{"id":170568,"date":"2025-04-04T07:44:03","date_gmt":"2025-04-04T07:44:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/american-history\/april-4-2025-foolish-texts-fool\/"},"modified":"2025-04-04T07:44:03","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T07:44:03","slug":"april-4-2025-foolish-texts-fool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=170568","title":{"rendered":"April 4, 2025: Foolish Texts: Fool"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

[For this
\nyear\u2019s April Fool\u2019s series, I\u2019ll be AmericanStudying cultural works with \u201cfool\u201d
\nin the title. Share your thoughts on foolish texts, with or without the word,
\nfor a fool-hearty crowd-sourced weekend post!]<\/p>\n

First, repeating
\nyesterday\u2019s a bit of inside baseball: I haven\u2019t yet had a chance to check out either
\nof the texts on which my last two posts in this series will focus. I don\u2019t want
\nto pretend to have specific things to say about them, but I did want to both highlight
\nthem and use them as a lens for broader AmericanStudies questions. So in honor
\nof Christopher
\nMoore\u2019s 2009 novel<\/a> reframing King Lear<\/i> from the Fool\u2019s perspective,
\nhere are AmericanStudies takeaways from a trio of similar such Shakespearean
\nadaptations:<\/span><\/p>\n

1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>Rosencrantz
\nand Guildenstern Are Dead<\/a><\/span><\/i> (1966): Tom Stoppard\u2019s play is quite simply one
\nof the most unique and compelling cultural works I\u2019ve ever encountered, and I\u2019d
\nsay the 1990 film adaptation<\/a>
\ncaptures its essence (if you\u2019re able to check that out more easily than the
\nplay). There are a lot of reasons why, from the philosophical debates to the witty
\nwordplay to the ultimate pathos, but I\u2019d say a significant element in the play\u2019s
\nsuccess is integral to this broader genre of cultural text: it reminds us that
\nmany of our greatest literary works (especially from earlier centuries,
\nalthough the trend undoubtedly continues) focus too fully on elite characters
\nand worlds, and that it\u2019s worth stopping to consider how different the story and
\nour takeaways from it alike might look from the perspective of others (to foreshadow
\nnext week\u2019s series, Myrtle Wilson, anyone?). <\/span><\/p>\n

2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>Shakespeare
\nin Love<\/a><\/span><\/i> (1998): Look, I know there are people who think this film (co-written
\nby Tom Stoppard!) is one of the most overrated ever, not least because it beat out
\nSpielberg\u2019s Saving Private Ryan<\/i> for the Best Picture Oscar. Maybe all I need
\nto say here is that I 1000% support that Oscar win, and think this is one of the
\nmost clever, funny, and ultimately moving films I\u2019ve ever seen. But even if you
\ndon\u2019t agree with all of that, I think it\u2019s undeniable that Shakespeare<\/i>
\noffers a unique and thoughtful perspective on both the creative process and how
\nit intersects with broader historical events. Given how much we tend to think
\nof plays like Romeo and Juliet<\/i> as timeless or universal, I very much
\nappreciate this film\u2019s reminder that it was created in one time and place, by a
\nplaywright and a group of collaborators fully and importantly immersed in that
\nworld. <\/span><\/p>\n

3)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>Opheliamachine<\/a><\/span><\/i> (2013): I\u2019ve
\nonly had the chance to read that Google Books excerpt of Magda Romanska\u2019s
\npostmodern drama (which as you can see only features peripheral materials for
\nand about the play), and so will mostly direct you to check out that excerpt as
\nwell as the Wikipedia
\nentry<\/a> on what sounds like a fascinating attempt to adapt Shakespeare\u2019s
\ncharacters in a 21st<\/sup> century world. While there are lots of reasons
\nto create such adaptations, as just these few examples of the genre clearly
\nreflect, I\u2019d say their most important effect is precisely Romanska\u2019s goal: to
\nhelp us think further about both the original work and our own moment, on their
\nown terms but also and especially in conversation with each other. I love this
\ngenre for both those reasons, and look forward to reading Fool<\/i> soon to
\nadd another example!<\/span><\/p>\n

Crowd-sourced
\npost this weekend,<\/span><\/p>\n

Ben<\/span><\/p>\n

PS. So one
\nmore time: what do you think? Foolish texts you\u2019d share?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[For this year\u2019s April Fool\u2019s series, I\u2019ll be AmericanStudying cultural works with \u201cfool\u201d in the title. Share your thoughts on foolish texts, with or without the word, for a fool-hearty crowd-sourced weekend post!] First, repeating yesterday\u2019s a bit of inside baseball: I haven\u2019t yet had a chance to check out either of the texts on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12032],"tags":[4759,43750,60796,30458],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-170568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-american-history","tag-april","tag-fool","tag-foolish","tag-texts"],"yoast_head":"\nApril 4, 2025: Foolish Texts: Fool - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=170568\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"April 4, 2025: Foolish Texts: Fool - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[For this year\u2019s April Fool\u2019s series, I\u2019ll be AmericanStudying cultural works with \u201cfool\u201d in the title. Share your thoughts on foolish texts, with or without the word, for a fool-hearty crowd-sourced weekend post!] First, repeating yesterday\u2019s a bit of inside baseball: I haven\u2019t yet had a chance to check out either of the texts on […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=170568\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-04T07:44:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=170568#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=170568\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\"},\"headline\":\"April 4, 2025: Foolish Texts: Fool\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-04T07:44:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=170568\"},\"wordCount\":607,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"April\",\"fool\",\"Foolish\",\"Texts\"],\"articleSection\":[\"American History\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=170568#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=170568\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=170568\",\"name\":\"April 4, 2025: Foolish Texts: Fool - Som2ny Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-04T07:44:03+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=170568#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=170568\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=170568#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"April 4, 2025: Foolish Texts: Fool\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"description\":\"Daily Deals\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":86,\"caption\":\"Som2ny Network\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"April 4, 2025: Foolish Texts: Fool - Som2ny Network","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=170568","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"April 4, 2025: Foolish Texts: Fool - Som2ny Network","og_description":"[For this year\u2019s April Fool\u2019s series, I\u2019ll be AmericanStudying cultural works with \u201cfool\u201d in the title. Share your thoughts on foolish texts, with or without the word, for a fool-hearty crowd-sourced weekend post!] First, repeating yesterday\u2019s a bit of inside baseball: I haven\u2019t yet had a chance to check out either of the texts on […]","og_url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=170568","og_site_name":"Som2ny Network","article_published_time":"2025-04-04T07:44:03+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=170568#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=170568"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371"},"headline":"April 4, 2025: Foolish Texts: Fool","datePublished":"2025-04-04T07:44:03+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=170568"},"wordCount":607,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["April","fool","Foolish","Texts"],"articleSection":["American History"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=170568#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=170568","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=170568","name":"April 4, 2025: Foolish Texts: Fool - Som2ny Network","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-04-04T07:44:03+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=170568#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=170568"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=170568#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"April 4, 2025: Foolish Texts: Fool"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","name":"Som2ny Network","description":"Daily Deals","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization","name":"Som2ny Network","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","width":300,"height":86,"caption":"Som2ny Network"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/fivemor.com"],"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=170568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170568\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=170568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=170568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=170568"},{"taxonomy":"dealstore","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fdealstore&post=170568"},{"taxonomy":"offerexpiration","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fofferexpiration&post=170568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}