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Shakespeare’s Cinema of Crime. Crime writers (how can we
neglect William Shakespeare within this genre?) can be considered
significant sources of inquiry into the intricacies of the criminal
mind, leading to the development of theoretical approaches for
conceptualising criminal behaviour and social control. This book by
R.S. White has given new dimensions to Shakespeare by associating him
with modern-day crime thrillers in cinematic form. Numerous plot-lines
of Hollywood films are shown to have been inspired by two of
Shakespeare’s tragic plays — Macbeth and Hamlet. The
interesting component is the crime theme. As White argues: "When
we look at cinematic crime thrillers, detective stories and film noirs
in general, we can see the recurrence of at least some generic
features drawn from Macbeth and Hamlet especially. The
first provides the basis of a murderer’s guilt, a prevailing
atmosphere of menace, and the most famous femme fatale in
literary history — adding up to the ingredients for film noir; (the
latter) the prototype for an investigative detective on the tracks of
a murderer and becoming implicated himself for personal revenge for
the death of a family member." Resemblance between Shakespeare’s
plays and modern-day cinematic representations, as the book reveals,
is not merely at the level of form; the categories of analysis are
indeed genre-based. They become tools with which larger motivations
are explored. The appeal for use of Shakespeare on the screen is the
dark amoral nature of characters such as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as
well as Hamlet. All these characters stand out as vivid examples of
violent behaviour as also the suffering that is felt within as a
result of the action. The twentieth century sees in their behaviour
something akin to its ways of thinking. This may be one reason why
White chose cinema as the genre for questioning and investigation of
the causes behind crime. Within this context, the 1940s are taken as
the starting point of what is considered the noir-corporate or
war-noir. If the issue is taken up with respect to technological
developments, the noir could be extended to "docu-noir" too:
"The term was coined in 1946 by the French critic Nino Frank to
indicate a particular kind of Roman noir, and descriptions first aired
in the early 1940s (even before the term was invented) which
established it as a distinctive visual style or movement rather than a
genre in its own right. There are several sub-sub-genres depending on
the context and setting: corporate noir replaces a criminal underworld
with an executive suite and it has become more and more common as a
setting for conscious adaptations of Macbeth such as Joe
Macbeth (1955), Men of Respect (1991), and Maqbool
(2003). Other hybrid and related forms have been treated as discrete,
but some basic structural, narrative and stylistic elements occur in
each." Thus we see that even as genres appear, the corporate is
replaced by the criminal underworld, which means that the two are not
just related but in fact integral to one another. The reference in
large measure to Indian films is instructive. Maqbool and Omkara
suggest the presence of the sinister in Indian conditions. Matters
of state at the highest level in Shakespeare’s texts are shown in
their Indian representations as brash and superficial. In Shakespeare,
psychology was emphasised whereas in these two films, verbal crudities
and violent ways are in the forefront. This is vaguely suggested by
"sub-sub-genres depending on the context and setting". A
tribute to Shakespeare’s genius but it may come out as gross misuse
of Shakespeare as a valuable intellectual resource. White says:
"Many ‘purists’ amongst Shakespeare admirers (may be) shocked
to find the plays they revere brought into the same orbit as the
popular film industry and ‘trashy’ B-movies." The breadth
and scope of Shakespeare’s vision are indeed the stamp of his
brilliance that has its impact both on the high and the low.
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In the history of
contemporary criminology, one often comes across references to crime
in art and literature with the purpose of investigating complex
questions of law and justice. Going beyond the constraints of the
narrow boundaries of a discipline brings up an interdisciplinary study
that broadens the field of jurisprudence through motivations and
solutions to the sociology of crime. 
