journal 3

Describe one your favorite film adaptations (like we did with The Scarlet Letter and Easy A). What did the adaptation change? What did it keep? Why? What issues are raised, are how do they relate to the specific time, audience, or culture? What does this tell you about the importance of reading a text with its context in mind?

One of my favorite film adaptations is the movie "O" which is based off of Shakespeare's play Othello. I think that the adaption kept the same themes through out the movie but just changes the context. "O" is set in a modern day high school where the main focus is on the character Odin (Othello) who is the star player on the basketball team who gets all the fame and is also in love with the character Desi (Desdemona). Odin gets along the film, the coach's son Hugo (Iago) is jealous of Odin because he gets all the attention and popularity, so in an effort to get revenge, he plots and schemes a way to get rid of Odin. Michael Cassio (Cassius) plays basketball also and is Odin's best friend on the team, which also upsets Hugo. Hugo plots to get revenge on Michael Cassio too because he feels that he should be Odin's best friend. This plot is very similar to "Othello", except the storyline is centered around a teens on a high school, instead of in Venice between generals in an army.

The adaptation of "Othello" leads me to think that reading a text with the context in mind matters because if Othello was the actual character in the modern "O" movie it would be strange for him to be in a high school and on a basketball team, where as in "Othello", Othello is a Moor general in Venice.