classics and my own journal)Where to start? The beginning I guess. First of all, what was up with Hektor being in Sparta with Paris??? Umm...Paris when there by himself. and Hektor knowing Paris when he was a boy...Paris was on Mt. Ida being a shepherd's son when he was a boy. And Menalaus wanting peace...ha! And then him dying in Troy. What happened to the whole "he gets to go home with Helen thing"??????? And Ajax dying before Achillies. Who's left to fight with Odysseus over Achillies's armor? But I really did like the depiction of Ajax the greater. hehehe. And Odyssues was so perfect. After the movie the kid behind me said, "Wow, Odysseus is a bastard." So I told him, "Yup. Whole academic papers have been written on the subject." Which is true. And I liked the way that they made Paris the archer but not the swordsman. You could say that Achillies and Patrokles (which is Cleopatra backwards, btw) were foils for Hektor and Paris. And Achillies and Patrokles being cousins. yeah, sure, in the way that Salior Neptune and Salior Uranus are cousins.
hermionesviolin and I were just giggling through that whole fight scene on the rocks. it was so slashy. but i did like the way that Patrokles moved like Achillies when he donned his armor and how if you didn't know the story you might think it was him. And the fight between Achillies and Hector. Maybe they didn't run around the walls of Troy three times, but wow, it really was the best two warriors fighting each other. My only problem with it was that Achillies wasn't animalistic enough. I mean, they showed how bezerk he got when he found out that his on to the women Brisies (which isn't really a name. she doesn't have a name...Briseis just means daughter of Briseus, just like Atreides means son of Atreus. I guess they decided to make her Brisies, Chryseis (later Cressida), and Cassandra all roled into one. I mean, they have Chryseis, the daughter of a priest of Apollo, Cassandra, a priestess of Apollo/Athena and who does become Agamemnon's war-prize, and Briseis, the war-prize of Achillies who has to go to Agamemnon b/c Agamemnon has to give up Chryseis due to plague. Oh, yeah. Agamemnon LIVES. he goes home. to his WIFE. who then kills him. but he has to otherwise there's no good foil for Odysseus and Penelope in the Odyssey. But I guess they needed some sort of stronger love story. Someone to make Achillies think about things, instead of him just pouting b/c he's a spoiled brat. I'll admit that Helen was pretty, but honey, too much eye makeup. And where was Hecuba? I guess they just forgot about her. I wasn't overly fond of Andromache. For one thing (and yes this is petty) I didn't like the freckles. I don't know why. i just didn't think they worked. or they just weren't in what I pictured for her. And I really wished that they had kept in Asytynx crying when he sees his father in full armor. because it's just such a cute scene.
*******break for gaming*********
where was I?
Ok, so the sets and costumes. Actually, I really liked them. They seemed to get everything pretty close. The triremes where just great. and the amount of them (Book II of the Iliad anyone??) The statues weren't naked enough. but i loved that they had a statue that was almost this one. The walls of Troy and the ships looked great! Yeah, maybe the walls and statues should have been painted, but the sandy color worked with the whole "Troy on the beach" setting. However, I was disapointed that they didn't show the Lion Gate when entering Mycenae. I mean they walked right up to the walls. my two biggest costuming beefs were that Hector's horsehair plume (which I loved the fact that they had horse hair plumes on the helmets) wasn't high enough and that the women wouldn't have been in black during Hector's funeral. black wasn't a color of mourning until very recently...well, i guess the women are in black on some of the funeral vases...wait, no, those are black figure vases, everyone's black.
talking about the funneral, where the hell were the mourners?? why didn't Andromache cut her hair like a good widow????? where was the beating at the breasts and tearing of the hair. grrrrr...
There were some things that I really did like (besides the arms of the men). I liked the way that they had Paris practicing with a bow. and that Helen felt the repercussions of her actions. too bad she didn't bare her breasts when Paris was loosing his fight with Menelaus. Oh, and i LOVED the bit with Aeneas. (except that Paris would have known Aeneas, concidering Aeneas was married to Paris's sister). But when Paris handed him the "sword of Troy" and Aeneas had his father on his shoulders, I just cracked up laughing. Augustus and Virgil would have been so proud. of course I don't think anyone else around me got it. but i did love it so. I liked the love between Hector and Andromache. and the way that Hector, once he realized it was Patrokles, knew he was going to die. I did like the way that they kept in the greek concepts of honor and immoratlity by name, but they could have done a bit more with the whole guest-friendship thing. And of course, the death of Achillies. The way that Paris hamstringed him and then shot him more, but he pulled the arrows in his chest out before he dies, so the men only find him with an arrow in his heal. That ladies and gentlemen is how legens are born :)
Lastly, the gods. When I first heard that they were taking the gods out of it, I thought that they weren't going to mention the gods at all. However, I really liked the way that the gods were involved in the way that gods are involved now. They are the centers of religion and have temples and priests interpret meanings, but there's no way to know if the gods are taking an active or passive role in our lives. At least the gods were talked about and people were upset when their temples/images were desacrated. I loved the whole auger priest thing. And whose to say that the man carving the little horse next to Odysseus wasn't Athena in disguise? or that she was invisible behind him? or even that he came up with the idea and credited her because she was his patron goddess. It's just like people and religion today. And i LOVED it.
I think that's all I have to say for now. Now to read all the other discussions on it :)
p.s. for all who want to read the Iliad I recomend the translation by Robert Fagles.
