• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.393-398
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• 2022

Yorgos Lanthimos' The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017) uses Iphigeneia in Aulis written by Euripides, one of the three great Greek tragedies writers, as the archetypal narrative. Thus, Lanthimos introduces a mythical world stained with 'blood violence by a divine being' within the cinematic diegesis of a modern American metropolis. And the mythical motifs of curses and scapegoats are varied. This thesis tried to read the scapegoat mechanism, the oldest mechanism of escape from the crisis of collective sacrifice, and the imitative and mutual characteristics of desire and violence through René Girard through the mythical world built in the modern time and space of the film. Martin places a cursed oracle on Steven when his desire to place him in his father's place is thwarted. The 'good' reciprocity between two people is rapidly transformed into a 'bad' reciprocity. The Killing of Sacred Deer is an excellent portrayal of how the scapegoat mechanism works through Steven's family. The selection of the scapegoat by lot gives the sacrificial lamb a sacred character thanks to its divine nature, and the scapegoat becomes a sacred being, and the family order is re-established.