Contrasting the Black Orpheus Film and the Greek Myth of Orpheus

Contrasting the Black Orpheus Film and the Greek Myth of Orpheus

and Eurydice

If you met a man named Orpheus who had a girlfriend, would you assume her name was Eurydice? Many people would, because the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is from “many, many thousand years ago” and is still passed on today, verbally and through works of literature. In his 1959 film Black Orpheus, Marcel Camus interprets this well-known myth, making changes to the story to make it more dramatic and interesting. Black Orpheus is substantially different from the original myth because Orpheus has a girlfriend before meeting Eurydice, Hermes plays a different role, Orpheus kills Eurydice, Orpheus cannot bring Eurydice back from the underworld, and Orpheus’ death is different.

The first factor that is different is Orpheus has a girlfriend before he ever meets Eurydice. His girlfriend, Mira, is very controlling of him. She is very jealous after he meets Eurydice at the depot, but he does not even ask her name. When Orpheus and Mira go to the registry to get a marriage license, the clerk asks if Mira is Eurydice based on the myth and upsets her. As they enter the registry, Mira is telling Orpheus to do certain things to look nice, while another woman is helping her man fix his tie. This shows how controlling she is. Orpheus asks if Mira got what she wants as they leave the registry, but she wants something else. To celebrate the engagement, Mira wants Orpheus to buy her a ring, but he has to use his money to get a guitar he had on reserve. Then Mira just wants him to pick out the ring and she will loan him the money, but he doesn’t have time, so she buys an expensive ring while he gets his guitar. Orpheus is like a caged bird with Mira because she keeps ...

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...tory into a fable by adding a moral at the end, one that might be: Do not cheat on your girlfriend, because she may seek revenge. Another take on this would be that since Orpheus interferes the first time Death tries to take Eurydice away, he must die for his actions. In contrast, in the original myth Orpheus meets Death only in the underworld, after the Maenads have killed him.

In closing, it is obvious that Marcel Camus’ Black Orpheus deviates from the given myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Camus creates his own extra characters and hints at many lessons to learn in life so as to add a learning effect to the story. Significant differences exist between Black Orpheus and the myth because Orpheus has a girlfriend, Hermes plays a different role, Orpheus kills Eurydice, Orpheus does not bring Eurydice back from the underworld, and Orpheus dies in a different manner.