I spent the afternoon firstly at a union meeting (very productive), then showing Laurence Olivier's Othello on DVD. It's the only performance the university had available on DVD - there are some ancient video tapes, but one has white man Anthony Hopkins playing Othello. Another features Laurence Fishburne, but it's only 'based on' the play, and the Willard White version has its own problems (and I didn't see it on the shelf).
Olivier plays the lead role. He's a brilliant actor, but there's no getting round the fact that he's blacked-up for the role, and looks ludicrous. It's a fascinating insight into the racial politics of the 1960s, and of the theatre world - but it's also very uncomfortable, to put it mildly.
The question is: should this performance not be screened, ever? My class is racially diverse and (I hope) antiracist. Olivier's film is 45 years old. Should we show it and talk about the cultural situation which somehow made it OK for him to black up, or should we see it as so unquestionably racist that it should never be seen again? Should students of colour be protected from seeing this stuff? Some would say: it happened and needs talking about. Others would say: these students have plenty of experience with racism, why add to it?
So - what would you have done? At least one student is upset, and it's really on my mind. Here's a clip - Olivier appears about 3 and a half minutes in:
9 comments:
Maybe if you hadn't been so lazy and taught it instead?
Cheeky git. A screening was planned for two weeks' time, but as my voice isn't properly back yet, I brought it forward.
Sorry Voley, I'm a bit grumpy tonight.
I wouldn't have had a problem with it - I have more of a problem with Olivier not portraying Othello the way I read him, if that makes any sense.
I wouldn't criticise you for showing it, personally.
Thanks Ewar. I know what you mean about the performance though - if you're familiar with a text, you know how it should be done. Even if the performance is brilliant, it won't reflect your own culturally-contextual vision. It's one of the interesting things about adaptations.
Nobody made a fuss when Rock Hudson played a hetero male on the screen, but I suppose race is tougher to represent.
I think the adaptation has historical merit, if you can take the time to discuss the cultural/social context. After all, who played Othello in the original staging?
Personally, however strange it might sound, watching Olivier performing Othello was extremely painful for me. Not because of his skin, no; that is just the way the world used to be in those times and however we might not like it, there is nothing we can do about it. It is the same problem as Ewarwoowar´s, though I have no clue what is the way s/he imagines him; but to me Othello as I read him has fair amount of dignity and pride, is more pitiful and tragic than laughable. Olivier portrays him (it seems to me) the way Iago describes him: as a stupid animal. It is not possible to see the reason why should Desdemona love him so passionately to flee to him from her father. I find it sad, since this play seems to me to burn with passions possible to explore on stage, has the power to fascinate in its cruelty - instead of that I felt sick and being the coward I am ran away during the coffee break. End of rant:-)
PS: I hope you´ll find your voice soon again:-)
Like the others have said, I didn't have much anger towards the colour issue, more the fact that he seemed to be giggling like an idiot in places where I thought he shouldn't have been. Also, whilst watching it, I'm not sure if it was the quality of the video/DVD or what, but someone asked me if I thought if Othello's speech was out of sync at times with the movement of his mouth and after watching closely I think I noticed it too. Was rather off putting, but distracted me from the annoying giggling, so I didn't mind it so much.
Having said that, I thought Maggie Smith was really good and thought the portrayal of Cassio (the drunk bit) was priceless. Whether it was meant to be like that I'm not really sure, but it was enjoyable anyway.
Did you know the Indian guy in Short Circuit 2 was a white guy blacked up? It is doubly odd because the main thrust of the film is about an acceptance of difference.
Anyway - yes the blackface is preposterous. There is no real reason why a white man cannot play Othello (the rest of the cast could be black or the whole cast could be white which in both cases would make Shakespeare's words reach the audience in a different way - these are just two of many possible options) but as soon as an actor 'blacks up' the performance can only be about that fact.
I have never liked Olivier's Shakespeare stuff anyway. I have never understood why so many film adaptations of Shakespeare religiously stick to the rules of theatre and not cinema. Cinema offers so many opportunites to explore the texts more intimately so why are so many adaptations stilted parades of old men proclaiming?
Thanks for all this. I'm not overly keen on this performance, but it's the only DVD of the play, rather than an adaptation of the play (the Laurence Fishburne film manages to fit it into an hour and ten minutes).
Winter and hltoffy - you make some interesting points. One of the features of the text is that Othello starts off dignified, strong and bright, but crumbles into, as you say, a wounded animal very quickly: there's a reading which says this happens to easily because he's only 'civilised' to a limited extent - that the play encodes the racial attitudes of English culture of the period.
All the performances since the 1600s until the 1950s, and a lot since, featured white actors blacked up. One defence is that they wanted the 'best' actors (e.g. Olivier - I know, but acting styles have changed) or that black actors were few and far between (another product of racist societies). There's a Verdi opera called Otello - very, very few productions use a black singer/actor even now.
hltoffy - I thought the drunk scene was awful - hammy and embarrassing!
Ben - I've probably seen Short Circuit 2, but can't remember a word of it. It's stunning how often blackface turns up now - Rory Bremner did it to do Trevor MacDonald. I agree with your other points. Perhaps in 1965, the 'blacking up' didn't take over the play, but it certainly has now.
Anyway, thank you all. Very much appreciated.
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