Below is a clip from the deathless Elvis vehicle Spin Out; in this particular scene, Elvis--in disguise as a relative of a rich homeowner--croons the title song Spin Out while throwing the world's most tacky 1960s pool party. Questions to think about as you ponder the relationship between Elvis and the Bacchae: what sort of metaphors does Elvis employ? How might they be relevant to some of the basic themes of the Euripides play? What's the relationship between singer and women in the movie? In the play? What's with the costume design? Are there other modern Americans who might qualify as a modern Dionysus?
Camille Paglia writes (apopros the Bacchae): "Dionysus is nature's raw sex and violence. He is drugs, drink, dance -- the dance of death. My generation of the 60s may be the first since antiquity to have had so direct an experience of Dionysus." Does this film clip confirm or demolish Paglia's assertion?
When you have finished reeling from the film clip, go to the next Elvis page.
