Oedipus the King Written Play vs. Film

In the event of writing plays, novels as well as books, authors aim at relaying a specific message(s) to their audiences across different times. However, some of the books and palsy have become cumbersome to read, thus plays and novels being translated and shown as film and movies. In the event of the translation, certain similarities, as well as disparities, can be observed. “Oedipus the King” is the story of tragedy by the ancient Greek playwright, Sophocles. The play was first performed a long while back at around 429 BCE. “Oedipus the King,” is first of the three playwrights by Sophocles. The play was developed around the king of Thebes, King Oedipus upon his discovery of his unwise move to kill his father Laius, and marrying his mother, Jocasta. This paper aims at comparing and contrasting the film version of “Oedipus the King” created by the U.K production in 1967, starring Christopher Plummer, directed by Philip Saville and translated by Michael Luke and the written play by Sophocles. This film is considered among the best film versions of the story of “Oedipus the King” since it brought the story to life.

One of the differences between the film and the play is the manner in which the message of the play and film are delivered to an audience. For instance, the beginning of the film is marked by a scene where Oedipus is shown attacking and killing his father on the wagon as an adult, in the play. This part of the film is demonstrated through slides of pictures, which depict the events of Oedipus’ actions that led to the death of his father. However, in the written play, the scene is described using language styles as well as literary devices, which also relay the message of Oedipus’ action of killing his father (Sophocles, 2004). Therefore, while the film employs the use of images for message delivery, the written play uses language to relay the author’s message. Therefore, there is the difference in the plot since the method of delivery in both the film and written play are different.

Another means of comparing and contrasting the written play and film is the characters and the portrayal of those characters. For instance, in the film, Director Philip Saville, uses the character of Oedipus to demonstrate how tragic one’s fate can be, which is also similarly depicted in Sophocles, written play. As opposed to denaturalizing the play with interference that would be considered “artistic,” Oedipus’ character has been portrayed in a manner that actor Christopher Plummer acts out his part as King Oedipus (Sophocles, 2004). For instance, upon learning about his doomed nature, the hero is depicted as experiencing the feeling of his blood boiling at the fact that he is responsible for the events that have doomed his life.

Similarly, in the play, the author also depicts the suspense that is progressively growing in Oedipus as he receives knowledge on how he has doomed his own life by killing his father and marrying his mother (Sophocles, 2004). The only difference is that while I the play, there is the employment of theatrical elements in attracting the audience’s attention, whereas the written play uses elements such as suspense as a language style to show the growing anticipation.

Both the theme and setting in both the film and the written play are similar since the director of the film tries as much as possible to recreate the Play’s setting. For instance, in both the film and the play, a major theme of fate and free will is demonstrated through the events occurring in King Oedipus’ life, as predetermined by the readings of the oracle (Sophocles, 2004). Similarly, the setting in both the play and film depicts the surroundings and events that took place in ancient Greek societies. For instance, a Greek composer composed the soundtrack used in the film. Besides, the film employs the use of cinematography that is characteristics of ancient Greek landmarks, which demonstrate similarity in the setting of the film and the written play (Sophocles, 2004). The only difference arises in the fact that the film has more a modernistic touch to it than the written play, thus a bit of difference about the originality of the film when compared to the written play.

The movie did try to follow most of the expectation of Greek drama by trying to incorporate most of the original ideas into the film. For instance, the characters dressed in were dressed in rob like clothing, which is similar to ancient Greek clothing during the time the play was written. Similarly, the film tries to make the characters sound more like how the ancient Greek sounded through the use of similar terminologies such as curse and fate, which are used in both the film and the play. Also, the written play’s setting is much similar to the film’s setting since the structures in the film are portrayed as representing the setting of Thebes at the time when the play was written. This is because the film uses cinematography of actual landmarks from Athens. Finally, the fact that the film Director, Philip Saville incorporates an aspect of the aesthetic by including a track that was composed by a Greek composer, Yiannis Hristou to give the film a resemblance to the Greek written play.

I prefer the movie because it is more elaborate and provides a more vivid picture of the events of the written play. Together with the theatrical elements, such as the acting, sound and music tracks as well as the use of images, I can paint a better picture of the scenes, which by reading a book. Similarly, the manner in which this film was directed makes it more interesting to want to know how the events truly occurred since it incorporates most of the written play’s elements, thus an almost accurate translation of and representation of the written play. The obvious differences are present because there is the issue of trying to maintain the ancient elements of the written plays as well as trying to make it modern enough for audiences such as myself. However, I think that the film was a rather close representation of the written play.

Reference

Sophocles. (2004). Oedipus the King: Oedipus at Colonus: Antigone. OTTAWA: EbBooksLib.