In Lithuanian animated films, the sea is usually depicted as a sacred mythological space where two worlds meet: the human and the supernatural. Special focus is given to interpretations of a fairy-tale “Eglė, the Queen of Serpents” and a legend “Jūratė and Kastytis”. The film “Eglė, the Queen of Serpents” (2003) by Aurika Selenienė and Algirdas Selenis conveys the mythological atmosphere of the fairy-tale based on the ancient Baltic belief. In Antanas Skučas’s film “Žilvinas and Eglė” (2013) created following a poem by Vincas Mykolaitis-Putinas, a drama of a human-serpent identity is revealed in a stylised manner. The sea becomes the setting for a crucial choice: Eglė’s entrance into the depths of this natural element signifies not only love, but also an irreversible shift in her fate. The sea is the domain of Jūratė, the queen of the Amber Castle. In a film “Amber Castle” (1959) initiated by Gražina Brašiškytė, the sea is as unpredictable as the love between the goddess Jūratė and the fisherman Kastytis. Nijolė Valadkevičiūtė’s film “Jūratė and Kastytis” (1989) stands out for its experimental expression and surreal aesthetics of collage with prevailing images of waves and amber, whereas the ballad of Maironis is interpreted in a free and modern way. Valentas Aškinis’s “The Adventures of Odysseus’ (2012) is the first Lithuanian full-length animated film that was shot using the classical celluloid animation technique. The sea obtains a universal mythological dimension which becomes the space for chaos and heroic challenges. It symbolises the power of gods, human vulnerability and obstacles which Odysseus has to overcome while travelling back home to Ithaca.
THE SEA AS A MYTHOLOGICAL SPACE