I recently watched “O”, a modern adaptation of Othello, and I must say that I am surprised by Tim Blake Nelson’s interpretation — I was not expecting to see a film aimed at teenagers. Although I was somewhat shocked, I could see reason in this directory choice. Nelson succeeds in showing his young audience that Shakespeare remains applicable to 21st Century life and that the themes presented in Othello are just as much evident today. At first, I was not too keen on the decision to change the characters’ names (e.g. changing Othello to Odin); however, I soon realised that this was essential in the modernisation of the play. The strikingly mysterious title, “O” — just a single letter long — further succeeds in creating a play which is just as elusive as the title Othello would likely originally have been (after all, the word ‘Othello’ no longer quite holds a sense of mystery now that the vast majority of people are familiar with it!). Nelson’s choice in this teenage rendition is perhaps an effort to refute the assumption that Shakespeare is ‘boring’ (an adjective which has unfortunately been used by many of my peers when studying his works!) and instead Nelson is able to show teenagers the contemporary relevance of Shakespeare in their own lives, hopefully encouraging a greater acceptance of the playwright’s work.
One issue presented in the play, and thereby the film, is the issue of racism. Othello is a moor living in Venice and is thereby the subject of prejudice (e.g. when Emilia calls him a “Blacker Devil”) is prominent, likewise, in “O”, Odin is faced with racist comments (Hugo says, “they call you the N***** man” and Michael uses this same word to describe him.), Desi even asks, “would you be so concerned if he were white?”. Furthermore, in a conversation between Odin and Desi, they discuss the words that can be used to describe black people, and the use of the N-word which Desi is not allowed to say and yet Odin is. Although the two are shown to be deeply in love, there is a sense in this early scene that their races differentiate them. However, when we look at the coach, we see that this does not create a barrier because he genuinely says that he loves Odin as a son — we thereby question whether the issues concerning racism are more prominent within the older or younger, apparently more tolerant, generations. In the basketball team, it should also be noted that there is but one black player on each side and that Odin’s successes in the first game are only finished when he collides with the black member of the opposing team.
Although there are some significant differences between the play and this film interpretation, the plot — although adapted to a modern, school setting — is generally quite similar to Shakespeare’s original manuscript. The fight that Iago provokes in Act 1, Scene 2 so as to attract Othello’s attention, is similarly presented in the film version and ends with the same respectability on Odin’s part. Earlier in this same scene, Iago encourages Odin to get angry at the headmaster, and the only difference between this and the original play is that it instead takes place in a school office. One slightly larger difference that I questioned involves the character Coach Duke Goulding. Whilst it is quite easy to match most of the film characters to the corresponding ones in the original script, I was unable to locate his origins because, in the play, we never meet Iago’s father, and the coach is the parent of Hugo. Nevertheless, I do see the benefits in casting him since it provides Hugo’s necessary jealousy which is not explained to the same extent in the original script. In the play, Iago hates Othello because he overlooks his position as a Lieutenant, and in the film, Odin likewise neglects Hugo when receiving the best player prize and instead recognises Michael’s efforts. This inevitably sparks jealousy but the added information that Hugo’s own father favours another player further confirms this. The film ends with Hugo’s aspirations for becoming a figure as important and sought-over as Odin: “Odin is a hawk. He soars above us. And one these days someone’s going to pay attention to me because I’m going to fly too”. The significance of this self-importance is made evident when Odin holds a gun to Hugo and asks why framed Desi in the way that he did. Perhaps he realises how trivial the answer is, or maybe he doesn’t even know what possessed his actions, but Hugo responds with, “I did what I did”, with no attempts to justify his actions.
Unlike in the play, there is some sympathy on the part of Hugo, especially when looking at his strenuous relationship with his father, we get a small glimpse of why he acts in the way that he does, and the modern audience can recognise how these events have had a psychological effect on him.Furthermore, in the second basketball match, Odin and Hugo work together to score each goal, and yet Odin is the one being cheered for as the audience chants “O” repeatedly, despite the fact that Hugo is the one to score.
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