Jason in popular culture
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The following is a list of depictions of Jason of the Argonauts, an ancient Greek mythological hero, in popular culture.
- "Jason and the Argonauts" is the title of a track on XTC's 1982 album, English Settlement.[1]
- "Birdhouse In Your Soul", a 1990 single from the They Might Be Giants album Flood, features references to Jason and the Argonauts.[2]
- In 2001, a radio drama adaptation of Apollonius' Argonautica, was produced by the Radio Tales series for National Public Radio.[citation needed]
- Hip-hop duo Hermit and the Recluse (composed of rapper Ka and producer Animoss) released a 2018 album titled Orpheus vs. the Sirens, which utilizes mythical imagery from several episodes of the Argonauts' voyage.[3]
Literature
- William Morris wrote an English epic poem, The Life and Death of Jason, published in 1867.[4]
- Padraic Colum wrote an adaptation for children, The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles, illustrated by Willy Pogany and published in 1921.[5]
- "Jason's Voyage" is the title of Book Five of Thomas Wolfe's autobiographical 1935 novel Of Time and the River.[6]
- The Golden Fleece (1944 UK version; aka Hercules, My Shipmate, 1945 US version) written by Robert Graves, is a somewhat humorous account of Jason and the Argonauts. Graves sometimes gives "natural" explanations to some of the myths. At other times he includes new myths of his own.[7]
- The novel Jason (1961) by Henry Treece is narrated by Jason himself.[8] The supernatural elements are largely removed, but a major theme of the book is the clash between the older religion of the mother goddess, favoured by women (who are portrayed as dangerous and hostile to men in many ways) and the newer religion of Zeus and Poseidon favoured by men.[citation needed]
- In comics, outside of a comic book adaptation of the film Jason and the Argonauts published by Dell Comics in 1963 as part of their Movie Classics series, and a 1963 issue of Classics Illustrated published only in the U.K. by Thorpe & Porter, there were two series that featured Jason and The Argonauts. The first was a 5 issue series published by Caliber Press in 1991,[9] while the other was a series called Jason and the Argonauts: Kingdom of Hades, a 5 issue mini-series, published by Bluewater Comics in 2007.[10] In 2011, Campfire Books published a graphic novel called Jason and the Argonauts written by Dan Whitehead.[11]
Stage
- Giasone is an opera in three acts and a prologue with music by Francesco Cavalli and a libretto by Giacinto Andrea Cicognini. It was premiered at the Teatro San Cassiano, Venice on 5 January 1649.[12]
- Médée is an opera based on the Euripides play and the Pierre Corneille play. It was composed by Luigi Cherubini and premiered in 1797. It was a famous success for the Greek soprano Maria Callas as Medea and also featuring tenor Jon Vickers in the role of Jason.[13][14]
- Mary Zimmerman wrote and directed Argonautika, which premiered in 2006 with the Chicago Lookingglass Theatre Company. It tells the story of Jason and the Argonauts from Pelias' initial charge through Jason's betrayal of Medea.[15]
- Euripides wrote the play Medea, which depicts Medea killing Jason's bride and their two children. This play has nine characters and a chorus role.[16]
_Todd_Armstrong_2.png)