History YMMV / OedipusTheKing

** The main part of it, though, is that to an ancient Greek watching this play, Oedipus would've deserved what was coming to him because of his pride. Nowadays, it just seems kinda mean spirited. There's also the fact that infanticide by exposure was actually common practice in ancient Greece.
*** Yes and no. If you read the songs by the Chorus (who are kind of like audience surrogates), they seem genuinely confused about whether Oedipus' suffering has any meaning at all, and the only [[AnAesop Aesop]] they can come up with is "no matter how successful someone is, don't judge him happy until he's died happy, because you never know what could happen."
** It's also hard for the modern to accept the original murder of his father. The only thing that made it a crime was his eventual revealed identity. That Oedipus killed a man for a traffic violation, and even casually talked about it to others, means nobody cared... until they knew who it was.

* ValuesDissonance: Quite a bit. Mainly: To an ancient Greek watching this play, Oedipus would've deserved what was coming to him because of his pride. Nowadays, it just seems kinda mean spirited. There's also the fact that infanticide by exposure was actually common practice in ancient Greece.
** Yes and no. If you read the songs by the Chorus (who are kind of like audience surrogates), they seem genuinely confused about whether Oedipus' suffering has any meaning at all, and the only [[AnAesop Aesop]] they can come up with is "no matter how successful someone is, don't judge him happy until he's died happy, because you never know what could happen."
** It's also hard for the modern to accept the original murder of his father. The only thing that made it a crime was his eventual revealed identity. That Oedipus killed a man for a traffic violation, and even casually talked about it to others, means nobody cared. ...until they knew who it was.

* {{Narm}}: To a modern audience, a lot of Greek theater comes off this way because most modern Western actors lack the training to perform it in a way that doesn't just look like [[WorldOfHam cheesy overacting,]] and audiences that are used to Realism may struggle to take it seriously even when it's done well.

* {{Narm}}: To a modern audience, a lot of Greek theater comes off this way because [[WorldOfHam it is acted in an overly dramatic manner.]]

* HeyItsThatGuy: The 1957 version features a very young [[WilliamShatner William Shatner]], [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOlaRdgJyWk who is briefly seen at the beginning intro]], when the actors have no masks. It was his second film role but unfortunately thanks to the masks we never see which specific chorus member he plays.
** Douglas Rain, aka [[Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey HAL 9000]], also plays the role of the Messenger.

* NauseaFuel: When Oedipus finds out what he has done, [[spoiler: he gouges his eyes out with his wife's brooches.]]

** Alternatively, don't kill people who cut you off in traffic.
*** Alternatively-alternatively, ''don't cut people off in traffic''.

* ItWasHisSled: The play was based on an old story and written with the expectation that the audience knew the ending.

* AlternateAesopInterpretation - It could also be said that the big lesson from the story is to simply ignore what the oracles say in the first place. As in each case it was the people involved trying to AVOID the prophecy that caused it. Oedipus' parents sending him to die, where he is instead brought to a different kingdom far away. He hears about his destiny, and fearing that it might happen, leaves what he thinks is his birth home. Frankly if anyone involved would have said, "This prophecy is silly" it probably wouldn't have happened.

* AwardSnub - This play is the most famous of all of Greek tragedy. When it was first performed, it got second place at the city Dionysia competition.
* HeyItsThatGuy - The 1957 version features a very young [[WilliamShatner William Shatner]], [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOlaRdgJyWk who is briefly seen at the beginning intro]], when the actors have no masks. It was his second film role but unfortunately thanks to the masks we never see which specific chorus member he plays.

* ItWasHisSled - The play was based on an old story and written with the expectation that the audience knew the ending.

* NauseaFuel - When Oedipus finds out what he has done, [[spoiler: he gouges his eyes out with his wife's brooches.]]

* {{Narm}} - To a modern audience, a lot of Greek theater comes off this way because [[WorldOfHam it is acted in an overly dramatic manner.]]

* NightmareFuel - There's a video adaptation out there featuring every actor wearing a gigantic mask with terrifyingly huge, black eyes. Ancient Greek theater was actually performed this way, though.

* NewerThanTheyThink - The play is OlderThanFeudalism but is actually a ''prequel'' to ''Theatre/{{Antigone}}''.
* TearJerker - It's already awfully sad seeing everything go to pot for Oedipus because of Fate, but perhaps the worst part is when he has to explain to his daughters how they will be viewed as disgusting aberrations all because of him.
* ValuesDissonance - Quite a bit. Mainly: To an ancient Greek watching this play, Oedipus would've deserved what was coming to him because of his pride. Nowadays, it just seems kinda mean spirited. There's also the fact that infanticide by exposure was actually common practice in ancient Greece.

** Alternatively, don't be so harsh on murderers and motherfuckers. It happens to everyone!

** Douglas Rain, aka [[TwoThousandAndOneASpaceOdyssey HAL 9000]], also plays the role of the Messenger.

** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDndS5N9tes I KILLED THEM AAAAALLLLL!!!!! AAAAAAAAARARARAAAAGGGHHHHH!!!! AAAAARRRRRRAAAAAAGGGGHH!!! RAAAAAAGH... aaah....]]

** That's the 1957 version, by Tyrone Guthrie, which nowadays is pretty rare and usually held at libraries, but most of it can be viewed at [[http://www.mgoon.com/view.htm?id=1425554 Mgoon]].

** An earlier scene also has Tiresias giving his signature warning to Oedipus while falling down and flopping around on the ground as though spontaneously getting heart attacks. The Chorus has to regularly push him back up, almost to the point of playing catch with him, and the fact that he's been made to look like some tremendous ghostly bird does not help.

* AccidentalNightmareFuel - There's a video adaptation out there featuring every actor wearing a gigantic mask with terrifyingly huge, black eyes. Ancient Greek theatre was actually performed this way, though.
** That's the 1957 version, by Tyrone Guthrie, which nowadays is pretty rare and usually held at libraries, but most of it can be viewed at [[http://www.mgoon.com/view.htm?id=1425554 Mgoon]].

* NightmareFuel - There's a video adaptation out there featuring every actor wearing a gigantic mask with terrifyingly huge, black eyes. Ancient Greek theatre was actually performed this way, though.
** That's the 1957 version, by Tyrone Guthrie, which nowadays is pretty rare and usually held at libraries, but most of it can be viewed at [[http://www.mgoon.com/view.htm?id=1425554 Mgoon]].

* {{Narm}} - Upon the revelation that Oedipus is her son, Iocaste immediately leaves the room. A servant walks in shortly afterward to report that the queen has committed suicide. You may or may not find the abruptness of all this hilarious.
** To a modern audience, a lot of Greek theater comes off this way because it is acted in an overly dramatic manner. The 1957 version, in recalling this style, has sparked a small meme about about the scene where Oedipus furiously recalls his attack at the crossroads, including him [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDndS5N9tes waving his arms back and forth like a skier.]]

* NewerThanTheyThink - The play is OlderThanFeudalism but is actually a ''prequel'' to ''Theater/{{Antigone}}''.

* ValuesDissonance - Quite a bit. Mainly: To an ancient Greek watching this play, Oedipus would've deserved what was coming to him because of his pride. Nowadays, it just seems kinda mean spirited. There's also the fact that infanticide by exposure was actually common practice in ancient Greece.

* HeyItsThatGuy - The 1957 version features a very young [[WilliamShatner William Shatner]], [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOlaRdgJyWk who is briefly seen at the beginning intro]], when the actors have no masks. It was his second film role but unfortunately thanks to the masks we never see which specific chorus member he plays. Douglas Rain, aka [[TwoThousandAndOneASpaceOdyssey HAL 9000]], also plays the role of the Messenger.

* HeyItsThatGuy - The 1957 version features a very young [[WilliamShatner William Shatner]], [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOlaRdgJyWk who is briefly seen at the beginning intro]] where the actors have no masks. It was his second film role but unfortunately we never see which specific chorus member he plays. Douglas Rain, aka [[TwoThousandAndOneASpaceOdyssey HAL 9000]] also plays the role of the Messenger.

** That's the 1957 version, by Tyrone Guthrie, which nowadays is pretty rare and held usually at libraries, but most of it can be viewed at [[http://www.mgoon.com/view.htm?id=1425554 Mgoon]].

** That's the 1957 version, by Tyrone Guthrie, which nowadays is pretty unknown, but still can be found at most libraries.

TearJerker - It's already awfully sad seeing everything go to pot for Oedipus because of Fate, but perhaps the worst part is when he has to explain to his daughters how they will be viewed as disgusting aberrations all because of him.