Why A Thousand Acres?
The choice to analyze this movie was easy, because of the difference in perspective. Just as in Ran, we chose A Thousand Acres because it allows the viewer to see Lear in a completely different way; first from the American perspective, and second from that of the daughters. The idea of the division of land in The Tragedy of King Lear is key, but it is also perhaps the most important aspect of A Thousand Acres: A Thousand Acres makes contributions to and elaborations on the Lear story other than its primary value of giving Ginny/Goneril a voice and telling the story from the perspective of the daughters. Smiley’s most significant elaboration concerns the land itself. By setting A Thousand Acres in a farm community, Smiley gives the land a much greater and more central role than ever before. Her characters are intimately tied to the land; it is their means of survival. In essence, Smiley has Americanized the Lear story by setting it not only on an Iowa farm, but in the presidency of a pe
