue Knutson, a tennis player himself, said it simply and well: “Inclusive casting in movies just makes them better.”
After first airing in theatres nationwide in December, The Tragedy of Macbeth is now streaming on Apple TV; King Richard, which also opened in theatres and on HBO Max, can be found on Amazon Prime. If you have not watched these modern-day masterpieces of filmmaking, do so. If you have, give us your review in the comments below.
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