The current vogue for Shakespeare and things Shakespearean in the popular media is a curious aspect of the contemporary cultural scene. Of course we know that the Bard has long (though not always) been the most often-performed dramatist on stage, at least in the English-speaking world. But live theater — and particularly “highbrow” theater — reaches only a relatively small audience; big-budget motion pictures and television are a different matter. When the movie boomlet reaches Titus Andronicus, long and reasonably regarded as the most unstageable of all the Shakespeare canon, clearly we’re in the presence of something different, something that speaks to the current cultural moment in a particular way. But what is it? What does Shakespeare reflect in us, and what do we see in Shakespeare, that resonates with our felt concerns and realities in today’s world?