Two Demigods and a Satyr Walk into Medusa's Lair . . .

Perseus with the head of Medusa,
by Antonio Canova, completed 1801
 (Vatican Museums)
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Starting with number 1 from the list in my last post, it should be obvious to those who have seen the film or read the book that Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief  is based on already existing Greek mythology:  he's the son of Poseidon, his real first name is Perseus (the original Perseus's father was Zeus, but that's another myth), and he is destined to be a hero.  The second requirement is also obvious, because as the film goes on Percy encounters all kinds of elements, fighting mythological monsters like the Minotaur, Medusa, and a hydra, meeting Chiron, visiting the land of the lotus eaters, and so on, but these, except for Chiron, whose role in the myths was as the mentor/trainer of demigods, are all serving different functions in this story than they did in the Greek myths.

And that's just for starters.  There's more to come.

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And Then There's the Gladiator Genre

Gladiator fights at "Brot und Spiele", Germany's biggest Roman festival (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Everytime I think I'm starting to get a handle on things, I come across a new source that forces me to rethink everything I thought I had resolved.  This time, it's my mom.  I was talking to her yesterday about how much work this is turning out to be, and she wanted to know all about it.  When I told her about my neo-mythology idea, she said, "you mean like gladiator movies?"  Aargh!  So, I had to ask what that meant, and I'll just summarize her explanation.

Gladiator movies, according to Mom, were all over the place in the '50s and '60s, especially at drive-ins and on late-night television.  The hero was obviously a bodybuilder and was usually dressed in a way that exposed his chest and most of his legs.  He always won his fights through his superior strength, and you could never remember the storyline afterwards.

This sounds to me like what they call pepla, and I'll have more to say about that next time.

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Falling Behind in Mythic Fashion

And I Was There (Photo credit: Brave Heart)

Yeah, I'm behind again.  I've turned in my annotated bibliography, and I'm revising my literature review.  For now, I'd like to talk about one of the books I'm using.  It's Rick Altman's Film/Genre, and it's pretty much invaluable for my project, mainly because he covers all of the issues about genre criticism as an approach.  He's apparently an expert on musicals but writes on other genres as well, including sword and sorcery, but he doesn't say anything about sword and sandal, biblical, or pepla.  I've gotten some good material, and the way he talks about specific films has given me a feel for how to use this approach on PJ1.

Altman, Rick.  Film/Genre.  London: BFI, 1999.  Print.

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New Semester, Same Old Textbook Sticker Shock

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Fall term started Monday, and I'm already having anxiety issues.  I've been saving up to try and get out of my parents' house, but my books made a HUGE dent in my bank account.  My English prof says that we can use the old editions of the books for her class, so I just saved $120 right there, and I'm trying to focus on that, because if I think about the others I'll start crying.
So anyway, I've looked over my assignment package for the class, and that's why I'm posting today-- Project 1 is this blog!  We're supposed to have it done by next Thursday, but I have this morning free, and I thought I'd get it out of the way.  According to the assignment, the purpose is "To record and share your thinking as your research project progresses," which sounds easy . . . and makes me suspicious.  Where's the catch? 
 
This first entry is supposed to be me discussing my film and approach choices for my research project.  Since I haven't even had 24 hours to think about it yet, I can't say I'm committed to anything so far, but I do have a few ideas.  One thing I've noticed lately is that there are a lot of what I think of as teenagers-save-the-world-while-adults-do-nothing movies, and, now that I think about that, it's kind of strange.  Some of them are about dystopias (like The Hunger Games) and others are about hidden societies, like in the Harry Potter films.  Looking at the list of films and approaches, I guess I'm thinking of genre criticism, and the movie I'd like to use is Percy Jackson & the Olympians:  The Lightning Thief.  I'll check to see if that's okay.

One down, nineteen to go!

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