Most importantly, during a time
when racial animosity has been elevated to a high level, this film offers insight into how such a seemingly unbridgeable gap can be closed... if the participants are willing to take the steps.
When we consider the
racial or ethnic dynamics of the play, two points stand out: First,
racial difference is a source of
animosity, suspicion, and disdain; second, despite the
animosity, suspicion, and disdain, not even Shakespeare's fictionalized Venice can be described as a racist society in the modern sense of the term.
Economic anxiety may have gotten a lot of media attention in the last election cycle, but
when a lot of white people went into the voting booth,
racial animosity and fear of living in a diverse future motivated their votes.