Interpreting Racial Imagery in O

It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul.
Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars!
It is the cause. Yet I’ll not shed her blood,
Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow
And smooth as monumental alabaster –
Yet she must die, else she betray more men.
Put out the light, and then put out the light…
- Othello, Act V, scene ii


The lights come up, actually, and the movie begins. Once again, William Shakespeare’s tale of racial otherness has been redone. The film O is an adaptation of Othello produced by Miramax Films in 1999 and delayed from general audience release until 2001. 

The movie has transplanted the play’s characters and situations from late 16th century Venice to late 20th century Charleston, South Carolina. The kingdom has become a private high school. Othello the Moor and military general has become Odin James the African-American teenager. Odin’s battlefield is the basketball court. In turn, Mekhi Phifer plays the protagonist with the eyebrow-raising initials. His white girlfriend is Desi (Julia Stiles); Iago has become Hugo (Josh Hartnett). 

In this paper, I wish to investigate the effect of adaptation to this modern-day setting on Shakespeare’s script, with special attention paid to the character and symbolism of Odin himself. Odin, as is frequently mentioned in critical review, is the sole African-American student at Palmetto Grove High. This puts him into fortuitous position in terms of analysis, for Odin’s otherness and visibility are blatantly displayed, constantly pointing out his unique status.