Gone are the days when sports were the best extra curriculars and doing exceptionally well in them reaped innumerable benefits. As sports in highschool become increasingly competitive, they start bringing more harm than benefit. The movie "O" which is a modern adaptation of Shakespeare's "Othello" deals with similar issues . It shows Hugo as a character obsessed with succeeding in basketball and winning his father's attention by fair or unfair means.
While the play leaves us desperately questioning Iago's motives to destroy Othello, the movie "O" clearly defines the reasons behind Hugo's satanic behaviour which all boil down to one reason - basketball. In the play ,Iago comes off as a diabolical character who sets everyone's lives on fire . However, his motives are often questioned as they seem relatively vague in the play. Throughout the play he cites various reasons to hate Othello. Firstly, he is upset by the fact that Iago chose Cassio over him and promoted Cassio.
He feels that he was the perfect candidate for Cassio's position and feels insulted by Othello's choice. He confesses this to Roderigo in the following lines: One Michael Cassio, a Florentine (A fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife), That never set a squadron in the fieldBut he, sir, had th' election ... (1.
1. 20-27) Similarly ,he also suspects that Emilia has cheated on him with Othello and this makes him even more jealous and hateful of Othello : ... I hate the Moor; And it is thought abroad that 'twixt my sheets 'Has done my office.
I know not if't be true; Yet I, for mere suspicion in that kind, Will do as if for surety. 1. 3. 378-82) It could also be possible that Iago himself was attracted towards the beautiful and sensual Desdemona and is very jealous of the fact that the moor was able to woo her so successfully. In the following lines it seems like he is convincing himself rather than Roderigo that Desdemona would soon get over Othello and want to have a white man in her life . It cannot be that Desdemona should long continue her love to the Moor .
.. She must change for youth. When she is sated with his body, she will find the error of her choice. (1.
3. 40)Despite all of these reasons which Shakespeare conveys to the reader subtley, none of them are convincing enough for Iago's heinous acts. Iago comes out as a villainous character who skillfully manipulates the circumstances and people to his advantage. He spends all his time and energy to bring Othello's downfall. Not only is he inhumane about Othello,he also doesn't care about the lives of other people he is ruining.
In the end the reader has no choice but to conclude that he is a psychopath who doesn't have the capability to feel any guilt or remorse . To Iago ,ruining Othello is a game: Let us be conjunctive against him.If thou canst cuckold him, thou dost thyself a pleasure, me a sport. (1. 3.
363) On the other hand ,the movie itself is all about the game basketball and how it has invaded the lives of high school athletes and the people around them. In the movie, Hugo spends all his time to bring Odin's downfall but he has a reason . In the beginning of the movie Hugo says : "All my life I always wanted to fly. I always wanted to live like a hawk. I know you're not supposed to be jealous of anything, but.
.. to take flight, to soar above everything and everyone, now that's living. Since the beginning of the movie Hugo is very ambitious to "soar high " and surpass everyone in his achievments but Odin becomes the obstacle. First of all the coach of the basketball team who is also Hugo 's father always favours Odin over Hugo, which hurts Hugo's feelings and ego .
At an award ceremony he gives the most valuable player award to Odin saying that he loved Odin like his own son. When Odin goes up on stage he calls his friend Michael Cassio and shares the award with him. The three men hug and rejoice on stage leaving Hugo sitting in the audience feeling jealous and left out.First of all Hugo himself was expecting the prize, secondly Hugo feels jealous when his father calls Odin his son infront of everyone and thirdly Odin calls Cassio on stage but not Hugo who is also his close friend. The entire experience shakes up Hugo's life and his ego is terribly hurt.
This is when Hugo vows to destroy Odin and permanently remove the obstacle that is preventing him to succeed. Hugo also seems to be desperate for his father's attention and and earn his favour. One day when his father invites him to his office for dinner, Hugo feels that his wishes have been granted.He goes in with high hopes to bond with his father over dinner and impress him but things don't go the way he planned. Following is their conversation: Hugo:Hey, Pop Coach:Have a seat. Hugo:It's been a while since|you invited me in for dinner.
Coach:What is going on with Odin? Hugo:I don't know. Coach:I saw him in class today. |He seemed all right. Hugo:By the way, I'm getting|an A in English again.
Coach:That's great, son. |Congratulations. You know I don't ever have|to worry about you, thank God. You've always done well and|you always will, but Odin's different.
He's all alone here.There's not even another Black student|in this whole damn place. We're his family. I want you to keep an eye on him,|find out what's going on. Hugo: Sure, Pop. - All right.
.. It is apparent that his father seemed more interested in Odin's welfare than Hugo's. Hugo desperately tried to change the topic and bring attention to himself. He even mentions his A grade in English but the coach seems too concerned about Odin to care about his son and have some quality time with him. Perhaps if Hugo had bragged about his basketball skills rather than his A in English,he might have been successful in attracting his father's attention.
Similarly, the coach only showers attention on Odin because he knows Odin is a valuable player to the team. It can be said without doubt that the coach himself is obsessed with basketball . His instructions to the team always emphasize winning each and every game. Throughout the movie he is never seen talking about playing fair with the boys and this is the reason that the athletes resort to drugs and steriods. It initially starts with Hugo who starts taking steriods to play basketball . He can't be entirely be blamed for taking steriods as he is still a teenager.
He faces a lot of peer pressure as Odin and Cassio are both amazing basketball players. Similarly, he also faces a lot of his pressure from his dad as his dad is obsessed with basket ball and the only way he can get his attention is by excelling at basket ball. However ,Hugo is not the only one who takes steroids in the movie, Odin also has a past of drugs and steriods. When Hugo has finally convinced Odin that Desi is cheating on him with his best friend Cassio and made him vulnerable enough, he introduces him to drugs and steroids as well.This is one of the reasons that makes him violent later in the movie.
Similarly, Hugo plays similar tricks with Cassio ,when he gets him drunk in an after game party and sends Roger to provoke him to fight with him. This gets Cassio into so much trouble that he is suspended from the team. The movie successfully shows the teen culture pervading in high schools today and how every sports match is followed by a party where athletes either drink to rejoice their victory or to forget their loss . The excessive drinking and drugs cause issues like drunk driving, teenage preganancy and deadly fights.There are various incidents of violence in the last part of the movie which all connect to Hugo and basketball.
For instance, Hugo gradually makes Odin believe that Desi is cheating on him with his bestfriend Cassio. He tactfully supplies Odin all this information during workout sessions or practice breaks when Odin is already feeling violent because of the game. As a result Odin shatters the hoop's glass while dunking and pushes the child away who asks for his ball at the Southeast Annual Slam Dunk Contest.After this incident Odin's violence keeps on increasing. Hugo never has a problem in fueling all this violence because Odin's violence is always condoned . Like in the Slam Dunk contest Odin receives a roaring applause for his dunk and his violent behaviour is completely ignored.
The movie shows how highschool sports and violence have become so deeply entwined that it is difficult to seperate the two of them. (Study). The movie ends tragically with Odin,Desi,Emilia,Michael and Roger dead. Hugo is arrested and held guilty.While he is taken away in a police car he says : "All my life I always wanted to fly.
I always wanted to live like a hawk. I know you're not supposed to be jealous of anything, but... to take flight, to soar above everything and everyone, now that's living. But a hawk is no good around normal birds.
It can't fit in. Even though all the other birds probably wanna be hawks; they hate him for what they can't be. Proud. Powerful. Determined. Dark.
Odin is a hawk. He soars above us. He can fly. One of these days, everyone's gonna pay attention to me.Because I'm gonna fly too.
" Although Hugo is a villain in the movie, the viewers can't help but feel sorry for him. He repeats his ambitious monologue in the end but adds some more lines to it. He implicitly conveys that he feels defeated and he can never be like Odin. It is true that he ruined Odin's life and caused so many deaths but his life was no worst than death. He constantly felt intimidated by Odin's basketball skills.
His father never encouraged him to rise to his potential and instead encouraged Odin all the time. He felt inferior and ignored.When life wasn't fair to Hugo, why should he be fair to life?. So he took the help of drugs ,weapons and slander. Even in the end of the movie his entire plan fails and he ends up in jail.
His dream to "soar high like a hawk" never comes true. The movie adapts Shakespeare's "Othello"to the life of teenagers so successfully that the viewers can even relate to a character like Hugo while this was not the case with Shakespeare's "Othello". Why exactly did Iago spend all his time and energy to ruin Othello's life still remains ambiguous.
