Orpheus

For me Orpheus was a little irritating as I was watching it because I kept trying to draw parallels between the myth and the movie, but our discussion on Thursday put my mind at ease, so to speak. Understanding that Cocteau wasn't concerned so much about the plot, but more so about the aestheticism, or arts and images, made things more bearable for me. Cocteau wanted to let go of the conventional plot centered idea of what a movie should be and delve into a dream world, in which the viewer is to look for images and messages that explain his purpose for making the movie. I like Freud's idea of dreams giving away your true self and how the parallel can be draw with Cocteau's images giving away deeper meaning in his film. It's clear that Cocteau was sort of pushing the boundaries of art at his time with his special effects and visually stimulating scenes. The special effects were dated, but they certainly added something to the film that made it even more intriguing.

I especially enjoyed our discussion in class about homosexuality at the time and how it was all about finding hidden meanings and signs in order to get together with a mate. The parallel drawn between a poet made sense to me, because a poet is constantly looking for signs and hidden meanings to pull into his work.

I like Cocteau's idea of poets being on the brink of death. To Cocteau to be a poet is to be on the verge of death and insanity, but to have the ability to bring yourself back from that sort of grey area and translate what you've seen into words. Not everyone has this ability and that's what makes a true poet. Obviously Orpheus is struggling with his poetry, but as he gets closer and closer to death he is more in tune with his creativity and is finding inspiration through Cegeste's poetic radio transmissions. Being under control of death makes Orpheus a better poet. As he embarks on his most intimate interaction with death at the end of the movie he crosses over the threshold into the world of death, but manages to come back and one can see that this experience is going to save his poetry.

This also ties into masochism and putting yourself through terrible pain, but at the same time experiencing great pleasure. Orpheus is seducing death, who is normally the seducer, but falls under his spell and death is pretty cruel to Orpheus at the beginning. Ultimately death has to pay through pain and punishment at the end of the movie, but she doesn't care because of the pleasure she felt while being in love with Orpheus. Through masochism you are some much in a sensory overload that you forget yourself and lose all sense of who you are and we can definitely see this in Orpheus and death in the movie. Death is supposed to be in control of herself and everyone else, but Orpheus has a hold on her that completely messes up her identity. The same goes for Orpheus, he forgets Eurydice and his former life as soon as he begins to fall for death and he doesn't care that he has to travel through the underworld or die, he just wants to feel the pleasure of being with her.

I have trouble understanding Freud, but as we discussed in class masochism is sort of like the next best thing to the Oedipus complex, or returning back to your mother. If you were able to return to your mother you would also be giving up your sense of self and accept that you were under her control. In the case of masochism, as I've said before, you're still throwing your identity to the wayside and accepting pain and pleasure as the thing that controls you.