Trolling Shakespeare: Bad objects and the antifan discourses of Roland Emmerich's Anonymous

Abstract

Roland Emmerich's film Anonymous does more than simply advance an alternative theory of the authorship of Shakespeare's plays—it actively seeks to raise the ire of Shakespeareans by depicting a buffoonish, illiterate, and greedy Shakespeare who is wholly incapable of writing the plays. And it worked: in protest of the film's release, Stratford-upon-Avon shrouded statues of Shakespeare and street signs bearing his name. This response is, perhaps, curious; in his film, Emmerich makes little effort toward rhetorical nuance or speculative accuracy based on evidentiary gaps. Instead, he prefers to launch a broadside of sensational but easily countered claims. I contend that Anonymous mobilizes various antifan discourses, primarily by trolling Shakespeare and Shakespeareans wherein eliciting anger and tail-chasing—rather than debate—is the goal. Equally important, however, is the film's disdain for fandom in general, as Elizabethan fans are depicted as overly emotional and easily manipulated by cultural producers and real artists. The result is a film that trolls those who hatewatch it, offering a mutually supportive experience wherein two oppositional forms of antifandom ultimately—and paradoxically—offer pleasure to each other.