Arethusa (2008) - Oedipus in the Cinema

Details

• article: Oedipus in the Cinema
• author(s): Martin M Winkler
• journal: Arethusa (04/Mar/2008)
• issue: volume 41, issue 1, pages 67-94
• DOI: 10.1353/are.2008.0008
• journal ISSN: 0004-0975
• publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press
• keywords: Alfred Hitchcock, Chicago, Illinois, Dramatic arts, Film, Film adaptations, Frenzy (1972), Greek civilization, Hamlet, History, Hitchcock's Films Revisited (1989) by Robin Wood, John Steinbeck, Laura Mulvey, Laurence Olivier, London, England, Marion Crane, Marnie (1964), Michael Powell, Montgomery Clift, Motion pictures, Mythology, New York City, New York, Norman Bates, Oedipus, Patricia Highsmith, Peter Conrad, Peter Wollen, Pic literature, Psycho (1960), Rear Window (1954), Robin Wood, Rope (1948), Salvador Dalí, Screen (1975) - Visual pleasure and narrative cinema, Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Spellbound (1945), Strangers on a Train (1951), The Birds (1963), The Hitchcock Murders (2001) by Peter Conrad, Vertigo (1958)

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Abstract

Winkler examines the history and variety of film adaptations of the Oedipus myth, based on Sophocles' plays Oedipus the King and Oedipus at Colonus, and pays special attention to Freud's concept of the Oedipus complex. The examination of the story of Oedipus and of related themes illustrates only one area of the pervasive presence of antiquity in the most influential storytelling medium of today. He discusses films set in antiquity and updated versions. It also deals with related themes such as fate and oracles in the relevant filmic modes and genres.

This paper examines the history and variety of film adaptations of the Oedipus myth, based on Sophocles' plays Oedipus the King and Oedipus at Colonus, and pays special attention to Freud's concept of the Oedipus complex. The paper discusses films set in antiquity and updated versions. It also deals with related themes such as fate and oracles in the relevant filmic modes (epic, tragedy, comedy) and genres (e.g., Westerns, science fiction, Hitchcock thrillers).