Medea by Euripides contains an incredible intensity in just 70 pages. Even being created in the 400s B.C., the problems and situations of this story can be related to our time. The female submission to men, discrimination against foreigners, or violence as resistance.

Euripides gave the protagonist role to a barbarian (foreigner) girl, and instead of criticizing her or judging her, he supported the fight of Medea in the narrative. (SPOILER ALERT) As we can see at the end of the story, where Medea escapes in the golden chariot, not as a villain but as a justicier. Even nowadays, we have just a few stories where the girl is the saviour by violence; it seems to be exclusive to men. Girls as heroes are more like caring for men, supporting them, as Medea did at the beginning of the tale.

Medea, at first, supported Jason and decided to cheat on her father and her own country, leaving her place and future just to help him. How could Medea not feel angry? Imagine for a second that you leave everything behind to start a new life with a man who swears that he loves you, and then… he decides to go and get married to a rich woman from his continent. (FINISH SPOILER)

I can tell that Pier Paolo Pasolini created an enchanted version of this tale that can absorb you, even with all those silent scenes (for this TikTok era). Ironically, Maria Callas was the one interpreting Medea, one of the best voices in the world, and Pasoloni decided to not make her sing!

Something I noticed as a difference between the original and the film is that Pasoloni seems more concerned with culture: Medea, the barbarian, the classic, and ancient knowledge, versus Jason, who is more pragmatic, realist, and cold. Otherwise, Euripides is more focused on the political and power issue, how Medea is betrayed just because Jason wanted more power, and how Medea was in an unfair position.

In the movie, we can see at first how Jason was raised by the Centaur, who explained to him, «tutto è sacro.» Everything is sacred and magical, and once the adults lose their capacity to see the magic, they only see resources without soul. In the end, Jason just saw Medea as a resource. I loved how Jason, as a child, could see the Centaur as a middle horse, but once he grew old, he saw just a man… I’m drawn to that metaphor.

Medea is for the mystics, for those who fight with this materialist view, for the girls who tried to be good and ended up betrayed. Medea is for the ancient, for those who cannot fit in the canons. Medea is for the expats who try to live in countries with different conceptions of life.