“Kaos” Attracts From Artwork Historical past to Inform Its Story


In late August, Netflix launched Kaos, a darkish comedy reimagining Greek mythology for a contemporary viewers. British actor and author Charlie Covell, a self-professed mythology nerd, created and wrote the eight-episode collection, counting on a heavy dose of excessive trend and artwork historical past to convey the chaotic world of deities, mortals, and three-headed canine to life. 

Quite a few visible references and cues assist the viewers learn the collection, particularly the usage of coloration — or lack thereof. The monochromatic, bureaucratized Underworld that Riddy (Aurora Perrineau) — a nickname for Eurydice, lover of Orpheus, whom he sought to rescue from demise by charming the gods of the underworld together with his music — enters after her demise is devoid of coloration and life. And whereas the polychromatic nature of Kaos’s higher world could also be jarring as a result of we’re so used to the whitewashing of antiquity, it cleverly captures the visible realities of the traditional world.

The colour palette of the collection can also be an efficient method of separating the plot strains: the neon brashness of Olympia; the brilliant, saturated hues of the streets of Heraklion; the drab beiges of the Trojans and their ghetto; the intense {and professional} navy and blacks of the royal household; and the monochrome Underworld are all visually distinct. 

The costumes of Kaos additionally cleverly level us towards the personalities of the characters. Orpheus (Killian Scott), as an illustration, has a lyre tattoo; Persephone (Rakie Ayola), queen of each springtime and demise, wears a flower print gown outdoors the Underworld; and Dionysus (Nabhaan Rizwan), god of wine and partying, seems at one level in a shirt printed with tigers, certainly one of his signature motifs. 

Different sartorial decisions embody the essences of their characters quite than make the most of particular iconography. The loungewear of Zeus — performed by Jeff Goldblum — and the kaftans of Hera (Janet McTeer), as an illustration, do an ideal job of displaying how little work they actually do as gods, as does Poseidon’s poolwear. In the meantime, Hades’s funeral-director costuming factors to each his legendary position as god of the Underworld and the truth that, of the three brothers, he would be the just one actually doing his job (ably supported by Persephone, whose costuming casts her as a really proficient receptionist). There are additionally plenty of trend decisions that don’t map instantly onto their mythological counterparts, however are attractive nonetheless — Riddy’s white sweetheart-neck Stella McCartney death-dress, a minimalist bridal look, is a spotlight!

The present’s most profitable characterization by way of costuming, nevertheless, is that of Dionysus, whose arc may be very a lot worn in his garments. One of many first shirts we see him in is printed with Francisco Goya’s c. 1798 “Witches Sabbath,” which depicts a coven of witches seated round Devil in a picture of Bacchic extra. When he tells Orpheus how he can get Riddy again, he’s carrying a Matrix-code-style shirt, maybe nodding to the concept that Orpheus is having his eyes opened to the unseen potentialities of the world. Halfway by way of the collection, his shirts and jackets change into extra summary in model, together with one depicting Basquiat’s 1982 portray “Untitled (Tenant). By the tip of the collection, Dionysus’s costuming is way more subdued, suggesting his need and skill to tackle extra accountability past his position as god of hedonism.

Artwork has lengthy drawn from and popularized Greco-Roman mythology — in that sense, it has not left our visible creativeness since antiquity. Though the extraordinarily trendy picture of mythology introduced by the present feels novel and surprising, then, it would simply be the latest instantiation of a long-running phenomenon: The Pre-Raphaelites, as an illustration, shocked the institution with their up to date depictions of Greek mythology filtered by way of their very own lens of Victorian visible tradition. 

Movie nonetheless of Nabhaan Rizwan’s Dionysus from Kaos (2024)
Movie nonetheless of Nabhaan Rizwan’s Dionysus from Kaos (2024), carrying the matrix-coded shirt

All through, Kaos each exploits and disrupts this historical past. A number of the casting leans on now near-canonical in style photos of legendary figures, together with Ayola’s Persephone, which follows a slew of Black Persephones following Rosario Dawson’s tackle the character in 2010’s Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. However Kaos additionally diverges from most re-imaginings of Greek fable in its sleek dealing with of distinction and lack of must justify it by way of mythology. Covell, as an illustration, casts disabled actors in roles that aren’t Hephaestus, who’s clubfooted, or Oedipus, who’s blind. The cinematography does justice to the vary of pores and skin tones; the costuming is delicate to limb variations and trans our bodies. Maybe the simplest side of Kaos’s aesthetics, then, is that it ignores in style creativeness to a big extent, insisting upon a legendary realm that’s consultant of the variety and number of actual life.

It’s a disgrace to lose that illustration, given Netflix’s current announcement that the present won’t be renewed. And we’ll miss the model moments — like Zeus’s dictatorial WFH match — too.

Kaos (2024) is streaming on Netflix.

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