Post by Barbara Gordon on Apr 9, 2010 21:50:21 GMT -5
SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!
If you haven't seen the movie and don't want to be spoiled, turn back now!!!!!!
For those of you that don't care, continue to read.
If you haven't seen the movie and don't want to be spoiled, turn back now!!!!!!
For those of you that don't care, continue to read.
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Okay, I'm a huge Greek mythology buff. Ask me anything you want about and I can tell you straight off the bat. I've read pretty much everything there is to read on Greek myths, including The Iliad, which isn’t that easy. So, anyway, I first discovered Clash of the Titans back in the 1990s and I fell in love, despite all of its mistakes. The clay-mation was just so funny!
Naturally, when I heard about a remake, I was stoked! I was telling everyone I knew about it and was bouncing off the walls about it! And then I heard a spoiler that Perseus' romantic interest wasn't Andromeda. Naturally, I was suspicious and searched the web for all the information I could find. And I got my answers! After seeing the movie, I'm even more annoyed with it! Clash of the Titans was a movie that I always hoped would be remade and, now that it has been, I think it's worse than the original! I just got home from seeing and, believe me, I took note of all the mistakes I could find.
And here they are for you to educate yourself with. Enjoy!
1. Perseus’ gifts from the gods: These are left out of the movie entirely! By order of Zeus, Perseus is given weaponry (only the best for his son). Perseus receives a knapsack to safely store Medusa’s head, winged sandals to fly and Hades’ helm of invisibility from the Hesperides nymphs (Athena instructed him to find them). From Hermes, he was given an adamantine (that nifty stuff Wolverine’s claws are made of!) sword, and Athena gave him a polished shield
2. The Kraken: The Kraken is said to be a creation of Hades, but it’s a creation of Poseidon (supposedly, as it is a creature of the sea) and it is not the Kraken that is set to kill Andromeda but Ceto/Cetus, a sea-monster (typically, called the “white whale”)
3. Hades: Not a major figure in the story of Perseus, much less his archenemy
4. Spyros: Not a real character of Greek mythology anywhere!
5. Danaë dies at sea: Zeus had Poseidon deliver both Danaë and his son to safety, to Seriphos, where a fisherman named Dictys, brother of king Polydectes, found and took care of them
6. Cassiopeia and Cepheus: They are rulers of Joppa/Jaffa, Ethiopia, not Argos, which is Perseus’ home and, eventually, his kingdom
7. Cassiopeia’s vanity: She claims that both she and her daughter, Andromeda, are more beautiful than all the sea nymphs (Nereids), not that only Andromeda is more beautiful than Aphrodite. Her boast brought on the wrath of Poseidon, who is Ethiopia’s ruling God, not Hades. Thus Hades' killing of soldiers and such is ridiculous
8. Hades kills the queen and demands Andromeda to be sacrificed: Cassiopeia is not killed! She and her husband consult an Oracle about how to stop the various punishments of Poseidon inflicted upon their city. The Oracle tells them the only way to appease the Gods is to sacrifice Andromeda, who is chained naked to a rock to be sacrificed to Ceto/Cetus
9. Hades convinces Zeus to agree to his plan in order to punish mankind for their lack of love: I'm sorry, but Zeus is a powerful man, the King of the Gods, and answers to no one but himself. It’s unbelievable that Hades, Zeus’ main enemy (imagine God and Lucifer if that helps), despite the fact that they're brothers, would be able to persuade him so easily, especially when Zeus loves Perseus, Andromeda, Pegasus, and even Cassiopeia enough to have them made into constellations. It's just moronic. And, in the original movie, Zeus' love for his son and his acceptance that mankind may not need the Gods to rule over them forever is expressed very clearly
10. Perseus is seen as an agent of the gods and is imprisoned: Wrong! Since Perseus was never in Joppa/Jaffa until he already had Medusa's head (that's further down), it is impossible that Cassiopeia and Cepheus' people had him imprisoned. The only person who ever saw Perseus as an enemy, besides Acrisius (we’ll get to his screwed up storyline in a minute), was Polydectes, who fell in love with Danaë and wanted to remove Perseus from his kingdom, hatching a plan to send him away in disgrace. THIS IS WHERE THE LEGEND OF PERSEUS STARTS! Polydectes requested that guests of his banquet bring horses (under the pretense that he was collecting contributions for the hand of Hippodamia) but, since Perseus had no horse to give, he was asked instead to bring the head of Medusa. While he was gone, Polydectes moved in on Danaë
11. Io: Okay, the movie says that she's a demigoddess, who has been watching over Perseus his whole life. WRONG! Io was nothing more than one of Zeus’ many human mistresses that Hera tried to kill. Eventually, she was turned into a bull by Zeus so she could escape and did so in Egypt. Io is no way involved in Perseus' story
12. Draco: No such character in Perseus’ story! Same goes for all the other soldiers
13. The Stygian Witches: These ladies (and I use that term loosely) are actually the Graeae, sisters of the Gorgons. They were not monstrous creatures, just three perpetually old women who had to share one eye and one tooth between them
14. Acrisius: Okay, here we go with this screw up (probably the second biggest one after Io). Acrisius was never to marry Danaë because he was Danaë’s FATHER! He is Perseus’ grandfather, who fled Argos to escape the God's punishments in Larissa (his punishment, just in case you forgot, was for his attempt to kill Perseus and Danaë). The disfigured man is meant to be either Calibos from the 1981 original version (who is not a real character of myths anywhere as he is said to be Thetis' son but the only son she had was Achilles) or Phineus, who was meant to marry Andromeda and is eventually turned to stone by Medusa’s head after fighting with Perseus over Andromeda
15. Hades helping Acrisius: Again, this is so stupid. As the story of Calibos in the original version was made up (since the only son Thetis had was Achilles), the whole plot line between Hades and Acrisius is just pointless
16. Giant Scorpions: These overgrown pests are not in Perseus’ real story at all, but just something added for action in the original movie and then carried over to the remake
17. Djinn: No such things anywhere in the story of Perseus and, in the original move, Perseus and his men kill the scorpions without any help. Besides, Djinn, if I remember correctly, is the original term for "genie"
18. Medusa: There are three Gorgons but Perseus is only ordered to kill Medusa. He does so and, from her head, Pegasus is born. The other two Gorgons, Stheno and Euryale, try to kill him but Perseus escapes with the help of his invisible helm. I will, however, give props to the writers for letting the real story (about Posedion raping her in Athena's temple) being told
19. Acrisius stabbing Io: Since their entire storylines are messed up, this is just ridiculous and bares no more attention
20. Andromeda/Perseus/Io: This is so fucking stupid, I can’t even restrain myself. Perseus falls in love with Andromeda; its love at first sight for both of them, when he rescues her from Ceto/Cetus on his way home to Seriphos. Since Io is not a real character of Perseus’ storyline, she is not a factor at all and this love triangle is only a Hollywood production for more drama (and to piss off Greek mythology buffs like myself!). Perseus does not ride off into the sunset with Io, but claimed Andromeda in marriage
So, that's it! Except for the ending, of course. You know how Zeus resurrects Io for Perseus? WRONG!!!!!!!!! As I've already stated, Io has no place in Perseus' story so her being resurrected when she never died is just so fucking stupid! Here's the real ending for you:
After making Andromeda his wife, the two return Seriphos and Perseus discovers that his mother had to take refuge from the violent advances of Polydectes. Perseus kills him with Medusa's head and made Polydectes’ brother Dictys, consort of Danaë, king. Perseus becomes founder of Mycenae, the Perseid dynasty, and he and Andromeda have nine children, seven sons (Perses, Alcaeus, Heleus, Mestor, Sthenelus, Electryon and Cynurus) and two daughters (Gorgophone and Autochthoe)
Questions? Comments?
