Chapter 9. Adapting Othello for television in late Francoist Spain
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Laura Campillo Arnaiz
Abstract
Estudio 1 was a TV theatre series created during Franco’s dictatorship in which Shakespeare’s plays were regularly produced to serve the propaganda interests of the regime. In this paper, we explore a Estudio 1 production of Othello (1972) analyzing the contradictory meanings and readings that the figure of the ‘Moor’ has in the Spanish collective imaginary. The portrayal of Othello by the late Francoist TV adaptation confirms and authorises Spanish fears and prejudices about a militaristic, exotic but ultimately jealous and brutal ‘Moor’, who must be different from any form of ‘Spanish’ identity. The Shakespearean tragedy therefore offers the perfect opportunity to legitimise the ‘Moor’ as constructed in the crucible of Spanish history and memory – a dangerous ‘Other’ whose ultimate death following Iago’s revenge is a political and cultural necessity at the end of the tragedy.
Abstract
Estudio 1 was a TV theatre series created during Franco’s dictatorship in which Shakespeare’s plays were regularly produced to serve the propaganda interests of the regime. In this paper, we explore a Estudio 1 production of Othello (1972) analyzing the contradictory meanings and readings that the figure of the ‘Moor’ has in the Spanish collective imaginary. The portrayal of Othello by the late Francoist TV adaptation confirms and authorises Spanish fears and prejudices about a militaristic, exotic but ultimately jealous and brutal ‘Moor’, who must be different from any form of ‘Spanish’ identity. The Shakespearean tragedy therefore offers the perfect opportunity to legitimise the ‘Moor’ as constructed in the crucible of Spanish history and memory – a dangerous ‘Other’ whose ultimate death following Iago’s revenge is a political and cultural necessity at the end of the tragedy.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Introduction. “I would my [European] pilgrimage dilate” 1
-
Part 1. Trans(national) subjects
- Chapter 1. Charles Mathews’s Othello, the Moor of Fleet Street (1833) and Maurice Dowling’s Othello Travestie (1834) 29
- Chapter 2. Othello in Spain (1802–1844) 49
- Chapter 3. Traditions of playing and spectating 63
- Chapter 4. Othello on the German stage 81
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Part 2. Othello and European constructions of alterity
- Chapter 5. Othello’s race and slavery 99
- Chapter 6. From black to white, from man to beast, from tragical to comical 113
- Chapter 7. Let it be hid? 133
- Chapter 8. “It is all about passion” 153
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Part 3. Adapting Othello
- Chapter 9. Adapting Othello for television in late Francoist Spain 173
- Chapter 10. Pulling the strings 191
- Chapter 11. The circumcised dog and the subtle whore 205
- Chapter 12. “It is not words that shakes me thus” 225
- Chapter 13. A selective timeline of Othello in European culture 247
- Index 261
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Introduction. “I would my [European] pilgrimage dilate” 1
-
Part 1. Trans(national) subjects
- Chapter 1. Charles Mathews’s Othello, the Moor of Fleet Street (1833) and Maurice Dowling’s Othello Travestie (1834) 29
- Chapter 2. Othello in Spain (1802–1844) 49
- Chapter 3. Traditions of playing and spectating 63
- Chapter 4. Othello on the German stage 81
-
Part 2. Othello and European constructions of alterity
- Chapter 5. Othello’s race and slavery 99
- Chapter 6. From black to white, from man to beast, from tragical to comical 113
- Chapter 7. Let it be hid? 133
- Chapter 8. “It is all about passion” 153
-
Part 3. Adapting Othello
- Chapter 9. Adapting Othello for television in late Francoist Spain 173
- Chapter 10. Pulling the strings 191
- Chapter 11. The circumcised dog and the subtle whore 205
- Chapter 12. “It is not words that shakes me thus” 225
- Chapter 13. A selective timeline of Othello in European culture 247
- Index 261