“Masculinity and the Body in Contemporary Shakespearean Film and Performance”

Amy Bolis, University of Minnesota The Black Male Body: Intersections of Race and Masculinity in Othello: The Remix This paper will explore the complex relationship between race and masculinity in Othello: The Remix, a hip-hop version of Othello that premiered at the Globe to Globe Festival in 2012 as America’s contribution and has since toured internationally to such prominent locations as Edinburgh, Sydney, Auckland, and Dubai. Although the production has garnered much critical acclaim for its use of hip-hop music to reinterpret Othello, I argue that multiple factors within the production coalesce to portray Othello as a hyper-masculine, dangerous, and superhuman character, thus reinforcing some of the most common stereotypes of African American males. In this adaptation, the figure of Desdemona is physically absent throughout the play. She is represented instead by a disembodied voice that is prohibited the use of language and is only able to communicate by singing a series of decorative “ooos” and “ahhs.” I contend that this absence denies the audience exposure to some of Othello’s more gentle qualities; qualities that are often brought out in him solely through his conversations and physical interactions with Desdemona in other versions of the play. Her absence starkly highlights and