Getting to Understand Medea: Cinematic Portraits of the Heroine
Abstract
As it is often the case with mythical heroes, Medea, the daughter of Aeetes, the King of Colchis, and of Idyia, one of the Oceanids, has more than one history. To understand her acts, especially infanticide, attributed to her as an act of revenge, Helman proposes to go beyond the version canonized in Euripides’ play, and to draw on varieties of myths as well as later literary versions, including that of Quignard. Helman, like Lévi-Strauss, recognizes that a myth cannot be directly read into, that it hides truths whose literal versions society is unable to bear. Helman, who provides a rich mythical background, juxtaposes and discusses the differences in a presentation of the story of Medea in films made by Pasolini, Dreyer, von Trier and Dassin.
Keywords:
mythology, Medea, EuripidesReferences
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Authors
Alicja Helmankwartalnik.filmowy@ispan.pl
Jagiellonian University Poland
Filmoznawca, muzykolog, wykłada w Instytucie Sztuk Audiowizualnych na UJ. Autorka licznych książek i artykułów z dziedziny teorii i historii kina. Ostatni wydała Urok zmierzchu. Filmy Luchino Viscontiego (2001).
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