Dear Cinemythologists,
A gentle reminder that Quiz 3, on our Medea & Jason unit, is due via email on Sunday, October 25, at noon (EST).
Please visit our Quizzes page for complete guidelines, and remember to follow the formatting requirements.
DC
Assignment for Tuesday, 10.20.20
Dear Cinemythologists,
On Tuesday, October 20, our on Medea & Jason, continues with a close look at the most iconic version of this myth’s heroine: the Medea of Euripides. Accordingly, this will be an all-reading, no-viewing class
READING
- Euripides, Medea.
If there is one text that has shaped the legacy of Medea, it is this play. If you read no other Athenian tragedy in your life, let it be this one.
As you read, please consider the following questions, and identify specific passages that support your reasoning.
A. Who are the Chorus, and how would you characterize their relationship with Medea?
B. What, if anything, precipitates the murder of the children. Is the audience prepared for it, or does it come out of the blue? Why do you think so?
C. How would you characterize the relationship between Medea and the male characters of the play? How do you think the staging reflects that relationship?
D. This tragedy, though now widely hailed as Euripides’ masterpiece, was accorded last place at the dramatic festival of 431 BCE. What might account for that verdict?
- Griffiths, Emma. 2006. “Euripides’ Version of the Myth.” Medea. Chapter 6, pp. 71–84. Routledge.
Griffiths’ chapter on Euripides’ tragedy will help you think through some of the above. Please read it after the play, not before.
Note that Griffiths’ book is from the same very useful Routledge series as Daniel Odgen’s book on Perseus.
In class we’ll discuss the play and then survey screen texts indebted to Euripides.
DC
Assignment for Thursday, 10.15.20
Dear Cinemythologists,
On Thursday, October 15, our unit on Medea and Jason continues. Please do the following.
VIEWING
- Jason and the Argonauts (Don Chaffey & Ray Harryhausen, 1963)
Streaming on Swank Digital Campus. Take notes as you see fit. Here is another opportunity to you to revisit the work of Ray Harryhausen — Harryhausen, at the height of his powers; you, with far more experience in approaching myth on screen.
ANALYSIS
Eiger and Raker will continue our Analysis series. Their sequence selection is in the comments.
READING
- Blanshard, Alastair J. L. and Kim Shahabudin. 2011. “Myth and the Fantastic: Jason and the Argonauts.” Classics on Screen: Ancient Greece and Rome on Film. Chapter 6, 125–145. Bristol Classical Press.
Blanshard and Shahabudin, as they usually do, provide not only important context for today’s viewing but also its reception in later screen texts.
- “Speed and Length of the Shot” &”Special Effects.” LAM Chapter 6, pp. 223–230.
These sections from Looking at Movies have not a little bearing on Jason and the Argonauts, which is both nearly 60 years old and an FX extravaganza.
SEQUENCES
- Gross, Padala.
Use the comments feature on this post to recommend a sequence to be reviewed and discussed in class.
Recommendations should contain the following:
- A brief description of the sequence.
- Precise starting and ending times (hh:mm:ss — hh:mm:ss).
- A rationale as to why this sequence is worth our time.
DC
Assignment for Tuesday, 10.13.20
Dear Cinemythologists,
On Tuesday, October 13, our third unit, on Medea & Jason, officially begins. As is customary, we’ll begin with primary sources: all reading, no viewing.
READING
- “Apollodorus” on Jason, the Argonautic expedition, and Medea.
Another excerpt from “Apollodorus”‘s Bibliotheca or Library of Greek myth, that ancient encyclopedia dedicated to cataloguing and sorting out the vast body of legends and lore associated with the Greco-Roman world.
Here you have a generous outline of the entire Argonautic legend, from the launch of the Argo to the ill-fated residency of Medea in Athens. In our third unit, we’ll expand this outline with other primary texts, starting with the very next reading.
- Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica (selections):
BOOK ONE: Mustering the Argonauts (pp. 3–33) / The Lemnian Women (pp. 51–77) / Heracles & Hylas (pp. 97–113)
BOOK TWO: Polydeuces v. Amycus, Phineus & the Harpies (pp. 115–141) / The Clashing Rocks (pp. 157–161) / Meeting the Colchians (pp. 199–215)
BOOK THREE: Goddesses conspire (pp. 217–225) / Audience with Aeetes (pp. 233–249) / Medea’s torment (pp. 275–283) / Medea & Jason (291–305) / Sowing the teeth (315–327)
BOOK FOUR: Taking the Fleece (pp. 339–347)
These are the highlights from the Argonautica, a 3rd-century BCE epic composed by Apollonius, a poet and scholar of Egyptian Alexandria. An extremely learned poem, stuffed full with references to Homer and other epic and mythological works, the Argonautica owes its extremely expansive worldview to its era — the time after the death of Alexander the Great, who had united much of Europe and Asia.
These excerpts comprise the episodes typical in representations of the Argonauts’ voyage to retrieve the Golden Fleece. Between this text and the summary of Apollonius, you’ll have a very full view of the Medea and Jason legend.
NOTE: The e-book is from the Loeb Classical Library, which publishes Greek and Roman authors in their original languages and in English: the original is at left, the translation at right. As you come to grips with the page numbers above, remember that the total should be halved; and they are small pages at that.
In class we’ll discuss these versions of the Medea and Jason legend, and then consider two screen texts that represent the legend’s bifurcated reception: rollicking adventure versus heart-wrenching tragedy.
DC
