Dear Cinemythologists,
On Thursday, October 15, our unit on Medea and Jason concludes. Please do the following.
VIEWING
- Medea (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1969)
Streaming on YouTube. The link above takes you to a version with English subtitles. This is a challenging film, so be sure to take notes and maybe even jot down some questions.
ANALYSIS
Cullors and Pettit will continue our Analysis series. Their sequence selection is in the comments.
READING
- Shapiro, Susan O. 2013. “Pasolini’s Medea: A Twentieth-Century Tragedy.” In Konstantinos P. Nikoloutsos, ed. Ancient Greek Women in Film, 95–118. Oxford University Press.
This chapter comes from a volume many of you have cited in your bibliographies.
SEQUENCES
- Davis, Ricci.
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
Cullors/Pettit sequence: 1:43:17-1:45:28, Medea and Jason’s final conversation as she burns down her home.
47:10-49:05
This is the scene right after Medea kills her brother and flees with Jason and his crew. Medea is sitting down at the end of the ‘ship’ and her presence does not seem to be known or cared for. Jason looks at her very briefly, but not out of admiration, he almost looks confused, maybe even annoyed. I think this scene is important to note because in the other films we have watched, when Medea flees with Jason, it is a very emotional moment. This scene also made me think of the ‘male gaze.’ I found it interesting that Jason was not looking at Medea like she was something to desire. Perhaps the ‘male gaze’ was not used in the ‘traditional’ way because Medea is not a ‘traditional woman.’ Or maybe this scene sets up Jason and Medea’s relationship in this film where Jason always seems to be a little distant.
59:13 – 1:00:51
This is the scene where Medea wakes up with Jason in the tent. After she wakes, the viewer gets a a pan of his body, showing her admiration for him, but only in a physical sense, which he will reiterate near the end of the film. Little actually happens in this scene, but we are able to see that the relationship they have is purely out of lust rather than love. There are no words spoken, and although not every couple needs to talk to each other all the time, the absence of dialogue adds to the story and shows that their relationship is far more lustful than romantic.