I thought the rampant sex scenes lowered the tone and distracted me.
Although I did like the way that Othello imagined Desdemona et cetera in bed and it was stolen by Vanilla Sky and this is not coherent, I'm afraid.
Kenneth Branagh is, however, God.
It's rather odd that you'd find the sex scenes so non-Shakespearian given that his plays are full of double entendres and many of his sonnets are all about sex.
"It's better to have ideas. You can change an idea. Changing a belief is trickier." -"Dogma"
Actually if you have studied Shakespeare in any depth you'll find that there are many sexual innuendos and references to sex which maybe considered incredibly crude. Shakespeare was writing plays to be performed to many different sectors of society and therefore composed puns with rather vulgar subjects, so as to entertain the whole audience and not just limit Shakespeare to scholars. If you read ‘Twelfth Night’ for example you will find many sexual references, not to mention homosexual implications. Therefore ‘No sex please, we're Shakespearian’ is rather a contradiction in terms.
However I do agree that occasionally modern movies do tend to do a Hollywood-style sexing up of these plays.
Yes, sometimes the modern versions of the plays emphasize sexual aspects of the plays. Let 'em. So long as the language remains, the timelessness of the works will always shine through.
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Actually, I think the sex does detract from Shakespeare's play. I think, for Shakespeare, sex was more fun to talk about than to actually have. The Othello/Desdemona sex scene was at best redundant. We already know that they love each other, and that they're sexually attracted; so it wasn't necessary.
shareI see what you're saying and when you look back at original practices, it was unheard of to have sex onstage. However, in plays like Macbeth, I feel it is absolutely necessary to show the sheer amount of sexual tension between that couple.
However, I think it is ten times more powerful and enticing to see a couple just about to leap on top of each other than to see it happen. That sheer tension can make a scene.
But one cannot deny the bawdry in the comedies.
Brevity is the soul of wit ~ Hamlet
Eh, the problem isn't that it's Shakespearean. As others have said, Shakespeare can be pretty dirty. The problem is that it doesn't fit in the context of the story.
Why, in the play, doesn't Othello trust that Desdemona hasn't been sleeping with Cassio? Because he never has sex with her. If he had, then he would have known that she was chaste. The fact that they had sex in the movie takes that element away. So, in the context of the film, either she was not a virgin before she married him (which doesn't make sense when one considers how sheltered her father supposedly kept her, and with how innocent and good-hearted she is written), or he's a bigger moron than he appears.
chaste didnt mean the same thing then as it does now. you could be chaste then even if you had sex 50 times a day so long as you didnt have sex outside your marriage or before it.
shareI thought that Othello and Desdemona did have sex? That is why Othello was extra annoyed when Cassio and Roderigo were fighting... I can't really remember the exact quote from the book now...
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Remember early on, when Othello and Desdemona are supposed to go tootling off to bed, but then Othello leaves his bed when the fight with Cassio erupts. Rather than return to Desdemona's bed, he goes off to stitch Montano's wound together. And he was quite a bit older than Desdemona. Also, in Act 4, Desdemona asks Emilia to put her wedding sheets on her bed -- which would be stained with blood if Othello had taken her virginity on them, according to Elizabethan tradition. It's a fair bet that they didn't have sex.
Well, I seem to remember something that Iago said when he was warning Othello about Brabantio's arrival--something along the lines of "are you fast married?" The glossary in my book said pretty specifically that the line meant "have you consummated the marriage?" and I do seem to recall Othello saying yes...so I would argue that they have had sex. Also, before they leave for Cyprus, Othello says to Desdemona that he has only an hour to spend with her--I think he meant sex in that line as well.
shareObviously, you've never read a single play of Shakespeare's if you think sex "lowers the tone" and "distracts you" from enjoying the experience of watching his works come to life.
Exactly. If you actually read Shakespeare (especially his early comedies) you'll find that sexual references are everywhere! Also, if you follow the first folio, it's pretty obvious that Othello and Desdemona.
And Kenneth Branaugh kicks ass
Yes, Kenneth Branagh does kick ass!
share"I am one sir, who comes to tell you that your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs."
Iago
Oh, yes, no sexual references in Shakespeare at all.
I would have followed you my brother...my captain...my king...
Boromir
And also:
"Cupid's buttshaft is too hard for Hercules' club."
Love's Labours Lost.
LLL is one of the horniest plays Shakespeare ever wrote. It's nuts.
And Kenneth Branugh still kicks ass....
Shakespeare in general can be EXTREMELY crude. He wrote entertainment for the masses, his plays have something for everyone. Sweet, romantic, chaste love stories, heroic fights, and bawdy rampant sex and drunkeness. And I say good on him! Shakespeare wouldn't be Shakespeare without the raunch. I didn't find that it lowered the tone at all.
Also have you seen Much Ado About Nothing? The entire plotline of that play revolves around mistaken identity of a couple sleeping together. In fact, one scene basically just involves a bunch of the characters watching the couple, so thats not even a slight refererance or joke. Its right there.
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*Timothy Dalton should get an Oscar and beat Sean Connery over the head with it!*
I found that "sexing up" the story helped me understand the characters more. I'm not a jealous person, so to see Othello reliving what he thinks are stolen moments between Cassio and Desdemona in a courtly dance, and then the two of them in bed, and laughing at hime, helps to move his character forward in my mind to the point of murder in a jealous rage. And the scenes were well done - enough to make you sit up and notice, but not so much that's it's embarassing to watch. The shots were so quick, and so tight, that they showed only what was necessary and left the more intimate details up the viewer's (and Iago's) imagination.
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