Othello, Race, and Cultural Memory on Cheers
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who is in turn attempting to perform as a white man, being assimilated into
white society and taking a white wife. These layers of performativity are similar
to Shakespeare’s cross-dressing heroines (such as Olivia and Rosalind) who are
in turn being performed by cross-dressing males. As Dympna Callaghan and
Virginia Mason Vaughn have argued, Othello is not a “black” role, but a role for
a white man performing in blackface.3 The role has always been a performance
of blackness, not a representation of it, and a large part of the role’s power is
located in its ability to unsettle the white audience with its performance of the
other. It is this same danger that informs the Uncontrollable-Othello films and
these films, in turn, reinforce the idea that the play’s almost unbearable drama,
which famously upset readers such as Johnson and Coleridge and has
occasionally induced physical and even violent reactions in audience members is
inextricably linked to Othello’s race.4 And as “Homicidal Ham” illustrates, even
when Othello’s race is visibly erased, this dangerous performativity still
manifests itself.
“Homicidal Ham,” which originally aired in October 1983, early in the
second season of Cheers, begins with the reintroduction of Andy, a character
from the first season’s episode “Diane’s Perfect Date.” He is a stranger whom
Sam sets up on blind date with Diane, only to find out he had recently been
released from prison for murdering a waitress. “Homicidal Ham” opens with
Andy returning and attempting to rob the bar with an unloaded gun in order to
return to prison because he cannot find a job. In contrast to his earlier
appearance, in this episode Andy is portrayed as a pathetic, childlike Norman
Bates figure whose murderous tendencies are driven by his domineering mother.
Diane takes pity on him and asks him what he aspires to do. He reveals his
ambition to be an actor, and Diane, a former literature graduate student and the
show’s resident pretentious intellectual, offers to help him prepare an audition
for her old drama teacher.
The rest of the episode takes place a week later, when Andy and Diane are
set to perform their scene at the bar. During their rehearsal in the bar’s pool
room, we find out that they will be performing a scene from Othello. No
mention is ever made of Othello’s race or the possibility of wearing blackface,
and even the drama teacher Professor DeWitt, who is presumably familiar with
the play, does ask about it. It is also not explained why Diane chooses to
perform a play about a man who kills his wife with a man who went to jail for
killing a woman.
Diane’s decision predictably backfires. Andy has developed a crush on her
and becomes angry when he sees her kissing Sam right before their scheduled
performance. In the front of the bar, Diane grows nervous at the now-frightening
looking Andy and tries to stall performing the scene, which we now find out will
be the strangulation scene. As the scene progresses, it becomes clear that Andy
is actually strangling her. Diane cries out “Help, this psycho is trying to kill
me,” but the blue-collar crowd is oblivious as Coach responds, “That’s the first
line of Shakespeare I ever understood.”