Oedipus rex (film vs text)
Oedipus rex (film vs text)In the film Oedipus the King produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company we are presented with a modernistic adaptation of Sophocles' classic Greek tragedy. A Greek tragedy essentially consists of the story of something terrible happening to a person of noble stature, such as Oedipus who is a prince and a king. Oedipus Rex is considered to be one of the greatest masterpieces to emerge from the period when Greek drama was dominant. Oedipus' popularity was not only restricted to the Ancient Greeks but also continued to receive time on the stage as the centuries continued to pass by, even up to the present day. This in a sense took part in breaking a tradition, because plays in Greece were more or less restricted to one performance, but later the Greeks came to appreciate the classic works, and the most popular would be revived, one of which was Oedipus Rex.
The opening shot of the film presents us with a fairly decent visual representation of what Sophocles seemed to have in mind for the beginning of the play. The outer steps of the castle are crowded with what seem to be peasants who are obviously in different states of peril. When Oedipus exits the castle into the courtyard to confront the peasants the actor playing the role does an excellent job of portraying the cocky swagger and demeanor that Sophocles seemed to bestow upon him on the page. Although we quickly notice that none of the actors are wearing masks, which would have been the case had this been a production that was taking place in the time of the Ancient Greeks, which...
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