Oedipus Rex Film Analysis

Oedipus’ Costume in Tyrone Guthrie’s Oedipus Rex, 1957
“Oedipus Rex” or “Oedipus the King” is a tragedy play written by the ancient Greek playwright, Sophocles. This play told a story of King of Thebes, who discovered that he has unwittingly killed his own father, Laius, and married his own mother, Iocasta. Over the centuries, “Oedipus Rex” has been considered as Sophocles’ masterpiece (Mastin). On January 1, 1957, a filmed version of Oedipus Rex directed by Tyrone Guthrie, was released by Motion Picture Distributors, Inc. The film was based on the translation and adaptation done by William Butler Yeats. In this film version, Oedipus’ costume was designed significantly different from other characters. In all scenes before the exodos part, the costume of Oedipus properly framed his characteristics as a powerful, responsible, and noble king. In addition to that, the costume also displayed Oedipus’ wealthy live as a king and a man with a great insight. Later, in the exodos part, the change of Oedipus’ costume dramatically depicted his psychological disposition as well as his new phase of tragic life.
As stated by Landis, “Costumes are also used to focus attention on the major actors and the important action in a scene”, in connection to Oedipus in the filmed version, there was no hesitation regarding this saying. Oedipus, as the main character, was set up to wear the costume with the golden color, at the beginning, which made him standing out compared to others. And when