Shakespeare after Columbine: Teen Violence in Tim Blake Nelson's "O"

Abstract

The article considers how Time Blake Nelson's "O"—filmed in the shadow of Columbine and other American school shootings—appropriates Shakespeare as a lens through which to analyze teen violence in America. The argument is that Nelson deliberately constructs his film as a surrogate for the high school literature classroom where, ideally, the skill of critical reading is first inculcated in American youth. The Shakespeare "text" looms large in this imaginery space, transforming film audiences into endangered beings—inseparable from those teens depicted in "O"—whose ability to read deeply, analyze, and apply to their own lives the lessons of Shakespearean tragedy can do nothing less than help them to stay alive. The piece examines the filmic techniques by which Nelson advances this agenda, and it weighs the strengths and limitations of Nelson's vision of Shakespeare's usefulness in modern America.