Would a trigger warning before showing 1965 Othello film have saved this professor?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious why he was showing a non-musical film in a music class. Was he going to discuss Verdi's Otello?

I'm certain that Othello has a soundtrack in the background - films from that era (and today!) are backed by orchestral compositions even if they aren't "musicals" with singing and dancing. Music plays a large part in setting scenes and moods. You must know this?!

So, why Othello? Why not any of the other productions from that time? The professor seems very distinguished. Why couldn't he have figured this out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Geez, it's simple. Don't show things that use blackface. It's offensive, even on Olivier. Are there no other Othello productions he could show?

OMG. The entire history of this play, as produced, is the history of blackface in drama. You are not teaching Othello if you are not dealing with that reality in some way.

Which is why you have a discussion about that before showing it.

And not having done that means the customers should successfully demand that you speak no further? How about if the customers cool their jets for long enough to raise this complaint in class like adults?

[Anonymous]

Why are so many college students today such utter imbeciles? And why do college administrations kowtow to them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope by "trigger warning" you mean "a thorough and open discussion about both the merits and the failures of the work, and an invitation that those who do not wish to view it may leave with absolutely no consequence to their attendance or grade."

A lot of context, discussion, and a clear communication that viewing it/staying in class while it played was not mandatory.

No. This is out of control. These kind of firings are getting close to Cultural Revolution level crazy. People need to calm down. Firing a professor for showing an old movie? Thats absurd on any level.

[Anonymous]

I want to write this professor an apology on behalf of Shakespeare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope by "trigger warning" you mean "a thorough and open discussion about both the merits and the failures of the work, and an invitation that those who do not wish to view it may leave with absolutely no consequence to their attendance or grade."

A lot of context, discussion, and a clear communication that viewing it/staying in class while it played was not mandatory.

No. This is out of control. These kind of firings are getting close to Cultural Revolution level crazy. People need to calm down. Firing a professor for showing an old movie? Thats absurd on any level.

He wasn't fired.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope by "trigger warning" you mean "a thorough and open discussion about both the merits and the failures of the work, and an invitation that those who do not wish to view it may leave with absolutely no consequence to their attendance or grade."

A lot of context, discussion, and a clear communication that viewing it/staying in class while it played was not mandatory.

No. This is out of control. These kind of firings are getting close to Cultural Revolution level crazy. People need to calm down. Firing a professor for showing an old movie? Thats absurd on any level.

He wasn't fired.

They know that. That crowd don't worry too much about facts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He should have addressed and acknowledge it. He shouldn't have been fired.

I think he did. He wasn't defiant.

That is true according to the article. The top PP didn’t bother to read the short article linked in the OP.

NP here, but that's probably because it's behind a pay wall. Why do posters do that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Geez, it's simple. Don't show things that use blackface. It's offensive, even on Olivier. Are there no other Othello productions he could show?

Yup — unless you’re teaching about blackface. This was a music composition class. Not clear why he was showing this film, but presumably whatever point he was making could have been made in a different way (using a different example, separating audio from video). And you always make strategic decisions like this when teaching — you don’t want the noise to drown out the signal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He should have addressed and acknowledge it. He shouldn't have been fired.

I think he did. He wasn't defiant.

That is true according to the article. The top PP didn’t bother to read the short article linked in the OP.

NP here, but that's probably because it's behind a pay wall. Why do posters do that?

ITA! ((But, just passing on a trick I learned — sometimes (and this was one of them) you can get around the paywall by uploading the article to an app called pocket.))

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He is a two-time Pulitzer nominee and a recipient of a MacArthur fellowship. And he has to leave the university for showing an Oscar nominated film. The university should defend him. Instead they’re too scared of accusations of racism to support their own scholars.

This is beyond stupid.

I really don't get the issue with blackface (and I'm Black btw). A character is black, is played by a white person (who colors his face black to play the role). Why is that by itself racist? People are such sensitive pu**ies these days! I bet most Black people don't care about this (none of my friends do). It's the woke White crowd..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just FYI, if you use "cancel culture" as though it's a real thing, I am going to know you're not seriously engaged in understanding much of anything.

Why do you think this isn’t “cancel culture”?

Did someone lose a job that was essential to their survival? Does that person have no hope of getting a similar position that will allow them to continue to function in their chosen field?

Or some someone lazy/sloppy about following developments in their field, or deliberately offensive, and are they receiving consequences as a result?

There's nothing wrong with what he did. If a bunch of adults (most of whom are probably not black) can't deal with this, I shudder to think how they will deal with the reality out of college... especially if this course is part of a performing arts major.

[Anonymous]

I was open minded about this until I read his apology letter. The combination of “some of my best friends are black” and “my daughter hangs with Kanye” really showed his lack of sensitivity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there a path for redemption for him? If so, how must be atone?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2021/10/university-of-michigan-professor-steps-down-from-class-after-blackface-incident.html%3foutputType=amp

“The controversy surrounds Sheng’s showing the 1965 movie Othello on Sept. 10 to his undergraduate music composition seminar class. The film adaptation of the William Shakespeare play stars Laurence Olivier as the title character of the Moorish King, and features Olivier in blackface.”

He should be flogged in public and publicly shout "Shame" forever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious why he was showing a non-musical film in a music class. Was he going to discuss Verdi's Otello?

I'm certain that Othello has a soundtrack in the background - films from that era (and today!) are backed by orchestral compositions even if they aren't "musicals" with singing and dancing. Music plays a large part in setting scenes and moods. You must know this?!

So, why Othello? Why not any of the other productions from that time? The professor seems very distinguished. Why couldn't he have figured this out?

I agree with this and stated as much in an earlier post. I'm replying to the person questioning why a music teacher would use a non-musical film.