μεταμορφώσεις

[Jeff Bernstein]

νυκτὸς γὰρ ἡμᾶς τῆσδε πρᾶγος ἄσκοπον
ἔχει περάνας, εἴπερ εἴργασται τάδε:
21–22

 

Last night he did some unintelligible work,

and brought it to its end—if indeed the work is his.

 

Using the same words but in another context, might Odysseus be speaking of writing?

 

 

 

Edited September 9, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

ἴσμεν γὰρ οὐδὲν τρανές, ἀλλ᾽ ἀλώμεθα:

κἀγὼ 'θελοντὴς τῷδ᾽ ὑπεζύγην πόνῳ.

23–24

 

ἴσμεν γὰρ = to know

 

We know nothing clearly but that he’s gone insane.

I have volunteered the work of containing him.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 9, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Sophocles sets up Odysseus as speaking to a voice in his head he names Athena.

How can Odysseus know for certain that the voice inside his head is not originating from him?

This question is especially relevant now that we know that Ajax is “insane”.

So then. Who is “we” and who is “he” and who is “I” and who is “him”?

 

 

 

 

Edited September 9, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

ἐφθαρμένας γὰρ ἀρτίως εὑρίσκομεν

λείας ἁπάσας καὶ κατηναρισμένας

ἐκ χειρὸς αὐτοῖς ποιμνίων ἐπιστάταις.

 

Two lines of four words—and in succession? What is being said must be crucial. Note the construction of the first line :

 

ἐφθαρμένας γὰρ / Destroyed

 

We found that someone had destroyed all our cattle,

all that we’ve taken. He killed them all outright—

someone’s hand did—and also killed their overseers.

This all the men say was done by him—the guilt is his.

A scout said to me he saw him scampering off

across the plain with a newly-bloodied sword.

What he told me was the first I’d heard of it,

but I have followed fast upon the track direct

to here. I understand some of this, but a lot

leaves me wondering. In due time I’ll know.

For everything past and to come you direct

with your hand.

 

τήνδ᾽ οὖν ἐκείνῳ πᾶς τις αἰτίαν νέμει.

καί μοί τις ὀπτὴρ αὐτὸν εἰσιδὼν μόνον

πηδῶντα πεδία σὺν νεορράντῳ ξίφει

φράζει τε κἀδήλωσεν: εὐθέως δ᾽ ἐγὼ

κατ᾽ ἴχνος ᾁσσω, καὶ τὰ μὲν σημαίνομαι,

τὰ δ᾽ ἐκπέπληγμαι κοὐκ ἔχω μαθεῖν ὅτου.

καιρὸν δ᾽ ἐφήκεις: πάντα γὰρ τά τ᾽ οὖν πάρος

τά τ᾽ εἰσέπειτα σῇ κυβερνῶμαι χερί.

25–35

 

πάντα γὰρ = all

 

ἐκπέπληγμαι = “leaves me wondering”

 

κυβερνῶμαι = to “steer” or “to drive” (as in, say, Alma : “Let me drive for you.” 44:45)

 

Odysseus has now spoken. For now.

[Jeff Bernstein]

How many movies are in The Last Movie (1971)?

 

Who can say, but here are a few theoretical randoms :

 

5:39. TWBB (sound)

12:55 / 26.03. The Departed (title delayed)

15:05 / 1:05:28 / 1:21:29 / 1:25:43. EWS (masks / color of the curtain)

24:02 / 1:42:32. TWBB / Oppenheimer (concept of “the tower”)

46:23. Planet Terror / silent movies (“Scene Missing” in silent-era typography)

51:10. Phantom Thread (table edge up front)

54:35 / 1:20:32. Blue Velvet (in the car / woman in blue)

1:06:22. Inherent Vice (wife and Hollywood Home)

1:11:45. Lawrence of Arabia (vista of desertscape crossing)

1:23:16. (Tintoretto, The Origin of the Milky Way)

1:23:46. Last Temptation of Christ (film negative color-flashing at death)

1:43:13. Oppenheimer (in tent by fire at night)

 

 

 

 

Edited September 9, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

What is happening in the narrative of Ajax?

 

There is a weirdo “closed circle” element to first-rate Art—bringing to mind, say, well, passwords, for example.

 

What might Scrooby mean?

 

A first-rate work of art comes as a surprise. And time is required to process it.

 

A first-rate work teaches the Spectator how to watch it—if the Spectator concentrates on the road to Revelation—via the second viewing, tenth, hundredth, etc.

 

Egregious Example : Paradise Lost (1667) is written in a syntax that in places was weird even to its own contemporary readers. Its syntax is not “antique” or “old school” but “one-of-a-kind weirdness” outside of any one specific time period (though it must bear the hallmarks of its age, because an Artwork always does). Paradise Lost itself teaches the reader how to read it, if the reader sticks with it. And rereads it. And rereads it. And . . .

 

First look = understanding.

 

No.

 

Tenth look (for example) = getting warmer.

 

Now back to Ajax.

 

The Situation is fluid. The audience is dreaming. What does a dream do? A dream flows. Consider, please, the morphing structures of The Last Movie (1971) or the art of David Lynch. Sophocles’ Ajax flows like a dream : the Spectator’s relationship to the Situation evolves as information streams every which way.

 

Suddenly Athena is onstage. When? This question is not a surprise structurally. Just like the plays of Shakespeare, there are virtually zero stage directions in the plays of the ancient Greeks. So it’s anybody’s guess when Athena appears on stage, just as it’s anybody’s guess about certain characters in other ancient Greek plays. “Are they onstage or not?” sounds like an stupid question, but with respect to the ancient plays, it isn’t.

 

We know that Contrast is a Fundamental of Fundamentals. Stronger contrast makes for heavier drama.

 

Examples from Sophocles—sure, but not required. Let’s just move on and stick with Ajax.

 

Obviously it’s more dramatic for Odysseus to be on his own on stage at the start, hearing the voice of Athena from afar.

 

At some point Athena appears to the audience and the audience goes “Ah!”, a lovely sound of awe and pleasure and whatever else, together at once. Smiles all round for Athena, goddess of wisdom.

 

Why not at line 36? Just after Odysseus has finished his speech?

 

Scrooby says yes.

 

At line 36 Ajax the play morphs into a new form of communication with the appearance of Athena on stage.

 

With Ajax the audience is taking the proverbial “wild ride”. But a ride with Sophocles involves ever-shifting perspective and attitude—not only the “wild ride” of surprised discovery. While Ajax may be an action situation at the moment, it is loaded with other phenomena, too. (Like a first-rate storyteller elevating a genre picture into the first-rate.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 10, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Enter Athena, goddess of wisdom

 

Athena enters, and the audience goes “Ah!”, just as UK rabble burst into applause when Sean Connery appeared onscreen with Kevin Costner in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)—so I was told at the time. This grand-scale emotional spectacle moment (appearing around the first ten minutes and shifting the narrative into something new) is equivalent in various ways (structure, pace, vibe) to the character Oppenheimer’s initial meeting with Lewis Strauss. Athena enters and delivers a Terms of Endearment–type ooooh goosepimply powerplant of words to exalt the audience. (Like the dolly zoom to the Heavenly Eye at the outset of Phantom Thread, 2:42–2:50;  or, say, the bone-cut of 2001 : A Space Odyssey.) Sophocles is playing the crowd like a proverbial Hitchcock at the keys.

 

ATHENA

I know, Odysseus. I have walked with you

a long time on your way.

 

ODYSSEUS

Tell now, beloved lady, is my work true?

 

ATHENA

These are the works of the man you seek.

 

ODYSSEUS

How could his hand have become so stirred

in this inconceivable way?

 

ATHENA

Melancholy madness. Anger and rage. For you

were given the armor of Achilles, and not him.

 

 

Ἀθήνα

ἔγνων, Ὀδυσσεῦ, καὶ πάλαι φύλαξ ἔβην

τῇ σῇ πρόθυμος εἰς ὁδὸν κυναγίᾳ.

 

Ὀδυσσεύς

ἦ καί, φίλη δέσποινα, πρὸς καιρὸν πονῶ;

 

Ἀθήνα

ὡς ἔστιν ἀνδρὸς τοῦδε τἄργα ταῦτά σοι.

 

Ὀδυσσεύς

καὶ πρὸς τί δυσλόγιστον ὧδ᾽ ᾖξεν χέρα;

 

Ἀθήνα

χόλῳ βαρυνθεὶς τῶν Ἀχιλλείων ὅπλων.

36–41

 

 

 

 

Edited September 10, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

ODYSSEUS

Why did he level this attack upon our flocks?

 

ATHENA

He thought he was bathing his hands in your blood.

 

ODYSSEUS

So he purposely did this to the Greeks?

 

ATHENA

He would have killed you all, if I had ignored it.

 

ODYSSEUS

How dare he do such things? What gave him the courage?

 

ATHENA

By night he skulked around on his own against you.

 

ODYSSEUS

And did he visit the commanders here?

 

ATHENA

Yes. He stood at the double doors of the leaders.

 

ODYSSEUS

And how was his eager hand held back from murder?

 

 

Ὀδυσσεύς

τί δῆτα ποίμναις τήνδ᾽ ἐπεμπίπτει βάσιν;

 

Ἀθήνα

δοκῶν ἐν ὑμῖν χεῖρα χραίνεσθαι φόνῳ.

 

Ὀδυσσεύς

ἦ καὶ τὸ βούλευμ᾽ ὡς ἐπ᾽ Ἀργείοις τόδ᾽ ἦν;

 

Ἀθήνα

κἂν ἐξεπράξατ᾽, εἰ κατημέλησ᾽ ἐγώ.

 

Ὀδυσσεύς

ποίαισι τόλμαις ταῖσδε καὶ φρενῶν θράσει;

 

Ἀθήνα

νύκτωρ ἐφ᾽ ὑμᾶς δόλιος ὁρμᾶται μόνος.

 

Ὀδυσσεύς

ἦ καὶ παρέστη κἀπὶ τέρμ᾽ ἀφίκετο;

 

Ἀθήνα

καὶ δὴ 'πὶ δισσαῖς ἦν στρατηγίσιν πύλαις.

 

Ὀδυσσεύς

καὶ πῶς ἐπέσχε χεῖρα μαιμῶσαν φόνου;

(42–50)

 

Items :

 

The repetition of the word “night”, first with respect to Odysseus (νυκτὸς 21), then to Ajax (νύκτωρ 47), suggests both a doubling and a joining together.

 

Speaking of : δισσαῖς (double 49). The “double doors” (of a tent or hut) is a cliche of cliches—the image is in Homer. But now that we understand Sophocles (to a point), and know that he elevates cliches into something new and strange, and know also that the concept of the “double” is intrinsic to Οἰδίπους Τύραννος—the concept of the person who is “more than one”—so here we might assume that Sophocles is engineering something “extra” above and beyond simple visual description. In madness a person may experience a dramatic split in consciousness (e.g., “My mother . . . What is the phrase? She isn’t quite herself today.” Psycho (1960), 33:54). And considering that both the word “night” and the concept of “sneaking around” (Odysseus 32, Ajax 47) have been used with respect to both men, does the Kind Reader think Sophocles may be engineering thematic links between the two?

 

Indeed—more doubling, more linguistic linkages : Athena uses the word δόλιος (tricky) with respect to Ajax. But this adjective is a go-to description of the cunning Odysseus all throughout ancient literature. Coincidence?

 

One thinks not. But let’s keep thinking.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 10, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Baby Steps

 

Ἀθήνα

ἐγώ σφ᾽ ἀπείργω, δυσφόρους ἐπ᾽ ὄμμασι

γνώμας βαλοῦσα τῆς ἀνηκέστου χαρᾶς,

καὶ πρός τε ποίμνας ἐκτρέπω σύμμικτά τε

λείας ἄδαστα βουκόλων φρουρήματα:

ἔνθ᾽ εἰσπεσὼν ἔκειρε πολύκερων φόνον

κύκλῳ ῥαχίζων: κἀδόκει μὲν ἔσθ᾽ ὅτε

δισσοὺς Ἀτρείδας αὐτόχειρ κτείνειν ἔχων,

ὅτ᾽ ἄλλοτ᾽ ἄλλον ἐμπίτνων στρατηλατῶν.

ἐγὼ δὲ φοιτῶντ᾽ ἄνδρα μανιάσιν νόσοις

ὤτρυνον, εἰσέβαλλον εἰς ἕρκη κακά.

κἄπειτ᾽ ἐπειδὴ τοῦδ᾽ ἐλώφησεν πόνου,

τοὺς ζῶντας αὖ δεσμοῖσι συνδήσας βοῶν

ποίμνας τε πάσας εἰς δόμους κομίζεται,

ὡς ἄνδρας, οὐχ ὡς εὔκερων ἄγραν ἔχων,

καὶ νῦν κατ᾽ οἴκους συνδέτους αἰκίζεται.

δείξω δὲ καὶ σοὶ τήνδε περιφανῆ νόσον,

ὡς πᾶσιν Ἀργείοισιν εἰσιδὼν θροῇς.

θαρσῶν δὲ μίμνε μηδὲ συμφορὰν δέχου

τὸν ἄνδρ᾽: ἐγὼ γὰρ ὀμμάτων ἀποστρόφους

αὐγὰς ἀπείρξω σὴν πρόσοψιν εἰσιδεῖν.

οὗτος, σὲ τὸν τὰς αἰχμαλωτίδας χέρας

δεσμοῖς ἀπευθύνοντα προσμολεῖν καλῶ:

Αἴαντα φωνῶ: στεῖχε δωμάτων πάρος.

(51–73)

 

Two Items :

 

καὶ νῦν κατ᾽ οἴκους συνδέτους αἰκίζεται. = this line is drama, drama, drama. It is delivered by Athena—going on the metrics of Sophocles’ composition—as powerfully dead-pan and as highly charged as Mozart’s line : “My music. They’ve started without me” in Amadeus (1984), 19:49. It is a deeply dramatic sonorous moment engineered to send chills up the spine of the audience. The calm sonorous sound of the line is a colossal contrast with what is being said. 

 

ἄλλοτ᾽ ἄλλον (58). This sort of linguistic doubling is one of the fundamental line-structure principles of Οἰδίπους Τύραννος, as we have come to know. Another example of linguistic doubling in this passage is the echo generated by ἀπείργω (51) / ἀπείρξω (70).

 

A bit of background for the interested

 

The world has zero idea when Οἰδίπους Τύραννος was written, and zero idea when Ajax was written. But Scrooby wonders if Ajax may well have been the very next play Sophocles wrote after Οἰδίπους Τύραννος.

 

Why would Scrooby promote this theory? Five sane reasons for now :

 

1. Οἰδίπους Τύραννος reaches a most powerful rhetorical pitch with

 

πλεκταῖσιν αἰώραισιν ἐμπεπλεγμένην. (1264)

 

Note the line number. In Ajax, Sophocles applies a very similar sonic technique right at the start :

 

χαλκοστόμου κώδωνος ὡς Τυρσηνικῆς. (17)

 

2.  The doubling motif of both plays. The doubling motif (conveyed in various structural ways, from words to characters to who knows what) is introduced big time in Ajax by line 35 (pretty gosh-darn early).

 

3. A most vital point for Scrooby’s theory is Sophocles’ blurring of Reason/Madness. Right at the start of Ajax he sets up a doubling with Odysseus and Ajax. Sophocles connects the two highly contrasting characters (at face value) apparently to convey in a most simple way a deeper, subtler theme to the audience—“Are Reason and Madness same, but different?” This same question is explored Big Time throughout Οἰδίπους Τύραννος—if not in most every first-rate story ever written.

 

4. νόσοις (59) = sickness / madness. This word (from νόσος) appears six times in Οἰδίπους Τύραννος (150, 217 [wtf?], 303, 960, 962, 1455) and is the prevailing concept of the entire play. And now the character Ajax is described with this same word. In fact, the word appears eight times in Ajax (59, 66, 186, 271, 274, 280, 452, 635)!

 

Coincidence? Sophocles might have used—if he had wanted to—the word μανία (mania). Indeed, Sophocles uses this very word to mean “madness” twice in two lines in Antigone (959/960)!  

 

5. Possibly the most nuclear-powered advantage of Scrooby’s theory is the simplest example of all :

 

Sophocles’ use of

 

ἐκπέπληγμαι (Ajax, 33)

ἐμπεπλεγμένην (Οἰδίπους, 1264)

 

We have come to understand that the use of the word ἐμπεπλεγμένην in Οἰδίπους Τύραννος is unspeakable genius. If Budweiser is indeed the “King of Beers” (Blue Velvet, 28:06) then might line 1264 in Οἰδίπους be defined as the “King of Poetic Lines”?

 

How many different words does Sophocles use in his plays that remain? According to Tufts University : 9,736.

 

How many times does Sophocles use ἐκπέπληγμαι in his plays? This one time.

How many times does Sophocles use ἐμπεπλεγμένην in his plays? This one time.

 

For these reasons, and for some others, Scrooby’s theory seems a good one : Sophocles concludes Οἰδίπους Τύραννος in a certain headspace, then continues on with that headspace at the start of Ajax, and proceeds from there, continuing in Ajax to explore themes raised in Οἰδίπους.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 10, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Sorry to interrupt—Speaking of Heideggerian Destruktion

 

Scrooby has now destroyed all scholarship on Sophocles in the English-speaking world for all time—right here on Cinematography.com—unless someone prints my name.

 

Or has Scrooby now brought all World Literature studies to a sudden halt?

 

For one thing—Is the Triple Tone the most significant conceptual discovery in World Literature since who knows when?

 

But let’s let Oxford and Cambridge keep on with their gibberish. It’s funnier that way.

 

Laughing at the lost is what everyone else does, right? Isn’t that what we’re taught to do? Didn't all of London laugh at Scrooby in 2020—for warning the world of Covid?

 

Dear fourth-world maskless UK : Big Whoop with Claps.

 

(Sorry all. But Scrooby's off his medication now. Should anyone be worried?)

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 10, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

ODYSSEUS

And how was his eager hand held back from murder?

 

ATHENA

I prevented him. I threw misunderstandings

into his eyes, which turned his deadly folly

toward the flocks, and the head of cattle minded

by the herdsmen but not yet consolidated

with the rest. So he rushed on them, and cut every

last one down, all the many-horned cattle slaughtered

with a sword in their spine, then falling around him

in a circle. At one point he believed himself

killing your chief commanders—Agamemnon

and Menelaus—murdering them with his own hands.

Other times he thought himself attacking this one,

or that one. He believed he was killing many

commanders. I, while the man went wildly

about with a disease in his mind—a madness—

kept him focused, kept throwing him into the bad

pen. After that, he rested from his bloody work,

then yoked together all the still-living oxen,

and all the sheep, and brought them to his home,

where he received them as if they were men,

and not cattle. And now he has them inside there,

bound up hand and foot, and he’s torturing them

in his way, in his home.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 10, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

ATHENA

Now I shall show you this madness clearly.

And when you have seen it, you may explain it

to all the Greeks. Now! Odysseus! Courage!

Stand your ground! This is no bad luck for you.

I shall turn his eyes away from you, so he

does not see your face.

 

(to Ajax)

 

You there! You who’s holding bound men captive

in there with their arms behind their backs! Come to me!

I’m calling you. Ajax! I call you. Come out

through the door of your hut!

[Jeff Bernstein]

Phase Transition

 

Suddenly Sophocles turns, for 15 lines, into Quentin Tarantino. Really. Among everything else happening.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 10, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

ATHENA

(to Ajax)

You there! You who’s holding bound men captive

in there with their arms behind their backs! Come to me!

I’m calling you. Ajax! I call you. Come out

through the door of your hut!

 

ODYSSEUS

What is this? Athena, do not call him out here!

 

ATHENA

Quiet down and don’t be a coward.

 

ODYSSEUS
For god’s sake! I’m satisfied! Let him stay in there!

 

ATHENA

What’s the problem? Is he not a simple man?

 

ODYSSEUS

My enemy is what he is to me.

 

ATHENA

Isn’t laughing at your enemies the sweetest laugh?

 

ODYSSEUS

I’m satisfied with him inside his house.

 

ATHENA

Surely you’re not scared to see an insane man?

 

ODYSSEUS

Well . . . If he were sane I wouldn’t be—concerned.

 

ATHENA

But just now he won’t even see you near him.

 

ODYSSEUS

How’s that, if he’s looking out of his eyes?

 

ATHENA

I’ve blinded his sight—though he’ll still see.

 

ODYSSEUS

Okay then. If a god wants it, it comes to be.

 

ATHENA

Then stand silently now and try to be yourself.

 

ODYSSEUS

I’m standing. But I’m happy to leave any time.

 

 

Ὀδυσσεύς

τί δρᾷς, Ἀθάνα; μηδαμῶς σφ᾽ ἔξω κάλει.

 

Ἀθήνα

οὐ σῖγ᾽ ἀνέξει μηδὲ δειλίαν ἀρεῖ;

 

Ὀδυσσεύς

μὴ πρὸς θεῶν, ἀλλ᾽ ἔνδον ἀρκείτω μένων.

 

Ἀθήνα

τί μὴ γένηται; πρόσθεν οὐκ ἀνὴρ ὅδ᾽ ἦν;

 

Ὀδυσσεύς

ἐχθρός γε τῷδε τἀνδρὶ καὶ τανῦν ἔτι.

 

Ἀθήνα

οὔκουν γέλως ἥδιστος εἰς ἐχθροὺς γελᾶν;

 

Ὀδυσσεύς

ἐμοὶ μὲν ἀρκεῖ τοῦτον ἐν δόμοις μένειν.

 

Ἀθήνα

μεμηνότ᾽ ἄνδρα περιφανῶς ὀκνεῖς ἰδεῖν;

 

Ὀδυσσεύς

φρονοῦντα γάρ νιν οὐκ ἂν ἐξέστην ὄκνῳ.

 

Ἀθήνα

ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ νῦν σε μὴ παρόντ᾽ ἴδῃ πέλας.

 

Ὀδυσσεύς

πῶς, εἴπερ ὀφθαλμοῖς γε τοῖς αὐτοῖς ὁρᾷ;

 

Ἀθήνα

ἐγὼ σκοτώσω βλέφαρα καὶ δεδορκότα.

 

Ὀδυσσεύς

γένοιτο μέντἂν πᾶν θεοῦ τεχνωμένου.

 

Ἀθήνα

σίγα νυν ἑστὼς καὶ μέν᾽ ὡς κυρεῖς ἔχων.

 

Ὀδυσσεύς

μένοιμ᾽ ἄν: ἤθελον δ᾽ ἂν ἐκτὸς ὢν τυχεῖν.

74–88

 

 

items :

 

μὴ          πρὸς θεῶν     (76)

[no]  -    [my god / for god's sake]

               as idiomatic then as it is today

 

ἀρκείτω (76) = satisfied

 

τί μὴ γένηται (77) = What’s the problem? (more literally : “What [do you think] may come to pass?”)

 

γένηται = to come into being

A heavy word.

from

γίγνομαι = to be born

origin of word

genesis

 

ὄκνῳ (82) = concern

 

“Surely you’re not scared to see an insane man?” Is Sophocles speaking to the audience?

 

Just as here—Is Sophocles speaking the following through the character of Athena?

 

“Now I shall show you this madness clearly.

And when you have seen it, you may explain it

to all the Greeks.”

66–67

 

Sophocles is modernity. He quickly whips up the audience into a genuine fright—a bloody murderer is about to enter through a door—then abruptly transitions into wholesome-for-the-whole-family humor (the cunning warrior Odysseus hedging his bets). In a moment all laughter will catch in the audience’s throat. . . .

 

“wholesome-for-the-whole-family” is no small point. Sophocles is obviously aiming the play Ajax at the demographic of fathers and sons. More broadly, but still accurate, so far Sophocles’ Ajax is equivalent to an intelligent superhero movie for the whole family.

 

“Isn’t laughing at your enemies the sweetest laugh of all?”—the patented fifteen-syllable blast, from yours truly, Scrooby.

 

κυρεῖς ἔχων (87) = try to be yourself.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 10, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Editing : the order of things

 

ATHENA

ὦ οὕτος, Αἴας, δεύτερόν σε προσκαλῶ. (89)

You there! Ajax! A second time I call on you!

 

Please note the ancient Greek—Ajax’s name (Αἴας) is not the metrical core of line 89.

 

Compare, for example :

 

ὁ πᾶσι κλεινὸς Οἰδίπους καλούμενος. (8)

 

Metrically, Oedipus’ name occupies the rhetorical summit of line 8 of Οἰδίπους Τύραννος.

 

So :

 

Ἀθήνα

ὦ οὕτος, Αἴας, δεύτερόν σε προσκαλῶ.

 

It is the word δεύτερόν that occupies the lofty sonic apex of line 89. That the line’s predominant stress is on the word δεύτερόν (“a second time!”) conveys that Athena is chiding the monstrous man just as she toyed with the (usually courageous) Odysseus πολύμητις. In line 89 the predominant thought in Athena’s head regards herself.

 

Structure conveys character!

 

Where have we heard this before? In commentary on first-rate cinematic narratives.

 

Look, and you’ll see before you understand.

 

 

 

Edited September 11, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

ATHENA

You there! Ajax! I call on you a second time!

Why not show some respect for your allies?

(89–90)

 

Ajax enters, and all audience laughter cuts to screams! He is huge in body, mighty in strength, not too smart and presently insane and splattered with blood. So what does Sophocles do with this reveal? A Genius Move. Ajax entering is a multi-vibe phenomenon. At first he speaks to Athena with gentleness in his voice. Ajax presents a childlike affect, innocent as a newborn babe. His initial presentation generates pathos, like Frankenstein with the little girl at the lake in the eponymous monster movie from 1931.

 

Wow. The audience shifts from laughter to screams to teary-eyed sympathy all within one magical instant of stage time. What a whirlwind of contending emotion! When Ajax enters, the audience feels terror and loathing and pity—all at once!

 

Who is the greatest author of all? Sophocles has only reached line 92.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 11, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

ATHENA

You there! Ajax! I call on you a second time!

Why not show some respect for your allies?

 

(Ajax enters)

 

AJAX

Ah! Athena! Greetings, greetings, daughter of Zeus!

You’ve always stood by me. I will crown you with gold

from my spoils, as a thanks for all this fresh prey.

 

ATHENA

Wonderful! But do tell—Ajax, why is your sword

dipped in Greek blood?

 

AJAX

I have every right to gloat! I deny nothing.

 

ATHENA

You’ve killed your two leaders with your own hands?

 

AJAX

They won’t be able to dishonour me again.

 

ATHENA

The men are dead—is that what you’re saying?

 

AJAX

They’re dead. Now let them take away my weapons.

[Jeff Bernstein]

ATHENA

Okay. And what of the son of Laertes?

Where does his fortune stand? Or did he escape you?

 

AJAX

You ask me about that damned fox?

 

ATHENA

Yes, I do. I mean your enemy Odysseus.

 

AJAX

I have him captive at my feet, a happy sight.

I do not want to kill him just yet.

 

ATHENA

What do you want with him? What do you want from him?

 

AJAX

I want him tied to the post that holds up my tent!

 

ATHENA

What terrible thing will you do to the poor man?

 

AJAX

Whip his back bloody until dead.

 

ATHENA

Do not hurt the poor man that way!

 

AJAX

I follow you everywhere, goddess. But not now.

That man shall understand justice, and that’s that.

 

ATHENA

Okay then. If it’ll make you happy, do it.

Do not hold your hand back. Do what you have in mind.

 

AJAX

I go inside now, to work. But let me say this.

Stand beside me always, and fight with me!

 

(Ajax exits)

[Jeff Bernstein]

ATHENA

Odysseus, do you see the unsurpassèd strength

of the gods? Who among you is as scrupulous

as this man, or is better at doing what needs done?

 

ODYSSEUS

I know of no one better. That miserable man

makes me feel bad, even if he is my enemy,

because he’s suffering a terrible sickness,

so he thinks of me and not of himself.

We who live are nothing but ghosts, light as shadows.

 

ATHENA

So look on such things as this accordingly,

and do not speak a self-important word  

before the gods, nor exalt yourself if you

surpass someone in strength, or in abundant wealth.

As it is, in one short day of human life

everything collapses, or rises. The gods love

all sensible people, and hate the guilty.

 

(Athena and Odysseus exit.)

[Jeff Bernstein]

The Oppenheimer (2023) phenomenon

 

The script for Oppenheimer reveals that there is zero line improvisation on set. Before storyteller Nolan says Action, he knows precisely the foundation he is standing on—the wisdom of the ancients.

 

Nolan uses the pronoun “I” throughout the script! On the page Oppenheimer is heading toward a fusion of novel and screenplay.

 

No surprise if a storyteller like Nolan or PTA wins a Nobel Prize for Literature one day.

[Jeff Bernstein]

Fun correction by Scrooby hyperbolizing the Situation

 

Please pardon the interruption, but Scrooby cannot live with himself if he discovers a ludicrous error that requires correction.

 

Earlier, calm Scrooby should have said :

 

How many words does Sophocles use in his seven plays that remain? According to Tufts University : 64,680.

How many times does Sophocles use ἐκπέπληγμαι in his plays? This one time.

How many times does Sophocles use ἐμπεπλεγμένην in his plays? This one time.

 

To recap : possibly the Mightiest Line in the History of Poetry of the Western World :

 

πλεκταῖσιν αἰώραισιν ἐμπεπλεγμένην. (Οἰδίπους Τύραννος, 1264)

 

appy polly loggies!

 

 

 

Edited September 12, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Just Now in The Harvard Crimson :

 

"Movies, by and large, are intended to evoke reactions. This makes sense, given that excited audiences are what keeps [sic] the moviemaking industry chugging. Theatergoers are ravenous for the next fresh and subversive take put forth by Hollywood’s best and brightest. While rehashed stories grow stale, reinvented stories bring people to the big screen en masse. . . . If gutsy studios take the bait that Barbenheimer has cast, the next “golden age” of cinema could truly be just around the corner."

 

Whoa. I think erroneous Scrooby has some competition in both Thinking and Prose from America's best and brightest.

 

 

 

Edited September 12, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Megapost on Sophocles

 

Remember, Kind Reader, the ending of the first act of Ajax?

 

ATHENA

So look on such things as this accordingly,

and do not speak a self-important word  

before the gods, nor exalt yourself if you

surpass someone in strength, or in abundant wealth.

As it is, in one short day of human life

everything collapses, or rises. The gods love

all sensible people, and hate the guilty.

 

Just here is a wondrously fine structural grace note. Yes, Scrooby deploys the phrase unspeakable genius.

 

Act 1 of Ajax is the exemplar of every action narrative ever constructed. Act 1 generates suspense, laughter, terror, tears (quite possibly). . . . Sophocles plays the audience like a piano.

 

How did he do it?

 

In this specific case (the end of Act 1), the literary conventions of his time allowed for Sophocles to engineer his magic.

 

Ajax’s first act whips up the audience into a whirlwind of contending emotions. By the end of the act the audience may very well have thought : “I just saw the greatest scene I’ve ever seen!”

 

But for Sophocles to arrive at this glowing review, he has to first bring down its ancient audience from its emotional calamity, and restore stability in the amphitheatre.

 

Speaking of magic tricks!

 

Please recall that in Psycho Hitchcock follows the shower scene by reverting back to the silent era until Marion is under the surface of the swamp. (This recalls Nolan keeping quiet for thirty seconds after the first “I am become death, destroyer of worlds”.)

 

Somewhere in the masterful book Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, author Stephen Rebello reminds us that the American audiences of 1960 remained unsettled throughout the entirety of Hitchcock’s “ten-minute rest”.

 

Ten minutes?

 

Sophocles calms the audience down in seven lines.

 

How does he do it? The answer is a simple one :

 

Structurally, Athena’s grand pronouncement should appear at the very end of the play.

 

Yes, Sophocles bumps up to the end of Act 1 a structural component that ancient audiences would otherwise expect to arrive at the end of the entire play—“a grand summation and warning speech”.

 

Example : The last lines of Οἰδίπους Τύραννος : “So may none of us call ourselves happy until we face our final day, complete our life, and feel no further pain.”

 

The audience may not realize what the playwright has done, but the effect of his structural engineering works in an unspeakably breathtaking way. Please remember that Europe preserved this play by Sophocles, along with six others, though he wrote over a hundred of them.

 

Sophocles’ structural slight-of-hand tricks the audience into calming down!

 

Extra detail for Scrooby’s adoring world audience :

 

Beethoven deploys an equivalent structural genius in the second movement of his violin concerto. Halfway through the movement comes an “extremely conclusive ending”—only for the movement to continue mystically on its way, as if everything now taking place is “after the end”.

 

The technique of the “extremely conclusive ending” then “continuing after the end” is applied by Jonny Greenwood in Phantom Thread (11:46).

 

 

 

Edited September 12, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Cinematographer + Education = a Gordon Willis.

 

Why is it important for cinematographers to absorb the ins and outs of fundamental storytelling principles not learned simply from watching other movies but by studying the wisdom of the ancients?

 

To help the director. Consider The Godfather (1972). Let us believe that Gordon Willis knew every technical innovation possible at the time. But if he had not known how to tell a story properly, he would not have been able to assist the director, and The Godfather may not have found its way to the screen, for Coppola, famously, left the visuals completely to Willis.

 

All the technical ability in the world will not help a cinematographer one iota regarding how to tell a story properly. Any old cinematographer can point and shoot (so to speak).

 

Do the young cinematographers of cinematography.com want to be a Gordon Willis?

 

Good luck.

[Jeff Bernstein]

Storaro and Apocalypse Now

 

If Vittorio Storaro had not worked with Francis Coppola, Apocalypse Now may never have reached the screen in any watchable format. Just how many times did the production screech to a halt until Storaro remarked to the director, “I have an idea”?