Fictional representations of Roma
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Many fictional depictions of the Roma emphasize their supposed mystical powers. Roma often appear in fiction as nomads, or a sort of supernatural Deus ex machina.
Literary representations include:
- Walter Scott's novel Guy Mannering
- Victor Hugo's novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
- Miguel de Cervantes' novel La Gitanilla
- Georges Bizet's opera Carmen
- Prosper Mérimée's short story "Carmen"
- Ana Castillo's novel Peel My Love Like an Onion
- Dracula by Bram Stoker features a group of Gypsies working for the Count, as they were often retainers (or serf/slaves) of noble families.
- Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude
- The Lyre of Orpheus and The Rebel Angels by Robertson Davies features major characters who maintain Gypsy traditions, including the care and repair of musical instruments, in modern Canada.
- Stephen King's novel Thinner includes the classic plot device of the gypsy's curse. It was also made into a movie.
- Roma appear in several short stories by the great French writer Guy de Maupassant.
- Canadian contemporary fantasy author Charles de Lint's novel Mulengro presents a portrayal of the Rom and their cultural myths.
- Montoyas y Tarantos by Saura.
- The James Bond novel (and movie) From Russia with Love set in a gypsy encampment in Turkey, features a traditional fight to the death between two gypsy girls vying for the affection of the same man.
- The novel For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway featured a gypsy named Rafael.
- The Tintin adventure The Castafiore Emerald by Hergé features several Roma characters and a few Romani words. This graphic novel is very sympathetic to the Roma characters. In the story, Tintin allows the Roma to camp on the grounds of Marlinspike Hall.
Roma in other media include:
- Marlene Dietrich stars in Golden Earrings (1947) as a Gypsy whose clan aids British agent Ray Milland escape from the Nazis during World War II.
- Serbian director Emir Kusturica often used the Roma community as basis of his films.
- Gadjo dilo written and directed by Tony Gatlif. Stéphane, a young French man from Paris, travels to Romania. He is looking for the singer Nora Luca, he had heard on cassette, and whom his father had heard all the time before his death.
- Noa, of the movie Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa, is a Roma whom the main character befriends. She is persecuted because of her ethnic identity and clairvoyance abilities.
- Roma characters are frequently depicted in werewolf films, including Maleva the fortuneteller (Maria Ouspenskaya) in The Wolf Man and the Roma clan of female werewolves in Cry of the Werewolf.
- Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy features a nomadic race called the Gyptians. Gyptians are roughly the equivalent of Gypsies in our universe, with the exception that they use narrowboats in place of caravans. Throughout the books they are portrayed as good and kindly people.
- Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Legacy series of fantasy novels includes the Tsingani, based on the Roma.
- In 2002 the WB television series Charmed aired the episode "The Eyes Have It" which explained Gypsies to be distant relatives to modern day witches. Much like the star witches in the series Gypsies possess supernatural powers and pass down family Books of Shadows.
- On the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Gypsies place a curse on the vampire Angelus to punish him for the murder of one of their tribe, by restoring his human soul (and by extension, his conscience) and forcing him to feel guilt for his crimes.
- The videogame Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King features Roma characters Kalderasha, named after the Kalderash, and his daughter Valentina.
- The Robert Duvall film Angelo My Love.
- In The Andy Griffith Show, episode 183 in the sixth season is titled "The Gypsies". A family of Gypsies (one of whom is played by Jamie Farr) places a curse on the town of Mayberry.
- In the Star Wars New Jedi Order series of books, the Ryn race are inspired by the Roma.
- A 2007 episode of the television series House features a Rom patient and family.
- In Train de Vie, a group of fleeing Jews meet up with a large group of Roma.
- Several of Emir Kusturica's movies are about Roma. For instance, Time of the Gypsies and Black Cat, White Cat.
