Let me clarify that I think both of these movies (or saga of movies) are bad. I find little to respect about either of them. That being said, I find less to respect about Shakespeare in Love. Why? Because it should have been called Shakespeare in Bed instead. I ask you, dear reader if you have seen Shakespeare in Love, do you remember any time in the film when the lead couple share intimate secrets with each other, or discuss their mutual likes and dislikes, or even conceive a plan to remain together when an impending arranged marriage impedes on their relationship? I don't. I remember Shakespeare and Viola bonking each other's brains out, thinking about bonking each other's brains out, then bonking each other's brains out some more.
At least in the Twilight saga, they saved bonking each other's brains out until later in the saga to allow time for chemistry-building. At least in the Twilight saga, the lead couple, as awfully written as they were, got to know each other's personalities and backstories. At least in the Twilight saga, Edward and Bella went through trials and tribulations throughout their relationship thus making them stronger as a couple. So even if both sets of romances were badly written, at least Edward and Bella brought something of actual substance to the table; Shakespeare and Viola brought barely anything that I would not find with a quick Google search.
I am completely open to the idea that Shakespeare in Love was written with little realistic love in order to resemble the romantic structure of the play within a play, Romeo and Juliet. But here’s the thing, even Romeo and Juliet did not spend a majority of their relationship bonking each other’s brains out. They waited until at least halfway through the play to do that, and even then there is only one scene in which they, ahem, “play checkers”. After that, they have to fight for the right to remain together, proving that what they feel for each other is deeper than raw lust. I am far from a relationship expert as I have only had one boyfriend in my life, but in all of the best relationships I have witnessed, the couple has faced all that life has thrown at them including the good and the bad. They do this because they know that their love empowers them to be better people, to support each other, to pick up the slack when the other has hit the point of exhaustion, and still adore each other at the end of the day.
To Shakespeare in Love’s credit, it does have one scene that is fundamentally representative of everything the rest of the film should have been. Spoiler alert. After Viola has married someone else, through a series of misfortunate happenstance, Viola and Shakespeare wind up playing the titular characters in Romeo and Juliet. During the play, Shakespeare projects the line “Oh, I am fortune’s fool!” onstage then runs off, only to see Viola standing backstage practically waiting for him. Then you can see Joseph Fiennes’ heart break right behind his eyes as he whispers to the love of his life “Oh, I am fortune’s fool…” as he knows this will be the last time they see each other. Everything about how deep their love is supposed to run is said in that delivery. Why couldn’t the rest of their relationship resemble that?
Take New Moon, the second installment of the Twilight saga, for example (boy, words I never thought I would write…). Edward has broken up with Bella because he feels that his vampire existence mixing with her human existence will somehow lead to Bella's demise. I don't remember exactly how. I didn't say the saga was memorable. Anyway, Bella discovers that for unexplained reasons, she can see her soulmate whenever she is in danger. Because she misses this boy, she puts herself through nearly fatal stunts such as jumping off a cliff solely for the couple of seconds she can hallucinate his image. While all of these stunts are damn awful for displaying that destructive dependence on someone else is romantic, at least her love for someone else is less shallow than that of Shakespeare and Viola. At least she attempts to sacrifice something if only for the chance to see him again. And even if that makes for a bad role model, it could make for a great villain or tragedy if handed to the right writers.
Overall, the relationship of Viola and Shakespeare is shallow and based on nothing more meaningful than a quick trip to Pornhub; while that of Bella and Edward, though dumb as all getup, is based on something fundamentally emotional and from a place that could be interesting if, like I said, it were handed to good writers. While neither movie or series of movies is good, it pains me to say that between the two, the one that skewed preteen girls idea of true love does technically works better than the one partially based on one of the most famous tragic love stories of all time.
