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Gabriel writes...
Hi Greg,
I was going through the old archives and found that you had a hard time reading MERCHANT OF VENICE because of the anti-semitism you find in it. Well, I just thought you might like to check this out: one of my soon-to-be professors wrote a book called SHYLOCK AND THE JEWISH QUESTION, where he argues that MERCHANT... is not, in fact, an anti-semetical work at all. I didn't read that book, but I just thought to shed some new light or somehting like that. Oh, and if you do want to check this book out, the author's name is Martin Yaffe.
Greg responds...
Thanks, I've heard of that book. Haven't gotten around to reading it yet.
In the long run, however, I personally don't think MERCHANT OF VENICE succeeds as an anti-semitic work. In fact, quite the reverse it winds up on the whole playing as, uh, pro-semitic?
But there are clear anti-semitic assumptions built into the work. Built into how Shakespeare was raised. Things that he doesn't know how to escape, may not even want to escape... but largely overcomes -- in spite of his intentions, to my mind. Because his power in drawing characters is so tremendous that he doesn't know how to create the stock Jewish villain without giving that character real life.
Lord Sloth writes...
"I'll meet by moonlight" questions:
1 How does that name apply to the episode?
2 Why did Titanya and Oberon bother to make such a grand entrance? Or was that Avalon welcoming them back?
3 When Goliath, Gabreal and Angie fall into that water being filled filled by very hot lava, should not the water be too hot to swim in?
4 When Oberon made Goliath & his clan immune to his arts, was this some sota spell to make Oberon and his childern's magic not affect him, or was he saying he wouln't use his magic agenst them, or what?
5 By the end of the Gathering, did Oberon renew his promise about Goliath and clan being immune to his arts?
Greg responds...
Not "I'll meet". "Ill Met". Very different.
1. It was an ill meeting under the moon when Oberon meets our gang. It's also a Shakespearean reference from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" the scene where Shakespeare introduces Oberon and Titania.
2. They do everything grand.
3. Stop calling her Angie.
4. Both.
5. He didn't have to. His word is law.
LSZ writes...
Where was the island of the Tempest in the Gargoyle universe? Does it still exist?
Greg responds...
See my previous response.
LSZ writes...
1) In the Gargoyles universe, what happened to Caliban at the end of the Tempest?
2) Chronologically, where are the events of the Tempest placed in the Garg universe?
Greg responds...
1. Not telling how the Tempest will be integrated.
2. See 1.
zakhur writes...
How did you come up the idea for Queen Mab, was it before or after Oberon first appered on the show?
Greg responds...
After. But not long after. Mab's in Shakespeare, sort of. In a speech by Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet. So she was a natural addition to our ensemble.
Anonymous writes...
Greg;
I have seen many episodes of TV shows that use language and action from various literary sources. They use the TV shows characters to act out the literary source (Like Romeo and Juliet with Leo DiCaprio [same words, different setting]).
1) Did you ever want to try this style with Gargoyles using Shakespear or some other author, like Kipling? I mean, not useing your own written dialogue?
2) Would this infringe on copy writes or something, if you wanted to do it?
Greg responds...
1. Yes, I did.
2. Not if it was someone in the public domain like Shakespeare.
Gabe writes...
Hi,
I just wanted to make a comment:
I think it was very creative and cool to make the cold trio's drama be closley paralleled to Shakespear's OTHELLO. Except for the few inconsistantsies (i.e. Othello-Colstone not being a commander like Othello, Goliath taking on Cassio's role, and the absence of a Rodrigo, and the whole bit with Othello's tissue) I thought evrything was played-out well and done correctly; Iago-coldsteele wasn't as "Machiavellian" as was Iago in the play, but he still had that same pure-evil aura, and Desdemona-Coldfire isn't as naive as Desdemona in the play. It would be neat just see the play done by the characters of the show.
Anyways just thought I'd say that since OTHELLO is one of my favorite plays and plot-lines (almost ranked next to HAMLET and MADAEM BOVARY in my book).
Oops, I lied, I do have a quesiton, nothing too difficult, though: What kind of music would you say the Manhatten clan would listen to? That just popped in my head; I don't know why :).
Greg responds...
I don't know. Carl Johnson stuff mostly.
I'd love to use the Gargoyles characters to perform a whole variety of Shakespeare Plays. Othello's obvious. (Can you see Vinnie as Rodrigo?)
Jessica writes...
How would you compare Desdemona's love towards Othello, to shakespear's sonnet # 116, Let Me Not the Marriage of true Minds
Greg responds...
I'm sorry, but I don't have my copy of the sonnets with me -- and I don't have them memorized.
You feel like typing it out?
Erin Peretti writes...
I am absolutely fascinated with your comment that Gargoyle's MacBeth was more historically accurate than Shakespeare's (obviously ommitting Demona and immortality).
What parts were more accurate?
I know this is a pain, but would you happen to know where I could find some historically accurate accounts of Macbeth? His home, his full name, whether Duncan was the perfect king potrayed in the play, etc....
What research materials did you use when writing Mac for Gargoyles?
Is Glamis castle in Scotland really Mac's castle, as I have been told?
Thanks so much!!!
Greg responds...
Most of the research on Macbeth was done by Monique Beatty and Tuppence Macintyre. I did little or none myself. (I didn't have time.) Monique was my assistant (and is now a producer in her own right). Tup is a close friend and a Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney.
I know Holinshed was of some use. But I don't know what other books they used specifically.
Almost everything we did -- minus the gargs and Weird Sisters and the Mask of the Hunter -- was more accurate historically than Shaekespeare. (Not better, just more accurate.) Duncan and his father hired Gillecomgain to assassinate Mac's father. They rewarded him with Mac's title and with Gruouch. Mac eventually killed Gille and married Gruoch, adopting her boy Lulach as his own. There were some rumours that Lulach WAS his child.
Mac killed Duncan in battle, not while Duncan was a guest in his house. Mac ruled wisely for seventeen years and was overthrown by Malcolm Canmore, who was backed by the English. Etc.
I'm not 100% sure about Glamis, but I believe Macbeth's historical home was Castle Moray (also called Murray).
Duncan Devlin writes...
Was the name Demona derived more from it's relationship to the word demon or or from the name Desdemona in Shakespeare's Othello (or was it a mix). Basically, which came first to the idea board. (I think I'm open for a smart-ass response as well as a real one.)
Greg responds...
I don't have a smart ass response to this. Demona came from Demon. Desdemona (and the obvious aural connection to Demona) was a pleasant "surprise" that came later when we were working on Coldstone. Now if you're asking whether or not, somewhere in the back of my head, the Desdemona name was floating around and had an influence... well, I can't be sure.
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