Othello Movie Comparison

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The film “O” produced in 2001 is a modern adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Othello. The movie was both filmed and is centered around Charleston, South Carolina. The movie follows the downfall of Odin James (Othello) a revered high school basketball player who is made to believe by his best friend Hugo Golding (Iago) that his girlfriend Desi (Desdemona) is cheating on him with fellow teammate Michael Cassio (Cassio). Like the original play it focuses on themes like sexuality, deception, betrayal, and murder. However, it includes themes of race and substance abuse in order to modernize it as well as bring in relevant issues.
The fact that the main character Odin is black emphasizes the theme of race. There are multiple comments throughout …show more content…

The biggest change are the basketball games that are added throughout the movie. This is in replacement of the talk and show of war that is present in the original Othello. One scene that is changed is the confrontation between Desi, Odin, Duke, and her father. In this scene it is only them present in her father’s office and her father is the person in the place of power. This defers from the same scene in Othello that takes place in front of an audience and the Duke is the person in power. Another scene that is added is the use of birds throughput the film. They are seen in both the opening and closing scene as well as throughout the film. These were added to go with the idea that Hugo wanted to fly and be a hawk like Odin. One of the most important scene changes is the ending. At the end of play, Othello realizes everything was a lie orchestrated by Iago and kills himself next to his dead wife and in front of the officers while Iago is arrested. In the film however Odin shoots himself in front of a bunch of his classmate downstairs nowhere near the bedroom where Desi lies dead. Also his final words to cement the theme of race depicted throughout the film. He explains how it was the preppy white boy made him go crazy. It wasn’t because he was black or because he was violent or a gang banger. The house is surround by both cops and reporters which show how Hugo finally got what he wanted which was to be

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