Analyzes paper on Medea - Essay Example

Pasolini’s Medea effectively shows the clash that exists between ancient and old fashioned culture and the modern civilization. Through the relationship between Medea and Jason, viewers are shown how archaic or outdated culture is crashed in the hands of modern culture and the new ways of doing things. Given that the movie takes place in the 1960s, Europe, like most parts of the world at the time, was experiencing change. Through the film, Pasolini effectively shows how different groups in the society attempted to resist such changes, but were overpowered by the wave of modernity.

The old was paving way for the new. In this movie, Pasolini successfully brings out the clash between the old and the new, and how the old cultures eventually die in the hands of the modern revolutionary ways. Medea is shown to be a woman of the old, ancient world who is overtaken by the changes taking place in the new world. Medea is portrayed as a woman who experiences reality in a totally different way, and sees herself as the only thing that has remained unchanged over time. She still holds onto barbaric and outdated traditions and practices.

For example, after the boy is sacrificed and sliced into portions, other larger pieces are burnt. Medea is shown to use a kind of wheel that spins the smoke across the fields. This is an illustration of how Medea believed and prompted old-fashioned practices such as the making of human sacrifices. Her husband Jason and the two children are used to represent modernity. Jason realizes that Medea is too old fashioned for him and decides to marry the daughter of the king, who is much younger. This illustrates who modernity overpowers the old ways.

Medea is used to illustrate the sufferings of the ancient people. Through the movie, Pasolini figuratively shows the audience the kind of anguish and pain the ancient people went through in the hands of other barbaric individuals. The movie thus successfully reminds the audience of the need to