Sunday, October 27, 2013

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

Perseus with the head of Medusa, by Antonio Ca...
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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At Long Last, NEO-MYTHOLOGY Is Here!

English: Various mythos.
English: Various mythos. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I'm taking a break from working on my research paper draft (it's due on Thursday, sigh) because I need one and because I've finally got my critical model in a finished state, or so I hope.  It works not just for Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief but also for a bunch of other films.  So, here are the defining characteristics of the Neo-Mythology genre:
1.  The film (or book, too, I guess) is based on already existing mythology and/or folklore.
2.  It uses elements (characters, plot points, etc.) from that mythology/folklore for other than their original purposes.
3.  It creates a new story out of that material.
4.  It is set in a hidden reality that secretly co-exists with the known current reality.
5.  It is in the form of a quest.

I'll discuss these in my next post (since I've met the required 100-word length already).
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Monday, October 14, 2013

Another "Sword-and-Sandals" is Coming

Gladiator (Hercules: The Legendary Journeys)
Gladiator (Hercules: The Legendary Journeys) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I've been following the Flickering Myth website for a while now, and yesterday they had an item about Hercules:  The Legend Begins (not to be confused with Hercules:  The Legendary Journeys, the '90s tv show with Kevin Sorbo), which is coming out next spring.  The trailer that was just released for the movie bears out almost everything I've been reading in my sources.  It's become obvious to me that this genre is alive and well, and it looks like my research paper (which I need to begin drafting next weekend at the latest) is going to use sword and sandals as a basis for arguing that Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief  represents either a subgenre of it or a "sibling" genre to it, which I am going to call neo-mythology.  
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