Twelfth Night Vs. She's The Man

William Shakespeare wrote some of the most influential works in his time that still affect us today. Many of his plays have been adapted into movies; where some of these adaptations fall his plays almost exactly while some have their own take on his plays and are able to change the meaning of the play while still keeping the basics of it. For example, the 2006 movie She’s the Man was adapted from Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night. She’s the Man is a modern version of the play with the same plot, relationships, and character names occurring in both. While Twelfth Night is aimed at everyone, She’s the Man is aimed at modern teenagers, and this difference can account for many overall differences between the two. The modern adaptation of Twelfth …show more content…
This is a major difference between the movie and play, whereas in Twelfth Night, Duke instantly accepts Cesario to be a woman and it is actually unclear what Duke’s sexual orientation is because he still continues to refer to Viola as a boy and never cares to see what Viola really looks like. On the contrary, Duke in the movie still does not believe Viola and even tells her to prove that she is a girl. This is a major difference because a modern audience would not be receptive to Duke if he was gay, or even if his sexual orientation was unclear. A modern audience would be upset if Duke was anything but straight because the captain of the soccer team is meant to be straight; a gay jock does not match the description of what society teaches a male athlete should be. This movie is meant to be a light comedy, and bringing sexuality into it would make it serious and confusing for the audience, so it is easier to define Duke as a straight …show more content…
Twelfth Night’s main theme is about entertainment and love, which is only an underlying theme in She’s the Man. She’s the Man focuses more on trying to break gender roles, by showing Viola as a female soccer player who is good enough to be on the boys team when she is disguised as her brother and Duke, a sensitive jock. However, by trying to stick to the theme of entertainment as seen in the play, the movie enhanced some stereotypes about both genders. In order for women to be taken seriously in the world, they have to act as a man would and cannot have the emotions a woman would. Viola portrays this when she is disguised as her brother and only refers to women in degrading ways so that her friends will think of her as more of a man. Duke, on the other hand, is meant to be portrayed as very sensitive to the audience. When his friends are around he acts tough, another male stereotype, and only accepts Viola when she physically proves that she is a girl. He is also embarrassed when Viola confesses her love to him in public because she is dressed as a boy. This leads to a difference between Duke’s actions in the play and movie when Viola reveals herself. In the play, Duke is perfectly fine and has no care that Viola has been dressed as a boy, which leads to an