Robert Joe
English 2 Black Orpheus The story of black Orpheus is one that is very complex with many symbols. I personally had a hard time understanding the movie because of my lack of knowledge of The ancient Greek God
Orpheus. According to several online searches orpheus “ was a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek religion and myth . The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all living things with his music, his attempt to retrieve his wife,
Eurydice
, from the underworld , and his death at the hands of those who could not hear his divine music.” Which comes pretty close to the movie black orpheus. Black Orpheus is about two love birds from brazil name Orpheus and Eurydice that happen to meet at a carnival and fall in love. Eurydice, a country girl, has ran away from home to avoid a man who’s a symbol of death that constantly looks for her and chases her with the hopes of catching her. Eurydice is convinced that the man out to kill her. She arrives in Rio to stay with her cousin Serafina. Orpheus who works as a train conductor and gets engaged to mira but seems to regret the decision as soon as he lays his eyes on Eurydice. As Eurydice and Orpheus get to know one another they fall deeply in love. Mira fall with mad with jealousy and threatens to kill Eurydice if she finds her anywhere near orpheus.
During the festival mira notice orpheus dancing with a girl who she thought was Eurydice cousin but after a investigating she finds out that it was actually Eurydice that orpheus is dancing with.
Mira filled with anger starts to attack Eurydice with the intend to forever keep her away from
Orpheus. Eurydice who’s not a fighter first though is to run from Mira’s attack which she does.
While Eurydice’s busy losing mira off her tracks she does not notice the man hunting her
“death” following her. By the time she realize that she lost mira she then realize that “death” is following her. As death chases Eurydice continuously he finally corners and she she jumps onto a live electrical wire where she dies. As orpheus notice Eurydice disappearance he sets out to look for her and find her dead right after the incident. He thens sets out to do whatever he can to bring her back from death. While doing so he ends up dying by mira accidentally pushing him off the cliff with Eurydice in his arms. Orpheus had a hard time dealing with reality which made him vulnerable in believing the impossible. Which is a characteristic that could be found in many of the stories that we watched and read especially in the movie Something Wicked Is Coming To Town. Something Wicked
Coming To Town is about 13yearold best friends, Jim Nightshade and William Halloway, and their nightmarish experience with a
