Laurence Olivier

Othello’s race is undoubtedly Moorish, but his skin tone is ambiguous. However, Olivier donning brown paint and an exotic accent implies that Othello was intended to have dark skin. What makes this portrayal chilling is that the role was chosen to be played by a white man with brown paint during the civil rights movement, and that Othello…

Unlike white Caucasian actors, the number of roles which are available for ethnic minorities are low. A study conducted by University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communication shows that black actors occupy 12.5%, while Asian and Hispanic hold only 5.3% and 4.9% respectively for roles in top 100 films in 2014. However, the existence of these roles is likely to be the secondary characters or to merely diversify the movies. Recalling two popular sitcoms in the late 90s and 00s,…

Before surfer and filmmaker Bruce Brown produced and released his classic surfing documentary, 'The Endless Summer' (1964) to eventual worldwide success in 1964, he created five other feature-length marvels that are far less known outside of the surfing community: 'Slippery When Wet' (1958), 'Surf Crazy' (1959), 'Barefoot Adventure' (1960), 'Surfing Hollow Days' (1961) and a compilation film, 'Waterlogged' (1962). `The Ultimate Summer Bruce Brown Surf Collection' (2010) wisely brings together…

Assembled on either side of Waterloo Bridge is London's most vital expressions complex, the Southbank Center. Worked in 1951, this huge solid structure incorporates the Royal Festival Hall (home to instrumental and choral exhibitions), the Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Purcell Room. These settings offer a gigantic collection of music, and in addition an expansive determination of performing expressions including move and emulate, supper club and parody. The complex additionally incorporates the…

Part One: Short Answer Definitions Satire: Satire is the use of exaggerated humor to poke fun at people’s stupidity. Satire is often used in the context of political and social issues that society is relatively familiar with. Satire needs two factors in order to work properly. First, the target of the satire must be well known. Secondly, the audience needs to accept that the target is fit for mockery. A great example of a satire is the film Life of Brian. Everyone is familiar with the story of…

act of a non-black performer representing a black person. Although this method was likely discarded decades ago, its remnants still remain in today’s media. One of the famous plays of Shakespeare, Othello, was adapted for screen in 1965 with Laurence Olivier – a white British actor – donning blackface. There are arguments which claim that the white actors cast in these leading roles are talented, but this does not discount the fact that then and now there are many ethnic actors available to…

Biography Steven Berkoff, born Leslie Steven Berks in Stepney, London, on 3 August 1937, is arguably the most influential figures in shaping modern theatre. The actor, author, playwright and theatre director belonged to a family of Russian-Jewish background, and therefore added the ‘off’ back to the end of his name and opted to go by his middle name. Berkoff had a troubled childhood and often felt like he didn’t get what he wanted and in 1952 he was sentenced to a stint in borstal for stealing a…

William Shakespeare 's Macbeth was undoubtedly one of his most famous works with big titles such as Hamlet and Romeo & Juliet. What most people don’t know is that Macbeth has one of the most infamous reputations for the supernatural. The play was said to be written between 1599 and 1606 so I’m guessing that when word of a curse got out, it probably spread pretty fast because there wasn’t much to do back then. It’s said that the first play was performed in April in 1611. Since then countless…

of charismatic villainy” (Knight and Lund). Shakespeare’s use of Holinshed’s potentially untruthful account of King Richard popularized an image of a mean, evil, heartless villain. This, in turn, influenced modern day film adaptations done by Laurence Olivier and Ian Mckellen. Society remembered Richard exactly as how he was characterized by the numerous stories told by authors and directors alike. However, the discovery of Richard III’s body changed the initial perceptions of the public.…

We are talking about the film called "Dances with wolves". To understand the plot and context of this film clearly we should mention that it is important to see the film by own. According to Blake (1998), "Dances with Wolves has been called a "revisionist western" - a movie that reversed the traditional roles of Cowboys and Indians. In fact, it is nothing of the sort. However, it is said, "Dances with wolves" is a historical drama about the relationship between a Civil War soldier and a band of…