The Clash of Clash of the Titans

I'm not going to lie, this week's assignment was a struggle. I sat down twice to watch the 1981 Clash of the Titans and fell asleep both times. I assumed it would be of the same caliber as Hercules. But guess what? I was so, so, very wrong. Which wasn't the only thing to surprise me. Prior to watching any of the movies, I researched the Titans. They were the cruel rulers of the earth before any of the Olympians. Therefore, I assumed as the legends go, that Clash of the Titans would be the depiction of Zeus' and the other Olympians' plight to defeat the Titans as the rulers of the earth, a war referred to as the Titanomachy. Wrong again. Instead, the original Clash of the Titans refers to Medusa (the Gorgon) and the Kraken as titans. The story-lines of both the original and the remake focus on Perseus, the hero of Argos and his fight to slay the "Titans" in an effort to save the beautiful Andromeda.

So there goes the first slip: neither Medusa nor the Kraken were titans. It is said that Medusa had relations with Poseidon in Athena's temple, (feminists argue that she was raped) and Athena became so angered that she turned Medusa into a hideous monster. King Polydectes asked Perseus to bring him her head, and Perseus agreed; however, one look at Medusa in the eye and you turn into stone. Perseus used his shield as a mirror and slayed the beast (ala Harry Potter's basilisk), marking him forever as a true hero. Upon his return, King Polydectes looked the head in the eye and was turned into stone--Perseus then gave it to Athena as a gift, who placed the head on her shield as a symbol of valor.

So the movie isn't a tight depiction of Greek mythology-- Clash of the Titans is more of a loose interpretation. For example, in both movies, Medusa's gaze is the only way to defeat the Kraken, the evil sea-monster. The Kraken is based off of Keto, who, like Medusa, was related to the Titans but was not itself a Titan. In the movies, Andromeda is offered to the Kraken as a sacrafice (because the goddess Thetis is angered at how Andromeda's mother, Queen Cassiopeia, claims Andromeda more beautiful than Thetis), and Perseus must save her. Once he defeats the Kraken, Perseus throws the head into the sea (which is different from the myth).

There are a few notable differences between the two movies. First off, the director of the 2010 version, Louis Leterrier, wanted to ditch the "macho hero" persona. In an interview with him, he claims that the 1981 Perseus is too gushy with his love for Andromeda and "needs to grow some balls." I would have to agree with him, but after seeing the remake of the 1981 masterpiece I have to say that it is missing something. It is missing that love story complete with the damsel in distress--what it does is take another woman, Io,and makes her a Sacagawea type figure. She guides Perseus, and in the end, Perseus refuses the hand of Andromeda in favor of Io.

Random tangent on Io, and I only do this because her story is super super fun and fascinating. What you will see is that Io has nothing whatsoever to do with Perseus, but hey, they needed another damsel. Io was taken as one of Zeus' mistresses. As you no doubt know by now, Hera was not so happy with any of Zeus' conquests (remember Hercules?), so Zeus' turned her into a cow in order to protect her. The only problem was that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned--Hera sent a watchman in the form of Argus, a hundred-eyed monster. Argus took Io away and tied her to a tree; when he rested, he kept half of his eyes open (much like they say sharks shut off half their brains to sleep) and kept constant watch over her. Zeus became enraged and sent Hermes down to earth to save Io. Hermes sat down next to Argus and began telling him a story. He just kept going and going until eventually Argus became so bored that all of his eyes closed. Hermes then slayed Argus. Io reconnected with her family but remained a cow. She endlessly wandered the world and eventually found happiness. Now the hundred eyes of Argus can be found on the feathers of the peacock, Hera's favorite bird.

The next difference deals more so with the plot lines of the movie. In Greek mythology, it is stated that Hades holds a grudge against Zeus for having given him the gloomy Underworld to rule. In the 2010 version, Leterrier takes this and makes it the main focus of the movie--Hades wants to instill fear in the people of Earth in order to gain power, as fear is what keeps him immortal. Unlike Hades, the Gods of Olympus feed off of the love of the people, so Zeus finds it agreeable that there should be plagues and wars, because when all is said and done, people will thank the Gods for the food on their tables. So that launches the plot-line, and it is advanced with the sub-plot of Perseus' background (the king, his would-be father, tried to kill him and succeeded in killing his mother after she was raped by Zeus). So Perseus is a demi-God because he is Zeus' son. The original version focuses more on the story of the man Andromeda was promised to marry (who Zeus turns into a monster) and Thetis' ensuing anger that Cassiopeia would think her daughter more beautiful than Thetis herself. So the two differ slightly.

Another point of controversy is Pegasus. I love Pegasus. I always wished I had a Pegasus to ride around every where (wait, that's not controversial, moving on). Okay so, in the movies Pegasus just kind of appears, or is some sort of gift from the gods. He is said to be the last of his kind, that there was some Pegasus genocide of the sort. Completely wrong. It is said that when Perseus lops off Medusa's head, the products of her "relations" with Poseidon jump out--Chrysaor and his brother, Pegasus. More specifically, Chrysaor (some winged bull?) was born from Medusa's neck while Pegasus from Medusa's blood. Pegasus is magnificent, it is said that every time he stomped a hoof to the earth a spring was created. Zeus honored the winged hero by letting him live forever as a constellation.

The 1981 Clash of the Titans was a masterpiece any way you slice it. For the most part, it didn't stray too far from mythology, using the stories more as a fantastical inspiration. I remember watching it and thinking it was as beautiful as Star Wars, if not more, not because of the technology (stop motion animation FTW!) but because of its charm. It really transports you to a different time and place. When looking at the 2010 version, it is a shame that a studio with infinite money and technology at its disposal failed to captivate what was so great about the original. Louis Leterrier is a great guy, Liam Neeson is an awesome Zeus, Ralph Fiennes a brilliant Hades, and Sam Worthington an attractive Perseus. I suppose it is along the same lines as spotting someone with beautiful facial features but somehow an ugly face. The stars just didn't align for this one.