A Comparison Of The Othello Goes To High School?

“Othello Goes to High School,” (Welsh, 225) is an accurate description of the movie O as directed by Tim Blake Nelson. The O movie is a modification of Othello by William Shakespeare and is set in the 20th century in a high school, where Odin in contrast to Othello is a star basketball star and dating Desi, Desdemona in the play. Hugo, in contrast to Iago in the play is Odin’s best friend and teammate along the son of the coach. Hugo, like Iago pulls the strings behind the curtain which leads to Odin killing Desi because he assumes she is having an affair with Michael, Cassio in the play. This film was critiqued in the Literature Film Quarterly by James Welsh in which he is more critical of the film when he wrote, “Classic Demolition: Why

However, in O Hugo has clear motives for manipulating Odin (Criniti 116). Hugo’s jealously steams from “an angry teenage cry for attention, especially for the attention of an emotionally distant father,” writes Criniti (Criniti 116). Hugo lacks definite motives within the play and for an accurate adaptation of the movie the viewer should conclude his motives themselves, without being guided on how to understand the characters. A benefit of Shakespeare is the ability for the reader to analyze and infer the motives of the characters, and this is not the case with the film O. Although, readers of Othello may deduce the motive of Iago is due to the fact Cassio was promoted, but this is not written clearly in the text. A way to correct this in the movie is to remove the father – son relationship between Hugo and the coach. Without that interconnection between the two characters, viewers are more apt to infer their own opinions about Hugo’s rationale, and this relates alongside of Shakespeare’s play

Although, Criniti sees this as a positive of the movie, this does not align with the work of Shakespeare. At the end of Othello, Iago leaves without saying his motivations for manipulating Othello that leads to the desmise of Othello, Emily and Desdemona. In the play Cassio’s last words are, “From this time forth I never will speak word,” (Shakespeare 142) this leaves the reader in suspense, with questions of why Iago exploited Othello’s trusting nature towards men. In contrast to the play, the movie O gives Hugo a monologue at the end after Odin’s final word. Criniti writes that this departure is “more artistic” and the reason Hugo acted in the manner he did was a quest for attention (Criniti 117). The fact that the screenwriters gave Hugo a last monologue to state he did everything for attention aligns more with a high school drama and not the work of Shakespeare. Iago, a man that has been to war is not comparable to a teenager in high school craving attention from adults or those around him. This deviation is what makes the movie a poor adaption of Othello, a correction of this in the movie is to remove Hugo’s final monologue. The audience should be left to wonder why Hugo chose to be destructive to the people around him. A more accurate ending could end in Hugo asking questions to the audience on why he acts in the way he does,