Introduction

Shakespeare and Girls’ Studies begins from the premise that to understand Shakespeare’s place in 21st-century popular culture, we must acknowledge the deep erntanglement between the history of appropriating Shakespeare into other forms and media and the cultural impulse to shape, through narrative example, the expression and experience of girlhood. The Girls’ Studies approach to Shakespeare and adaptation I propose centers contemporary discourses of girls, girlhoods, and girl cultures in the analysis of Shakespearean film, television, YA literature, and online media. This introductory chapter articulates the overlapping concerns, approaches, and traditions that frame the subject of the book: Shakespeare and girlhood, Shakespeare and adaptation, and Girls’ Studies.