"Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”– from Macbeth and Trump memes, to Slackers and Superman…

SHAKESPEARE’S FAMOUS QUOTATION: “Life’s but a walking shadow...a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.”        William Shakespeare        Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5        Even if you’re not a Shakespeare fan you’ve probably seen or heard things or people described as “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” These words are spoken by Macbeth near the end of The Bard’s play about him, first performed in 1606. They reflect Macbeth’s realization that all the scheming he’d done and the murders he’d committed to become the King of Scotland had ultimately led him to a joyless, grim and meaningless end. Macbeth says the lines after being told that his wife is dead. Soon after, so is he.        The phrase “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” turned into a common way of saying that something, or some person, is loud or attention-getting but essentially inconsequential or irrelevant.         Author William Faulkner helped make “sound and fury” an an especially common phrase by titling what would become his most famous novel The Sound and the Fury (first published in 1929).        By the way, if you are a Shakespeare fan like me, I highly recommend two modern adaptations of Macbeth that you can stream on Amazon: the 2010 PBS “Great Performances” adaptation starring Patrick Stewart as Macbeth in a fascist-style realm, and the visually-stunning 2015 film starring Michael Fassbender in the title role.

TRUMP APPLICATION #1 – THAT WAS THEN... “AN IDIOT, FULL OF SOUND AND FURY, SIGNIFYING NOTHING”          One of the many snarky internet memes about candidate Donald Trump posted on Facebook prior to his victory in the November 8, 2016 presidential election, a result that was widely dismissed as unlikely or even impossible before it happened.

TRUMP APPLICATION #2 – THIS IS NOW... “Whatever reactions the protesters have, they need to face the facts that Clinton’s large margin in popular votes didn’t translate into an electoral victory. Their protests are mostly ‘full of sound and fury, signifying nothing’ more than profound disappointment.”        Mitch Edelman        American journalist        In his column about the post-election anti-Trump on the Carroll County News site, November 14, 2016

MOVIE QUOTE #1: “I’m what, a slacker?...I’m in that white space where consumer terror meets irony and pessimism, where Scooby Doo and Dr. Faustus hold equal sway over the mind, where the Butthole Surfers provide the background volume, where we choose what is not obvious over what is easy. It goes on...like TV channel-cruising, no plot, no tragic flaws, no resolution, just mastering the moment, pushing forward, full of sound and fury, full of life signifying everything on any given day.”        Richard Linklater        American filmmaker, screenwriter and actor         In his book Slacker (1992), about the making of his 1991 movie Slacker

MOVIE QUOTE #2: “Sitting there at that moment I thought of something else Shakespeare said. He said, ‘Hey, life is pretty stupid, with lots of hubbub to keep you busy but really not amounting to much.’ Of course I'm paraphrasing.”        Steve Martin as the character Harris K. Telemacher        In the movie L.A. Story (1991)

MOVIE BASHING QUOTE #1: “Once you get past all the sound and fury, what you’re left with is basically emptiness.”        Allison Shoemaker        Staff writer for the Consequence of Sound entertainment website        In her review of Tim Burton's 2016 film Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children

MOVIE BASHING QUOTE #2: “‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’ is a rancid brew of silence, sound and fury, signifying the absolute worst the comic book movie genre has to offer.”         Alex Biese        American entertainment journalist and reviewer        In his review of the film for the Asbury Park Press, March 28, 2016        NOTE: For some other uses and variations of “full of sound and fury…” see the previous QuoteCounterquote.com post at this link.

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