“Gift of the Gods” is what the name Pandora means, and according to Kate Millett, her myth is, together with ‘the Expulsion from Paradise,’ one of the two most important myths of Western mythology. Laura Mulvey sees her as the perfect prototype of the femme fatale in cinema. And the Flying Dutchman is a curse regarded by sailors as a harbinger of doom. The legends that also give their name to the film to be screened at Kundura Sinema in March and April, “Pandora and the Flying Dutchman,” have dark stories befitting the film’s gothic world.

The perfect prototype of the femme fatale: Pandora

Pandora is the first mortal woman in Greek mythology, and “Gift of the Gods” is what her name means. There are many versions of the story, but the one most of them agree on goes like this: To punish Prometheus, who stole fire from him and gave it to humankind, the god Zeus sends to earth Pandora, endowed with divine beauty and intelligence, to steal the heart of Prometheus’s brother Epimetheus. Along with her he sends a box (according to some interpreters, a jar resembling an earthenware pot) that she is told must never be opened. Overcome by curiosity, Pandora opens the box, and all the evils inside spread across the world. When she closes the box at the last moment, only “hope” remains inside.

 Josef Abel – Prometheus, Merkur und die Pandora, 1814 (Photo: Wikipedia)

The feminist writer and theorist Kate Millett, in her cult book Sexual Politics, says that the two most important myths of Western mythology, which “blame woman through her sexuality and state that she was rightly punished for committing the first sin, whose consequences the female race still bears,” are ‘the Expulsion from Paradise’ and ‘Pandora’: “In both myths, the notion of evil coming from woman has passed through an eternal phase and acquired the character of a moral proof of great influence. (…) Pandora is the first representative of “the accursed race of women, a plague that men must endure.” The beginning of man’s downfall came with the appearance of woman and of sexuality, said to be her sole product.” Millett also questions how Pandora was used in the construction of patriarchy: “Patriarchy has taken God to its side. One of the most effective instruments of control and oppression in patriarchy is the pervasive character of doctrines concerning the nature and origin of woman, and its view that every kind of evil and danger attributed to sexuality comes from woman.

At this point we come across interesting examples in Greek history: In ancient Greece, when sexuality was to be praised and exalted, fertility was celebrated through the phallus; when sexuality was to be disparaged, Pandora was put forward. Patriarchal religion and morality treat woman and sexuality together, as if all the evils associated with sex were solely the fault of woman. In this way sexuality, regarded as dirty, sinful and degrading, is attributed to woman, while man is considered more in his human aspect than in his sexuality.” As a figure in whom evil and punishment are equated with woman, Pandora has been a source of inspiration in many fields of art, from painting to sculpture and from theater to opera, and in cinema she appears above all in the representation of the femme fatale. The renowned feminist film historian Laura Mulvey says that Pandora, “a surface that is attractive and captivating to people, masking a mechanical inner world or a deceptive outward appearance,” is the perfect prototype of the femme fatale.

Pandora’s first powerful appearance on screen comes in the silent film by Georg Wilhelm Pabst, “Pandora’s Box”. Kundura Sinema followers will also remember the 1929 film from its screening with live music in 2019. It tells the story of the dancer Lulu, played by Louise Brooks, who seduces men and drags them to disaster. An adaptation of the 1921 film of the same name directed by Arzén von Cserépy, with Asta Nielsen in the role of Lulu, the film made a bigger splash than the original and created one of the first femme fatales in cinema history.

The sailors’ curse: the Flying Dutchman
Richard Wagner’s 1841 opera ‘Der Fliegende Holländer’ was also inspired by the Flying Dutchman — the name of the ship in a sea legend that has many versions. According to the best-known one, the captain of the Flying Dutchman, Van Der Decken (Davy Jones), stubbornly insists on rounding the Cape of Good Hope despite a raging storm, defying nature and therefore God. Cursed by God, the Flying Dutchman cannot round the Cape of Good Hope and is condemned to sail the seas forever.

Believed among sailors to bring bad luck, the Flying Dutchman also appears in many fields, from literature to cinema and popular culture. Samuel Taylor Colleridge’s famous poem ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ was written about it, for example, and it is referenced in many classics such as “Treasure Island”, “Peter Pan”, “Moby Dick”. Davy Jones, frequently seen as a character in animated series such as “Popeye” and “SpongeBob SquarePants”, has also made a guest appearance in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” film series, where he turns up as Jack Sparrow’s troublesome creditor.