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Meaning is always echoed through texts throughout the times, it's only their illustrations and portrayal that change. Ovid – the author/ ‘Orpheus and Eurydice’ – The Myth Ovid was born in 43BC in Sulmo (east of Rome), circa Julius Ceasar’s assassination and the civil war - Augustus’ claim of the Roman empire. At a young age, Ovid was made aware of the realities of the world; to be conquered or to conquer. A similar tone followed in his Metamorphoses - his work conquers and refuses traditional enslavement. His literature is a compendium of myths, sourced from Greek origins but adapted to suit his style of hybridism. Ovid built his love poetry career with political and historical messages. His writings had high interests in identity, emotions and relationships, exploring them detailed in Orpheus and Eurydice. Although ancient, the myth remains relevant to contemporary audiences through outstanding messages of relations complexity and authority, sparking controversy at the time, and causing his exile by Augustus in 8AD. Orpheus and Eurydice encapsulate convolutions of human nature. Ovid creates order within disorder by appropriating oralist tales and is invigorated by the unexpected perspectives, making pre, seem modern in context. Myths are marked by historical politics - Rome’s troubles appear in Ovid’s poetry through the characterisation of Gods perceived as superior to humanity, favouring deception and punishment to showcase intrinsic power. Baz Luhrmann – the director/ ‘Moulin Rouge’ – The Narrative Baz Luhrmann was born on September 17 1962, in rural NSW, later migrating to Sydney. The separation of his parents conjured his passion for cinema; the lone time spent at his father's picture theatre in Herons Creek inspired him. Luhrmann was initially denied acceptance to the National Institute of Dramatic Art, however, this never stopped his perusement of musical theatre. Eventually, accepted into NIDA in 1983, and in 1999, production began for the ambitious film Moulin Rouge. The film received mixed critical receptions however it acknowledged significant impact in revitalising the musical film genre, encompassing the Bohemian values of love, freedom and beauty, holding importance to Luhruman through his love for musical theatrics. Lurhman makes major references to the history of cinema; Ewan MacGregor’s search for love, liberty and bohemian culture. Statements explore how we tell stories through films and the provision of art within individual freedoms and the process of inner darkest emotions - in this case, loss. The narrative was set in 1899 Paris, which at the time was consumed with intoxicating romanticism. Society at the time encompassed artistic and literary breakthroughs that made the Moulin Rouge centralised to scandal and entertainment. Similar to that of Ovid’s myth, relative measures of punishment through loss are replicated; the death of Satine at the hands of fate and ill-wishing. VIDEO 2 Meaning is always echoed through texts throughout the times, it's only their illustrations and portrayal that change. Orpheus and Eurydice’ – A Thematic Analysis Consumed by his love for Eurydice, Orpheus ventures into the underworld characterised by “whispering ghosts…surrounded by the dead”. This ideal is initially a loving grand gesture, yet the happiness in the underworld doesn't last long; “he [Orpheus] turned…” to catch Eurydice in his arms, yet, he sent her back into the clutches of the underworld. Thus, despite the prodigious actions of entering a forbidden world for love to save your significant other, there are severe repercussions of being essentially ‘blinded’ from sense by prevailing emotions. Furthering, Orpheus’ love for his wife is infatuated and merely fixated on the beauty of Euridice. This pursuit of pleasure is stimulated by the addiction to love. Orpheus's connection to his music is an example of true love. Throughout the entirety of the text, Orpheus and his lyre are inseparable. It can be deemed a method of comfort and expression of emotion. He plays the lyre after the two deaths of Euridice (“When the funeral was finished…Orpheus picked up his lyre”); his ‘safe-haven’ and resort of condolence. He also uses his music to guide his journey to the underworld and charm and enchant the beasts and spirits in his path; “​​The beauty of the music…”. This is deemed the trueness of love. ‘Moulin Rouge’ – A Thematic Analysis Simultaneously, within the ‘Moulin Rouge’ love meets eventual death, yet it is how one deals with loss that the tales diverge. Fictitious ideas of love are central to the film; “the summer of love” states the main character Christian McGregor, greatly contrasting the eerily dark and dull tone of the outside setting which, in theme, is fondled behind the great doors of the theatre; a place of bursting vibrancy. The love he has in mind is of great romance, whilst love is greatly complicated and problematic - this is the love affiliated with the Moulin Rouge and is what is first introduced to the audience explicitly. The first sighting of Satine by Christian calls for immediate sparks- on Christian’s side - as he is blinded by her beauty. It is at this moment that his maddening love is spurred. Satine sees him as a fortune opportunity. Their love grows mutual, depicted through a colourful and vibrant atmosphere. A common belief about love is that within the world of literature, “love inherently unites all”. Yet, once meeting its erotic climax, the film emerges into scenes of emotional ‘wildfire’ - heartbreak ridden with anger - adversely illustrated the flaws of love. Radical love births mishaps, much like ‘Orpheus and Eurydice’ resulting in death. Christian is a pivotal reason for Satine’s downfall; her conflicted actualities; life and art. Satine’s self-cycled by advertisement, ownership and artificial value, is highly conflicted with her newer self of upholding Bohemian values of freedom and love. Furthering, her death personifies the inability of these values to simultaneously exist, as her hardship and torment were a direct result of her striving attempts to deny her whole consumed world of the theatre. VIDEO 3 Meaning is always echoed through texts throughout the times, it's only their illustrations and portrayal that change. ‘Orpheus and Eurydice’ - Critical Interpretations A magnitude of depth studies concerns love's great complexity within the text. Despite the assumed belief in love, Ovid catalyses the collateral damages of love, conveying the perniciousness of mortal emotions, concluding to an individual's downfall; weakness and destruction. Orpheus and Eurydice portray the tragedy of weakness of love for another and thus shown through the demise of Orpheus’s loss of Eurydice. Such concern is reaffirmed by the Augustan Ideology; [translated] ‘the solicitude of a lover or husband for the weakness of his beloved’. The tale illustrates the author’s perspective on how an individual is weakened by love. Orpheus is a victim of the “union to the force of love in”, The Metamorphoses of Ovid: Book X, as he is filled with the hopes of reciprocal endearment which is not achieved by the cloddish behaviours of Euridyce, causing lament. Euridice's death, Orpheus exhibits behaviours of “desperation, pain and tears”. Furthering, the myth displays the place of erotic love within one's actions and behaviours as a consequence of addiction concluding to a loss of individuality. Love’s addictiveness displays the uncontrollability from the unruliness of hedonism. Having ties to emotional cores, “I [Euridyce] wish I had the power to resist...to him, I submit” - love is a force that pervades her purpose, dominating sense. Orpheus’s entering of the underworld and neglect of natural law represents love’s addiction. The erotic and addictive nature of Orpheus's love causes the falling of his character, implicitly indicating love causes the destruction of individuality. ‘Moulin Rouge’ – Critical Interpretations Luhrmann’s style of mythological appropriation of Orpheus and Eurydice explicitly educates the audience about the scene of a man-made world; “familiar yet distant and exotic" (Luhrmann 9). Music and dance elements are utilised to enhance the unnatural world. The film’s masterpiece of chaos references its diverse influences of mythology, modernised film techniques, pop music and Bollywood inclusions, and in its conclusion, Luhrmann’s work is essentially en vogue. Luhrmann effectively employs the Orient for a genre rejuvenation leading to inevitable discussions of Orientalism. In essence, such concern is birthed through the adaption of the Bollywood formula which comprises imperative relationships of drama, music and dance, addressed with extravagance and burlesque gestures. It centres on themes of love, romance and family drama which is expressed through song and dance. Such elements conflict with Western audiences, yet the Orientalist fantasy of the Moulin Rouge enticed its global audience. However, Luhrmann's incorporation of Bollywood sensibilities can be deemed justifiablely borrowed by the Hollywood industry. As such, the role of heroines in Bollywood is referred to as an "iconic function in representing family values that Western decadence and materialism have undermined", which in many ways is absent from Luhrumanns film as Satine is far from a representative figure of familial values given her characterisation. The director concerns the context of his film with the relatively unknown, as to the Western audiences, Bollywood cinema is reinvented "in a form ironic as never before" (Luhrmann 73). Thus, aiming to audit concepts of orientalism in Moulin Rouge.