Othello which was written by William Shakespeare. This play has been remade countless times. It’s been produced on the big screen and local stages around the world. Two of the most recognizable versions are by Tim Blake Nelson and Oliver Parker. Both directors attempted to grab the attention of an audience comprised of different people and what was going on in society during the time of production. Parker tried to appeal to people who love Shakespeare. On the contrary, Nelson tried to appeal to a younger crowd. In both films, the interpretation follows the original themes such as racism and jealousy.
Both Nelson and Packers films take different approaches to recreate the play but they still treat the theme of Othello specifically racism the same.Oliver Parker takes Shakespeare’s Othello and recreates it for it to be seen across the world on the big screen. But he stays true to the original storyline to appeal more to the people who really appreciate Shakespeare’s work. On the other hand, there were scenes that were removed and scenes that were added that were not in the original play. Parker attempted to make the adaptation of Othello more of a movie while still keeping all the important details.
For example, Parker used the scene where Iago and Othello make a vow and it is in a more dramatic light. And it draws more attention to the fact that the two are getting closer due to staging. This shows this director wanted keep the true to its origin but with a little small spin on the plot. Nelson’s recreation of Othello grabs the attention of younger people by incorporating an aspect that would stick with his targeted audience who are high school. Which to me is important because i think one should want to connect with their audience.
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The setting is moved into a modern high school that also includes action scenes. A challenge Nelson faced was to be able to create problems that teenagers experience on their life that are similar to the ones in Othello. Which to me raised problem as to how he will stay true to the theme of racism. Nelson changes Othello’s name to Odin and the main focus to his race and skin color rather than outside ethnicity. The entire production works for Nelson’ because he adopted enough of the problems that are comparable and realistic that fit into the time period he is adapting Othello into.
When talking about the themes, Parker stays true to the theme of racism. Which was a black man marrying a white woman. Something that is unheard and looked down upon in the time period of the play. And the fact that people didn’t like a black man being in such high power.The actors playing the characters do a good job of depicting the tensions between different races and sex. Nelson’s usage of theme relates to the acts of jealousy and trust in a modern setting. The idea of race is definitely well known in this film, considering ‘O’ incorporates the use of slang such as the n-word to create a more realistic take on the environment that Othello took place in.
Problems that sprung up is that Oden had to face more problems that had to deal with the expectations others had for him rather than his own values. Odin must prove himself to others because he is a transfer student from a different high school and playing basketball on a team full of white people which makes a modern cliché of racism. However, this is nowhere near the type of racism experienced in Shakespeare’s version. On the other hand, Nelson portrays the themes of jealousy and trust, where Odin views Mike’s body in the mirror rather than his own, allowing this imagery to reveal that Odin has a definitive jealous idea and wishes to be someone else.
Both of these directors do well recreating Shakespeare’s work with the overall ideas that Shakespeare had in mind though in different settings and with different themes being targeted. Both films treat the theme of racism the same but the form of racism was different.Overall, both movies recreate Othello into their own interpretation that goes hand in hand with the time period it was produced in. Even though some of the senses are missing or portrayed differently from Shakespeare they are still kind of accurate in it’s on way depending on whos viewing or reading it. As the general timeline is followed, the plot points are well. Both films somewhat stay true to the themes of racism.
