History Theatre / Coriolanus

It has the reputation of being the only Shakespeare play [[BannedInChina banned by a modern democracy]] — specifically France in the 1930s, because it was being co-opted by fascist groups. It was also briefly banned in [[UsefulNotes/{{Germany}} West Germany]] but was the subject of a notable production and adaptation in UsefulNotes/EastGermany under Creator/BertoltBrecht's Berliner Ensemble).

[[caption-width-right:350:Click[[labelnote:here]][[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/0853c2ba_408c_4adf_9126_e19652428ee1.jpeg]] [[/labelnote]] Coriolanus 2011 movie poster.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Click[[labelnote:here]][[quoteright:350:[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/0853c2ba_408c_4adf_9126_e19652428ee1.jpeg]] [[/labelnote]] Coriolanus 2011 movie poster.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Click[[labelnote:here]][[quoteright:350:[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/0853c2ba_408c_4adf_9126_e19652428ee1.jpeg]] [[/labelnote]] The ‘Coriolanus’ 2011 movie poster.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:This Martius has grown from man to dragon: he has wings—he's more than a creeping thing.]]

[[quoteright:260:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/coriolanus_7380.jpg]] [[caption-width-right:350:This Martius has grown from man to dragon: he has wings—he's more than a creeping thing.]]

[[quoteright:260:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/coriolanus_7380.jpg]]

* JitterCam: There is quite a lot of it to go around, even in relatively sedate scenes. Combined with the [[SettingUpdate more modern setting]] and [[RealIsBrown toned-down visuals]], the film aesthetically resembles a military/political documentary than a traditional Shakespeare play.

* AdaptationalVillainy: In Shakespeare's play, the "rabble" are painted as being unfairly harsh on Coriolanus such as the opening scene where shortage of grain is blamed on Coriolanus as an example of irrational mob phobias. In Plutarch's original history, it is made clear that Coriolanus was always extremely unpopular and antagonistic to the Roman people and populace, opposing the rights of the plebians and the power of the tribunate well before the grain incident. Furthermore, when the Mob initially proposed to throw him off the tarpeian rock, this was immediately voted down by the people as Plutarch reports, whereas Shakespeare takes this brief passing remark to make it a constant threat on Coriolanus' life.

* BadassBoast: "Cut me to pieces, Volsces; men and lads, stain all your edges on me. Boy! false hound! If you have writ your annals true, tis there, That, like an eagle in a dove-cote, I Flutter'd your Volscians in Corioli. Alone I did it, BOY!" Also turns out to be TemptingFate.

** Coriolanus is a TragicVillain, his points about the common people being easily manipulated by populist tricks is valid, and his dislike for electioneering and the campaign cycle and trying to put on a peaceable facade to get votes is still empathetic even if his attitude is contradictory i.e. he hates the people but doesn't want to lie to them to make them like him enough to vote him for Consul, and then hates the people for voting against him anyway.
** On the other hand, Coriolanus [[DoNotTauntCthulhu gets utterly owned]] whenever he tries to go up against the public, once with his own people and again [[DeathByMocking (fatally)]] with the Volsces. This seems to say that while the public might be fickle, gullible, and naive, a good leader ''has'' to win them over regardless, and fails to do so [[TooDumbToLive at their own peril]]. Likewise, both Brutus and Sicinus point out that had Coriolanus come to power, he would have likely become a dictator or tyrant since his personality and unwillingness to work with other people would make him unfit for public office.
* DestinationDefenestration: In the 2011 film Aufidius and Martius go out the window together in their first confrontation.

** In the 2011 adaptation, the way that Aufidius looks at Martius--especially when he's cradling his dead body in his arms--screams this trope at the top of its metaphorical lungs. In the DVD commentary, Ralph Fiennes mentions that when Martius appears in Antium and Aufidius initially confronts him, he intentionally directed it so that he and Gerard Butler are close enough to ''kiss'' "if they wanted to".
** In the 2013 Donmar Warehouse production, Aufidius (Hadley Fraser) plants a welcoming kiss on Coriolanus (Tom Hiddleston) and it lingers suggestively long. The production leaves out a scene in which the Volsces decide that Martius has to die, which turns his death from a state-sanctioned assassination into a ''crime of passion'' carried out by Aufidius and his men in the immediate wake of Martius' betrayal.

-->'''Aufidius (to Martius):''' ...but that I see thee here,/Thou noble thing! more dances my rapt heart/Than when I first my wedded mistress saw/Bestride my threshold.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Could be applied to pretty much ''everyone'' at some point but the main ones are Martius (despite his DemocracyIsBad beliefs, his judgment of the people is a very accurate description of their behaviour within the play) and the Tribunes (while clearly only interested in furthering their political careers, again their description of Martius as hating the common people, prone to instability and rash decisions and generally not the sort of person you want as Consul (basically the equivalent of a President) is very accurate).

* ShamingTheMob: Menenius tries to do this a few times, constantly reminding the people of everything Coriolanus has done for them, and that he has not actually committed any crime worthy of death or exile. Unfortunately, his efforts are undermined by Coriolanus' pride and short fuse.
* SlaveToPR: Coriolanus refuses to become this, even when he actively needs to appeal to the public to win election as Consul. Far from humility, Coriolanus' refusal to appeal to the people by making himself palatable and appealing to popular interests is a symptom of his overwhelming arrogance and pride.

** Subverted with Menenius. Despite being a snarky man who is absolutely scathing toward those he does not respect, he is a good man who truly wants what's best for Rome.

* BeardOfSorrow: Coriolanus does not shave his head nor his beard while walking the Earth after his shameful banishment. [[ImportantHaircut He does it again once he allies with the Volscians.]]
* DeathByAdaptation: Menenius [[DrivenToSuicide kills himself]] shortly after Coriolanus rejects his offer for peace.

* KnifeFight: In their first confrontation, Coriolanus and Aufidius [[LetsFightLikeGentlemen put down their rifles to duel each other with knives]]. Things are less gentlemanly in the final scene, when a group of Aufidius men attack him en masse.
* LargeHam: Coriolanus but also a great part of the cast such as his mother Volumnia. Being a Shakespeare play, it was mandatory to chew up the scenery with grandiloquent speeches.
* MirroredConfrontationShot: [[http://www.imdb.com/media/rm664517632/tt1372686 The poster]] of the movie. [[Film/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows It wasn't the first time in a film with Ralph Fiennes released the same year]].
* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Gerard Butler speaks in a Scottish accent throughout his appearance. In a BBC Channel 4 segment on the film, a Shakespeare scholar speculates that this was--like the choice to echo the Yugoslav Wars--deliberate, to better bring up the ethnic conflict undertones present in the play. Nevertheless, Aufidius is the only Volscian character to have such an accent.
* PietaPlagiarism: The end of the movie features one with Aufidius kneeling over Coriolanus's corpse in a pose reminiscent of this.
* SettingUpdate: The film shows an anachronistic Rome and its surrounding provinces as a modern city from the 2010's.
* ShellShockedVeteran: The 2011 film certainly had elements of this.

''Coriolanus'' is a play by Creator/WilliamShakespeare. It is one of his plays set in AncientGrome (alongside ''Theatre/TitusAndronicus, Theatre/JuliusCaesar, Theatre/AntonyAndCleopatra'') and it is considered to be Shakespeare's "last tragedy" before he turned to his final phase of serious romance problem plays. The play is an adaptation of the "Life of Coriolanus" from Plutarch's ''Literature/ParallelLives'' and is set in [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanRepublic the early Roman Republic]].

Caius Martius is a Roman general, who is an excellent soldier, brave commander, and brilliant in the battlefield but incorrigibly conservative, arrogant, and openly contemptuous of the ordinary folk. He is so unpopular personally that when we meet him at the start of the play, there are food riots going on in Rome and Caius Martius is being blamed for taking the grain supplies for the army. While others try and calm the situation, Martius simply retorts that the commoners aren't worthy of having the grain as they have not done military service. After defeating the army of the Volsces tribe and capturing the city of Corioles, Martius is given the name [[TheRedBaron "Coriolanus" as a reward, and is persuaded to run for Consul]]. However, two of his opponents conspire to whip up the commons against him and he is hounded out of Rome for sedition when he calumnies against the power of the tribune of the plebs, where he gives a bitter speech about the evils of democracy and the ingratitude of the rabble. Caius Martius, now hungry for revenge against his homeland, offers his services to the Volsces and their leader Aufidius. Marching on Rome, he has the city at his mercy, but is persuaded by his wife and mother to spare the city. When he returns to Aufidius, he is murdered for his betrayal.

A film version was made in 2011, directed by Creator/RalphFiennes who also played the lead. Creator/GerardButler played Aufidius, with Creator/VanessaRedgrave (in a highly acclaimed performance) as Volumnia, Creator/JessicaChastain as Virgilia and Creator/BrianCox as Menenius. It's a SettingUpdate into a generic CrapsackWorld "Calling itself Rome" (though filmed in Belgrade, Serbia and alludes heavily to the Yugoslav Wars). The film was largely acclaimed for being able to successfully please both Shakespeare purists and action movie junkies.

It has the reputation of being the only Shakespeare play [[BannedInChina banned by a modern democracy]] (France in the 1930s for its co-opting by fascist groups, it was also briefly banned in [[UsefulNotes/{{Germany}} West Germany]] but was subject of a notable production and adaptation in UsefulNotes/EastGermany under Creator/BertoltBrecht's Berliner Ensemble).

* [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative Bitch]]: Volumnia (Coriolanus' mother) is an absolutely brilliant emotional manipulator. She plays her son like a fiddle in every major conversation they have.

* FoeRomanceSubtext: {{Invoked}}. Canon, and in spades. Very few people who are familiar with the play would say there is nothing remotely ambiguous about the tension between Coriolanus and Aufidius.

* FoeRomanceSubtext: {{Invoked}}. Canon, and in spades. Very few people who are familiar with the play would say there is anything remotely ambiguous about the tension between Coriolanus and Aufidius.

* BerserkButton: Coriolanus can, with some effort, hold on to his temper when he knows it's the right thing to do, but not when someone calls him a traitor.

* FragileFlower: Coriolanus's wife, Virgilia.

* {{Pride}}

* BadassBoast: "Cut me to pieces, Volsces; men and lads, stain all your edges on me. Boy! false hound! If you have writ your annals true, tis there, That, like an eagle in a dove-cote, I Flutter'd your Volscians in Corioli. Alone I did it, BOY!"

* FoeRomanceSubtext: [[Invoked]] Canon, and in spades. Very few people who are familiar with the play would say there is anything remotely ambiguous about the tension between Coriolanus and Aufidius.

* FoeRomanceSubtext: [[invoked]] Canon, and in spades. Very few people who are familiar with the play would say there is anything remotely ambiguous about the tension between Coriolanus and Aufidius.

* SleazyPolitician: Both of the tribunes, who, despite claiming to stand for the people, stand for themselves, and manipulate the people for their own gain. Subverted with Menenius, who despite being a snarky man who is absolutely scathing toward those he does not respect, is a good man who truly wants what is best for rome.

* ThoseTwoGuys: The Tribunes, Brutus and Sicinius, who do their best to mobilize the Roman people against Coriolanus during his campaign for Consul.

A film version was made in 2011, directed by Creator/RalphFiennes who also played the lead. Creator/GerardButler played Aufidius, with Creator/VanessaRedgrave (in a highly acclaimed performance) as Volumnia and Creator/BrianCox as Menenius. It's a SettingUpdate into a generic CrapsackWorld "Calling itself Rome" (though filmed in Belgrade, Serbia and alludes heavily to the Yugoslav Wars). The film was largely acclaimed for being able to successfully please both Shakespeare purists and action movie junkies.

* DeathByAdaptation: In the 2011 film, Menenius [[DrivenToSuicide kills himself]] shortly after Coriolanus rejects his offer for peace.

** In the 2011 adaptation, the way that Aufidius looks at Martius--especially when he's cradling his dead body in his arms--screams this trope at the top of its metaphorical lungs.
** In the 2013 Donmar Warehouse production, Aufidius (Hadley Fraser) plants a welcoming kiss on Coriolanus (Tom Hiddleston) and it lingers suggestively long.
*** In addition, the production leaves out a scene in which the Volsces decide that Martius has to die, which turns his death from a state-sanctioned assassination into a ''crime of passion'' carried out by Aufidius and his men in the immediate wake of Martius' betrayal.

** Oh, and in the DVD commentary of the 2011 movie, Ralph Feinnes mentions that when Martius appears in Antium and Aufidius initially confronts him, he intentionally directed it so that he and Gerard Butler are close enough to ''kiss'' "if they wanted to".

* GoodGunsBadGuns: In the 2011 film, the Romans use Colt [=M933=] carbines, while the Volscians use Zastava [=M70=] rifles.

* ImportantHaircut: In the 2011 movie the Volscians start shaving their heads in imitation of Coriolanus, and the 'throne' he sits on is the barber's chair they use for this initiation. The bearded Aufidius is not happy.

* KnifeFight: In their first confrontation in the 2011 movie, Coriolanus and Aufidius [[LetsFightLikeGentlemen put down their rifles to duel each other with knives]]. Things are less gentlemanly in the final scene, when a group of Aufidius men attack him en masse.
* LargeHam: Coriolanus in the 2011 movie.

* MirroredConfrontationShot: [[http://www.imdb.com/media/rm664517632/tt1372686 The poster]] for the 2011 movie.

* ShellShockedVeteran: The 2011 film certainly had elements of this.

It has the reputation of being the only Shakespeare play [[BannedInChina banned by a modern democracy]] (France in the 1930s for its co-opting by fascist groups, it was also briefly banned in [[UsefulNotes/{{Germany}} West Germany]] but was subject of a notable production and adaptation in UsefulNotes/EastGermany under Creator/BertoltBrecht's Berliner Ensemble.

* AnOfficerAndAGentleman: During his campaign against the Volscian city of Corioli, Martius insists his men behave themselves and commit no war crimes, and he insists on treating the Volscians honorably.

''Coriolanus'' is a play by Creator/WilliamShakespeare. It is one of his plays set in AncientGrome (alongside ''Theatre/TitusAndronicus, Theatre/JuliusCaesar, Theatre/AntonyAndCleopatra'') and it is considered to be Shakespeare's "last tragedy" before he turned to his final phase of serious romance problem plays. The play is an adaptation of the "Life of Coriolanus" from Plutarch's ''Parallel Lives'' and is set in [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanRepublic the early Roman Republic]].

''Coriolanus'' is one of Creator/WilliamShakespeare's lesser-known (but extremely well thought-of by critics) plays, with such political overtones that it remains the only Shakespeare play [[BannedInChina banned by a modern democracy]] (France in the 1930s for its co-opting by fascist groups, it was also banned in post-war UsefulNotes/{{Germany}}).

Caius Martius is a Roman general; brilliant but arrogant and contemptuous of the ordinary folk. When we meet him at the start of the play, there are food riots going on in Rome and Caius Martius is being blamed for taking the grain supplies for the army. While others try and calm the situation, Martius simply retorts that the commoners aren't worthy of having the grain as they have not done military service.

After defeating the army of the Volsces tribe and capturing the city of Corioles, Martius is given the name "Coriolanus" as a reward, and is persuaded to run for Consul. However, two of his opponents conspire to whip up the commons against him and he is hounded out of Rome after making a bitter speech about the evils of democracy.

Caius Martius, now hungry for revenge against his homeland, offers his services to the Volsces and their leader Aufidius. Marching on Rome, he has the city at his mercy, but is persuaded by his wife and mother to spare the city. When he returns to Aufidius, he is murdered for his betrayal.

* BloodIsTheNewBlack: In the 2013 Donmar adaptation, Martius is ''covered'' in blood after the battle at Corioli.

* CradlingYourKill / MomentOfSilence

* DemocracyIsBad: Sort of. Even though Coriolanus is clearly not meant to be seen as absolutely correct, his points about how the common people are extremely fickle and gullible and demand a say in government despite knowing absolutely nothing about it are arguably quite valid.
** On the other hand, Coriolanus [[DoNotTauntCthulhu gets utterly owned]] whenever he tries to go up against the public, once with his own people and again [[DeathByMocking (fatally)]] with the Volsces. This seems to say that while the public might be fickle, gullible, and naive, a good leader ''has'' to win them over regardless, and fails to do so [[TooDumbToLive at their own peril]].

''Coriolanus'' is one of Creator/WilliamShakespeare's lesser-known (but extremely well thought-of by critics) plays, with such political overtones that it remains the only Shakespeare play [[BannedInChina banned by a modern democracy]] (France in the 1930s).