Katabasis in Myth and Film

Katabatic Journeys in Everyday Life

            For my project I decided to use a popular Youtube video parodying the magician David Blaine. When technical specialist Jim Groom came into our class and explained to us the vast number of multi media tools available to us on the Internet for free, I was eager to explore a unique means for presenting my project. I pulled a video off the Internet and spliced it, adding my own storyline using a free program called Comic Life. I also added music and it through this combination of multi media elements created a katabatic narrative with a comical spin about a journey through time into a prehistoric universe.

            The youtube video I used as a basis portrays Evan, who is materialistic and shallow, only caring about his distressed Abercrombie jeans, his Carrie Underwood and Chamillionaire CDs, and his Honda sedan. Evan is deathly afraid of David Blaine who is constantly pestering him, so after listening to Evan complain about his material possessions David uses his magic to send him through time to spend a week in the prehistoric age. Right after Evan disappears he appears seconds later in a dumpster looking quite distressed and battered. In between these scenes is where I cut the video, adding my own storyline of what happened to Evan while he was gone. It is this journey that represents his dissent into hell as he fights for his survival, searching for food, shelter, water, and tries to avoid the carnivorous creatures all around him. While in prehistoric times Evan encounters a shaman who represents the prophet who Odysseus met in Homer’s The Odyssey that informed him of all the trials and tribulations he would have to endure in order to make it home. Through his struggles he realizes all he had once taken for granted and ultimately emerges with a greater appreciation for the simple comforts in his life.  

His personal loss was that of his material possessions, but he also lost his best friend Peter for David sent him to dinosaur times by himself. The losses he suffered are similar to those of other katabatic heroes we have studied this semester like Odysseus, Demeter, and Aenaes to name a few. The dinosaurs that threatened to eat him alive were similar to the youth in City of God because they are both innocent in that they don’t know anything more than what they have to do.

            Though he did not fully comprehend at first, David Blaine permanently altered Evan’s life. He would never again think so lightly of all the things he enjoyed in his everyday life. David Blaine, although an annoying pest most times to the two protagonists in the video, had knowingly sent Evan on a journey that would forever change his life. In this respect, David Blaine is similar to the Gods of the Odyssey and “Hymn to Demeter” who interfere with the lives of mortals. Being deprived form his 21^st century lifestyle led him to become a real man, capable of overcoming anything.

This is my Art Reflection Paper
Orpheus and City of God: An  Art Reflection Report
The first picture displays the passion of the artists, Orpheus and Rocket together as one with their crafts. Both of them find not only a love for their art, but also the path they choose to follow in life in order to discover their inspiration. The second picture portrays Orpheus and Knock-out Ned bound together as one because of the bitter tragedy and suffering that they were forced to face. Ned and Rocket represent the artist and the tragic hero qualities of Orpheus to the extreme so much that it seems that the famous musician was split into two separate individuals. However, Ned and Rocket possess different qualities that clearly set them apart from Orpheus as people with their own unique personalities.
Rocket holds a camera in his hand which tells us several things about him. The first and foremost is that he is an aspiring photographer who sees the world through the eye of a lens. However, the camera is also a symbol of truth and revelations that a photographer goes through every day to capture those moments in time. The truths that a photographer presents to the world can be both beautiful and horrible beyond imagining, but nonetheless the pictures show the evidence that those moments which we consider impossible do exist. The ocean behind Rocket can be both calm and raging, just like the truth. The sun behind him burns away all the shadows casted by the illusions the rich outside of the city of God that the violence that occurs within does not exist. Rocket also learns to look through different perspectives of the people around him as he continues his career into photography. In the film he introduces several characters’ stories and the interactions he had over his life time residing in the city of God. The flashbacks in his narrative also represent the pictures he took with his mental camera: his memories! From the very beginning Rocket has followed the path of a photographer because of his experiences. The bright colors of the scenery behind him emphasized the brilliance of finding his inspiration. It was from those moments that he was able to draw his inspiration from when he took pictures.
Orpheus’s musical inspiration is not completely clear as Rocket’s source; however there is no doubt that Orpheus finds passion in his art as well. The effect that his music has upon his surrounding environment could be where he finds inspiration from. The serene expression on Orpheus and Rocket’s face emphasizes the comfort they feel when they are fully submerged in there element. Unlike Rocket who had to face the dangers and poverty of his world while learning the ways of a photographer, Orpheus had it easy. He was not only born with the talent due to his Muse mother, a minor goddess of song, but also he was able to use his talents to get exactly what he desired. While Rocket tried and failed to win over a girl with his photography talent, Orpheus charmed his own fiancé with his musical gift. The bright light shining around Orpheus and the vivid colors of his scenic background was made to emphasize his divinity and power over nature when he played his lyre. A musician expresses oneself through whatever instrument they play. Orpheus used his voice and lyre to express his longing, love, and heartbreak to the gods of the underworld when his wife died upon their wedding day. It is emotion and the power that song has over others that musicians get there inspiration. The art that Orpheus and Rocket pursue and where they find inspiration to fuel their craft is what makes them different. The zeal they show in the creative process and the attempts they make to show the world their stuff is what makes them one and the same with each other.
Ned and Orpheus are portrayed in shadows and pale colors of their environment, along with tragic visages to match the atmosphere. Ned on the right carries a firearm in a colorless world brightened only by the color of blood, while a pale Orpheus stands in the midst of the departed and holds his instrument limply in his hand. The firearm and blood is a clear symbol of anger and vengeance that Ned is feeling at that moment towards Lil Ze for the suffering he had put Ned’s loved ones though. The way Orpheus holds the lyre symbolizes forsaking the pleasure music brought to him and quiet despair at his failure to bring Eurydice back to the realm of the living. Both of them cope with their loss and pain, but in different ways. While Orpheus isolates himself from the rest of the world, Ned in his quest for revenge gets sucked into another gang and ends up igniting a gang war that hurts innocent people like him.
In the Ovid tale of Orpheus, Eurydice was pursued by an unwanted suitor during the day of her wedding, thus causing her to get bitten by the viper which ultimately ended her life. Ned’s girlfriend was ruthlessly raped in front of him as he lay beaten and helpless by Li’l Ze. The expressions on their faces also express anguish. Anguish at the fact that they could not protect the people they cared about because they were helpless. The helplessness they experienced caused both of them to believe that they were somehow at fault for the tragic events that had come to pass. The shadows of the underworld and the ghetto vividly express the katabolic journey that both of them made to compensate for their faults. In their anabolic journeys each of them paid a price for the lessons they learned. Ned learned the hard way that vengeance is never justified, and the gun that is pointed around the corner symbolizes his demise at the hands of someone else who was seeking revenge. Orpheus learned that death can never truly be overcome when he lost his wife a second time. They were permanently altered from their experiences so much so that they had never risen up from their inner darkness of despair and anger.
Orpheus represented both Ned and Rocket as a tragic artist. Rocket possessed the traits of an artist, while Ned was befallen by tragic misfortunes. The melding of Orpheus with Rocket and Ned was suppose to emphasize on their similarities, but it also ended up pointing out their differences as well. Ned and Orpheus deal with their grief differently, while Rocket pursued an art and inspiration different from that of Orpheus. Nevertheless all of them together made the katabolic journey down for their own personal gains and each of them came back with changes in their characters.

The Lives of Women in Afghanistan
In the film Kandahar, a female reporter named Nafas traveled through Afghanistan trying to make her way to her sister in the city of Kandahar. Nafas never actually made it there, in one of the many attempts to find a ride there she was taken as a captive while traveling with a large wedding group. Even though the viewer never gets to see what happened after Nafas’s capture, the film sheds light on the living conditions in different parts of Afghanistan. Not only that, but one is given a glimpse of the way women are forced to live in a country where women’s oppression has reached the ultimate high. What the film does not convey however, is the resistance efforts being made to make life not just more bearable for women, but one-hundred percent better.
There is a part of Islamic religious law called Sharia that says women’s rights are guaranteed. Likewise “many see Sharia law as a guarantor of women’s rights and equality” (Morat & Seddiqi, 2008). This sounds like a hopeful cause for women in Afghanistan, but with strict, threatening policies and the ghostly presence of regimes like the Northern Alliance and the Taliban, it is law that has not been enforced. In fact it was these political powers that worked to bury the belief in Islam and Islamic law (Morat & Seddiqi, 2008). The Northern Alliance ruled over the country even before the Taliban came into power and the Taliban turned into a mass group that reigned in Afghanistan from the 1980’s to the early 2000’s. The Taliban enforced numerous policies concerning women. They had to wear their head coverings called burqas at all times, they were denied education, they could not get jobs (and those that already had them no longer received payment after it was banned), and whenever in public they always had to be accompanied by a mahram, a close male relative (Okkenhaug & Flaskerud, 2005). When laws were disobeyed, punishment was severe including threats, beatings, and even execution. Some of the Taliban’s efforts can be seen through the film Kandahar: there was hardly ever a time when the women were seen without their burqa’s on; even Nafas who no longer belonged to that country was subject to wearing a burqa throughout most of the film. Women could not show their faces, even to the doctor Tabib Sahid; he had to inspect them through a hole in the wall. And when the big wedding group Nafas became a part of was traveling, some soldiers stopped them, searched them, and took many as captives.
Although the NA and the Taliban are no longer in power in Afghanistan, many policies remain unchanged. A 2003 report from Amnesty International said, “Two years after the ending of the Taliban regime the international community and the Afghan Transitional Administration, led by President Hamid Karzai, have proved unable to protect women. ‘The risk of rape and sexual violence by members of armed factions and former combatants is still high. Forced marriage, particularly of girl children, and violence against women in the family are widespread in many areas of the country’” (Rawi, 2004). Things have not proved better for the female population, in fact some feel that the current conditions for women are worse than they were during the years the Taliban had control (Rawi, 2004).
The oppressions against women in Afghanistan including rape and other kinds of sexual assault, physical abuse, and the disallowance of basic rights have made many, many women give up not only on hope for change in the future, but on their own lives as well. Suicide rates are higher today than they were when the Taliban ruled and cases of self immolation by both older women and young girls has grown extensively (Rawi, 2004). For those women who don’t end their lives early, they deal with the denial of even a basic education; the female literacy rate in Afghanistan is one of the lowest in the world: only about seven percent of women can read and write while the male literacy rate is higher, at 35 percent (Bernard, 2002). In the film Kandahar, there are scenes that depict only young boys attending school, and it insinuates that they are the only ones who will be likely to land jobs; women and young girls are excluded from this scenario. Women are also denied employment by many organizations, therefore some live in poverty while others sell themselves as prostitutes on the streets (Šlezić, 2007). “It was pointless to offer services that would benefit women, because the Afghans just didn’t want that. They were used to things being this way. Even the women themselves didn’t expect anything different” (Bernard, 2002). With limited options to better their lives, many women feel hopeless and therefore think they have to resort to these circumstances.
Although it is not shown in the film Kandahar, and in reality some women actually do seem to fit the category of “silently, suffering victims” (Bernard, 2002), there are some noble causes for change for women in Afghanistan. One of most well known is The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan or RAWA, which is an organization that has been helping the female community in Afghanistan fight for justice and equality for many years. With the spirit of RAWA’s heroic founder Meena forever guiding them; about two thousand women are members of the association. Whether working underground or out in the streets of Afghanistan’s cities, RAWA workers risk them and their families’ lives trying to change women’s rights and status. RAWA holds rallies and protests, they have classes for illiterate women and open schools for younger girls, they publish a magazine called Payam-e-Zan
(Bernard 2002), and constantly try to keep their message alive not only in their own country, but in the entire world as well. And not only are women involved in organizations like RAWA, but men are as well. Many male lawyers, United Nations workers and others help defend women and provide aid to those in need of it (Morat & Seddiqi, 2008). Most that join RAWA or other organizations like it have come from extremely hard situations and lifestyles and with these kinds of service they are finally provided alternatives.
Everyday there are those in Afghanistan, women and men that, “risk their lives for a future that includes Islam and women as part of the solution” (Morat & Seddiqi, 2008). Women deserve the equality and justice they strive for because in reality, they are essential to the survival of Afghanistan’s population. Kandahar really only reveals one side to Afghanistan; war, poverty, the negative treatment of women, and so forth. However the film does not show the fight for better lives for women and those people that work to change Afghanistan entirely. Those people and their fight are the hopeful identity of a changed country, in which women will no longer suffer through abuse and neglect, but will one day earn their equality.

I did my project on the significance of the burqa.  I researched modern views, opinions, and implication of the burqa and found some uncommon ideas as to what the burqa can represent.  For my project I decided to create my own headscarf so that I could understand some of the emotions that go on when one has to wear a burqa.  

The Katabasis and Anabasis of the Burqa

Laura Page

            The Muslim custom of covering women’s heads and faces can be traced back in Islamic history hundreds if not thousands of years.  The modern mentality for gender equality views the burqa and other headscarves as restrictions on advances in gender equality.  The female Islamic experience is greatly limited by the cultural and traditional restrictions of the burqa.  Burqa wearing women in Islamic societies are often viewed as property and their individual will and freedoms are greatly restricted by their loss of identity created by their covering.  This loss of identity often associated with a katabatic experience because many women face situations so horrifying they could be described as hellish.  While in many cases this is true, there are some situations in which the burqa is beneficial to woman. 

            Muslim women are often viewed as being subservient to their male counterparts and there is no greater or more obvious symbol of this then the burqa women are required to wear to conceal their identity.  The most prominent example in modern times of this was in the Taliban control Afghanistan.  The Taliban regime reinstalled the requirements for women to cover themselves completely in any setting away from the home.  While this restriction has been lifted with the end of the Taliban’s rein many women are still subject to them.  The acclaimed Afghan author Khaled Hosseini expressed his views on women in Afghanistan who have not only been forced to wear head coverings but have also been, “…beaten, humiliated. They’ve been in prison. They’ve had their human rights violated. They’ve been forced into marriage [and] prostitution.” (MacNeil). 

            Muslim women in this predicament have survived many ghastly ordeals.  Because women are viewed as being subordinate to men they often experience a loss of individual identity.  Some researchers have even gone as far to say that women are solely viewed as “sex object” in the Islamic world (Nasrin).  It is therefore not hard to see the ties the Islamic woman’s experience and the Greek feminine katabatic experience have in common.  In both examples the women suffer great losses be it either a loved one (as is the case for the Greek experience) or a part of the self (the Islamic woman’s identity).  While a true anabasis for a female character is hard to achieve, there is some hope for one in the Muslim women’s circumstance. 

            While the ultimate anabasis would be equal rights for woman around the world, there are some instances of spiritual and practical benefits from wearing a burqa.  Islam, and the practice of wearing a burqa as covering, originated in the Middle East, a hot, dry climate.  The burqa was originally designed to protect a person’s head from the heat of the sun and the to protect their mouth from sand. Even to this day there are cultures that still use the burqa mainly for this reason. 

            There is another, more psychological side to the Islamic woman’s anabasis.  Many women view the covering as a part of their faith. The Qu’ran mentions that all of Allah’s followers must be humble and stay covered, without the covering they are not being modest before Allah.  In this way a woman’s identity is not being concealed or limited, instead, she is completing her identity by wearing the covering. 

            The burqa is also viewed from and economic standpoint for some.  Modern women looking to advance in Islamic societies often wear a form of headscarf to show respect to their employers’ customs and traditions (Rozario).  Many retailers have also found an economic benefit from the sales of the burqa coming mainly from the West.  Female travelers to the Middle East often conceal themselves under burqas to not draw attention to themselves in a different culture (Afghan).  These women don’t view the burqa as a deterrence so much but in some ways as an opportunity to succeed and advance in their society.  They find liberation through the same restriction that held back their gender in the past. 

            And yet other Islamic women find it hard to part with tradition.  The burqa did not start with the rise of the Taliban, the need for a woman to cover herself is not only part of the Muslim society but part of the traditions as well.  Many women fell uncomfortable with the concept of liberation.  “I feel naked without my burqa, I cannot take it off. I would feel that everyone was looking at me.” (Ghafari) 

            The burqa is a very contivertial and highly contested sybol of Islamic women’s struggle for equality.  They must take into account that by discarding the burqa they lose a part of their faith but by wearing the burqa they lose part of their personal identity.   The anabasis of Islamic women does not have to come from their liberation from the burqa.  The liberation can take the form of spiritual enlightenment through serving Allah or even through economic growth.  Anyway, the Islamic woman’s katabasis lies deeper then the head cloth, it stems from centuries of oppression and patriarchal rule.  The anabasis may come not from the removal of clothing but through the gaining of knowledge. 

Bibliography:

- Afghan Women Continue to Wear Symbolic Burqa. (2006, August 15). China Daily.

-Ghafari, S. (2005, June 5). Afghan women not ready to cast off burqa. Deseret News.

- MacNeil/Lehrer Productions (Producer). (2007, June 15). Author Husseini Discusses

Latest Book [Television broadcast]. Washington D.C.: Public Broadcasting

Service.

-Nasrin, T. (2007, January 17). Let’s Burn the Burqa. 

     YaleGlobal Online. Retrieved November 16, 2008, from

     Woman’s International Studies database:

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=fyh&AN=KIR080226-037&site=ehost-live

-’Remove full veils’ urges Straw. (2006, October 6). BBC News. Retrieved from

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/politics/5411954.stm

-Rozario, S. (2006, July/August). The new burqa in Bangladesh: Empowerment or

violation of women’s rights? Women’s Studies International Forum, V. 29(NO. 4), pp. 368-380.

Project: http://hadesadventure.webs.com/

A humorous choose-your-own-adventure type game, where the outcome of your quest is determined by which paths you decide to take, which items you take along and a little bit of luck. The game uses various themes from Greek and Roman mythology and you should recognize quite a few if not all of them. The website is now finished and you can finally get to the end! There are two “true” endings that you can get. There are 48 pages in total spanning across three different websites, because the webhost only allows 20 pages per site. Don’t worry, the links will take you to the other sites automatically. There still might be spelling mistakes, but I don’t have the time to look over the entirety of it, because the entire game takes up seven and a half pages in Microsoft Word… ha ha… Anyway, Enjoy!

The website is currently in the top 1% of websites created this week as far as visits go!

Bibliography:
“Anonymous (2008). Hercules’s 12 Labors: Cerberus. Perseus Project: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Herakles/ce…
“Anonymous, Hymn to Demeter (Translation: Evelyn, Hugh G. (1914). Loeb Classical Library)”
“Bonnefoy, Yves (1991). Mythologies: Volume 1, pg.412-41. University of Chicago Press”
“Clark, Raymond J (2003). The Cerberus-Like Function of the Gorgon in Virgil’s Underworld. Classical Quarterly Issue 1, pg.308-309”
“Edmonds, Radcliffe G (2004). Myths of the Underworld Journey: Plato, Aristophanes, and the ‘Orphic’ Gold Tablets. Cambridge University Press”
“Homer, The Odyssey, pg.168-184 (Translation: Lattimore, Richmond (1967). Harper & Row Publisher Inc.)”
“Mackie, CJ (1999). Scamander and the Rivers of Hades in Homer. American Journal of Philology Volume 120 Issue 4, pg.485-501”
“Reed, Nicholas (1973). The Gates of Sleep in Aeneid 6. The Classical Quarterly, New Series Volume 23 Issue 2, pg.311-315”
“Parada, Carlos (1997). Underworld and the Afterlife. Greek Mythology Link: http://maicar.com/GML/Underworld.html”
“Tripp, Edward (1970). Crowell’s Handbook of Classical Mythology, pg.257-258. Thomas Crowell Company”
“Virgil, The Aeneid, pg.160-192 (Translation: Fitzgerald, Robert (1981). Vintage Books)”

            The movie Kandahar shows the katabatic experience of a woman, Nafas, traveling into the depths of Afghanistan. Although born there, she grew up in Canada, and returned with hopes of saving her sister from committing suicide.  Nafas learns of the hardships that the women undergo in Afghanistan and begins to understand why her sister wants to end her life. As her journey progresses, her identity is revealed and she becomes captured, forever a part of the depressing country.  Clearly, Nafas’s journey is one into hell.  Not only does she have to strip herself of her identity and wear the burqa, but she also is deprived of any freedom.  Like any katabatic hero, Nafas enters the underworld in hopes of a glorious outcome (her outcome being saving her sister’s life).  However, Nafas never completes an anabasis, making the katabatic experience incomplete.  This does, however, reflect on the average women in Afghanistan.  Most of them make their katabatic journey into hell the day they are born and are never able to be free.  Therefore, most all of them never even have the chance to make an anabasis and are stuck in their own depressing underworld, just like Nafas.  Women in Afghanistan have been deprived of their personal freedom and every woman is another man’s property.

            A woman is never allowed to be without a man while traveling in Afghanistan.  If a woman is found unaccompanied, she could be sent to jail, for it is a criminal offense.  Single woman are considered “bad” and are immediately taken to court.  A woman is either her father’s daughter or her husband’s wife; there is no in-between.  A girl must marry before she moves out of her parents’ home.  Unfortunately, this is not the only way women can be imprisoned.  If a woman were to be raped and report it, she could go to jail for “criminal sexual activity”.  Some refugee girls end up living in what would be considered “whore houses” in the United States, rather than being sent to prison.  They chose a life of abuse and rape over the cruelty of their government.  Sometimes, cases such as these are reported to the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), but even then not much can be done to save the girls.  Even if the UNHCR is finally permitted inside the building, women do not eagerly cry for help.  These women know they could be ultimately imprisoned if they were to report that they were victims of rape, and, that life in jail was exactly what they were trying to avoid in the first place.  Because women can be imprisoned for silly reasons, such as being single, it is clear that Afghanistan has completely deprived women of their identities.  A woman can only be defined as “good” if she is one man’s property.

            However, there is still a fine line drawn between being a man’s property and being a single woman on the run.  For example, many stepfathers beat and rape their stepdaughters in Afghanistan.  Some even kick their stepdaughters out of the house.  The young girls are left to fend for themselves and often run away to the “whore houses” to escape imprisonment. Stepfathers are so abusive towards them because they say that they will not support another man’s daughter.  However, these girls are often too young to marry, thereby making the line between a daughter and a wife extremely grey.  If a girl were to be kicked out of the house by her stepfather at the age of twelve or thirteen, she would be a woman on the run because it is illegal for her to be without a man.  Furthermore, even the married women are often beaten and sexually abused by their husbands. These women would have no choice but to run away because they live in a government which gives them no rights.  They would have to spend the rest of their lives in hiding because they would then be without their husbands, even though the men were horrible and abusive.

            Although women’s rights have been slowly being restored after the end of the Taliban rule, they are still not up to par. More jobs are opening up to women, such as radio shows and beauty parlors.  However, government jobs are still closed to women and there are still numerous other activities that men can do but women cannot.  Most women still chose to wear the burqa, a significance of their deprived identities.  The government had required that women wear this garment of clothing which unifies them and strips them of their individuality, showing they are more of a “property” to men than their own person. In her book entitled My Forbidden Face? Latifa writes:

I look at this garment, its woven cloth flowing all the way down to the ground from a loosely fitting bonnet which completely covers the head….But what really frightens me is the little bit of embroidered latticework around the eyes and the nose….

I can feel the rustle of my own breath inside the garment.  I’m hot.  My feet get tangled up in the material.  I’ll never be able to wear this.  I now understand the stiff robot-like walk of the “bottle women”, their unflinching look directly in front of them….These phantoms that now roam the streets of Kabul have a terrible time avoiding bicycles, buses and carts.  It’s even worse trying to run away from the Taliban.  This is not a garment.  It’s a moving prison (Whitlock 2).

The government required this article of clothing to be worn to prove to all women on a daily basis that they were constantly in a prison.  They had no freedom and were not allowed to even be considered a “good” person unless accompanied by a man. Still, women are waiting to unveil themselves until Northern Alliance representatives prove that they are serious about giving women equal rights.  They want to make sure that the urban areas will be under control so that when they do finally lift their burqas to reveal their freedom they will not be the victims of abuse.

            In Afghanistan, women undergo their own katabatic experiences.  They are stripped of their identities the moment they are born and deprived of any freedom.  They are forced to live in a type of “hell”, never even allowed to have an anabasis. This is clearly portrayed in the movie Kandahar when Nafas is captured and stuck in the country.  A woman is considered “bad” if she does not have a man to take care of her, and can be imprisoned for criminal sexual activity, even if that activity consists of her being raped.  Although their rights are beginning to be liberated, things are still not as good as they should be. Afghan women deserve the opportunity to make an anabasis and see freedom from their own pit of hell.

Three Regions of Hell in Modern Cinema
Katabasis, the descent into and ascent from the underworld, is one theme that has been incorporated repeatedly in modern cinema. Film developed from theater which was basically a type of literature. Since literature derived many themes and patterns from the myths of ancient sources, it is logical that the influence was carried over to film. Instead of showing a literal journey to the underworld, most modern movies symbolically follow a character’s journey into a type of hell. This hell could be a physical place or an internal mindset. The pattern of katabasis has endured as a central theme because it can be applied to any character, in any time, in any setting (Holtsmark, 2001).
The classical vision of the underworld transcends into a number of modern films along with katabasis. Even if different readers have individual opinions and interpretations, the descriptions and ideas expressed in Homer’s Odyssey and Virgil’s Aeneid can be combined to create a very detailed landscape of the underworld. The classical katabatic themes are not only found in the plot and characters of modern films, but they can be found visually as well. The settings and resulting atmospheres of films can evoke feelings toward and symbolize one of the three main divisions of the classical hell. The setting and atmospheres of the Styx River, the Elysian Fields, and Tartarus parallel those of Apocalypse Now, Gladiator, and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
The atmosphere of the Styx River is characterized by mourning and sorrow. Many souls who wander the banks resemble their human forms and still cling to their human emotions. These souls are haunted by their past sufferings and the agony and pain continues to occupy their thoughts (Norwood, 1954). In Book VI of the Aeneid on lines 590 through 593, Aeneas travels by the Styx River which is described as having an imprisoning power. On lines 436 through 447, there are unburied souls hopelessly trying to get across and lamenting souls residing in the nearby Fields of Mourning. Also on lines 628 through 639, Dido, who curses Aeneas for leaving her heartbroken and then commits suicide, is still upset when he sees her in the underworld (Virgil, 1990). In Book XI of the Odyssey, Odysseus encounters countless souls who were agonizing over and reflecting on their lives. On lines 405 through 434, Agamemnon is haunted in knowing that his own wife Klytaimestra plotted his murder. On lines 488 through 491, Achillius is bothered in knowing that he led a glorious life and died young because of it (Homer, 1999). This same atmosphere is represented in the movie Apocalypse Now.
Apocalypse Now portrays the classical view of the underworld as Captain Willard’s journey up river towards Kurtz during the Vietnam War symbolizes a journey up the Styx River approaching hell. The scene of the battle for the Do Lung Bridge is the movie’s visual and atmospheric portrayal of the Styx River and wandering souls. Captain Willard arrives here and goes among the soldiers but cannot find a commanding officer. The scene itself is very dark and there are only small strings of lights. It is hard to distinguish the purpose behind the soldiers’ actions. Many of the soldiers are simply watching their surroundings and gazing blankly. They are as eerie and haunting as the souls on the outskirts of hell (Adler, 2004).
Kurtz and Captain Willard are much like those grief-stricken souls. Kurtz himself is consumed by his heart of darkness and it has almost dehumanized him and his followers. The movie focuses on the emotional and internal struggles within the characters and the evilness that is inherently within them. Captain Willard is haunted by the war and his experiences in the opening scene and is even trapped within his hotel room in Saigon. He is relieved to be going back into the war because the war has tainted him and he can never go back to how he was before (Haber, 2008). The setting of the Vietnam War is the physical instigation that brings out the internal darkness in some of the characters, but once they adapt to the horrors of war they are scarred from the experience. Like the souls around the Styx River, they cannot escape their pain, their internalized hell.
The earthly deeds are the cause of suffering for the souls of the Styx River and Tartarus. However, the souls of Tartarus are physically being tortured. Tartarus is a place where souls are punished and it reflects the moral side of human nature. It has a dim, dark, and frightening atmosphere. The physical appearance of Tartarus is vague; at times it seems to be a prison and at other times a pit. This setting gives off a dangerous and mysterious atmosphere. It is one where fear is evoked because this region of the afterlife is a place where all sinners reside (Norwood, 1954). The torture of the legendary sinners is described in Book XI of the Odyssey on lines 572 through 600. Tityos lays in the meadow of asphodel while two vultures rip his liver. Tantalos stands in lake water and has fruit over his head but cannot eat or drink, and Sisyphos is trying to roll a stone up and over a hill and never gets it over the crest (Homer, 1999). In Book VI of the Aeneid on lines 775 through 778, Tartarus is described as having darkness that is twice as deep as heaven is high with the giant Hydra lurking inside. On lines 735 through 752, Aeneas himself was appalled by the image of Tartarus and the sound of the chains, lashes, clanking iron, and groans of the souls being tortured (Virgil, 1990). The image of Tartarus is visually captured in the setting and appearance of the first movie in the Lord of the Rings series.
The scene in the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring that parallels an entrance into Tartarus is the Bridge of Khazadum. The characters are shown frightened and nervous before they gather their determination and race into the opening of what appears to be a cavern or cave. The scene is dark and done with unstable stone steps, pillars, and narrow paths that drop on the sides. The characters are faced with obstacles of arrows, monsters, and their path breaking and collapsing as they continue to descend. The steady and intense beating of drums increases in volume and the music builds and crescendos with the suspense and danger of their journey. This frightening atmosphere is repeated and intensified.
This movie carries the atmosphere of Tartarus, the feared cave-like section of the underworld full of misery and unknown gloom. Even the one scene builds the suspense and mystery of the treacherous and terrifying evils and landscapes that the characters will face and travel through. The main character a small hobbit named Frodo embarks on a journey that will certainly lead him deep into this region of hell. He and his friends are fearful of the danger of this journey, but they gain courage and transform into heroes. Ultimately, they destroy the ring and the accompanying evil. The heroes avoided an eternal fate of darkness that loomed over them like the fate of Tartarus looms over sinners (Chappell, 2008).
In contrast, the scene of Elysium is marked by light and peace not dark and torment. Heroes and nameless saints reside in the fields. It is the region of the underworld that gives off a sense of glory and honor. The moral principle of the Elysian Fields and Tartarus is that the souls must go through judgment, and the gods reward those that are just and punish those that are not (Norwood, 1954). On lines 882 through 889, Book VI of the Aeneid gives details of the fields. Those of Elysium reside in green and lush fields with wide rivers. They are souls who had been glorious in battle, had bettered their lives, and had been holy (Virgil, 1990).
The film Gladiator shows the atmosphere surrounding a hero destined to be rewarded in the afterlife. An already honored General Maximus Decimus Meridius is the preferred choice of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius to lead the Roman Empire; however, the Emperor is murdered by his son Commodus who takes power. Maximus evades his death in the beginning but could not save his family from the same fate. He is then captured, enslaved, and forced to fight in the gladiator arena. Maximus suffers from the very beginning, yet he continues on to reach the end of his journey. He defeats his enemy, saves Rome, avenges his family, and regains his honor and glory. He resembles the classical glorious hero destined to reside in the Elysian Fields that are visually alluded to (Abele, 2008).
The film visually portrays the beauty of the Elysian Fields when, after defeating the emperor, the final vision of Maximus is shown as he lays dying. He is pictured in an immense golden and green field as he walks to rejoin his wife and son. This field is symbolic of the Elysian Fields and is a suiting fit for Maximus to reside in after his battles and sufferings. The music is very peaceful and soft, and Maximus is serene and calm. After his death, his body is carried out of the arena. Maximus is honored as a soldier and hero of Rome as the Emperor is left lying in the dust.
As with these three films, the themes and ideas of classic literature have become archetypes that are related in new versions in modern novels and cinema. Mythology is used to portray an understanding of the world and beliefs of a culture, and the most meaningful themes reoccur and connect to the human consciousness (Ferrell, 2000). In the twentieth century, classical myths have been interpreted symbolically into modern stories and plots that visually and atmospherically represent the classical version of the underworld. Ancient myths are revived to portray a common theme understandable to all. Since human nature and emotions do not change, these themes are timeless (Bernstock, 1993).

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