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Othello: Film Vs. Play

Decent Essays

Film vs. Play Shakespeare’s famous play, “Othello”, has caught the attention of many movie directors and thus creating many adaptations of it. The film, “O”, is an example of one of the many adaptations of the play and consists of many similar elements. Instead of the movie taking place in a 16th century setting, it takes place in a 20th century setting in a high school. Seeing a movie based off a story is always going to be different, but it can enhance the understanding of the text. In this case, the movie helps a lot. The movie and the play are quite similar but there are obvious differences. There are a lot of things to compare and contrast between the film and the play such as themes, characters, and even the way people act. Many of the characters in Othello are represented in the characters in O. Odin is Othello, Desi is …show more content…

The main thing that is different between the film and the play is the setting. Othello takes place in the 16th century and O takes play in the 20th century. Changing the timeline would mean changing the traditions or customs that the original play had. For example, in the 16th century fighting with swords was a common thing, but in the 20th century it's all about guns. The change in setting is a way to help the younger generation to understand the story, and we can relate since many of the viewers are most likely in high school. The character descriptions are also a little bit different. In the play, Othello is a great warrior and general, but in the movie Odin is a great basketball player. Iago was also a mastermind in the play, and took advantage of many people such as Roderigo. For example, in Act 1 Scene 1, Iago tricks Roderigo into helping Brabantio search for Desdemona, but ends up in front of Iago’s sword. In the film, Hugo did not seem like the crazy mastermind like Iago. Hugo did plot some crazy things, but it was nowhere near as genius as Iago’s

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