Ahh, that feeling when your English class reads yet another classic by everyone's favorite English playwright, Shakespeare. This year we are reading Othello, which from our small introduction, I believe to be about love, jealously, and racism. Doesn't everybody love those themes.
So there are pretty much three main characters, which are Iago, Othello, and Desdemona (Of course there are other important main characters, I just saw these as the most important). So before the book even starts, Othello, a Christian Moor and Venetian general, has eloped with Desdemona, the daughter of the Venetian senator Brabantio. Another person named Roderigo is in love with Desdemona and before the book starts he had Iago try to court her with all his money. And Iago, the book's villain, is Othello's second-hand man, but was passed over for a promotion to lieutenant, so understandably he wants revenge.
Okay enough background information, and on to what I really want to talk about: how I see the book in terms of the Pixar movie, Toy Story.
Okay enough background information, and on to what I really want to talk about: how I see the book in terms of the Pixar movie, Toy Story.
So we have Woody as a blend of Iago and Roderigo and Buzz as Othello. Of course, these aren't perfect character matchings, but they work in a way.
Iago and Roderigo, like Woody, probably mostly started out as okay people. However through certain events, they became compelled to embrace the road of evil. For Woody, it was being replaced by Buzz by Andy. For Iago, it was being passed over for a promotion, and for Roderigo, it was not getting the person he loved. While it remains to be seen the actions of Iago and Roderigo, Woody certainly showed the extent he would take for revenge, attempting to make Buzz seem lost to Andy so that he would be the favorite toy once again.
So Buzz is supposed to be Othello in our crazy Toy Story/Shakespeare mix. Othello in the beginning of the play certainly seems like a hero, honest, well-respected, and of course he's already gotten the girl! Buzz is also honest in a sense, but he is also naive, a trait that I believe will show in Othello later. Buzz is also manipulated by Woody, as he had replaced him as Andy's favorite toy. I get a feeling Iago is most certainly going to manipulate Othello as the book progresses, although for revenge and not necessarily jealously.
So, why are we putting Othello in terms of Toy Story? Well the inner child in me naively hopes that by the end Iago and Othello will make up and be best friends like Buzz and Woody, but of course that probably isn't Shakespeare's style. No, the real reason we put Othello in terms of Toy Story is to see how certain themes, in this case revenge, transcend time and are often altered to suit the prevailing audience of the time. In addition, being able to compare and contrast characters with totally different characters helps us to obtain an understanding of the characters. Their similarities and differences allow us to make certain insights on how we think they will develop and what the plot may have in store for us.
-Kevin
So, why are we putting Othello in terms of Toy Story? Well the inner child in me naively hopes that by the end Iago and Othello will make up and be best friends like Buzz and Woody, but of course that probably isn't Shakespeare's style. No, the real reason we put Othello in terms of Toy Story is to see how certain themes, in this case revenge, transcend time and are often altered to suit the prevailing audience of the time. In addition, being able to compare and contrast characters with totally different characters helps us to obtain an understanding of the characters. Their similarities and differences allow us to make certain insights on how we think they will develop and what the plot may have in store for us.
-Kevin