Part II

MEDEA

3

Medea’s Erotic Text in Jasonand the Argonauts (1963)

Kirk Ormand

‘There’s a picture opposite meof my primitive ancestrywhich stood on rocky shoresand kept the beaches shipwreck-free.Though I respect that a lotI’d be fired if that were my jobAfter killing Jason offand countless screaming Argonauts.’

—They Might Be Giants, ‘Birdhouse in Your Soul’‘A heroine without a maxim, like a rebel without a cause, is destinedto be misunderstood. And she is.’

—Nancy K. Miller, ‘Emphasis Added: Plotsand Plausibilities in Women’s Fiction’

In the 1963 movie version of Jason and the Argonauts, produced byHarry Schneer, directed by Don Chaffey, and written by Beverley Crossand Jan Read,1 Jason meets Medea by saving her from drowning. TheArgo has just made it through the Symplegades (a long and tiresomescene), when the sailors see some floating wreckage from an unknownboat, destroyed earlier in the sequence. Jason leaps into the water and,swimming a heroic and manly sidestroke, rescues Medea and brings heron board the ship. Once Medea has recovered, she and Jason gazesearchingly at one another, the camera alternating between them whilethey exchange information: Medea, we learn, is a priestess of Hecate;

1 Because this paper deals with issues of gender, and relies on an article dealing withfiction written by women, I should point out that both Cross and Read were men, despitegender-ambiguous first names.

Jason reveals nothing more than his name. The sun is bright, the watersparkles, and light erotic feelings suffuse the scene. Shortly thereafter,however, a fight breaks out between Jason and a curiously prominentvillain, Acastus (here the son of the evil king Pelias), who wounds Jason.On the following day, Jason and Medea retire to land, where Medea usesthe root of Prometheus to magically cure the fairly minimal scratch onJason’s arm. Finally, Medea tells Jason how to reach Colchis: ‘Follow theroad to the east.’ Jason asks, ‘You’re not coming further?’ to whichMedea replies, ‘I go another way.’ She turns and walks away, barefoot;the screen fades in an abrupt cut to the next scene.‘I go another way.’ Indeed, in this movie, Medea seems to go ‘another

way’ all the time. The movie, which is largely driven by the special effectscreated by the master of stop-action animation Ray Harryhausen, takesnumerous liberties with the plot of Apollonius’ well-known epic. I amnot concerned to list and categorize them all; nor do I want to grantartistic primacy to Apollonius’ version, which is itself replete with inter-textual references to Homer, Pindar, Euripides, and to the epic traditiongenerally.2 In any case, it is almost impossible to imagine how an epicmovie could have been made in 1963 about Jason, if it tried to stay true toApollonius’ depiction of the oddly passive, frequently unimpressiveproject-manager of the Argonauts.3 Instead, I intend to focus particularlyon the greatly diminished role of Medea in this blockbuster film. In sodoing, I do not intend merely to note that Apollonius’ leading femalecharacter is considerably stronger, more active, and less of a dancing girlthan Chaffey’s (though all of that is certainly true). Rather, I want to lookat some of the rifts and discontinuities in the text that the movie createsby transforming Medea into a passive erotic object without clear motiv-ation. In particular, these discontinuities point to another narrative thatlurks in the movie—a suppressed narrative of Medea’s experience anddeadly potential. ‘Another way’, as it were.The movie produces these moments of discontinuity at particular

moments of interaction with the text of Apollonius. That is, in several

2 See, for example, Hunter (1993a) passim; Pavlock (1990: 61–7) is particularly strong onthe ways that the character of Medea takes on the characteristics of an epic hero. Clack (1973)shows how Apollonius transforms similes from a Homeric model and systematically changestheir context and meaning. Paul (2013: 93–132) discusses the ways that the Argonauticamythwas used to challenge and push the boundaries of the epic genre in antiquity. I am grateful toProf. Paul for allowing me to read a draft of her work prior to publication.

3 Jason’s characteristics as a hero have been extensively studied. Lawall (1966) defined theterms of the debate for the following several decades. For a more sympathetic view, see Clauss(1993: Ch. 1). Hunter (1993a: 11–17) points out that Jason is portrayed in ways that recall thetransitional status of an ephebe, and notes the often remarked contrast between amechanosJason and his predecessor, polymechanos Odysseus. Paul (2013: Ch.3) briefly discusses his‘inferior brand of heroism’ as a deliberate questioning of the idea of an epic hero.

76 Ancient Greek Women in Film

places the movie takes a scene in Apollonius’ Argonautica in whichMedea shows particular agency or ambition, and renders her instead apassive erotic object. Because the movie does not provide the motivationfor these erotic texts, however (as Apollonius so famously does), theresulting romance evokes surprise and even laughter from the audience.In other words, the moments of heightened implausibility in Jason andthe Argonauts can be read as nodes of particular stress in the intertext ofmovie and Hellenistic epic.In producing this analysis, I am relying on the articulation of the

‘ambitious’ and ‘erotic’ texts that was made by feminist critic NancyK. Miller in an important article nearly thirty years ago.4 In her readingof the then-contemporary criticism of early women novelists, Millerargued that critics were operating under a masculinist paradigm thatrequires male protagonists to be ambitious, and female protagonists tosee themselves as erotic objects. This clear gender split is not arbitrary,but represents a set of social expectations that we see clearly articulatedin Sigmund Freud’s interpretation of men’s and women’s daydreams.5

Men, Freud explains, tend to have daydreams in which they are invulner-able heroes, and in which they accomplish whatever they want in thecompetitive worlds of business and adventure; in which, in other words,the usual impediments of the real world are easily overcome. This sort ofambitious daydream, Freud goes on to posit, also explains the structureof most heroic fiction. In Miller’s paraphrase, ‘The hero in this literatureis continually exposed to danger, but we follow his perilous adventureswith a sense of security, because we know that at each turn he willtriumph.’6 In this way, for male readers anyway, heroic fiction allowsan easy identification with the protagonist by mirroring the reader’sambitious daydreams.Women, however, are not thought to engage in the same kind of

productive fantasy; in Freud’s analysis, they see themselves, rather, inthe curiously passive fantasy of the erotic:

The impelling wishes vary according to the sex, character and circum-stances of the creator; they may easily be divided, however, into twoprincipal groups. Either they are ambitious wishes, serving to exalt theperson creating them, or they are erotic. In young women erotic wishes

4 Miller (1981).5 Miller relies on Freud’s 1908 essay, ‘The Relation of the Poet to Daydreaming’. My

quotations of Freud come from Miller’s citations.6 Miller (1981: 40). While we need not accept Freud’s essentialist reading of the

characteristics of men and women, his observations about the structure of most heroicfiction remain useful.

Medea’s Erotic Text in Jason and the Argonauts (1963) 77

dominate the phantasies almost exclusively, for their ambition is generallycomprised in their erotic longings; in young men egoistic and ambitiouswishes assert themselves plainly enough alongside their erotic desires.7

The crucial question that Miller asks, however, is how the relationshipbetween fantasy and reality works in the case of women and their erotictexts. That is, if men dream of being impenetrable superheroes—say, ofhaving the ability to yoke fire-breathing bulls and use them to plough afour-fold field—because the world normally prevents them from suchaccomplishment, what is the real-world frustration of desire that causeswomen to fantasize about being sexually objectified? Why do their‘ambitions’ take that peculiar form? Indeed, Miller suggests, the‘implausibility’ of much of women’s fiction stems exactly from a refusalto accept this economy of desire.8

There is, moreover, a curious asymmetry in this bicameral division ofdreams and fictional plots: while women’s ‘ambition is generally com-prised in their erotic longings’, which is to say that they have no ambitionother than to be desired, men’s ambitions exist easily ‘alongside theirerotic desires’. For them the erotic is at worst a distraction, at best, simplyanother ambitious conquest. And yet, female erotic desire also providesan important prop for male ambition. As Freud notes just a little later, ‘inthe greater number of ambitious daydreams . . . we can discover a womanin some corner, for whom the dreamer performs all his heroic deeds andat whose feet all his triumphs are to be laid.’9 The male ambitious textrelies on but simultaneously remains outside the bonds of female eroticdesire. This model, as we will see, holds up remarkably well as an analysisof Jason in Apollonius’ epic: from his point of view, to the extent that weare able to see it, Jason gets the fleece and the girl. Medea is a morecomplex character: she does exhibit erotic desires that render her apassive object, but as various critics have noted, she also demonstratesa dangerously masculine heroism—what I would call ambition. The 1963movie, in transforming this epic-cum-romance into a typical heroic

7 Freud (1908: 47–8), quoted in Miller (1981: 40).8 I should make it clear that my analysis is of a fundamentally different set of texts, and

of different causes, than Miller’s. Miller is concerned with the ways that works by earlywomen novelists reject the masculinist paradigm of the erotic text, and in so doing arecritiqued as ‘implausible’ by contemporary critics. Jason and the Argonauts was written andproduced by men (as was Apollonius’ Argonautica) and the implausibilities that I find in itare not, therefore, the result of a deliberately feminine mode of writing. Nonetheless, theseimplausibilities come to the fore when we look at the way that the movie manipulates theambitious and erotic texts of its Hellenistic predecessor. The terms of Miller’s critique,therefore, are useful for elucidating these moments of intertextual tension.

9 Freud (1908: 48), quoted by Miller (1981: 40).

78 Ancient Greek Women in Film

action story, flattens Medea’s motivation and her character. But in theprocess, points of stress appear, and her ambition leaks out through theincongruities of her romance; Medea goes ‘another way’ in the intertext.

AMBITIOUS AND EROTIC IN APOLLONIUS ’ARGONAUTICA

In order to carefully analyse the ways that the movie Jason and theArgonauts manipulates the erotic and ambitious texts of Apollonius’epic, it will be useful to briefly review the depiction of Jason andMedea in the earlier work. The bibliography on these two characters isextensive, and I do not intend here to provide an exhaustive analysis oftheir functions in the epic. Rather, I wish to highlight the complexity andambivalence of motivation in Apollonius’ text; it is the flattening of thiscomplexity that results in the moments of incongruity in the 1963 film.As Richard Hunter points out, in Apollonius we have less access to

Jason’s thoughts than to Medea’s.10 Indeed, the depiction of Medea as ayoung woman in love in Apollonius has long been held as a significantdevelopment in the history of Western literature, however much somecritics have been concerned with what they perceive as psychologicalinconsistency.11 Nonetheless, it does seem clear that Jason’s motivationthrough most of the epic is an ambitious one: he wants to retrieve thegolden fleece and return to Iolcus with it. This is not to say that he has noerotic experiences, but rather that from his perspective, those experiencesare subsumed by his ambitious plot. His attraction to Medea (unlike herdesire for him) is in the first instance motivated by business, and itremains unclear whether he is more devoted to her or to his belovedfleece.Indeed, early on in the epic, we learn that eros has the potential to

derail the quest for the fleece, unless properly managed. When theArgonauts land on the island of Lemnos, and are seduced by theLemnian women, they dally:

10 See Hunter (1993a: 15); Papadopoulou (1997: 657).11 Scholes and Kellog (1966: 181) give Apollonius considerable credit for his rendering

of internal psychology. Phinney (1967) defends the portrait of Medea as psychologicallysound against earlier readings such as that of Brooks Otis, who could not reconcile theinexperienced virgin of Book 3 with the cold opportunist of Book 4. See also Hunter (1987)for a defence of Medea’s consistency of character. On the romance between Jason andMedea in general, see Beye (1982: 120–42).

Medea’s Erotic Text in Jason and the Argonauts (1963) 79

!"#$º%Å &’ 'N( q"Ææ I'd K) X"Æ*$( q'++Æı*غ%Å(. &Åæe+ &’ i+ Kº%+ı$+ Æs,Ø "-+$+*'(,'N "c I$ºº%..Æ( /*0æ$ı( I10+'ı,' ªı+ÆØŒH+2˙æÆŒº-Å( *$%$Ø.Ø+ K+Ø1*0Çø+ "'*-'Ø1'+·«˜ÆØ"3+Ø$Ø, 10*æÅ( K"ç4ºØ$+ Æx"’ I1$-æª'Ø 8655"-Æ(, q' ª0"ø+ K1Ø&'ı-'( K+,0&’ 6#Å"'+Œ'E,'+, O+$..0"'+$Ø 1$ºØ7*Ø&Æ(, Æs,Ø &’ 6Æ&'++Æ%$+*Æ( ºØ1Ææc+ 8æ$.Ø+ ¸7"+$Ø$ *Æ"-.,ÆØ;$P "0º’ KıŒº'Ø'E( ª' .f+ O,+'%Åfi .Ø ªı+ÆØ)%+K..3"',’ z&’ K1d &Åæe+ K'º"-+$Ø, $P&b *e ŒHÆ( 870ÆP*3"Æ*$+ &9.'Ø *Ø( /º'E+ ,'e( 'P)Æ"-+$Ø.Ø+».

The sailing was now continually deferred from one day to the next. Theywould have wasted a great deal of time remaining there, had not Heraclessummoned his comrades together, without the women, and reproachedthem as follows: ‘Poor fools, does the shedding of kindred blood prevent usfrom returning home? Have we left our homes to come here in search ofbrides, scorning the women of our own cities? Do we want to live here andcut up the rich ploughland of Lemnos? We will not win glory shut up hereinterminably with foreign women. No god is going to hand over the fleeceto us in answer to our prayers; we will have to work for it.’ (1.861–71)12

This rousing speech motivates the men to leave Lemnos immediately,and to focus on the task at hand. Though Jason has evidently impreg-nated Hypsipyle, he leaves her with no great emotional display, and littlemore than instructions for the care of his future son; he is the first tore-board the Argo. The quest is set back on track, but more importantly,the conflict between heroic quest and erotic entanglement has been set.Wasting one’s time with ‘foreign women’ is diametrically opposed toachieving his ambition. From here onward, Jason is a bit more carefulabout how and with whom he tumbles into bed.The relationship that Jason begins with Medea, moreover, is marked

from the beginning as one of ambition as much as desire. Erosmay enterthe story at the beginning of Book 3, but the invocation to the muses atline one tells us that this eros is in the service of the hero’s quest: ¯N &’ 8ª'+F+ ¯æÆ*9, 1Ææ’ 6"’ ¥.*Æ.$ ŒÆ% "$Ø 6+Ø.1'/6+,'+ ‹1ø( K( : IøºŒe+I+7ªÆª' ŒHÆ(/: I7.ø+ ;Å&'%Å( <1’ 6æø*Ø· (‘Come now, Erato, standbeside me and relate to me how it was that Jason brought the fleecefrom Colchis to Iolcus through the power of Medea’s love.’ 3.1–3) Andindeed, it is because Medea falls madly in love with Jason that she aidshim in the task of yoking her father’s bulls and fighting the earth-born

12 Translations of Apollonius are taken from the fine translation of Hunter in theOxford World’s Classics series (1993b).

80 Ancient Greek Women in Film

men. Not coincidentally, the protection that Medea offers Jason in thisfamous scene corresponds precisely to the kind of protection that, asFreud suggests, characterizes the ambitious daydream and thus allnovels. The hero is placed under the protection of a ‘special providence’,which convinces him of his own invulnerability: ‘It seems to me . . . thatthis significant mark of invulnerability very clearly betrays His Majestythe Ego, the hero of all daydreams and all novels.’13 At issue, then, is notonly the hero’s impenetrability, but his certain and fantastic knowledgeof the same—which is exactly what happens to Jason when he anointshimself with Medea’s Promethean drug:

. . . &F &- "Ø+ IºŒ7."'æ&ƺ-Å 8çÆ*3( *' ŒÆd 8*æ$"$(, ƃ &’ /Œ0*'æ,'+å'Eæ'( K1'ææ9.Æ+*$ 1'æd .,-+'œ .çæت3ø.ÆØ.‰( &’ ‹*’ Iæ7Ø$( ¥11$(, K'º&3"'+$( 1$º-"$Ø$,.ŒÆæ,"fiH K1Øåæ'"-,ø+ Œæ$4'Ø 1-&$+, ÆP*aæ o1'æ,' 1260Œı&Ø3ø+ Oæ,$E.Ø+ K1’ $hÆ.Ø+ ÆPå-+’ I'%æ'Ø—*$E$( 8æ’ `N.$+%&Å( K1ƪÆ%'*$ Œ0æ*'œ ªı%ø+. . . .

Then Jason sprinkled the drug over himself: a mighty force entered him,inexpressible, without fear, and his two arms moved freely as they swelledwith bursting strength. As a war-horse, longing for the fray, paws theground prancing and neighing, its neck held up proudly and its earsforward, just so did the son of Aison exult in the strength of his limbs. . . .(3.1256–62)

As Miller observes, however, in the case of the masculine subject, ‘ . . . theeither/or antinomy, ambitious/erotic, is immediately collapsed to makecoexistence possible in masculine fantasies . . . ’.14 And indeed, it seemsthat Jason sees his erotic encounter as a mode of heroism. As variouscommentators have noted, when Jason first meets Medea, the sceneis written so that it recalls a Homeric epic aristeia; in particular, Jasonis compared to the star Sirius, just as Diomedes is at the beginning of hisaristeia in the Iliad.15 Hunter notes, further, that the meeting owes muchto the climactic battle of Hector and Achilles in Iliad 22.16 But mostimportant of all are the terms that Jason uses to address Medea. Whileshe is busy melting in erotic desire, Jason is all business:

13 Freud (1908: 51); cited in Miller (1981: 40). 14 Miller (1981: 40).15 See, for example, Beye (1982: 137).16 Hunter (1993a: 48). The scene also owes much, of course, to the interaction between

Odysseus and Nausikaa in Book 6 of theOdyssey, another scene in which a clever older manuses his sex appeal to get material goods. See especially Pavlock (1990: 61–3).

Medea’s Erotic Text in Jason and the Argonauts (1963) 81

. . . "Å&- "' *'æ1+$E(çź9.Åfi ( K1-'..Ø+, K1'd *e 1æH*$+ <1-.*Å(ÆP*$ŒÆ.ت+7*Åfi "'+$'ØŒ-Æ ç0æ"ÆŒÆ &9.'Ø+ . . ..$d &’ i+ Kªg *'%.ÆØ"Ø å0æØ+ "'*31Ø.,'+ IæøªB( 990fi w ,-"Ø(, ‰( K1-$ØŒ' &Ø0+&ØåÆ +ÆØ'*0$+*Æ(,$h+$"Æ ŒÆd ŒÆºe+ *'4åø+ Œº-$(.

‘Do not deceive me with sweet words, now that you have promised yoursister to give me the drugs which will provide me with strength . . . In returnfor your help I shall show my gratitude to you in the future, as is right andappropriate for those who live a long way away, by spreading your nameand your glorious repute.’ (3.982–92)

Their conversation continues, of course, and eventually we are told that*e+ &b ŒÆd ÆP*e+ <17Ø' &0Œæı.Ø Œ$4æÅ(/$sº$( 6æø(, *$E$+ &b 1ÆæÆ#º7&Å+61$( Åh&Æ· (‘ . . . as the young girl wept, deadly love crept over Jason also’,1077–8), but this is the only moment in their exchange in which Jason’semotional state is revealed to the reader—in sharp contrast to the exten-sive description of Medea’s virtual enslavement to desire (see below).17

Even the terms that Jason offers Medea, namely an increase in her ‘nameand glorious repute’ ($h+$"Æ ŒÆd ŒÆºe+ *'4åø+ Œº-$() are the standardbargaining-chips of epic heroes.Finally, it is worth noting that in so far as Jason demonstrates something

like erotic desire, it seems to be addressed to the fleece asmuch as toMedea.When, after the speech quoted just above, Medea offers Jason the drug thatwill make him invincible, she takes it from her breast-band, clearly an eroticreference point. But Jason is more interested in the drug than in her:

1æ$1æe &’ Iç'Ø&7.Æ.Æ ,ı9&'$( 6)'º' "%*æÅ(ç0æ"ÆŒ$+· ÆP*aæ ‹ª’ Ær=Æ å'æ$E+ <1-&'Œ*$ ª'ªÅ,9(.ŒÆ% +4 Œ- $ƒ ŒÆd 1A.Æ+ I1e .*Å,-ø+ Iæ4.Æ.Æ 1015=ıåc+ Kªªı0ºØ)'+ IªÆØ$"-+Å åÆ*-$+*Ø·*$E$( I1e )Æ+,$E$ ŒÆæ7Æ*$( `N.$+%&Æ$.*æ01*'+ 6æø( 5&'EÆ+ I1e çº3ªÆ, *B( &’ I"Ææıª0(Oç,ƺ"H+ læ1ÆÇ'+, NÆ%+'*$ &b çæ-+Æ( 'Y.ø*ÅŒ$"-+Å, $x3+ *' 1'æd >$&-Åfi .Ø+ K-æ.Å 1020*7Œ'*ÆØ Mfi9$Ø.Ø+ NÆØ+$"-+Å çÆ-'..Ø+.

Without hesitation she took the drug from her fragrant breast-band, andhis hands grasped it quickly and joyfully. She would have drawn off herwhole soul from her chest and granted it to him in the thrill of his need for

17 See Pavlock (1990: 64), ‘Jason only very briefly feels erotic passion for Medea(3.1077–8). He is absorbed in the quest for the fleece and the task of returning home toGreece with his crew.’

82 Ancient Greek Women in Film

her; such was the love which flashed its sweet flame from his fair head andsnatched the bright sparkle of her eyes. Her senses grew warm and shemelted away as the dew of roses fades as it grows warm in the early rays.(3.1013–21)

Medea is the very picture of a young woman overwhelmed by desire,melting away like dew. Though Jason’s shining head is grammatically thesource of the eros that she feels, and that eros is said to ‘snatch’ the‘sparkle of her eyes’, he seems to do nothing to evoke this reaction. Whenwe are granted access to Jason’s response, it is comparatively simple:Jason feels joy at the receipt of Medea’s drug.Similarly, when Medea does eventually help Jason obtain the golden

fleece, he responds as erotically as anywhere in the epic—but his desire isdirected towards the fleece.

‰( &b .'ºÅ+Æ%Å( &Øå$"7+Ø&Æ 1Ææ,-+$( ÆYªºÅ+<=3,'+ K)I+-å$ı.Æ+ <1øæ$ç%$ı ,ƺ0"$Ø$º'1*ƺ-øfi /Æ+fiH <1$?.å'*ÆØ, K+ &- $ƒ q*$æåÆ%æ'Ø &'æŒ$"-+Å( ŒÆºe+ .-ºÆ(—z( *3*’ : I7.ø+ 170ªÅ,3.ı+$( "-ªÆ ŒHÆ( /ÆE( I+Æ'%æ'*$ å'æ.%+,ŒÆ% $ƒ K1d )Æ+,Bfi .Ø 1ÆæÅ%.Ø+ M&b "'*91øfi"Ææ"ÆæıªBfi ºÅ+-ø+ çº$ªd 'YŒ'º$+ xÇ'+ 6æ'ı,$(.

As when a young girl catches in her fine dress the gleam of the full moonhanging high over her bedroom under the roof, and her heart is delighted atthe sight of the lovely radiance; just so then did Jason rejoice as he lifted thegreat fleece in his hands, and over his fair cheeks and forehead the sparkleof the wool threw a blush like flame. (4.167–73)

This is a remarkable simile. Not only is Jason implicitly feminized by thecomparison; he also becomes a young, marriageable girl, much likethe Medea of Book 3. His responses and reactions are explicitly thoseof the erotic text: he not only takes pleasure in his new possession, butalso revels in himself as erotic object, in the desire that his appearancemust evoke. As Hunter points out, moreover, the ‘rejoicing’ that Jasondoes here should be linked in our minds to his earlier ‘rejoicing’ when hereceived the drug fromMedea (3.1014).18 Even the red blush that spreadsacross his face is linked through the colour-word ereuthos to othererotically charged scenes in the epic.19 For Jason, the erotic is ambitious,is either complementary to, or in some cases an element of, his heroicquest. As Hunter comments, ‘Jason’s motivating impulse—so different

18 Hunter (1987: 132). 19 See especially Pavlock (1990: 29–31).

Medea’s Erotic Text in Jason and the Argonauts (1963) 83

from Medea’s—is the need to complete the tasks imposed upon him byPelias and Aeëtes and the desire to get home.’20

In the gendered world of the epic, Medea is obviously and famouslymotivated by erotic desire, though this motivation becomes complicatedin Book 4 by a complementary, or perhaps competing, fear of herirrational father. In Book 3, however, she is ensnared deliberately witheros, through the machinations of the goddesses Hera and Athena. Theresulting descriptions of her emotional state are among the most cele-brated passages in the epic, particularly so for their apparent depiction ofher inner psyche.21 I would like to point out, in particular, that hercharacter evokes exactly the idea that Freud puts forward about women’serotic fantasies: that is, what Medea finds especially attractive, indeedoverwhelming, is to be in a position of being needed by the hero. In thepassage discussed above (3.1014–21), which provides such a strikingdescription of the transporting force of Medea’s erotic desire, one phrasein particular leaps off the page: ‘She would have drawn off her whole soulfrom her chest and granted it to him in the thrill of his need for her’(3.1015–16, emphasis mine). The Greek is, if anything, even more expli-cit than Hunter’s fine rendering; a more literal translation is ‘And then,drawing her whole soul from her breast she would have betrothed it tohim, taking delight in him as he had need.’22 It is not merely that Medeafinds Jason striking and handsome—though she clearly does find himso—she also delights in the position of being needed (even if not neces-sarily erotically) by him.Moreover, Medea is depicted as being willing, at least on a subcon-

scious level, to believe that she, and not the fleece, is the real object ofJason’s quest. After Medea has seen Jason, and been struck with thearrow of Eros, but before she has met with him, Medea has a remarkabledream:

˚$4æÅ+ &’ K) Iå-ø+ I&Ø+e( ŒÆ*'º9ç''+ o1+$(º-Œ*æøfi I+ÆŒºØ+,'E.Æ+. 8çÆæ &- "Ø+ M1'æ$1B'(,$x0 *’ IŒÅå'"-+Å+, Oº$$d Kæ-,'.Œ$+ Z+'Øæ$Ø·*e+ )'E+$+ &’ K&3ŒÅ.'+ <ç'.*0"'+ÆØ *e+ 8',º$+$h*Ø "0º’ ›æ"Æ%+$+*Æ &-æ$( ŒæØ$E$ Œ$"%..ÆØ, 620

20 Hunter (1993a: 62).21 Papadopoulou (1997) is particularly strong on the way that Apollonius manipulates

Medea’s self-presentation through ‘interior monologues’ in order to make her charactermore sympathetic to the reader. Beye (1982) sees her as more deliberately manipulative.

22 The word I have translated ‘would have betrothed’ (eggualizô) literally means ‘to placein another’s hand’ and clearly evokes the egguê, or ‘betrothal’ that preceded legal marriagesin the Greek world. Even this unspoken wish, then, contains suggestions of the marriagethat Medea desires.

84 Ancient Greek Women in Film

$P&- *Ø *$E$ 6ŒÅ*Ø "'*a 1*3ºØ+ `N7*Æ$Kº,-"'+, ZçæÆ &- "Ø+ .ç-*'æ$+ &3"$+ 'N.ƪ0ª$Ø*$Œ$ıæØ&%Å+ 1Ææ0Œ$Ø*Ø+. O%'*$ &’ I"çd #3'..Ø+ÆP*c I',º'4$ı.Æ "0º’ 'P"Ææ-ø( 1$+-'.,ÆØ·.çøØ*-æ$ı( &b *$ŒBÆ( <1$.å'.%Å( I,'æ%Ç'Ø+, 625$o+'Œ'+ $P Œ$4æÅfi Ç'F)ÆØ #3Æ( Iºº0 $ƒ ÆP*fiH1æ$4,'.Æ+· KŒ &’ 8æÆ *$F +'EŒ$( 1-º'+ I"ç7æØ.*$+1Æ*æ% *' ŒÆd )'%+$Ø(· ÆP*Bfi &’ K1Ø-*æ'1$+ 8"çø*g( 6"'+ u( Œ'+ /Bfi .Ø "'*a çæ'.d+ N,4.'Ø'+·5 &’ 8ç+ø *e+ )'E+$+, Iç'Ø&7.Æ.Æ *$Œ7ø+, 630'¥ º'*$·

At once she was disturbed by deadly dreams, deceitful ones such as visitsomeone in distress. She imagined that the stranger undertook the chal-lenge, not at all because he wanted to recover the fleece—it was not for thatthat he had come to Aietes’ city—but to take her back to his own home ashis properly wedded wife. In her dream she herself easily accomplished thechallenge of the bulls, but her parents scorned their promise because theyhad challenged him, not their daughter, to yoke the bulls. From this arose abitter dispute between her father and the strangers, and both allowed her tochoose whatever outcome her mind desired. Without thought of herparents she immediately chose the stranger. (3.616–31)

As Papadopoulou points out, the dream is a clear expression of Medea’sown wishes; the end of the narrative, in fact, has Medea in the position ofbeing able to accomplish whatever she wishes, and she chooses Jason.23

Even here, however, this wish is first expressed in the idea not that Medeawould choose Jason, but that he has really come to Colchis to obtain her.Again, the fundamental form of female erotic desire is the wish to bedesired. We should also note that the narrator specifically marks thisdream as deceitful. To the extent that Medea thinks she is Jason’s realobject, at least from the narrator’s perspective, she has missed the point.At the same time, Medea’s dream reveals another aspect of her

motivation, one which troubles the neat dichotomy of erotic/ambitious.Medea, as readers of Book 4 have long noted, appears at times tohave heroic ambitions and abilities of her own.24 So, in her dream, sheimagines herself being given the power to choose between parents andpotential husband because she herself has completed the explicitly heroictask of yoking her father’s fire-breathing bulls. Through her pharmaco-logical magic, moreover, Medea plays an integral role in the fulfilment of

23 See Papadopoulou (1997: 663).24 See, for example, Pavlock (1990: 67), Phinney (1967: 335, 339), Hunter (1993a:

59–61), Beye (1982: 135).

Medea’s Erotic Text in Jason and the Argonauts (1963) 85

Jason’s quest: she enchants the dragon that guards the golden fleece,keeping him asleep until Jason gives the word to go. In Book 4, towardsthe end of the epic, she again enchants the monster Talos, allowing theArgo to return home. Her active abilities are fully necessary for thesuccessful fulfilment of Jason’s ambition.Medea’s heroic side comes out most completely in Book 4, which is

curiously short of descriptions of her erotic feelings.25 As the Argonautsflee from Aeëtes and the Colchians, Medea becomes, briefly, an object oftrade once again. Threatened by the Colchians, the Argonauts agree toentrust Medea to Artemis (a proper goddess for overseeing an unmarriedgirl) until a judge can decide to whom she belongs. Medea responds tothis suggestion with a forceful speech recalling Medea’s bitter reproach toJason in Eurpides’ Medea (492–519). She addresses him as an equal,reminding him of his responsibility to uphold his oaths and agreements.That in itself is masculine enough; but Medea goes further. Jason tells

her (truthfully or not, it is impossible to tell) that all of this is only a trick,by which the Argonauts plan to kill Medea’s brother, Apsyrtus. Medearesponds with chilling efficiency:

«*4+Å "b+ ŒÆ*a "Hº$+ Iº-)'$ &$4æÆ*Æ ˚3ºåø+,ÆP*aæ Kªg Œ'E+3+ ª' *'a( K( å'EæÆ( ƒŒ-.,ÆØ 415"'غ%)ø· .f &- "Ø+ çÆØ&æ$E( IªÆ10Ç'$ &9æ$Ø(,'Y Œ-+ 1ø( {Œ7æıŒÆ( I1'æå$"-+$ı( 1'1%,$Ø"Ø{$N3,'+ $r$+ K"$E.Ø .ı+Ææ,"B.ÆØ K1-'..Ø+. . . . »~2!( *9ª' )ı"#0+*' "-ªÆ+ &3º$+ Mæ*4+Æ+*$!=4æ*øfi . . . .

‘Your task is to ward off the Colchian spears in battle, but I shall cajole thatman into coming into your hands. Soften him with splendid gifts, in thehope that I can persuade the heralds when they depart to make him come quitealone to hear what I have to say. . . . ’ So the two of them reached an agreementand prepared a terrible deceit against Apsyrtus. . . . (4.414–21)

Medea becomes a full partner in Jason’s treacherous killing of her ownbrother; and in the event, her guilt is physically marked, as Apsyrtusstains Medea’s veil and robe with his own blood as he dies. ThoughMedea cannot be said here to have a heroic quest that is the equivalent ofJason’s, it is clear that she has moved beyond a purely erotic text. She

25 Phinney (1967) sees Medea as a psychologically consistent character, motivated bothby her love for Jason and her fear of her father. He grants, however, that the former isascendant in Book 3, and the latter in Book 4.

86 Ancient Greek Women in Film

refuses to be an object of commerce, a chit to be traded between powerfulmen, taking instead an active role in the pursuit of her relationship withJason and positioning herself as his heroic partner.Apollonius’ epic, then, manipulates the ambitious and erotic texts of

heroic fiction in ways that go beyond Freud’s formulations. Jason’s text isalmost entirely ambitious, even when it comes to his love affair withMedea. At critical moments, however, his attraction to the object of hisambition becomes almost erotic, and for a brief moment, he becomes aneroticized subject, rejoicing in the play of light on his clothing. Medea goesstill further; though she regularly interprets Jason’s narrative in terms of anerotic text in which she is the highly prized object of his desire, she alsosteps out of this role, demonstrating abilities and ambitions of her own.

ABSENT AMBITION AND SUPPRESSED EROSIN JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS

Unlike the recent DVD and video re-release covers for the 1963 produc-tion of Jason and the Argonauts, most versions of the original poster forthe movie do not depict Medea at all.26 This is fitting, for one of the mostremarkable aspects of the script is the diminished role that it gives toMedea in comparison to the ancient epic, particularly in terms of theambitious plot pursued by Jason (played in the movie with bland stockheroism by Todd Armstrong). The character of Medea (played by NancyKovack) does almost nothing: she performs only two trivial acts ofmagic/pharmacology, she does not help Jason in his battle with theearth-born, does not help defeat the dragon as he grabs the fleece, isnot present when he defeats Talos, and makes no mention of brothers orsisters, let alone taking part in the sacrifice of Apsyrtus.27 No hint is givenof the post-quest story familiar to us from Euripides’ Medea.28

None of this is terribly surprising. Jason and the Argonauts wasreleased in 1963, before the feminist movement gained full force in

26 The recent video and DVD covers appear to have been taken from one of a set of eight‘lobby cards’ that were produced at the time of the movie premier.

27 Solomon (2001a: 113) suggests that Medea is played ‘as a helpless, large-breasted,dancing Kewpie doll’. This is too harsh, and misses the hidden narrative that Medea createsfor herself in this film; but the sentiment is not entirely off base.

28 Paul (2013: 99) suggests that the mark of the cinematic Argonauticas is that they‘ . . . reject tragedy’s incursion into their territory’. While I largely agree with this assessment,I believe that there are moments in the movie that invite an audience familiar with the mythto recall the tragedy that awaits the hero.

Medea’s Erotic Text in Jason and the Argonauts (1963) 87

mainstream American culture. It is clear that the producers of the movieviewed it as a heroic feature, and it would hardly have done to representthe hero as entirely dependent on the woman he falls in love with.Nonetheless, the screenwriters clearly knew the tradition that they wereworking with, and in a few places Medea’s agency is present, but dimin-ished. One of the most remarkable of these instances is the scenedescribed at the beginning of this paper. Jason has been wounded; thefollowing day, Medea treats his wound with a local flower, and before oureyes the scratch (and it really is little more than a scratch) on Jason’sshoulder disappears. A benign eroticism suffuses the scene, and we takeit as an early moment in Jason and Medea’s courtship.It might seem too much to associate this scene with the drug that, in

Apollonius, Medea gives Jason in order to make him invincible, were itnot for a single detail. Jason asks Medea about the root that has magicallycured him, and Medea replies, ‘Some say it sprang from the blood ofPrometheus.’ This can only be a reference to the magic ointment thatMedea provides Jason for his task of yoking Aeëtes’ bulls in Apollonius,which, Medea tells us ‘men say is called “the drug of Prometheus” ’(3.846). The diminution of Medea’s central act of pharmacology inApollonius is little short of remarkable: no impenetrable shield to protectJason from the fire-breathing bulls, Medea’s Promethean magic has allthe efficacy of a band-aid. The screenwriters, then, are well aware of thetraditional portrayal of Medea, and have chosen deliberately to reducethe heroine’s power. At the same time, the scene follows a pattern thatI will argue is typical: it replaces a moment of Medea’s powerful agencywith one of bland, understated eroticism.29

Indeed, once nearly all of Medea’s acts of pharmacology and aids toJason have been removed from the plot, there is little for Medea to do inthe movie other than to support the hero’s vague romantic longings. Butthe movie is not, primarily, a Romance; the plot is directed fundamen-tally by Jason’s quest for the fleece, and the focus rarely shifts to Medea.Singularly lacking, therefore, are the striking internal monologues thatApollonius’ heroine delivers, in which she wrestles with her love forJason and her devotion to father and fatherland (3.616–44; 3.772–80.).These pages of text in the epic are represented in a single brief scene inthe movie, in which Medea prays to Hecate. She laments the fact thatJason is condemned to death and says, ‘If I help him now in his quest forthe fleece, I shall be a traitor to my country . . . and to you Hecate. And if

29 Paul (2013: 98) states that ‘Medea’s narrative function is primarily as Jason’s “loveinterest” (recasting Jason as a lover as much as a hero, as we will see later on), particularly inthe 1963 film.’

88 Ancient Greek Women in Film

not . . . to myself.’ This is all the verbal access we are given to Medea’sinternal thoughts or feelings, and the result is that the plot of herromance with Jason, so carefully integral to Jason’s success in Apollo-nius, is read as unnecessary and unmotivated in the movie. Like theheroines of the novels that Miller analyses, she becomes ‘implausible’.Nowhere is this more evident than in the scene in which Medea

declares her love for Jason. The scene combines a number of momentsfrom Apollonius, and also contains some densely intertextual dialogue;I analyse it here at a level of detail. In the somewhat contrived plot of themovie, Jason and his men, now resplendent in dress uniforms that haveappeared from nowhere, have been imprisoned by Aeëtes. Aeëtes hasbeen misled by Pelias’ son Acastus (who turns out not to be dead),believing that they intend to steal the fleece. Medea arrives in the prison.We learn later that she has drugged the guards, or at least her fatherthinks she has, but we do not see her do so. It is night, and the scenevisually recalls Medea’s nocturnal, solitary desertion to the Argonauts atthe beginning of Apollonius’ Book 4.Medea meets up with Jason, and tries to convince him to leave without

the fleece. As in Apollonius, an equivalence is set up between Medea andthe fleece as objects of Jason’s desire. Here is the dialogue, which must beseen to be believed. Readers not familiar with the movie should imagineevery line delivered with wooden deliberation on Jason’s part, andlanguid sultriness on Medea’s:

J: Medea why did you come here? Was it Aeëtes who sent you?M: I came here to ask you to give up your quest and sail away with the

Argonauts in peace . . . never to return.J: Never to think again of the golden fleece?

M: Never to think of the fleece.J: Then it was Aeëtes. (turning away, angrily) You tell him I will fulfill thetask the gods have sent me . . . and never betray the Argonauts—whatever he offers me. Even if it’s Medea, high priestess of Hecate.

First, we note that Jason immediately and wrongly assumes that Aeëteshas sent Medea, and moreover that she is being offered to him in place ofthe fleece. Here, then, an equation is made between Jason’s potentialpossession of Medea and the goal of his ambitious quest. But where inApollonius it was Medea whose dream-state suggested such a substitu-tion, in Cross and Read’s version, it is Jason who angrily rejects such atrade. The idea, however, is not without import, for here as in ApolloniusJason reveals that he has a quasi-erotic relationship with the fleece itself.Medea urges Jason to go, and clearly struggles with the last phrase:‘ . . . never to return’. She is torn by her desire to save Jason and the

Medea’s Erotic Text in Jason and the Argonauts (1963) 89

thought that doing so means losing him. Jason misses this entirely:‘Never to think again of the golden fleece?’ he asks. It is the mostpassionate thing that Jason has said to Medea so far, and he has thewrong erotic object.The second half of the dialogue in this scene confirms the presence of

the missing Apollonian subtext, and also results in the most implausiblemoment of Medea’s self-expression:

M: Please . . . forget the golden fleece. I fear for your safety. If you’re set oncarrying it away, I must come with you.

J: I’ll go alone.M: No. I have to go with you. I have no country now. (languidly closes, then

opens her eyes) And I love you. (end of dialogue; Jason and Medea turnand leave the prison cell)

Medea’s declaration of love is an unmitigated failure as cinema. In thewords of film critic Vadim Rizov, ‘A love interest is inserted rather lateinto the film, to the derisive cheers of the audience. . . . ’30 I have shownthis movie to classes in Mythology several times, and can confirm thatthis scene always draws laughter. The audience simply has not beenprepared for the strength of Medea’s dedication to Jason. Adding tothe sense of unintended comedy is Medea’s delivery (spoken by EvaHaddon, who dubbed all of Nancy Kovack’s lines in the movie): thewords ‘and I love you’, are spoken in a hesitant, almost singsong voice,with a slight tonal inflection upward on the word ‘love’. The declarationis almost, but not quite, a question.There is more here, however. The logic of the scene is deficient, and

this adds to the sense of incongruity. Why must Medea come with Jasonif he is going to take the fleece? In Apollonius’ version, Medea mustremain with the Argonauts after this point in the plot specifically becauseshe helps Jason to obtain the fleece, using her pharmacological skills toput the dragon to sleep. Her offer to go with Jason is, in fact, predicatedon the idea that she will be useful to him in this way (4.83–91). Notcoincidentally, Jason responds to this suggestion with a repetition of hisearlier offer of marriage. The movie suppresses this moment of femaleagency, but retains Medea’s conditional guilt. She has, we learn later,apparently drugged the guards in order to help Jason escape—but this istrue whether he takes the fleece or not. In brief, then, the incongruity ofMedea’s erotic text masks another discourse, a lost story line in whichMedea’s help was neither so unmotivated nor so vague and passive.

30 Review available at http://www.movie-vault.com/reviews/XMDENdtIMrlCiNLA.(accessed 17 December 2008.)

90 Ancient Greek Women in Film

One further point remains to be made about Medea’s declaration oflove. In the phrase, ‘I have no country now’, Medea refers to the betrayalof her father and country that she has enacted by saving Jason. But it is aloaded phrase, and one with clear literary precedent. In Book 4 ofApollonius, when Jason is threatening to return Medea to Aeëtes sothat he can escape freely with the fleece, Medea responds angrily:

«1$F *$Ø ˜Øe( 2 IŒ'.%$Ø$‹æŒØÆ, 1$F &b "'ºØåæÆd <1$.å'.%ÆØ #'#0Æ.Ø+;fi w( Kªg $P ŒÆ*a Œ3."$+ I+ÆØ&7*øfi N3*Å* 36010*æÅ+ *' Œº-Æ *' "'ª0æø+ ÆP*$4( *' *$ŒBÆ(+$.çØ.0"Å+, *0 "$Ø q'+ <1-æ*Æ*Æ, *ź3,Ø &’ $YźıªæBfi .Ø+ ŒÆ*a 13+*$+ –"’ IºŒı3+'..Ø ç$æ'F"ÆØ,.H+ 6+'Œ'+ ŒÆ"0*ø+, ¥ +Æ "$Ø .3$( I"ç% *' #$ı.%+I"ç% *' ªÅª'+-'..Ø+ I+Æ1º7.'ØÆ( I-,º$ı(·»

‘Where are your oaths by Zeus, protector of suppliants? Where have all thesweet promises gone? It was these which made me abandon my homeland,the reputation of my house, and even my parents, everything which wasmost important to me! This is not how I should have behaved—fromshameless desire! Far from my home I drift alone over the sea with thegloomy halcyons, all because of your sufferings, because I wanted you insafety to complete the tasks of the bulls and the Earth-born.’ (4.358–65)

This passage is itself loaded with literary history, recalling in several placesMedea’s speech to Jason in Euripides’Medea 502–19. The movie, however,has taken this moment of self-imposed exile and moved it. No longer anexpression of Medea’s anger at the way that Jason has repaid her services,it is simply absorbed into her expression of Medea’s erotic desire. Ambi-tion and agency becomes a passive eroticism on the part of the heroine.In the scene immediately following, this phenomenon returns again.

Jason and Medea arrive at the darkened grove where the dragon hidesthe golden fleece. Here the dragon is replaced by a seven-headed Hydra,which again gives Harryhausen an opportunity for virtuoso stop-actionanimation.31 This is one of the most celebrated scenes in the movie, andit is certainly Jason’s finest moment. He single-handedly fights off theHydra with sword and shield; but again, the astonishing thing about thisscene is what Medea does: nothing. Or rather, not quite nothing. Shewatches, becoming the ‘woman in some corner, for whom the dreamer

31 Konstantinos Nikoloutsos suggests that this substitution may have been made inorder to liken Jason to Hercules, a cinematic hero already familiar to American audiencesthrough many Italian peplum films made in the period 1958–65. I am grateful to Prof.Nikoloutsos for this suggestion.

Medea’s Erotic Text in Jason and the Argonauts (1963) 91

performs all his heroic deeds and at whose feet all his triumphs are to belaid’, of Freud’s ambitious daydream. Medea’s looks of evident concernare skilfully interspliced into scenes of Jason doing battle, directing thegaze and response of the movie’s viewers, and fully heroizing Jason.There is more than concern in Medea’s looks, however. As Jason

battles on with the Hydra, Medea’s facial expressions become increas-ingly eroticized. The pupils of her eyes are dilated, her breathing isshallow as if excited. As the fight goes on, and Jason appears to be inperil, her mouth opens slightly. At one point, shortly before Jason stabsthe Hydra in the trunk (apparently enough to kill this version of themonster) we see a close-up of Medea’s face, lips parted, and she slowlycloses, then opens her eyes. (Fig. 3.1) It all looks surprisingly like a sceneof sexual excitement, and this is exactly the point. Here, as every readerof Apollonius knows, is Medea’s single greatest moment: she enchantsthe dragon and thus allows Jason to obtain the fleece and complete hisquest. The movie, denying that agency, compensates by presenting anunstated, barely suppressed moment of erotic intercourse. As Millercomments, discussing the apparent arbitrariness of some women’s fic-tion, ‘ . . . the refusal of the demands of one economy may mask theinscription of another’.32 Medea’s ambition has become a fully erotictext, in which she is the eroticized object of the audience’s gaze; we watchher watching the heroic Jason in a state of sexual excitement.

Figure 3.1 Close-up of Medea as she watches Jason battle the Hydra in Jason andthe Argonauts, dir. Don Chaffey.© Columbia Tristar Home Video, a subsidiary of Sony Pictures Digital, inc. All rights reserved.

32 Miller (1981: 38).

92 Ancient Greek Women in Film

I began this paper with a description of the final moments of Medeaand Jason’s first encounter in this movie. Medea tells Jason to take theroad to the East to get to Colchis, but that she ‘goes another way’.Immediately after this statement, Medea turns, and walks away; thescreen fades, and we see her again in the next moment, in Colchis,heavily made up, lavishly dressed, the leader of an exoticized and ecstaticdance at the temple of Hecate. No explanation is given for her alternateroute home, evidently faster than the one used by Jason, who arrives as awitness to the Hecate-ritual. Jason watches the dance and moment ofreligious ecstasy from behind an unnamed Colchian, aligning himselfwith the movie’s audience as a voyeur; with him, our gaze is on Medea asa provocative, vaguely orientalized dancer. Even Jason appears thor-oughly mystified by the discontinuity of the narrative.In the scene that follows, that discontinuity marks the presence of

Medea’s text, a text of which Jason is dangerously unaware. After Medeafinishes her dance, she puts on a ceremonial robe, a throne is brought outfor King Aeëtes, trumpets play, and the royal court is in session. The firstaction of the court is that Medea pronounces a prophecy, which shesuggests she gleaned from her ecstatic communion with Hecate: ‘Therewill be one among us today, from the ends of the world. His name isJason; any man of whom he asks his way, shall say this: “Aeëtes, King ofColchis, awaits him in the temple of Hecate.” And that is all any manshall say to him.’ As a prophecy, this is somewhat confusing. We know,with Jason, that Medea knows about Jason because she has already methim; for the Colchians, however, Medea’s knowledge is presented as god-given.At this moment, Jason presents himself, stepping out from behind the

crowd. Aeëtes welcomes him, and tells him that his ‘heroism is well-known’. He invites Jason to retrieve his men and return to the palace fora feast that night. At this moment, Jason expresses his confusion: ‘Thankyou my lord. But I do not understand.’ He pauses, exchanging glanceswith Medea, who keeps her head directed straight ahead, glancing onlywith her eyes. Jason finally turns his head slightly, and says ‘Medea. . . . ’Medea cuts him off, with a firm, ‘Welcome . . . to Colchis.’ This inter-change takes only seconds on the screen; I have described it at somelength because it demonstrates again the incongruity of Medea’s rela-tionship with Jason. Jason is confused, and how could he not be? He left afairly normal Medea this morning, only to meet her as exotic priestess ofHecate this afternoon. He tries to talk to her; she pretends not to knowhim, and cuts him off.What the scene shows is that there is another story here, a story that

Jason, intent on his quest, is not aware of and nearly destroys. In

Medea’s Erotic Text in Jason and the Argonauts (1963) 93

Apollonius’ version, when Medea goes out with her attendants to meetJason, she must pretend that it is an accident: Ὦ ç%ºÆØ, q "-ªÆ &7 *Ø1Ææ7ºØ*$+, $P&’ K+3Å.Æ/"c Y"'+ Iºº$&Æ1$E.Ø "'*’ I+&æ0.Ø+, $¥ *’ K1dªÆEÆ+/5"'*-æÅ+ .*æøçH.Ø+. . . . (‘I have made a terrible mistake, dearfriends, and I did not realize that I should not go out among the foreignmen who roam our land. . . . ’ 3.891–3) Similarly, here, Medea evidentlyhas reasons for not wanting to declare before her father and the Colchiancourt that she has already met Jason, in fact has dressed his wound. Shemust, instead, preserve the appearance of modesty. With this motivationin mind, her ‘prophecy’ becomes clear: not knowing that Jason is watch-ing, she directs the Colchians to send Jason to her father withoutengaging in conversation with him (‘And that is all any man shall sayto him.’) Medea is carefully controlling the discourse, so that the briefand unstated romance that we watched earlier is not exposed in public.But this other story, this erotic text of Medea, is only present through

its suppression, not only by Medea herself (as here) but also by thenarrative frame of the camera. It is so carefully controlled that Jasonnearly gives the game away; and indeed, so carefully controlled thatmany moviegoers miss it altogether. It presents itself only in momentsof discontinuity, and particularly in moments that suppress the heroicagency demonstrated by Medea in the movie’s immediate predecessor,the Argonautica of Apollonius. It is through these queer moments ofapparently unmotivated eroticism that Medea’s version of the Argonau-tica comes to the fore; an Argonautica that centres around her love forJason and her abandonment of country to be with him, not around agod-given quest for a golden fleece. There is another narrative here, andit has left its mark, arriving in Colchis before us.The very end of the movie drags the audience back to Jason’s ambi-

tious text, but again the movie seems at odds with tradition and withitself. We are taken to Olympus, the scene of numerous moments ofdivine machinery during the film, and we watch Zeus conversing withHera about the film that we have just seen. Zeus says, ‘For the moment,let them enjoy a calm sea, a fresh breeze, and each other. The girl is prettyand I was always sentimental. But for Jason, there are other adventures;I have not yet finished with Jason. Let us continue the game, anotherday.’ On the surface, Zeus’ words would seem to unequivocally supportthe ambitious text: Jason has further adventures in store, and Medea—not even named—is just a ‘pretty girl’ whom he can ‘enjoy’. But Zeus, ‘forthe moment’ hints at the transitory nature of this romantic ending. Asthese words are spoken, we watch Jason and Medea kissing, and some ofus know what ‘further adventures’ Jason has in store. Medea will not berelegated to being an ‘adventure’; her ambitious text will find its way out,and Jason’s quest will become a tragedy.

94 Ancient Greek Women in Film

Bibliography Beye, Charles Rowan 1982. Epic and Romance in the Argonautica of Apollonius. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press. Clack, Jerry 1973. “The Medea Similes of Apollonius Rhodius,” CJ 68: 310-315. Clare, R.J. 2002. The Path of the Argo. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Clauss, James J. 1993. The Best of the Argonauts : The Redefinition of the Epic Hero in Book 1 of Apollonius's Argonautica. Berkeley: University of California Press. _______ 1997. “Conquest of the Mephistophelian Nausicaa: Medea's Role in Apollonius' Redefinition of the Epic Hero,” in Medea : Essays on Medea in Myth, Literature, Philosophy, and Art, eds. Sarah Iles Jonston and James J. Clauss, 149-177. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Hunter, Richard 1993a. The Argonautica of Apollonius: Literary Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. _______1993b (trans.). Apollonius of Rhodes: Jason and the Golden Fleece. New York: Oxford University Press. _______1987. “Medea's Flight: The Fourth Book of the Argonautica” CQ 37: 129-139. Lawall, Gilbert 1966. “Apollonius’ Argonautica: Jason as Antihero,” YCS 19: 119-69. Miller, Nancy K. 1981. “Emphasis Added: Plots and Plausibilities in Women’s Fiction,” PMLA 96: 36-48. Papadopoulou, Thalia 1997. “The Presentation of the Inner Self: Euripides' Medea 1021-55 and Apollonius Rhodius' Argonautica 3, 772-801.” Mnemosyne 50: 641-664. Pavlock, Barbara 1990. Eros, Imitation, and the Epic Tradition. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Phinney, Edward 1967. “Narrative Unity in the Argonautica, the Medea-Jason Romance,” TAPA 98: 327-341. Scholes, Robert and Robert Kellog, 1966. The Nature of Narrative. New York: Oxford University Press. Solomon, Jon 2001. The Ancient World in the Cinema (2nd edition). New Haven: Yale University Press.