The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
b-side
Thursday, March 14, 2019 — 3B

How ‘The Decameron’ 
launched the Renaissance

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

SOPHIE WASLOWSKI
Daily Arts Writer

B-SIDE: BOOKS

I didn’t know the book had a 
naked woman on it when I asked 
for it as a Christmas present. 
I had first heard of it from my 
world history teacher in high 
school, in an offhand comment 
during one of her tangents I 
had come to know could be as 
educational as the class material 
itself. She had been lecturing 
on the Italian Renaissance that 
day, about enlightenment and 
scientific reasoning, when she 
stopped mid-sentence and asked 
if we had heard of Giovanni 
Boccaccio. Met with only blank 
stares, she launched into a 
speech about how Boccaccio’s 
“The 
Decameron” 
was 
an 
extremely influential work of 
fiction and above all the very 
manifestation of fun itself.
I 
was 
intrigued 
by 
her 
description of the book but 
didn’t think much of it until my 
aunt asked me what I wanted 
for Christmas. I couldn’t think 
of anything, until suddenly 
“The Decameron” came to my 
mind. I loved reading and was 
always looking for a good book, 
so I thought I’d give it a try and 
see whether or not it was all my 
teacher claimed it was.
I didn’t realized what I was 
getting myself into until my 
aunt called the next day, asking 
if my mother thought “The 
Decameron” was an appropriate 
gift for a fourteen year old. 
“There’s a naked lady on the 
cover,” I heard her inform my 
mother over the phone. My 
mother assured her it was fine 
and said I’d heard about it from 
a respected teacher. “I just 
wanted to make sure you were 
aware,” was my aunt’s reply. 
After my mother had hung up 
the phone, she asked me what 
the book was about. I realized 
I had no idea, so I simply 
shrugged and said “the Italian 
Renaissance.”
On Christmas Eve, as my 
family 
finished 
dinner 
and 

began watching our traditional 
holiday movies, our phone rang. 
No one thought much of it at 
first. My father excused himself 
to answer it and when he came 
back I could tell from the 
expression on his face that it was 
“the call.” The one that crossed 
my mind every time the phone 
rang, that made my heart speed 
up and my hands begin to sweat. 
The one we had been waiting 
for since the nurses told us my 
grandmother wasn’t doing well, 
and that we should visit if we 
wanted to say goodbye.
My grandmother died that 
night and I did not know 
what to do. She was the only 
grandparent I had known and 
with one phone call she was 
gone. It was a delicate dance 
of balancing our grief and 
celebrating Christmas. We cried 
that night but opened presents 
the next day. It was strange 
and 
uncomfortable, 
a 
new 
territory none of us knew how 
to navigate. My parents spoke to 
my relatives to plan her funeral 
and arrange travel itineraries, 
while I sat in my room, unsure 
of what exactly I was supposed 
to be doing.
I 
started 
reading 
“The 
Decameron” 
then, 
partly 
because I didn’t know what 
else to do and partly because 
I always read, and reading 
made things feel more normal 
in a way. I soon discovered 
“The Decameron” was about 
a group of friends who go to 
the countryside to wait out the 
Black Death and pass the time 
by telling each other stories. The 
work is set up as a frame story, 
or a series of smaller stories 
within one larger, overarching 
story. The main story is that of 
the friends trying to escape the 
plague, while the smaller stories 
are the ones they tell each other. 
Ten stories are told each day and 
each day has a certain theme. 
The themes range from trickster 
stories to adventures that go 
wrong but end happily, among 
others.
Although I didn’t realize it 

at the time, “The Decameron,” 
which Boccaccio wrote around 
1353, was arguably one of the 
most influential works written 
during 
the 
Renaissance. 
The majority of writing and 
published work before “The 
Decameron” 
focused 
on 
religion 
or 
the 
aristocracy. 
“The Decameron” marked a 
shift toward literature about 
everyday people. It focuses 
not on lords or wealthy royals, 
but a group of commoners. It 
provided average people with 
the rare chance to read a book in 
which they were the stars.
After “The Decameron,” there 
was an increase in work written 
with a frame-story structure, 
something that arguably laid the 
groundwork for the structure of 
Cervantes’ “Don Quixote.” “Don 
Quixote” is considered by many 
to be the first real “novel” that 
resembles the novels in modern 
day society. By extension, it 
can be said “The Decameron” 
helped make the novels we have 
today possible.
Beyond its influence during 
and after the Renaissance, what 
struck me the most about the 
novel was the way it grappled 
with death and mortality. It 
was written in the wake of one 
of the most devastating plagues 
humans have known, yet the 
stories themselves are mostly 
about having fun. It’s a work 
filled with wit, humor and 
stories about humans following 
their desires and simply having 
a good time. As one of the blurbs 
on the back of my copy stated, 
“It’s purely a celebration of 
being alive.”
Essentially, 
Boccaccio’s 
response to such death and 
destruction was to live. To 
enjoy life while it’s possible 
to and pursue happiness and 
fulfillment 
without 
holding 
back. In the wake of my 
grandmother’s death, it helped 
me see that life in a way is more 
meaningful because it does not 
last forever, and we must try to 
make the most of the time we 
have.

ARTIST
PROFILE

IN

“The world is getting faster, 
more complicated and more 
fucked up, so there are always 
larger 
problems 
to 
solve 
and new frontiers to make 
accessible,” said Jack Kornet, 
Stamps School of Art & Design 
junior.
Kornet uses his graphic 
design 
skills 
to 
address 
challenges he or his clients 
face. His work ranges from 
creating event branding for 
startup Ann Arbor SPARK 
to freelancing for Systematic 
Vision, a high speed camera 
supplier and system integrator 
based in Boston.
“My 
favorite 
part 
about 
design work is that it’s not 
work,” Kornet wrote in an 
email 
interview 
with 
The 
Daily. “I have an unreasonable 
amount of fun solving problems 
with creativity. There seems to 
always be more to learn about 
design. I have never gotten 
bored with it, and I’m not sure 
I ever will because there are so 
many potential projects.”
A significant reason for the 
rise of graphic design is the 
mass amounts of information 
we have access to and consume 
on 
a 
daily 
basis 
due 
to 
smartphones and social media. 
In an age where we’re simply 
seconds away from sharing 
or reading information, the 
manner in which we display 
text 
and 
visuals 
becomes 
important.
“If you’re trying to portray 
information, 
then 
graphic 
design is the best medium 
of art to do so,” said Stamps 
School 
of 
Art 
& 
Design 
sophomore Eliana Harrison in 
an interview with The Daily. 

Harrison has created posters 
for Ann Arbor’s “Shakespeare 
in 
the 
Arb,” 
designed 
promotional flyers for student-
run theater group RC Players 
and more.
But while we may think of 
graphic design work as being 
an art form born from the 
modernization of technology, 
it’s been around for much 
longer, 
starting 
from 
the 
Renaissance as the invention of 
movable-type printing allowed 
for the rapid spread of ideas.
“In 
the 
Renaissance, 
artists began to value gaining 
knowledge of materials and 
subject matter and their effects 
on the viewer which I see to be 
on the same train of thought 
as modern designers,” Kornet 
wrote. “The main connection 
I see between Renaissance art 
and modern design is the role 
of a cultural influencer. In 
the Renaissance, art could be 
used to represent important 
people. Artists would create 
lasting relics of identity and 
reputation for their ‘clients’ 
which is very similar in my 
mind to corporate branding 
(logos, the look and feel and 
messaging).”
Just as the printing press 
allowed for the Renaissance 
in Europe, the Internet has 
allowed for a revitalization of 
graphic design throughout the 
world.
“Everything 
came 
from 
the 
Renaissance,” 
Harrison 
said. “Even if you look at art 
nouveau, which was almost 
a very early form of graphic 
design — they did a lot of 
posters for the world’s fairs — 
they drew from the styles of 
the Renaissance. And I think 
that has evolved into modern 
graphic design.”

The 
main 
difference 
between design work from 
the Renaissance compared to 
today is the purpose behind it.
“Where 
Renaissance 
art 
involved itself with political, 
religious 
and 
intellectual 
promotion, design today is used 
in the construction of public 
infrastructure, 
consumer 
products 
and 
basically 
everything,” 
Kornet 
wrote. 
“This 
adds 
a 
tremendous 
amount of possibilities for 
creative projects because the 
range of people who value 
design is much broader than 
that during the Renaissance.”
This added creativity and 
purpose 
behind 
graphic 
design work is what appeals 
to many artists like Harrison. 
Harrison started out training 
in contemporary realist art 
before shifting some of her 
focus towards graphic design 
work.
Harrison 
thinks 
creating 
work for a client is what 
distinguishes graphic design 
from other forms of art. She’s 
fond 
of 
learning 
people’s 
visions and thinking about the 
overall message they hope to 
convey as she makes her work.
“I love the fact that graphic 
design is such a practical use 
of art in order to advertise, 
market and brand companies 
and people,” Harrison said. 
“I think it’s awesome I can do 
that for people.”
No matter what the message 
or vision is for a design, it 
often circles back to the people 
themselves.
“Design is a deeply human 
practice, and it takes a lot of 
empathy to design things that 
other people will love,” Kornet 
wrote. “The process is both 
gratifying and eye-opening.”

NITYA GUPTA
Daily Arts Writer

COURTESTY OF JACK KARNET

The steadiness of ‘Romeo 
and Juliet’ across time

WALT DISNEY STUDIOS MOTION PICTURES

B-SIDE: FILM

The popularity of star-crossed 
lovers is anything but tragic — 
we relish in the misfortune of 
the characters and celebrate 
when, against all odds, the two 
manage to find a way. The most 
famous pair is, of course, Romeo 
and Juliet. We all know their 
story: Two teenagers fall in love 
and, eventually, both die due to 
a serious lack of communication 
skills. Such a simple and, at this 
point, cliché idea. Yet, the play 
remains a staple on high school 
reading lists and Hollywood 
continually 
uses 
this 
Italian 
Renaissance-era tale in a variety 
of modern-day remakes.
“Gnomeo and Juliet,” a 2011 
retelling, follows two gnomes 
from rival gardens in their quest 

for love. Emily Blunt (“A Quiet 
Place”) 
and 
James 
McAvoy 
(“Glass”) star in the Disney 
remake that never truly strays 
from the original, aside from the 
occasional break into song and 
dance and the fact that Romeo and 
Juliet are, in fact, gnomes. The 
movie even tries to open with the 
famous first lines from the play, 
but it eventually devolves into 
a peppy depiction of the black-
and-white or, rather, blue-and-
red, feud between the Capulets 
and Montagues. “Gnomeo and 
Juliet” far from set the standard 
for “Romeo and Juliet” retellings, 
but it was a colorful take on the 
classic.
A better known, and a little 
more subtle, remake is one of my 
personal favorites: “High School 
Musical.” The warring families 
take the form of Troy’s jock family 
and Gabriella’s beloved geeks 

all in East High’s own fair Verona: 
An obscenely nice cafeteria in 
Albuquerque, New Mexico. On 
top of that, Chad (Corbin Bleu, 
“Jump In”), in the form of several 
basketball-related puns, brings 
new life to Mercutio’s character 
while Taylor (Monique Coleman, 
“Broken Star), as captain of the 
Scholastic 
Decathlon 
team, 
provides the manic energy of 
Juliet’s nurse. Like most family-
friendly remakes of “Romeo and 
Juliet,” there is no death (unless 
you count that of Sharpay and 
Ryan’s theater careers), but there 
is a major fight scene ending with 
Gabriella’s lunch on Sharpay.
Maybe 
the 
“High 
School 
Musical” comparison is a bit 
of a stretch, but it does beg the 
question: What makes these 
remakes 
so 
popular? 
People 
obviously still enjoy the play, and 
without it nobody would truly 

understand the ramifications of 
two people falling in love, despite 
every Magic 8 ball telling them 
“Outlook not so good.” But then, 
why not just see the original? The 
classic response is that retellings 
give the play accessibility, that 
by 
simplifying 
Shakespeare’s 
original work into something 
more “palatable” it becomes a 
piece for the masses. But modern-
day 
spin-offs 
of 
“Romeo 
and 
Juliet” lose the 
ridiculousness 
of two teenagers 
(one not even old 
enough 
to 
give 
consent!) falling in 
love in the span of 
two days, all while 
their families are 
fighting 
for 
no 
obvious 
reason 
and biting their 
thumbs at one another.
That’s 
what 
makes 
film 
adaptations so appealing — no 
one is putting their own spin 
on Shakespeare’s famous take 
(which, 
for 
all 
intents 
and 
purposes, was a remake in 
itself.) In 1968, Franco Zeffirelli 
brought us a “Romeo and Juliet” 

with few changes and Olivia 
Hussey (“Social Suicide,” another 
“Romeo and Juliet” remake that 
brought Hussey and her co-star 
together again) with her intense 
eyes, bringing a sophisticated air 
to Juliet that is missing when a 
high school freshman reads the 
play in their head. Not only that, 
but Leonard Whiting (“Social 
Suicide”) is a Zac Efron look-alike 

— if that’s not proof that “High 
School Musical” is a “Romeo and 
Juliet” spin-off, I don’t know 
what is.
The 
most 
famous 
of 
the 
remakes, however, stars the one-
and-only 
Leonardo 
DiCaprio 
(“Titanic”). A renaissance man in 
name as well as looks, DiCaprio’s 

1996 performance as Romeo was 
flawless — the boyish charm and 
agonizingly “passionate” death 
of the enamored teenager was a 
perfect practice run for Jack in 
“Titanic.” Claire Danes (“A Kid 
like Jake”), like Hussey, turned 
Juliet from a whiny 13-year-
old girl to a slightly less whiny 
but still naïve 17-year-old ’90s 
chick. Luhrmann’s take on this 
definitive storyline demonstrates 
that it is very possible to make an 
appealing and dramatic version 
of “Romeo and Juliet” without 
relying on gimmicks like gnomes 
or even modern day language. 
The beauty of Shakespeare’s 
English isn’t taken away to 
make the movie more palatable; 
instead, “Romeo and Juliet” and 
its characters are imbued with 
’90s fashion and grime only 
serving to make the play even 
more passionate and heartfelt 
than the original.
This 
renaissance 
of 
Shakespeare’s 
“Romeo 
and 
Juliet” in film has helped the play 
maintain relevance and adapt to 
changing technology. The classic 
tale is, and will forever remain, 
a pillar in romantic movies for 
years to come.

EMMA CHANG
Senior Arts Editor

The classic tale is, and will 
forever remain, a pillar in 
romantic movies in years to 
come.

