Orpheus (O) is a jerk poet married to Euridice (E), who witnesses the murder? of fellow poet Cegeste (renamed Zombie, for my purposes, thus abbreviated Z). Death (D) drags O into her car, which is driven by Heurtebise (the Chauffer, thus abbreviated as C). D turns Z into a zombie and uses him to transmit radio messages to O. After much confusion, E gets "killed", O goes into the underworld to save her, ends up falling madly in love with D, who is madly in love with him, they go before a trio of judges, O goes back to Earth with E, then sees her and ends up sending her back to the Underworld. Somehow, he ends up back in the Underworld, again guided by C, who helps D illegally send him back to life with E, in a world where O and D never met, E is still pregnant, and O&E are happily having a child.
Whew!
Now, I've only ever heard Death (or Hades) described as male. While I'm sure there are descriptions of Death as female, I'd like to share some of the descriptions I've found of Death as male:
"It is said of the angel of death that he is full of eyes. In the hour of death he stands at the head of the departing one with a drawn sword, to which clings a drop of gall."
"In modern-day European-based folklore, Death is known as the Grim Reaper...wearing a dark hooded cloak and wielding a scythe."
"He was at least ten feet tall, for one thing, and dressed in black silk robes and a crown of braided gold. His skin was albino white, his hair shoulder-length and jet black...He lounged on his throne of fused human bones, looking lithe, graceful, and dangerous as a panther." (From Percy Jackson and the Olympians Book 1: The Lightning Thief)
Once I realized that the dark-haired, dark-clad woman was Death, I was amused. Death is always shown as an incredibly powerful figure. Clearly, the ability to end a life is incredible and shows great power. For a woman to be given that power was pretty, well, empowering. Everything about her oozed dominance, from her tight-laced corset to her pulled-back hair. She had the look of a dominatrix, and a personality to match. She managed to get more than one person to vow complete obedience to her. While they didn't lick her boots, even their body posture suggested that they were her little zombie slaves, particularly Cegeste.
Yet our article suggests that it's Orpheus who controls the seductivity in the film. (And if "seductivity" wasn't a word before, it is now.) While I won't deny that he's an attractive man, not a single thing he did seemed even remotely seductive. His most powerful tool, his poetry, was failing him. His desperation for inspiration drove him to sit in a car possibly symbolic of Charon's ferry over the River Styx, in order to gather the almost Dada-esque ramblings of a dead man. He never does find out who the messages are being sent by, nor do we ever know why or how the messages are sent prior to Cegeste's death.
As we discussed in class, it was rather insane of Orpheus to don Death's gloves and follow her into the Underworld, though he certainly had a great guide. As Jose mentioned, it was as though Orpheus was so distraught at his failing artistry, his tempestuous (though described as "perfect") marriage, and his strange encounter at the castle that he decided he had to do something. It was either a leap of faith or death...or in this case, a leap of faith into the realm of death.
But does death being female have any other meaning? Is her seductivity simply a means of screwing with Orpheus? Is it a statement about how death can be seductive to ill, damaged, or desperate men? Or is it just a way of warping the original myth?
The original myth has Orpheus returning to the mortal realm after losing his wife, and eventually finding comfort in the arms of young boys. In the early days of theatre, women were portrayed by young boys - they have the same body type, the same voices, and often move in similar patterns. And as Death is often portrayed as male, it's not too far of a stretch to think that perhaps Cocteau decided that he could mention Orpheus's love of boys without stepping on any toes or irritating any of the media outlets. As Death was shown in control, with minions, if you will, she appeared almost masculine, from a power standpoint. Therefor, it isn't too off-base to assume that she's a replacement for the boys.
So death is a woman, possibly in place of a series of boys. The dead chauffer and Death's right-hand-man is Charon, or perhaps a death-in-training. The zombie-dude is a poet/slave of Death...Yeah, I've got nothing for him. But what I do know is that Death gives back a life that she shouldn't, and in doing so, gets in all manner of trouble for it. Is it because she got involved in the first place and unintentionally seduced Orpheus? Or was she seduced by him, though he was at the point of desperation that could have led to his suicide? Shouldn't she have let him suicide, so she could have him forever? If she was given the position as fill-in for the boys that Orpheus loves, it would make sense that she should try to send him back to a time before his obsession began, particularly if she's in love with him. That would keep him out of trouble and avoid being torn apart. Woo.
Woo bonus points for Monty Python!
ReplyDeleteBut for real, check out my blog for a mindblowingly nerdy discussion of why it's okay for Death to be female =)
I love what you said about the car being like Charon's ferry... I never thought of it that way, but it makes so much sense! I'm still trying to figure out what those radio messages are. If they're supposed to be Cegeste's poetry and Cegeste died... wouldn't people pick up on that if he was transmitting new "poetry" on the air after he died? I kinda thought they were the underworld's way of transmitting death notices for themselves to keep track. I mean, there's a lot more people dying than our particular Death is taking care of, so I'm assuming there are other Deaths wandering around out there. They have to have some way of communicating so that mortals can't understand, and as far as we know only chauffeurs like Herty can transport... Gah! Cocteau just had to make it so complicated!
The thing with the poetry: We see Cegeste transmitting the messages after his death. Whether or not it's actual "poetry" is unclear, and it's also unclear as to whether or not anyone else can hear it. I'm willing to bed that Orpheus had a radio inside his house, yet he always went to the car. And the only places we ever heard that particular station were 1) in the car 2) in the castle and 3) when Cegeste was transmitting them. Then there's the fact that they started as Cegeste died in the car, and the fact that Orpheus didn't know who the speaker was. Hence my wonderment.
ReplyDeleteAs for there being more than one Death, I have to disagree strongly. It's made very clear that time works differently in metaphysical and magical places. (This is also supported by 3 book series: Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Diadem, and The Wayfarer Redemption.) Orphe and Heurt enter the mirror as the clock begins to toll, then return from the other side at the same time. That in mind, Death could be (seemingly) in hundreds of places at a time. What appears to us as a long journey and a trial in the Underworld takes less than a second in our plane of existence. Just because we only see her in Orphe's part of the world doesn't mean she isn't elsewhere.
Ahhh okay. I think I need to see this film about five more times before that radio thing will make sense to me. It seemed odd to me that when they turned on the radio it always went to that station, and since it was Cegeste's voice I assumed it was his "poetry" - I mean, it makes just as much sense as his 'Nudism' book.
ReplyDeleteWhat you're saying about time is true and I didn't take that into account. I think for me the way they transported everywhere (cars, motorcycles, walking through mirrors) just seems so grounded -literally- that it's hard to imagine that their time is just a snapshot of ours. But Death does say that the underworld works in a totally different way than the living are used to.
This is good! I'm feeling a little more enlightened about all this. But still so perplexed. And I really need to read the Percy Jackson series. Definitely doing that over the summer!
Totally blog unrelated: If you want to buy the books, try to find them at Costco or Sam's Club. I got the hardcover version of the last book for less than I paid for the paperback versions of any of the first 4. I also suggest not bothering with the movie. It's a mockery of the books, doesn't really follow them at all, and features a pretty terrible actor as Grover. And I say poop to that.
ReplyDeleteI can't put a definitive finger on why Death was a woman, but I can say it would be empowering if I were a woman. I think it made sense for the movie that Death be a woman. I might have stated in my blog that I hadn't heard the story before last week, so I knew nothing about Orpheus being interested in boys after his Hades experience. But to me, the movie would have jumped the rails a bit if Death had been a man and it played out in a similar way.
ReplyDeleteIt's an interesting debate going on here about the possibility of other Deaths walking around simultaneously. I could have sworn they mentioned that there were other Deaths whilst in the Underworld. I could be wrong. I'd need to watch it again. I suppose maybe it just takes on different forms? Hmm...
I liked the idea of female death, as we briefly discussed after viewing the film. It certainly made the character more complex. I feel as though a male persona of Death tends to be rather flat, the female has a hidden agenda and we are rarely exposed to the female as death or as god or as that kind of power... the only other example that I can think of comes a much more modern movie and that is Dogma with Alanis Morissette as God; all powerful, all loving, (hidden agenda'ed) God.
ReplyDeleteI also think that Death being female has everything to do with "screwing with Orpheus." He has practically everything he wants until Eurydice dies, then he with out planning this at all, goes into the underworld to save her. If the stipulation is that he can't look at his wife then get around it. Huertebise mentions putting on a blindfold to ake the situation a bit easier, my though - DUH! cover the mirrors with a think drape and wear a blindfold. Just don't move your furniture around (unless you wanna screw with Orpheus in other ways) and accept that while you are in the house you must stay blindfolded.
I have to agree with you when you talked about Cegeste. His character really didn't do anything for me. I think it was more of a ploy to get Orpheus into the car in the beginning than anything else.
ReplyDeleteAnd I think the ending was because she messed with his life so badly, but I don't know if it was because she wanted to help him back out, or if the head guys of the underworld changed everything back because Death had messed it all up so bad.
Do you think that if you didn't know anything about the myth before you watched this movie that it would have changed your thoughts on the movie at all?
Hmmm, Cegeste as McGuffin, and also as foil.
ReplyDeleteNeil Gaiman portrays Death as female in Sandman--an adorable little goth girl. And then there was the short-lived tv series Dead Like Me. But yeah, for the most part, the grim reaper is a boy.
Having said all that, this is a really good entry. It's funny, and analyzes the movie very nicely, and deals with a lot of what's complicated about it in a way that's witty and easy to follow but also goes fairly in-depth. Also, the discussion that ensues is interesting, which is always a plus. Bit light on the reading though.