Othello Movie Analysis
"Othello" Othello, a tragic play where a man named Othello meets his downfall when he allows another man to play mind games with him. Since this plays tragic ending is quite famous, a movie called "Othello" was created in 1995. The director of this play wanted to not only keep the movie as close to the play as possible, but also have a unique way of getting the plays message across to the audience. The difference we see between the play and the movie is how they interpreted the character Iago and Othello by the way the director uses movie tools and Othello's ethnicity. A book can get the message across much easier than a movie can. In a book you can write down what the characters are thinking, feeling, and etc. While in a movie, you can't
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really see what the character is thinking or feeling. So the director wanted to make sure those feelings and thoughts the characters in the play were brought over into the movie. They decided that using every line out of the play would make the movie too long. So to get those same lines across without saying it, they made fantasy sequences. These sequences were made to really get into the depth of the emotion and conflict that we see through Othello and Iago. We are able to see the agony in Othello when he believes there's an affair happening between his wife, Desdemona, and Cassio. It gives the same idea as the monologue he gives in the play but without saying the lines. Another sequence they do is with Iago's menacing soliloquies where they make the camera angles to explain his feelings. The camera angle gives the audience and understanding that Iago has much darker intentions in destroying Othello. Also when Othello is getting married to Desdemona, we see a scene where Othello is kissing. This scene shows his feelings for love towards her to the Senators. But we also see his confidence, pride, and arrogance for his wife. But we can see that Iago's hatred towards Othello seems to be expressing his lines of his hatred towards moors. In the film, Iago is trying to make a plan to destroy Othello. We see his plan played out through the chess pieces. Cassio is a pawn while he makes Othello the black king and Desdemona the white queen. We're shown that a white knight is placed in between the king and queen with shows us his mischievous side. Also to make the audience know how evil Iago truly is, they take a shot of the fireplace in the background with the right lighting helped give us the dark nature. When Iago is called out by Othello in one scene, he gives Othello such a wonderful smile and gives his "friend" a hug. But during the hug the camera angle shows us his face which shows us the evil smirk. By being able to use the camera angles, we can see his split personality without using words from the play. But the director wanted to also wanted the audience to really understand why Iago might hate Othello.
Since back in Shakespeare days, Moors were Arab Muslim or Spaniards that were looked down upon in society. They were treated like how the African American community was 70 years ago. Iago was a white man while Othello was a Moor. But Shakespeare never clearly stated what ethnicity Othello truly was. So the director of the movie had a chance to interpret Othello's ethnicity to where the audience can truly understand the emotions and symbolic meaning between Othello and Iago. So Othello is betrayed as an African American. The audience can really understand Iago's hatred since we know that the African Americans were treated really poorly back in our country. There use to be laws known as Jim Crow laws where blacks and whites were separated. When the African American community was allowed equal rights, many white Americans were upset with the outcome. Many white Americans went on lynching, hunting, and destroying many black communities. This information was than symbolized through Iago's character where we can see he's upset with Othello being able to be the same status or even better than his. We can even see how extremely jealous Iago is when we figure out Othello's military status is two ranks higher than
him. What makes this play a tragedy is that Othello was first shown to be a very kind and honorable man, but later on Othello changes into a dark and dishonorable monster where he murders his own wife. When Othello finds out the truth about how Iago tricked him into murdering his wife, Othello's grieve makes him commit suicide. But Iago meets his own tragedy where he murders his own wife as well. Where authorities find out and take him away. But how they interpret the characters was through the movie maker tools. From camera angles, to lighting, backgrounds, fantasy sequences, and the ethnicity of Othello helped bring out the uniqueness with giving the same message the play had across.
really see what the character is thinking or feeling. So the director wanted to make sure those feelings and thoughts the characters in the play were brought over into the movie. They decided that using every line out of the play would make the movie too long. So to get those same lines across without saying it, they made fantasy sequences. These sequences were made to really get into the depth of the emotion and conflict that we see through Othello and Iago. We are able to see the agony in Othello when he believes there's an affair happening between his wife, Desdemona, and Cassio. It gives the same idea as the monologue he gives in the play but without saying the lines. Another sequence they do is with Iago's menacing soliloquies where they make the camera angles to explain his feelings. The camera angle gives the audience and understanding that Iago has much darker intentions in destroying Othello. Also when Othello is getting married to Desdemona, we see a scene where Othello is kissing. This scene shows his feelings for love towards her to the Senators. But we also see his confidence, pride, and arrogance for his wife. But we can see that Iago's hatred towards Othello seems to be expressing his lines of his hatred towards moors. In the film, Iago is trying to make a plan to destroy Othello. We see his plan played out through the chess pieces. Cassio is a pawn while he makes Othello the black king and Desdemona the white queen. We're shown that a white knight is placed in between the king and queen with shows us his mischievous side. Also to make the audience know how evil Iago truly is, they take a shot of the fireplace in the background with the right lighting helped give us the dark nature. When Iago is called out by Othello in one scene, he gives Othello such a wonderful smile and gives his "friend" a hug. But during the hug the camera angle shows us his face which shows us the evil smirk. By being able to use the camera angles, we can see his split personality without using words from the play. But the director wanted to also wanted the audience to really understand why Iago might hate Othello.
Since back in Shakespeare days, Moors were Arab Muslim or Spaniards that were looked down upon in society. They were treated like how the African American community was 70 years ago. Iago was a white man while Othello was a Moor. But Shakespeare never clearly stated what ethnicity Othello truly was. So the director of the movie had a chance to interpret Othello's ethnicity to where the audience can truly understand the emotions and symbolic meaning between Othello and Iago. So Othello is betrayed as an African American. The audience can really understand Iago's hatred since we know that the African Americans were treated really poorly back in our country. There use to be laws known as Jim Crow laws where blacks and whites were separated. When the African American community was allowed equal rights, many white Americans were upset with the outcome. Many white Americans went on lynching, hunting, and destroying many black communities. This information was than symbolized through Iago's character where we can see he's upset with Othello being able to be the same status or even better than his. We can even see how extremely jealous Iago is when we figure out Othello's military status is two ranks higher than
him. What makes this play a tragedy is that Othello was first shown to be a very kind and honorable man, but later on Othello changes into a dark and dishonorable monster where he murders his own wife. When Othello finds out the truth about how Iago tricked him into murdering his wife, Othello's grieve makes him commit suicide. But Iago meets his own tragedy where he murders his own wife as well. Where authorities find out and take him away. But how they interpret the characters was through the movie maker tools. From camera angles, to lighting, backgrounds, fantasy sequences, and the ethnicity of Othello helped bring out the uniqueness with giving the same message the play had across.