"You should have married me," the lover said ruefully.
"Then I'd be doing this with him." 'This' being a sweaty steamy rendezvous on a yacht.
It is this post-coital exchange, and not the in-your-face geopolitical references and scenarios, that establishes Kaos as one of the most incisive commentaries on contemporary global affairs. A present-day adaptation of several stories from Greek mythology, this new Netflix series is being binge-watched for all the obvious reasons. There's sex, politics, violence, and a whole lot of family drama. And it all involves the gods. It can be easily seen as the Greek mythology version of The Godfather or Succession or even the homegrown Mirzapur. What is missed, hiding in plain sight, are the insights on international relations, particularly the equations between the Global North and the Global South.
Minos, The King Of Crete
According to Thucydides, Minos, the king of Crete, was the first man to build a naval force, and he ruled through a 'divine' decree. He offered peace to neighbouring kingdoms like Athens in return for sacrificial virgins. When he died, he became a judge of the Underworld. In the show, Minos is one of the minions of the gods, under the direct command of Poseidon, the king of the seas. His existence and influence depend on doing the gods' bidding without asking questions or being bothered by attached moral dilemmas. Minos of Crete is also a coloniser.
Defying the mythological chronology, Minos is shown interrogating Andromache and Hecuba, the widows of the heroes of the Trojan War, Hector and his father, King Priam. He does not treat the fallen queens of Troy as equals. Though Trojans are technically the citizens of Crete, they do not have equal rights. His dealings with them are more deception than diplomacy.
When the empire writes back in the first episode, all hell breaks loose. The crackdown on Troytown-a refugee ghetto of Trojans-is reminiscent of all crackdowns against immigrants from the Global South across Europe and the US. Minos is not content with merely defeating Troy; he also wants to erase any sense of self-worth in its people, even two decades after the Trojan War. As most formerly colonised people understand, crushed economies can be rebuilt more easily than a crushed collective sense of the self.
Mighty, Cruel Gods
But the series is not about Minos. It is about Zeus and his family - the mighty, cruel, and self-serving gods and goddesses who treat their devotees and decriers alike - with ruthlessness and contempt. That's how absolute power behaves in every age and realm. Zeus, the most powerful of all gods, is also the most insecure of them all. His need for abject prostration from not just the mortals but also his fellow gods disallows any dialogue on the high table. There is no room for defiance.
As the most powerful entity in the Kaos universe, Zeus is capable of causing irreversible damage to people and places. With such power should have come responsibility. In an ideal world. Not in the world of Zeus. Nor in ours. The absolutism of Zeus's power is matched with the ineluctability of its misuse. The weaker his opponents, the greater his joy in crushing them. But his ruthlessness is not limited to his opponents. Twisting the neck of his bastard newborn only to satisfy his wife's whim is not too difficult for him.
The power relations in Kaos mimic the current geopolitical situation involving the G7 countries, the middle economies, the strategically positioned countries, and the damned pool of countries of the Global South. The middle economies, a la Minos, who depend on and thus recruited by the G7, are eager to unquestioningly help establish a world order that pushes everyone else to the margins. It still does not guarantee their survival.
The Underworld
Another interesting reading of contemporary geopolitics provided by Kaos is through the concept of renewal in the Underworld. Like powerful nations dangle the carrot of a better life for model citizens of the Global South, the gods have been using Renewal - reincarnation - to keep humans in line. Dissent, blasphemy, independence of thought and action in the world are all kept at bay through this fraud in the Underworld. Instead of getting renewed, the souls of dead human beings are harvested to reinforce the immortality of the gods. Just like the sweatshops in the Global South make the Global North richer and more powerful.
The Global North, like the family of Zeus, is driven by the principle of self-fulfilling prophecies. In the last episode, the Fates chuckle that prophecies exist and are potent only when they are believed. Zeus has created enemies, though powerless, among the mortals and immortals alike because of his obsession with rules-based order. His rules, his brand of order. Zeus's belief in his invincibility is paradoxically mirrored by his faith in the prophecy of his fall. Thus, the paranoia.
Zeus believes in the inevitability of evil. Just like his wife, Hera believes in the inevitability of her propensity for adultery. She prefers Poseidon over Zeus but is candid with the former: "Then I'd be doing this with him."
This awareness is the new global order.
(Nishtha Gautam is a Delhi-based author and academic.)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author