Othello on film

The practice of applying blackened make-up on white actors as used in Stuart Burges' Othello is called:

• Boniface

• Blackmasking

• Blackface

• Blackup

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Choose the most appropriate statement:

• The difference in costumes between Othello, Iago and Cassio in the 1965 production indicates a cultural difference between the 3 characters.

• The difference in costumes between Othello, Iago and Cassio in the 1965 production indicates a difference of class and military position.

• The difference in costumes between Othello, Iago and Cassio in the 1965 production indicates the difference in their character and personality traits.

• The difference in costumes between Othello, Iago and Cassio in the 1965 production indicates the narrative arc that the 3 characters will follow.

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Choose the most appropriate statement:

• The Stuart Burges film of Othello (1965) uses sets that are simply reproductions of a theatrical stage.

• The Stuart Burges film of Othello (1965) uses impressive and elaborate sets that create a certain tone and style for the film.

• The Stuart Burges film of Othello (1965) is shot on greenscreen and has no sets to speak of.

• The Stuart Burges film of Othello (1965) uses lavish sets that reflect a realistic world.

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How do you think Laurence Olivier's performance in Othello (1965) can best be described?

• Olivier is exaggerated and comic; I could not take his role seriously.

• Olivier's role is a tour de force in Shakespearean acting and the the role of a lifetime.

• Olivier's attempt to portray his idea of Moorish manners and cultural life is perfect.

• Olivier's appropriation of an African accent, mannerisms, voice tone and physical power were considered somewhat over-worked and culturally inappropriate at the time.

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How active do you think the women in Shakespeare's Othello are intended to be? Choose the best statement:

• As the play features an interracial romance, Desdemona can be said to be sexually aggressive and a bold female character.

• As the play is set in the world of men and war, the women are largely powerless spectators and victims.

• The play was ahead of its time in giving women a central role and allowing them to control events.

• Shakespeare was a pure misogynist who intended to subject women in his works to violence and oppression.

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In the 1965 film, Iago's motive is made out to be:

• Sexual jealousy because he had heard Othello had slept with his wife, Emilia.

• Professional jealousy towards Cassio.

• Class inferiority complex because Othello and Cassio are his betters.

• A combination of professional and sexual jealousy towards his superiors.

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Oliver Parker's picturization of Othello is (choose the best comment):

• Odd because Laurence Fishbourne is miscast in the lead role.

• In line with Hollywood conventions of male heroism and sexuality, but the first openly black casting.

• In line with Shakespearean conventions and not at all Hollywood-ish.

• Culturally inappropriate because audiences in 1995 were not ready for a black Othello.

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This scene in the 1995 film, where Iago watched Cassio and Desdemona in the reflection of his knife is a homage to:

• The 1965 Stuart Burges-directed Othello

• The 1951 Orson Welles-directed Othello

• The 1955 Sergei Yutkevich-directed Othello, in Russian

• The 1980 Liz White-directed Othello

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Oliver Parker's 1995 Othello film is shot largely on location with highly realistic sets, because (choose 2 correct statements):

• Oliver Parker had a massive budget for the film because there was a big market for Shakespeare films.

• The 1990s mainstream Hollywood audience, who the film is made for, would not accept minimalist theatrical sets. They were used to realistic mise-en-scene.

• The film tries to recreate the world that Shakespeare can only describe.

• The film tries to adapt the play into a realist mode where the audience does not feel they are watching a play, but a film.

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Choose the most appropriate comment on the sexuality depicted in Oliver Parker's Othello (1995):

• Parker's film depicts Desdemona's sexuality as frank and open, surprising Shakespearean audiences with a graphic scene with the black Othello.

• Parker's film is subtle and coy about sexuality, in the early Shakespearean tradition and does not emphasize it too much.

• Parker's film depicts sexuality as lewd and morally corrupt and we are meant to abhor it.

• Parker's film makes Desdemona grotesque, picturing her in bed with both Othello and Cassio and thereby abetting Iago's attempt to paint her as immoral.

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