{"id":2370,"date":"2026-04-08T12:56:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T12:56:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/library\/?p=2370"},"modified":"2026-04-08T12:56:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T12:56:50","slug":"shakespeare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/library\/shakespeare\/","title":{"rendered":"From Page to Screen: Films You Didn\u2019t Know Were Based on Shakespeare"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

You might think Shakespeare is all about old language, long speeches, and something you had to study at school. His stories are everywhere \u2014 including in films you\u2019ve probably already seen. Here are a few well-known movies that are actually based on Shakespeare plays, whether it\u2019s obvious or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Image
William Shakespeare<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n


The Lion King (1994) \u2014 Hamlet<\/em>
A young prince, the sudden death of a father, an uncle who takes over, and a journey of self-discovery.
Sound familiar?
The Lion King<\/em> follows a very similar storyline to Hamlet<\/em>, just with a slightly more upbeat ending.

10 Things I Hate About You (1999) \u2014 The Taming of the Shrew<\/em>
Set in an American high school, this is a modern take on one of Shakespeare\u2019s comedies.
It keeps the core idea \u2014 strong personalities, complicated relationships, and a bit of chaos \u2014 but makes it much more accessible.

She\u2019s the Man (2006) \u2014 Twelfth Night<\/em>
A story about disguise, mistaken identity, and confusion all round.
She\u2019s the Man<\/em> updates Twelfth Night<\/em> into a football-focused teen film, but the themes are exactly the same.

West Side Story (1961 \/ 2021) \u2014 Romeo and Juliet<\/em>
Two people fall in love despite being from rival groups.
West Side Story<\/em> takes Romeo and Juliet<\/em> and places it in New York, replacing feuding families with rival gangs.

Ran (1985) \u2014 King Lear<\/em>
A more serious take.
This Japanese film by Akira Kurosawa is based on King Lear<\/em>, focusing on power, family, and the consequences of poor decisions.

So why does this matter?
Because Shakespeare\u2019s stories are still relevant.
They\u2019re about relationships, ambition, power, and identity \u2014 things that haven\u2019t really changed. They\u2019ve just been retold in different ways.

Final thought
If you\u2019ve watched any of these films, you already know more Shakespeare than you might think. If you\u2019re curious, the original plays are available through the Library<\/a>. You can also watch many of these films from our DVD collection, or online through resources such as Kanopy and Box of Broadcasts.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We hope you enjoy!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You might think Shakespeare is all about old language, long speeches, and something you had to study at school. His stories are everywhere \u2014 including in films you\u2019ve probably already seen. Here are a few well-known movies that are actually based on Shakespeare plays, whether it\u2019s obvious or not. The Lion King (1994) \u2014 HamletA […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":841,"featured_media":2375,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,29],"tags":[82,33,83,57,81],"class_list":["post-2370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-resources","tag-films","tag-online-resources","tag-plays","tag-resources","tag-shakespeare"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/841"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2370"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2376,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2370\/revisions\/2376"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}