Wynona Ryan
The Odyssey
The Odyssey, an epic poem written by the blind poet Homer, is the story of the resourceful Odysseus, king of Ithaca. The Odyssey tells the tale of Odysseus’ years of hardship in trying to return home to his wife and son after victory over the Trojan war, with the interference of gods and goddesses. The epic poem was then adapted into a film, also named The Odyssey, directed by Andrei Konchalovsky in 1997. This essay is the discussion of the differences and similarities between the epic poem and epic film.
Both epics start at different circumstances. The first major difference found between the film and poem, is the chronological order in which key events occur. In the epic poem, it begins with somewhat …show more content…
In the original tale of The Odyssey, through the poem, Poseidon is indignant when regarding Odysseus as he had blinded his son, a cyclops named Polyphemus. However in the film conversion of The Odyssey, the god Poseidon aids Odysseus in convincing the Trojans to take the offering (a wooden horse filled with Greek soldiers) into their walls of Troy. He does so by ordering his sea monster to devour Laocoön, who told the Trojans to burn the horse; and when Laocoön dies the Trojans consider the horse as a sacred offering and allow it into their walls. Unfortunately, Odysseus celebrated victory by cheering that he had won the war on his own thus angering Poseidon into making Odysseus’ travel home nearly impossible. Another difference found in these scenes is the blinding of the cyclops Polyphemus. In the poem Odysseus is said to use an iron rod to blind Polyphemus, but in the film it is seen that Odysseus and his men worked together to sharpen the end of a wooden stake to pierce the eye of Poseidon’s cyclops son. Andrei Konchalovsky differentiated his film adaptation of The Odyssey from Homer’s version, to introduce the relationship between Odysseus and Poseidon. Reason being also related to audience appeal and cinematic effects. Audience would become more engaged if introduced to relationship, especially of negative interaction, earlier in a film compared …show more content…
The gods of Olympus play a large role of Greek religion, and is shown thoroughly in the epic poem and epic film. Although a similarity between the two versions is that the bright-eyed goddess Athena is in favour of Odysseus and through all her might aids him on his journey home, there is also a difference in these occurring scenes. In the poem written by Homer, Athena along with other great gods are often involving themselves with the lives of mortals, but only when in disguise. An example of this is set earlier in the poem; Athena wishes to urge depressed Prince Telemachus to search for his father, but she does so by disguising herself as an old friend named Mentes. This is in complete contrast in the film as Athena often reveals her true identity to Odysseus, although she has a choice in who can see her. In a scene similar to that mentioned earlier, as Telemachus prepares to sail off in search of information about his father, Athena reveals herself to him. Prince Telemachus is shocked by her presence, but is shaken back to reality when Athena creates a strong wind that helps him in his travels. These scenes show both a difference and a similarity. Director of the film The Odyssey represents Athena as showing her identity to personify her as a character (he also does this with other gods). This is to enforce the idea that the Greek gods can be more than just mythology, and allows viewers the advantage of having a visual idea of
The Odyssey
The Odyssey, an epic poem written by the blind poet Homer, is the story of the resourceful Odysseus, king of Ithaca. The Odyssey tells the tale of Odysseus’ years of hardship in trying to return home to his wife and son after victory over the Trojan war, with the interference of gods and goddesses. The epic poem was then adapted into a film, also named The Odyssey, directed by Andrei Konchalovsky in 1997. This essay is the discussion of the differences and similarities between the epic poem and epic film.
Both epics start at different circumstances. The first major difference found between the film and poem, is the chronological order in which key events occur. In the epic poem, it begins with somewhat …show more content…
In the original tale of The Odyssey, through the poem, Poseidon is indignant when regarding Odysseus as he had blinded his son, a cyclops named Polyphemus. However in the film conversion of The Odyssey, the god Poseidon aids Odysseus in convincing the Trojans to take the offering (a wooden horse filled with Greek soldiers) into their walls of Troy. He does so by ordering his sea monster to devour Laocoön, who told the Trojans to burn the horse; and when Laocoön dies the Trojans consider the horse as a sacred offering and allow it into their walls. Unfortunately, Odysseus celebrated victory by cheering that he had won the war on his own thus angering Poseidon into making Odysseus’ travel home nearly impossible. Another difference found in these scenes is the blinding of the cyclops Polyphemus. In the poem Odysseus is said to use an iron rod to blind Polyphemus, but in the film it is seen that Odysseus and his men worked together to sharpen the end of a wooden stake to pierce the eye of Poseidon’s cyclops son. Andrei Konchalovsky differentiated his film adaptation of The Odyssey from Homer’s version, to introduce the relationship between Odysseus and Poseidon. Reason being also related to audience appeal and cinematic effects. Audience would become more engaged if introduced to relationship, especially of negative interaction, earlier in a film compared …show more content…
The gods of Olympus play a large role of Greek religion, and is shown thoroughly in the epic poem and epic film. Although a similarity between the two versions is that the bright-eyed goddess Athena is in favour of Odysseus and through all her might aids him on his journey home, there is also a difference in these occurring scenes. In the poem written by Homer, Athena along with other great gods are often involving themselves with the lives of mortals, but only when in disguise. An example of this is set earlier in the poem; Athena wishes to urge depressed Prince Telemachus to search for his father, but she does so by disguising herself as an old friend named Mentes. This is in complete contrast in the film as Athena often reveals her true identity to Odysseus, although she has a choice in who can see her. In a scene similar to that mentioned earlier, as Telemachus prepares to sail off in search of information about his father, Athena reveals herself to him. Prince Telemachus is shocked by her presence, but is shaken back to reality when Athena creates a strong wind that helps him in his travels. These scenes show both a difference and a similarity. Director of the film The Odyssey represents Athena as showing her identity to personify her as a character (he also does this with other gods). This is to enforce the idea that the Greek gods can be more than just mythology, and allows viewers the advantage of having a visual idea of