EXPLAINED: Why University of Michigan professor was forced out of class for showing 1965 movie
Bright Sheng, a professor of composition at the University of Michigan, will no longer be teaching a seminar analyzing the works of Shakespeare after he faced backlash for showing students the 1965 film version of Othello.
Students objected to actor Laurence Olivier’s darkened skin in his role as Othello, who is a Moor in the original play.
They said that Sheng, a Chinese-born American, did not provide a warning or contextualization regarding the blackface.
Later on the same day that Sheng showed the film, he sent out an apology to his class, saying the casting and portrayal “was racially insensitive and outdated.”
He also announced that a class project on Othello would be canceled. He later said that he showed the film in order to demonstrate how composer Giuseppe Verdi had adapted Shakespeare’s play into an opera.
Thirty-three students and nine faculty members in the School of Music, Theatre & Dance signed a letter demanding Sheng be removed from the class.
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