I wish to participate in the discussion from the point of view of a feminist scholar who is, in fact, a literary critic.
The title of Smith’s movie, in which he plays the father of Venus and Serena Williams, evokes a Shakespearean monarch he rose from Fresh Prince to “King Richard.”- Maureen DowdĪfter Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at last week’s Academy Awards ceremony, following the comedian’s “GI Jane” joke about Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith-who has experienced hair loss or alopecia-the national conversation was replete with commentators, including Maureen Dowd, suddenly becoming literary critics who opined on the deep meaning of the incident.
I could only look at the Will Smith meltdown from the point of view of that earlier Will, because Shakespeare has so many characters who precipitate a steep and stunning downfall: Macbeth, Lear, Othello, Hamlet, Shylock.
