![]() ![]() Hillary Clinton’s decapitated face replaced the gorgon head. And, in recent years, the monstrous Medusa has become a default allegory for a hated woman in the public eye.Ī 2016 cartoon of Benvenuto Cellini’s statue Perseus With the Head of Medusa became a hugely influential meme during the US presidential election. But it cemented the idea of Medusa as predator in my mind for a long time. I love this film: it was my first introduction to Greek myth. Perseus has to approach her by looking at her reflection in his shield, and even once he has killed her, she is toxic. He hunts Medusa to a dark cave, and discovers that she is hunting him too: armed with a bow, she picks off his comrade with an arrow, and then petrifies him with her glowing eyes. Harry Hamlin, as the handsome young hero Perseus, has been sent on a quest to find the head of a gorgon. ![]() For my generation, we knew this at a very early age, from the 1981 movie Clash of the Titans. She can destroy you with a single glance. ![]() There is no more potent symbol of male fear of the female gaze than Medusa. “Don’t look at her, Johnny! She may turn you to stone!” read the first line of the piece. It was illustrated with Caravaggio’s painting of Medusa, her hair a writhing mass of snakes, her eyes bulging, her mouth open in a silent scream. “A ncient Archetypes, Amber Heard, and How to Avoid Both” read a headline on a rightwing US website in May. ![]()
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