Fable and Myth

This chapter dives into Pasolini’s later film work on myths and mythical thinking, especially in Medea (1969), and the way fables became a model not just for the feature films Hawks and Sparrows (1966) but also for some of Pasolini’s shorter films. Fable and myth, ancient but still living in our society, this is one of Pasolini’s takes on the topic, and in Medea we learn that those who think they are not under any possession of myths are the most mythical creatures on earth, as they do not even realize that they are possessed. Pasolini aimed to film myths belonging to worlds gone, antiquity, in a way which takes viewers there to testify to events. Like the viewer had to testify in Pasolini’s early movies what happened in the Roman slums, here they have to gaze at sometimes obscure events distant in time. Also, they give a voice to the mythical figures, analyzing themselves, knowing that they will disappear. The fables are another type of alternative for the modern entertainment industry. Their way of reviving an ancient sensibility is also very much allegorical, the Italian communist leader Togliatti being represented by a crow (in Hawks and Sparrows) and the puppets in Che cosa sono le nuvole (1966) being humans, the crowd watching them obviously moviegoers.