Medea and Fellini Satyricon Critical Analysis

The Concept and Function of Identity in Medea and Fellini Satyricon

The concept of “identity” seems to be approached by Pasolini’s Medea (1969) and Fellini Satyricon (1970) with minimal, if any, resemblance. However, approaching it from a cinematic standpoint, interpreting it as part of the narrative, and lastly as auteur theory, reveals that the films of Federico Fellini and Pier Paolo Pasolini share similarities in their underlying themes, means through which they are conveyed, and are both greatly influenced by the director’s identity.

From a cinematic perspective, in Medea and Satyricon, identity becomes the underlying theme of abandonment, loss and imposition of identity, revealed through the use of cinematic techniques: mise-en-scene, cinematography, costumes, lighting, and other. In Pasolini’s Medea, she has a close connection with nature, so when she loses a part of her identity and ties to her culture, the audience visually sees it through the change in the setting and mise-en-scene. The deserted island she arrives at and being the only female among many men, creates a visual juxtaposition with Colchis, her green, hilly homeland, where she lived in a palace, surrounded by maids.

Another technique that visualizes the theme of identity struggle is color and costume. In Thessaly, after abandoning her people, Medea literally takes off a part of her identity: strips and submits herself to cultural appropriation by the local women through the replacement of her black attire with their traditional white dress. In the end, after “the ‘reverse conversion’ at the moment when she is traumatised by [Jason’s] rejection of her, she suddenly returns to the modes of that had been hers in Colchis,” which reflects in the change of her costume: she reclaims her identity by wearing her black attire and attributes of a priestess once again.

This change is also mirrored in cinematography of the sequence. After the first love scene with Jason, Medea lies in bed and subsequently becomes subject to Jason’s gaze. Not only does his point-of-view shot ultimately expose Medea to the audience’s voyeuristic look, it also diminishes her dignity, making her “object” to the “subject” viewing her, namely, Jason. However, in their final love scene, the situation is flipped, and Jason’s naked body becomes vulnerable to Medea’s POV shot. This creates a metaphor for the transformation of her identity: now she is the one watching, not the one being watched, signifying that she is ready to act.

The theme of identity in Federico Fellini’s adaptation of Petronius’ Satyricon plays out in a slightly different way: the theme revolves around hiding and revealing identity, which is seen even in secondary and tertiary characters. For example, at Trimalchio’s feast, Fortunata and Scintilla express their sexual attraction but are forced to stop after being threatened with punishment. However, later, during the outrageous funeral scene, they hide and express their sexuality. This secret revelation is reflected in camera work, lighting, and mise-en-scene: the shot is split in two by the wall separating them from the crowd; Fortunata joins Scintilla in the shadow, and they continue kissing. The same techniques help Fellini create a visual epitome of being heartbroken: after Giton chooses Ascyltus, there appears Encolpius’ shadow as a symbol of hidden pain; while the room breaks into halves during the earthquake.

Another example of imposing and revealing identity in Satyricon is the story of the widow. A soldier physically removes the symbol of mourning, the veil, off her face, figuratively and literally clearing his “path” to seducing her. The transformation of her identity is seen in the costume (veil no longer covers her face) and makeup and lighting: after the love scene, the widow’s face turns from blue, a reference to the cold body of her recently deceased husband, to pink, similar to the skin tone of the soldier, which signifies the return of life to the widow and her passionate connection with the living soldier.

In Fellini’s adaptation, numerous symbolic repetitions reflect the “sense of deja vu [that] dominates the narrative” of Satyricon. Specifically, Minotaur, Encolpius, Ascyltus, and the widow use costumes to hide their identity, which continues the recurring theme of concealed and revealed identity. The Minotaur takes off his beastly mask, revealing sensitivity; Ascyltus impersonates nobility, having put on the mask of the palace owners; Encolpius covers himself in a black shawl after his sexual fiasco with the nymphomaniac Ariadne: a girl’s attempt to take it off signifies an attempt to treat him; and removing it in the cave symbolizes the return of his sexual power.

The second approach is interpreting the concept of identity as part of the narrative. From this standpoint, identity is the primary cause of the fundamental conflict of Medea: the timeless clash of the opposites, since the principal discrepancy of the nature of Eros and rationality surfaces throughout Medea and Jason’s relationship. Here Medea’s passionate identity is an allusion to barbarians, “uncivilized people” at the “land of deeds without thoughts,” while Jason portrays the Western colonizers, separated from Colchis by a “tremendous gap” in organization and search for “success in materialistic, bourgeois terms.”  This conflict is also revealed through music, especially obvious in the first part of the film. Prior to their encounter, Pasolini’s montage juxtaposes melancholic Japanese melody, ‘peaceful’ imagery of Jason at the lake and the loud, tribal, chaotic chanting to the sacrifice at Colchis.

Identity also causes clashes around and within the characters. Medea’s core, grounded in binary oppositions, allows them to coexist, “inhabit the same text, [and even] the same individual,” which makes “the film [center the] conflicts within the individual psyche.” For example, the conflict around Absystrus is caused by the dissonance between external setting and his identity, which creates a powerful symbol: “his warm smiling presence during the initial sacrifice” transforms the ritual “into an allegory of legalized violence against socially designated victims such as homosexuals.” The conflict within Media is caused by the dissonance between the Colchis’ needs as a community and Medea’s sexual desire; this inner struggle results in “forbidden sexuality” and “inspires a terrible deed,” the killing of her own brother. Another example of identity as cause of conflict is the clash of rational thinking and “mythological consciousness” in Jason’s psyche, which results in Chiron’s transformation from a centaur to a man to merely a part of Jason’s consciousness as he grows up.

Thus, identity is tied with the general notion of dualism in Pasolini’s Medea, his exploration of rationality and myth “on the road to ‘a certain realism.’” According to Pasolini, this conflicting dualism extends so far that “Medea and Jason are one and the same character.” Identity is a vital part of Pasolini’s auteurism, as his “personal motivations” at the time of a “definite shift [taking] place in his life”, when he “lost faith in history and [found] shelter in the Manichaean myth,” explain his interest in the story. Pasolini’s strong artistic voice creates “synthesis of myth, realism, and cinema,” which ultimately substitutes the primary theme of irreconcilable conflict of the opposites and explains the shift of focus towards Medea.

The unique structure of Satyricon is also closely related to perceiving Fellini as an auteur. Perhaps, “Satyricon is 20% Petronius and 80% Fellini” because his first-hand experience of the hippies culture, their ambiguous sexuality, which “came close to reflecting Fellini’s interior world”, and the atmosphere of New York in the late 60s, proved Satyricon’s relevance by exposing Petronius’ world, “amoral, bisexual and pleasure-seeking [that] existed outside [Fellini’s] window.” Frustrated with the mainstream portrayal of antiquity, Fellini created a story that allowed the discussion of sexuality and allusion to contemporary vices. Fellini Satyricon is a cinematic archeology of Rome that disregarded the original approaches and, with precision and attention to details, created a different image of the ancient city by placing it into the historic context of the decay of Rome under Nero’s rule.

Federico Fellini paints an identity of ancient Rome, aiming at alienating observers, culturally stripping and defamiliarizing antiquity through the use of confusion of the dream. Characters become anti-heroes and a vital part of the gallery, parade or retroscope of extravagance, carelessness, and madness ruling the city. Trimalchio manifests corruption, greed, gluttony, ignorance, and other sins and vices; Lichas embodies the power struggle; Encolpius’ rage towards Giton for being “a woman-like whore”, while leading a dissolute life himself, reveals the duplicity of morality. “People are less than flies, we are nothing but bubbles,” - Trimalchio’s guest concludes. Fellini’s auteur theory creates a “collection of episodes with no <...> causal link [in] between,” which becomes “an extraordinary challenge to Hollywood’s cinematic vision of Rome.”

The closing image of Fellini Satyricon is another close-up of Encolpius. Yet this time, an alive character is interrupted and his image becomes a part of the fresco on the destroyed wall. With the use of cinematography and mise-en-scene, Fellini loops the idea that the mythical past is shattered in pieces, and since we cannot fully restore the civilizations that are gone, we, therefore, cannot fully conceive their stories and cultures in their essence.

To conclude, the main motives of Medea and Satyricon, as well as some recurring themes, are closely tied with the concept of identity. In addition, the auteur theory, grounded in the identities of the filmmakers, greatly influences both films, as Pasolini’s artistic view dictates the shift of focus to Medea, and Fellini’s archaeological approach to the reconstruction of ancient Rome ultimately creates the film’s unique form, which breaks the rules of unity of and ancient tragedy.


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