Interesting story from Reuters about a new hip-hop version of Oedipus Rex. I think the image on the left here is from the time they tried to make Oedipus easier to digest during the early 80's: "Oedipus and the Masters of the Universe!" http://today.reuters.com/news/NewsArticle.aspx?type=musicNews&storyID=2006-02-27T192646Z_01_N27356274_RTRIDST_0_MUSIC-ARTS-HIPHOP-DC.XMLActually, this is not the first time Oedipus has been adapted. I once watched a version of Seven Against Thebes done as a black gospel church service called The Gospel at Colonus in a class I took on tragedy and comedy. Morgan Freeman plays the messenger/preacher and The Blind Boys of Alabama fill in as Oedipus. Maybe there's something to say for it. Here's an interesting story about Lee Breuer, the adapter of Gospel at Colonus, where he equates the catharsis in Greek tragedy with something similar found in Pentecostal church services. Breuer's comment about attention spans lengthening when one is surprised is worthy of note. Greek tragedy (and other writers such as Flannery O'Connor) employ such "surprises" normally called a "reversal" that definitely draw you further into the story.
1 comment:
"yo, yo, I slept with my mutha? Woe is me, yo."
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