Review of O (2001) by Grace M — 29 Nov 2015

Othello Play vs. Movie Review.

On a scale from 1-10 I would rate the play version of Othello a 7. The plot was very complex and obviously well thought-out, but while reading it I usually found myself becoming lost in the Shakespearean language and not fully interpreting all of the words on the page. I understood the general plot and course of events, but not every written line seemed relevant. Also, since these plays were originally meant to be performed and not read in book form, I think I would've been able to comprehend some of the text better and would have overall enjoyed the story better if I had seen it performed. Having it performed would give the text a new form of life that it does not necessarily have on its own. What I liked most about the play version of Othello was not just the complex plot, but some of the references that were made to the Bible in some of the characters' lines. Iago specifically has a line where he twists the words of a Bible verse to, in a sense, proclaim he is a god and also to say that he is two-faced. I think the way Shakespeare sets this reference up is very clever. What I didn't like about the play were the sometimes dry or seemingly unnecessary lines. There were parts of the play where characters would ramble on for pages at a time and their words would drift away from the main topic they were speaking about in the first place. Those unnecessary monologues took away from the overall story for me when I was reading it.

I would give O, the movie adaptation of Othello, a 8 on a scale from 1-10. Modernizing the play made the story much more relatable, and therefore much more interesting for me. One thing that I really like about the movie is that Desdemona actually sticks up for herself and directly denies cheating on Oden (Othello) in the movie, while in the play she's a lot more passive and doesn't ever deny anything. Another thing that I think works well in the movie is that Oden's (Othello's) rage is a lot more apparent. The movie focuses a lot on how the rumors of Desdemona's affair with Cassio affect him mentally and emotionally, and I feel like even though his anger is definitely talked about in the play, I didn't get as much of it out of the words alone. One last thing that I liked about the movie was how much of Iago's double-sidedness is shown. In the play I got a good sense of Iago's bad side, but didn't have as easy of a time seeing why everyone was so fond of him. His character in the movie (Hugo), however, shows the character's double-sided personality really well. The audience sees more of him developing trust and bonding with Oden (Othello). There wasn't anything in particular that I hated about the movie. The drug dealing scenes weren't necessary, but they added an interesting subplot and helped to raise the stakes in the movie.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie adaptation of Othello more than I enjoyed the play. I found myself becoming much more invested in the characters and the overall plot while watching the movie than I was while reading the play. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that Shakespeare always intended for his plays to be performed and not read, so I believe that only reading them takes away from the overall affect that stories can have on an audience. Although I enjoyed both the play and movie versions of Othello, the movie was much more entertaining for me.