Every Monday, we analyze the number one Billboard song for its deeper meaning and what it says about the human condition.
Looking at the latest Katy Perry song as a scholar of the core (read: second semester freshman), I think I’m totally qualified to say that “Part of Me,” which debuted at Number One on Billboard’s Top 100 list this week, is an artistic response to Euripides’ Medea.
For those of you looking for a refresher, Medea is a barbarian who kind of married Jason (from the Argonauts). When Jason decided that he wanted a new wife (likely a fleece-digger—get it? His fleece made of gold), Medea gets mad and kills the kids, then poisons Jason’s new lady friend. Then she flies off on a dragon. (See what you're missing out on, SEAS kids?)
