This is an excellent reference for making a comparison between the film "O" and the play "Othello". The author, David Orland, points to many interesting differences between the play and the movie. He goes much farther than the obvious differences (language, setting, characters' names, ect.) and delves into the basic issues brought up by both. The play focused much more on racism than the movie appeared to. The movie focused on jealousy and status rather than who was black or white. Such as in the coach's speech about Odin being more than a player and more like a son. The original play itself seemed intent from the very opening act on having an oppressive racial theme. Before we even have a chance to build an idea of each characters' personality we are bombarded with the "moore" who is animal-like and uncivilized. Orland poses this and many other insightful arguments about the faithfulness of the movie to the play.


I watched the movie with Christine and we were both intrigued by the use of birds in the film. From what we could both remember from our reading there hadn't been a bird theme in the original play. I have taken a look at Christine's blog and she has some great reference sites for the thought process that the director had when he decided to include birds. Apparently I'm not as observant as I would like because animal imagery seems to be a major theme in "Othello" the play. I found this site that had some wonderful information on the use of animal imagery, especially in Iago's dialog. You have to scroll down a bit to get to the direct quotes from the text, but the writing is very interesting. Apparently this is a type of journal from a performance at a school. The things discussed while rehearsal is in progress are posted and elaborated on in this little blog. Really interesting.

In general I have to say I like the play much better than the movie. In my opinion the play has more depth and passion and intrigue than the film. While "o" does have a touching dying dialog for Odin, nothing can rival the emotional realm Shakespeare's Othello and his political, prideful suicide.