Odyssey by Homer and the movie The Odyssey (1997) - Essay Example

World Literature, Essay Topic: Write an essay based on the book "Odyssey" by Homer and the movie "The Odyssey" (1997) Introduction: When an epic poem of 700 BC, hits the big screen in the year 1997, the Director will be confronted with a number of limitations. Since The Odyssey is the war movie, the issues are still more challenging for Andrei Konchalovski, director, to take this ancient epic to the screen for a 165-minutes duration movie. Fertile imagination and expert technical knowledge are essential to make the movie realistic. Homer keeps the readers guessing with the tools of fate and prophesies, the resultant sudden developments, twists and turns and with knotty style with which he negotiates the story. In the movie, in addition, the fated situations and battle scenes have been bought to life intelligently and justice has been done to the original content of the poem. The director has bridged the historical gap of two thousand six hundred ninety-sevens years well. Special Effects The director’s struggle to create authentic special effects is clearly seen. They are tolerable, but not totally acceptable as some of them stretch far out from the reality. On the whole, the battle scenes are portrayed effectively. The scene of slaughtering of the suitors by Odysseus and Telemachus is true to the descriptions in the book and they are gouged by spears and pierced by arrows. Preceding this scene, the director provides adequate backgrounder information for the attitude of vendetta. Odysseus is shocked to see his wife mobbed by suitors seeking her hand, as all of them have presumed that Odysseus is dead. Odysseus and his son Telemachus hatch a plan to kill the suitors who have arrived with great expectations, each one of them confident about winning her hand. Cruel stroke of fate is waiting to strike. From the leisurely mood of the suitors, to create an instant war scene, great directorial skills are needed. What is the position of the suitors before the attack began? The poet describes, “After eating to their heart’s content, They reached out for the goods things that lay at hand, And when they’d put aside desire for food and drink The suitor set their minds on other pleasures, Song and dancing, all that crowns a feast…” (Homer 1, p, 82, 174-179, 2006) Some mythical creatures are pictured in the movie, in addition to the ones that have been shown in the book. The picture of ancient Greece is brought before the minds of the movie audience and they fit well into the description in the book, barring Cyclops. Cyclops appears fake and his appearance and working of the eyes is not believable. Special effects in some scenes are partly acceptable. When Odysseus walks through the hall of Hades, the balls of fire falling from above look realistic but the lava flowing down the walls looks awful and fake. Deliberate changes made by the director in the movie to make it a commercial success: The foremost objective of the producer and the director of the movie are to make it successful commercially. To achieve the dramatic effect, many changes in the script have been made. The movie begins with the birth of Telemachus, but in the book there is no mention of the event. The movie shows Odysseus as an affectionate husband and father but it is not so in the poem. The temptation of the director to succumb to the taste of the audience at the cost of the original storyline is evident. The movie shows the Trojan War but the book begins on conclusion of this war. When the war is raging in all is seriousness, there is a minor flip. When Odysseus screams “Fight. Fight. FIGHT.” as a soldier plays the flute and they all run down the hill, the audience can spot a cameraman with a blue t-shirt and sunglasses. Mostly, war-scenes are to the liking of the audience. The storyline is rearranged, and no guesswork is involved for the spectators. The technique used in the book is, Odysseus tells part of the story to the readers. To make it appeal to the emotions of the audience a good number of scenes are added to indicate the affection level of the family members to Odysseus. His mother kills herself unable to cope up with the grief for the son, whom she presumes to be lost. The director of the movie has time-limitations and many deletions from the movie are done with this objective. For example, the Phaeacians is totally removed from the movie, in the book Odysseus begins to tell the story from this situation. Even with the director taking liberties with the original story as articulated in the book by Homer, the movie succeeds in getting across the same points as that of the book. Of gods and goddesses: Gods and goddesses are in abundance in the epic poem and Homer creates different types of images for them in tandem with their divine functions. Those who have read the poem carry their mental images and have the feel of their appearances. In the movie they are shown differently and deviate from the description in the book. The gray-eyes of goddess Athena have been shown as deep blue eyes. Her hair style is also different in the movie. Vanessa Williams, the former Miss America, does the role of goddess Calypso in the movie, justifiably so, as the director has to show how difficult it is for a human to resist the temptation of such a charming goddess. This gives Odysseus an opportunity to justify his action of betrayal of his wife. Apart from these minor variations, the director has to render justice to the true philosophy propounded by Homer through the poem, as substantiated by Zeus, that man is not the creator of his own destiny and does not have control over it. He exclaims, ‘Oh for shame, how the mortals put the blame on us gods, for they say evils come from us, but it is they, rather, who by their own recklessness win sorrow beyond what is given.’ (Ody.1.32-34, 1996) and the movie overall, stands by this theme. Some other differences in the movie and the book are: A number of men were eaten by the Cyclops.(book) Only two of three were eaten(movie)Only one Cyclops is shown(movie) Many Cyclops chase the men(book)Odysseus and his men visit the island of the Lotus Eater(book) Such a visit is not shown(movie)Athena transforms Odysseus as an old beggar when he is back at Ithaca(movie) Odysseus disguises himself as an old beggar(book) Conclusion: The movie truly represents the Odysseus story, with no major changes from the epic poem. The prime theme of the poem is about the great power exercised by gods and it is futile to challenge them, which is also the version in the movie. The movie is certified good for teenager’s and adult audiences with the rating of PG 13. This is not a movie for the children, as it contains ghastly murder scenes and blood flows freely. Information-wise, the poem contains more details and on reading it, one’s mind is not agitated to the level of the movie. For those whom reading is a pleasure, watching movie will be a nice introduction to the epic. Works Cited Homer. The Odyssey (Penguin Classics) Trans. Robert Fagles. Penguin Classics; Reissue edition, 30 Nov 2006 Homer. The Odyssey. 8-6c bce. Trans. Robert Fagles. New York: Penguin, 1996. Konchalovski, Andrei, Director. The Odyssey (TV Series 1997–) - IMDb www.imdb.com/title/tt0118414/ Read More