A Midsummer Night's Dream: The Movie
             The director of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Michael Hoffman, partially modernized the drama by changing it from 16th century in Greece to the turn of the 19th Century in Italy. The opening credits explain that it was a time when the bustle was on the wane and the bicycle was on the rise. These were considered harmonizing trends. These modernizations weren't too modern, and his changes to the original story were minor and almost unnoticeable. But the film turned out a success with some effective touches here and there.
             The bicycle allowed for the characters to "pedal" after each other rather than chasing each other around on foot. It was a successful change that added a touch of humour and a little more interest to the story.
             At the beginning of the film we are servants preparing for Theseus' wedding day. This instantly shows that Theseus has power and is high in society.
             A while after we are introduced to Helena. We see her walking down a road sulking and she comments on "showers of ode did meet..." As she is saying this it's pouring rain. I thought that this was an interesting effect. It was definitely something that wasn't visualized in the book.
             We are then introduced to the mechanicals. The director of this film arranged for the camera to pass by Bottom the first time as a donkey walked in front of his face. Later in the film, Puck changes Bottom's head into that of an ass. Also, in the book, we were not introduced to Bottom's wife. In the film, she was added to give us some background about Bottom. She asks a person in the market "Where is that worthless dreamer?" This tells us right away that Bottom's head is always up in the clouds and he is a foolish thinker. Also, Bottom's wife is used to make the audience feel sympathetic towards him. Later on, after the gathering about the play, when he
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