Hamlet ... Gone with the Wind

To me "Hamlet," could be set in the south around the Civil War. I can see "Gone With the Wind" ... "Hamlet" style, and if that's not insane enough for you I don't want to know what you think is sane. Anyway, imagine back in time on an old property out deep in the hills of the south, a cotton field to your left, and a great pasty white mansion right smack in the middle of it all. Just think as if Hamlet is apart of this long line of great southern military leaders, his father one of the most respected, and his uncle not so much. His mother, Gertrude, a fine southern bell from a sweet Catholic family, spends her days raising him to be a good Catholic boy. So, the forgotten uncle, Claudius, devises a plan to get rid of his brother, take the family land, his brother's wife, and all that sweet money. Before Old Hamlet and Claudius go out to battle they sit and talk about you know family stuff, then Claudius discretely poisons his brother's drink, which ends up killing him. Claudius goes into to battle, gets the win, goes home takes the land, his brother's wife, etc. 

Polonius is an old family friend of Hamlet's family, and finds it his duty to visit often and be of help. Ophelia, the daughter of Polonius and Hamlet's "sweetheart", is a young and youthful girl learning to sew and write back to love letters. Imagine Act 2 Scene 2 when Hamlet totally rips Polonius, in his gentlemanly way, and Polonius is totally clueless. Polonius and Ophelia are invited to Hamlet's house to have a picnic, along with other quests, and outside there are people mingling and talking. Polonius goes straight up to Hamlet, who seems to be avoiding the people, and begins a friendly discussion. After their wonderful talk, of name calling and clueless interpretation. Hamlet leaves Polonius dumbfounded, and joins the rest of the picnic.  

"To Be or Not To Be" .... What ....

Because we are reading "Hamlet" we all have to look at the most famous line by Shakespeare, "To be or not to be."I looked up two different versions of the line on youtube, one by David Tennant (the one above) and the other by Kenneth Branagh (the one below). Before comparing, I would like to say that both gave exceptional portrayals of the scene and I applaud them on their acting skills, because I have none. However, let's compare. Honestly I love it when actors are just talking by themselves and don't have the weird music in the background. I know such a minor detail, but it bugs me, because when we are talking to ourselves their is no moody orchestra behind us causing suspense. So, one point Tennant zero to Branagh. I also liked how Tennant looked so sad for some reason that was so much more convincing to me than Branagh looking so serious and crazy, he actually looked crazy. And, I think that Hamlet would have been more sad and concentrated on his problem than really going insane. In the end I think that Tennant gave a much better version of the iconic line than Branagh.