If you ever came across a man with the name Orpheus you would assume that his wife would be Eurydice? A vast majority of people would agree because of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice which was composed thousands of years ago. Marcel Camus tries to recreate the story of Orpheus and Eurydice in his 1959 film Black Orpheus. Black Orpheus is considerably different from the original myth because of all the changes Camus adds to his film.
In Black Orpheus the character Orpheus is introduce as having a girlfriend before even meeting Eurydice, the death of the lovers is different, and Orpheus bring Eurydice back from the dead will not occur. The first of Camus changes would be the Orpheus has a girlfriend named Mira. She is very controlling and become overly jealous of Eurydice after Orpheus meets here at the local market. When the couple goes to get a marriage license the clerk even ask Orpheus is Mira name Eurydice because ever one know Orpheus and Eurydice are to be together forever.
In the original myth he first met and how he pursued Eurydice, we are not told, but it is clear that no other woman he wanted could have contained themselves from the influences of his song. They were married, but the joy of the two lovers was short lived. The second change that Camus made would be how the two lovers met their death. Eurydice death is the original myth is that’s she was being chased when she step on a snake and was bitten and died soon after. In Black Orpheus, Eurydice was being chased by death but met her death by her own lover Orpheus.
When Orpheus flipped the electric switch that turn on the electricity of the cable wires, and Eurydice was electrocuted and perished. Orpheus met his death just as different as Eurydice met hers and also his was less graphical as the original. One early morning he went to the oracle of Dionysus to sing praise upon the sun god at dawn, but was torn to pieces by Thracian. The third change that Camus change is one of the main reasons the story of Eurydice and Orpheus has had long jeopardy over the years.
In the original myth of the two lovers the gods grant Orpheus passage to the underworld to retrieve his wife after they heard his sad song and had felt sorry for him and sought happiness for him. As he traveled down to the underworld Orpheus played and sung his influential songs and Hades himself even had a moment of kindness. He allowed Orpheus to bring Eurydice back to the world of the living only under one condition. In Black Orpheus, Orpheus did not travel to the underworld but instead to a temple where dead is able to talk to the living.
The two stories similarity is that in both stories Orpheus is told not to look back at Eurydice and in both of the story he did not listen and his love was lost forever. In closing, Marcel Camus’ Black Orpheus differs from the original myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. The many significant difference lies between black Orpheus and the myth because Orpheus has a girlfriend, Orpheus kills Eurydice, Orpheus was not able to bring Eurydice back from the dead, and the way Orpheus met his death is in a different manner as well.
