Euripides Medea is a play that largely embodies themes of sex and gender within Greek life, marriage and society. Lars Von Trier, Danish Screen writer, controversially took on and altered Euripides' classic Medea in the form of film. Although complex and compelling, Von Trier's film fails to capture major themes and qualities presented in the text version of the infamous Medea and relay them to an audience. Through the use of close reading and comparison, it can be proved that Lars Von Trier's film depiction of Euripides' Medea does not allow an audience to see the complexity and major themes of gender and masculinity that Euripides originally portrays to his audience, but rather depicts a story of lost love and femininity within the protagonist.
Lars Von Trier's adaptation of Medea combines many elements from the original plot line, but also differs significantly. Von Trier uses not only visual images to compel his audience, but also incorporates a vast amount of sounds and noises to create dramatic effect. The film follows a lonely Medea without her chorus of companions that an original audience of the play would be used to. Rather than seeming foreign, Medea seems well adapted to her new home and is often seen utilizing the lands bodies of water accordingly. Although it is not outwardly declared, Medea's main mission is to seek revenge and abolish Jason's new life. Jason is pictured as handsome and strong, following stereotypical gender norms. His new bride also is in line with more modern standards of gender and beauty and is seen as young and attractive. Medea' character is covered with clothing, and looks aged and less physically beautiful. The film dramatizes the lust Medea feels for Jason, rather than the anger she is typically known for embodying. Although the dramatic elements are profound and essential to Medea's journey in finding revenge, the film fails to push the limits of Medea's turn to masculinity and evoke the importance of masculinity and gender roles to the audience as Euripidies did. In multiple scenes, Medea is more feminized than the originally work imagines her to be. By failing to demonstrate how Medea separates herself from her femininity to wreak havoc on Jason, the audience is left with only pieces of the important aspects of masculinity and gender Medea offers.
One scene in particular from the film that exemplifies Medea's femininity and demonstrates how Von Tier failed to recreate the strong, unapologetic and masculine Medea is the clip right before the poisoning of Jason's bride to be. The scene portrays Medea as a woman desperately in love, and perhaps only motivated to kill her husband's new lover out of girlish jealousy and feminine passion. The scene creates a scene of lost love and femininity through romantic, bright scenery and romantic music. Jason is seen sitting by the water's edge with wind blowing through his hair. Medea looks to him with a face of passion and despair, without rage or resentment. You can see in her face that she is unsure if she should approach Jason, demonstrating fear of rejection. Rather than fury and clever confidence that she originally embodies through her internal masculinity in the play, Von Tier makes Medea out to be just another "crazy female" with a broken heart. Although this scene can be interpreted as a flashback by some, Von Tier still feminizes Medea as she reminisces her love for Jason and creates a scene of passionate affection, rather than brutal revenge and masculinity. The two lovingly embrace by touching, kissing and caressing. Medea lets herself be taken into the arms of the man who destroyed her, and Von Tier even makes her look like she is truly enjoying it. She cradles and coddles his head repeatedly, signifying maternal traits that ultimately mark Medea as feminine in her feelings and actions towards Jason. However, Von Tier allows Jason to be stereotypically masculine, despite having an immense number of feminine characteristics in the play. As Medea stokes his hair and attempts to look lovingly into his face, Jason is pictured as somewhat uncomfortable in Medea's pursuit to coddle him. He turns his head and hardly meets eyes with Medea. This presentation of both Jason and Medea is incredibly important as it relays a false message about the concept of gender and gender stereotypes within Euripides work. This interaction leads the audience to believe that Medea is feminine, deeply in love and committing her crimes because of her feminine love, desires and jealousy over Jason. Von Tier's depiction is in line with Hollywood dramatic ideals, and influenced the audiences understanding of Medea in this way to create compelling drama and interest within a more modern film audience.
A central component of the original Medea that makes it increasingly captivating and important in the context of Greek gender and sexuality is the play's ability to break gender norms and to truly depict masculinity and power in Greek women. Within the text of the original translation of Euripides' Medea, Euripides demonstrates a complex representation of gender and female masculinity. Although she is/was deeply in love with Jason and has many maternal instincts towards her children, this feminine representation of Medea is largely forgotten when she chooses a path of masculinity to bring havoc upon her former beloved. Unlike Von Tier's film, the original play portrays Medea as much stronger and utterly transformed into a masculine woman. In Euripides' Medea the main meeting between Medea and Jason before her true peak of revenge unfolds in a much different manner than the portrayal in Von Tier's film adaption of Medea. In this conflicting scene, Jason comes to see Medea to speak about her absurd behavior and her exile. "You are now in exile because of your own foolish words (Medea, 455)". In this line, Jason angrily confronts Medea for speaking out against him and his future royal family. "You can keep calling Jason the worst of men…. But you, you idiot, would not let up your words (Medea, 461). This line demonstrates the tension between Jason and Medea, and leads to a masculine response from Medea. Differently than Von Tier's depicition, the two are feuding rather than embracing. This ultimately allows Medea to speak openly and angrily towards Jason, an action uncommon in the feminine Greek woman. "You are the worst! You are loathsome…You're not a man. You’ve come here ….by me (Medea, 473-475). Here, Medea shows rage and aggressive words and actions toward Jason, allowing the audience see her inner masculinity come through. She outwardly insults Jason's masculinity and ultimately his honor, without fear or deference. Her courage and bluntness again reinforce Euripides attempt to convey the reversal of gender norm within Medea's character to his audience. If Von Tier's depiction of a "crazy in love", feminized Medea was accurate, Medea would be hurt and pleading in the arms of her beloved. However, Medea reminds both Jason and Euripides's audience of the reversal and importance of gender roles within the play. Medea killed for Jason and obtained the golden fleece so he could see glory. Rather than being a leader and embodying the masculinity that comes with Greek honor, it was Medea that did the vicious killing and hard work. In a sense, Jason was the feminine figure and Medea was the heroine. Medea went on to attack Jason in their meeting by saying, "Speaking ill to you will ease my soul, and listening will cause you pain (Medea, 479-480). Here Medea again shows her powerful masculinity, and hatred for Jason. She speaks out against him without fear, something uncommon of Greek females. She does not fall passionately into Jason's arms, nor does she wish to. "You are the worst of men. You wanted a new bed even though I'd borne you children" (Medea, 494-495). This interaction between Medea and Jason allows the audience to truly see the angered masculinity rooted in Medea's revenge, how gender roles and masculinity helped to inspire her vices and allowed her to commit harsh murder uncommon of the feminine, Greek female.
Despite using dramatic cinematic elements to show Medea's revenge, Von Tier fails to grasp the importance and strong masculine tendencies Medea has in her rage towards Jason. Instead of seeking revenge because of a loss of love is depicted in Von Tier's film, Medea is ultimately driven to kill because of her new found and intrinsic masculinity. The play relays strong themes of gender roles and defying them. Differently, Von Tier creates a scene of true love and passion that was lost and in turn lead to a jealous and feminine form of revenge by Medea. Although both the film and the play have similar plot lines, Von Tier's adaptation of Euripides' Medea effects the audiences understanding of Medea, character and vices significantly different than the original work.