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.