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The Tempest

Name: The Tempest
Director: Derek Jarman
Released: 1979
Duration: 95 min

Representation Score

9.4/10

Excellent

1979

Director

Derek Jarman

Runtime

95 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

Derek Jarman’s adaptation serves as a radical deconstruction of Shakespeare, using a postmodern aesthetic to challenge classical narratives. It shifts focus from Prospero’s rule to the systemic tensions of his colonial presence. The film excels in its subversion of traditional hierarchies. By using visual elements to challenge assumptions about straight relationships and gender norms, and by employing post-colonial themes, it creates a sophisticated critique of power and authority. While the film is visually and conceptually progressive, it lacks specific, character-driven representations of disability. The focus remains primarily on metaphysical and political identities rather than clinical or social depictions of disability.

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Category Breakdown

Does The Tempest have LGBTQ+ representation?

Excellent

The film uses visual elements to challenge assumptions about straight relationships and gender norms. It celebrates diverse expressions of gender and sexuality, disrupting typical romantic storylines.

How does The Tempest portray gender?

Good

The film disrupts traditional power structures by showing how fragile masculine authority can be. It presents shifting power dynamics and unstable roles, highlighting the volatility of gender hierarchies.

How racially and ethnically diverse is The Tempest?

Excellent

The film features a diverse cast that avoids the homogeneity of classic adaptations. It reframes Caliban as a colonized figure resisting imposed order, critiquing colonial expansion and systemic oppression.

How does The Tempest represent religion and culture?

Excellent

The film critiques Western institutional authority by portraying magic as an imposition. It embraces moral relativism and anti-authoritarian themes, depicting civilization as a force that disrupts natural order.

Does The Tempest include disability representation?

Fair

The film's experimental, fragmented style may resonate with neurodivergent viewers. However, it does not focus explicitly on specific physical or mental disabilities. Otherness is tied to metaphysical status rather than social disability.

Present on Screen

Uses visual elements to challenge assumptions about straight relationships and gender norms.
Reframes Caliban through a post-colonial lens to critique colonial expansion.
Subverts traditional gender hierarchies by emphasizing the fragility of masculine authority.
Critiques Western institutional authority and the imposition of artificial order.

Limited or Absent

Lacks explicit, character-driven focus on specific physical or mental disabilities.
Otherness is primarily tied to metaphysical status rather than social disability depictions.

Official Synopsis

Prospero, a potent magician, lives on a desolate isle with his virginal daughter, Miranda. He's in exile, banished from his duchy by his usurping brother and the King of Naples. Providence brings these enemies near; aided by his vassal the spirit Ariel, Prospero conjures a tempest to wreck the Italian ship. The king's son, thinking all others lost, becomes Prospero's prisoner, falling in love with Miranda and she with him. Prospero's brother and the king wander the island, as do a drunken cook and sailor, who conspire with Caliban, Prospero's beastly slave, to murder Prospero. Prospero wants reason to triumph, Ariel wants his freedom, Miranda a husband; the sailors want to dance.

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