Circe in popular culture

The Greek mythology character Circe has appeared many times in the 20th and 21st century popular culture, either under her own name or as a sorceress with similar powers under others. Post-Classical amplifications and reinterpretations of that story and others involving her are dealt with in the article on Circe in the arts. The instances mentioned here are more recent allusions and adaptations.

• In John Myers Myers's 1949 novel Silverlock, Circe turns the main character into a pig due to his proclivity for food and fornication.^[1]

• Although Julio Cortazar titled one of his short stories "Circe" (1951), its main theme is about perverse sexual gratification in a repressed Catholic environment. Delia Mañara is notorious in her quarter of Buenos Aires for the mysterious deaths of two of her fiancés. She lives in a twilight world and gains most satisfaction through the exercise of power over others. It emerges that she killed the two men by poisoning them with the sweets she makes; when this fails with her third fiancé, he is freed from her fatal attraction by the knowledge.^[2] In 1964 it was made into a film in Argentina with Graciela Borges as Delia.

• Circe appeared disguised as "Mrs. Cissy Hawk" ("hawk" being the English version of "Circe"^[3]) in the episode "The Remarkable Mrs. Hawk" on the show Thriller, hosted by Boris Karloff.^[4] The episode was based on the short story "Mrs. Hawk" by Margaret St. Clair, originally published in the July 1950, Weird Tales.^[5]

• Circe is also mentioned in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone as a famous witch and has a Chocolate Frog Card dedicated to her. Furthermore, Hogwarts Castle owns a painting of her.

• Circe is a metaphor in the song "little one" in the musical High Society. Bing Crosby sings "you're my downfall, you're my Circe".

• In Rick Riordan's novel The Sea of Monsters Circe runs an island health spa and turns Percy Jackson into a guinea pig (she says that they are "much more convenient" than real pigs), and his friend Annabeth Chase uses magical multivitamins (the equivalent of moly) to restore Percy to his true form. It is revealed she turned Blackbeard and some of his crew into Guinea pigs, and once they turn back they wreck the place.

• In the novel The Crows of Bedu by Nye Joell Hardy (2010), Circe creates a giant Tree House to ensnare her adorants.

• Circe appeared in Bookworm Adventures as a boss who later shows Lex the secret portal into the Underworld.

• In the short story and graphic novel The Laughter of Witches, Circe is presented as an all-powerful being (though 'less than a god', as she describes herself) who dwells on an island surrounded by a menagerie of animals ranging from wolves and dogs to toucans and raptors. When Odysseus, shown here as a coward whose success is owed to dumb luck, approaches her, she mentally attacks him with magic and sends him running back to his men. The soldiers laugh and mock Odysseus' fear and drag him screaming back to Circe, who's laid out a feast with beautiful women attending. The men become drunk and rowdy, and three of them attempt to rape Circe before she turns them all into wild pigs, and her maidens into vicious dogs. Odysseus is turned into a goat and tries to attack Circe, but she counters by transforming into a savage panther and chasing him back into the sea, where Scylla tosses him into a whirlpool (presumably Charybdis) to the underworld.

• In the 1983 film Hercules, Circe is played by Mirella D'Angelo and appears first as an old woman. Transformed by drinking the hero's blood, she helps him when he is attacked by the robots that stand in for monsters in this 'updated' version, but for selfish reasons of her own.^[6]

• Circe appeared in the cartoon Ulysses 31 where she attempted to build a tower that would house all the knowledge of the universe, thus making her more powerful than the gods.

• In DC Universe, Circe is a constant and deadly foe of Wonder Woman and is in league with the witchcraft goddess Hecate; in Marvel Comics, the immortal Eternal superheroine Sersi, created by Jack Kirby, is based on Circe, transforming Odysseus' men into pigs not out of malice, but because they were misbehaving at one of her parties.

• Circe appears in the fifth episode of the cartoon series Mission Odyssey. Odysseus lands on Circe's island and his crew gets turned into pigs. After he finds her magic book containing information about Ithaka, Circe encounters him and sics the beasts on him. However, they turn on her and she unleashes a giant praying mantis on them. Odysseus then destroys the source of her magic, the book, and she vanishes.

• "Circe poisoning the Sea" is the name of a song from Alcest's 2009 Alcest / Les Discrets split EP.

• Circe appears in the sixth and twelfth episodes of the BBC One 2013 drama series Atlantis.^[7]

• Circe is depicted in one episode of Hercules: The Animated Series as a beautiful voluptuous woman with long dark hair and a red chiton dress searching for "one good man" and picks Hercules' friend Icarus briefly before turning him into an animal.

• Circe is a playable character in the MOBA real time strategy game Heroes of Newerth

• Circe is a Client for IRC in Emacs, where the letters of the name at the same time serve as initials of the explanation.

• In the Greek mythological series God of War, Circe appears in the graphic novel titled Rise of the Warrior, which is a prequel story to the 2013 video game, God of War: Ascension.

References

1. Eller, Eric. "John Myers Myers, Silverlock (Ace Books, 2005)". Green Man Review. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
2. The mythical correspondences are explored by Sophie Dufays in Circé de Cortázar : au carrefour du mythe et du fantastique, Folia Electronica Classica, B Louvain-la-Neuve 2007, Numéro 13
3. Yarnall, Judith (1994). Transformations of Circe: The History of an Enchantress. University of Illinois. p. 28. ISBN 0-252-02063-4.
4. Monstergirl (November 24, 2011). "Boris Karloff's Thriller The Remarkable Mrs Hawk: A Modern Re-telling of Homer's Odyssey, Circean Poison with a Side of Bacon". The Last DriveIn. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
5. Warren, Alan (1996). This Is a Thriller: An Episode Guide, History and Analysis of the Classic 1960s Television Series. Jefferson, NC: McFarland Press. p. 146. ISBN 0-7864-1969-5.
6. "Hercules (1983)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
7. Media Centre (October 2013). "Atlantis". BBC One. Retrieved October 30, 2013.