It
is said that there are only seven types of stories in the world. If this is really true, every story uses
intertextuality. One just has to figure
out which story comes from which whether it is from a myth, a fairy tale or the
Bible.
Intertextuality
is when “writers find themselves engaged in a relationship with writers from the past; that relationship plays
itself out through the texts, the new one emerging in part through earlier
texts that exert influence on the writer in one way or another.” Writers cannot help but to base their stories
off of previous ones but newer writers put their own spin on their new
literature.
An example of this is Disney’s The Lion King and Shakespeare’s Hamlet. It is plain to see that they follow the same
story line. What does a bunch of lions have to do with the Prince of Denmark?
First of all, Simba is Hamlet; a young prince whose father is murdered. Both of
them wish to avenge their fathers’ deaths but are delayed in their action of
retribution. Both of them avoid taking the responsibility of steping up to the
throne right away due to their fathers’ absences. Even the late Kings in both stories have many
similarities. Each of them were murdered
by their jealous brothers who want to take the throne and both Kings come back
as a “ghost” to provide knowledge for their sons, especially about avenging
their deaths.
Even the secondary characters show a
great deal of resemblance. Timon and Pumbaa matches with Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern. Both pairs of characters,
that are good friends of the princes in each of the works are there to lighten
the mood. They lead the princes away from their responsabilities and hauntings
of their pasts.
Another secondary
character is the queens of the murdered kings, Sarabi and Gertrude. They have
many close similarities including, having an equal amount of power over their
kingdoms, the same spot in the social hierarchy, and emotional ties to the
Princes of both stories.
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| Baby Simba |
In conclusion, every
modern day story is based off another story from the past due to
intertextuality. Writers cannot help but
be inspired by the works that came before theirs. Some stories are just worth re-telling in as
many ways as possible.
When you said "every story uses intertextuality" it made me start thinking about it, and I agree. But I agree in so far that all stories have relatively similar elements; something is being told therefore something must have taken place at one time or at least imagined. Whose to say its impossible to have a new story? At the end when you said some stories are worth retelling in as many ways as possible, I feel like that's the entire point of this. That although there are new stories that come to be, most things are recreations or at least in one way or another hint at distinct similarities. I think you did a good job at tieing and connecting the similarities of both stories very neatly.
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ReplyDeleteWow, nice one Katie. I have never thought about such a direct connection between those two works of literature. I agree with the assertions of Simba and Hamlet's similar situations. Do you think that the writer of The Lion King pulled these themes from Hamlet directly, or was the story so deeply ingrained in his/her subconscious mind that it just sort of happened. This post really got me thinking about conscious literal references authors make and the stories our mind dreams up that are "original" but in fact, are directly influenced by the same "7 stories" that you have mentioned in this post. Questions, Questions, Questions.
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