An Epic Poem and Film: the Film Troy and Homer’s Iliad
The point which is to be adressed in the beginning is what is an epic poem and an epic film? An epic poem, epic, epoc, or epopee is a long narrative poem, usually involving a period beyond living memory in which the extraordinary acts of the extraordinary men and women who, in dealing with gods or other divine powers, formed the moral universe for their descendants, the poet and his audience, to see themselves as a people or a nation. When referring to the achievements of Western Literature, Homer’s Iliad is the work which comes to mind readily which tells the story of the darkest episode of the Trojan War. The focus of the epic poem is Achilles, the greatest warrior-champion of the Greeks and his reluctance to fight after being humiliated by Agamemnon. The first epics are examples of literary practices in preliterate cultures and oral history. Oral tradition has been used to communicate and facilitate the spread of culture alongside written scriptures. Poetry is conveyed to the public in these rituals and by solely verbal means from performer to performer. Lets come to our next point i. e epic films. Epic movies are a large-scale, expansive, often dramatic form of filmmaking. Throughout time, the use of the word has varied, often designating a form of film and sometimes associated with large-budget films. Unlike epics, it is often based on a heroic character in the traditional literary sense. The adventurous aspect of an epic tends to differentiate it from other movie styles like the period piece and fantasy picture. Usually, epic historical films would take on a historical or a mythical event, adding an extravagant setting and lavish costumes, accompanied by an expansive musical score with a cast ensemble that would make them one of the most expensive to produce. Once characterized as 'epic' due to plot, an epic movie is often shown during a time of war or other social crisis, while it typically spans a longer period of time, often across centuries arriving and going, in terms of both the events depicted and the film's length. These films usually have a historical setting, though in recent decades settings of fantasy and science fiction have become popular. Typically, the film's main struggle is seen to have far-reaching effects, sometimes changing the course of history. The acts of the main characters are often crucial to resolving the conflict of culture.
It is very clear that the film Troy, directed by Wolfgang Peterson, was strongly influenced by the epic poem, the Iliad, a work commonly attributed to the ancient Greek poet Homer. Both the film and the poem have the same overall plots, such as the siege of Troy by the Greeks, the feud between the warrior Achilles and King Agamemnon, and these events are triggered by the stealing of King Menelaus ' Helen of Sparta by the Trojan prince of Paris as his wife. There are, however, many major differences in many of the factors involved in these plots. These include some major characters dying in the Iliad and living in the movie Troy, the time of the demise of the protagonists, and the friendship between the characters. The main reason for the differences in the film Troy from the Iliad is for the convenience of the director and the entertainment, but the film was relatively censored compared to the poem, which was very graphic in the portrayal of violence. If the film remained true to the poem, it would most likely have earned more restrictive rating and thus that the audience that the publisher / director would then earn less money. There are some major differences between the epic poem and epic war film Troy - The fighting lasted 10 years for the Iliad but it took just 17 days for the movie Troy.
Patroclus was not the cousin of Achilles, but only Achilles' friend, who was dead before the Trojan Horses were established. In the Iliad, Paris is killed, the baby of Hector is killed, and the wife of Hector is enslaved, but they escape safely in the film Troy. Ajax doesn't perish from Hector's own side, he destroys himself because of his guilt that he hasn't been fortified with Achilles. In the Iliad, Agamemnoin is killed by his wife Clytemnestra after returning to Greece, but in the movie he is killed by Briseis. The cause for these differences between the Iliad and the film Troy are almost 100% monetary as when looking at every man or woman instance of the differences all of them are either due to reducing expenses/complexity of making the movie Troy (i. e. 17 day combat as a substitute of 10 years), or due to the director trying to make the movie extra likable to enlarge the size of the target market appeal and consequently earn greater revenue from the film (i. e. making the movie a greater experience excellent ride with the aid of letting Paris, Hector’s wife, and Hector’s toddler break out with citizens of Troy developing an surroundings of hopes lives on/light at the cease of the tunnel for Troy). The movie would attraction to a substantially decrease quantity of humans had Paris,and Hector’s wife and baby been killed, many people would likely be annoyed by means of the ‘well this is just dull anybody dies’ ecosystem that would be current had the director remained real to the Iliad, as in the Iliad there is absolutely no hope left Troy. There is actually no other purpose the director has made these variations in the movie Troy apart from money, and as all the principal and small differences are found it becomes clear that the film was once moulded and catered to appeal to a modern day target audience with cutting-edge day expectations of films.
One of the fundamental differences among troy and the iliad is the involvement or observable involvement of the gods within the siege of troy. Inside the iliad, many gods are physically concerned within the conflict, war along the mortal people, but in troy, the gods are not even established to exist, they're simply the priority of prayer and praises, with the most tangible example being a statue of apollo. Despite the fact that the dearth of motion via the gods in troy is a very huge difference, this has little have an impact on at the plot usual, as in every texts the greeks defeat the trojans. But within the historic greek fable, texts along with the iliad supply notion into the context of many situations, which includes the judgement of paris being the motive for helen falling in love with paris, and the reference to the achilles heel. The subsequent is a quote from the iliad clealy showing the involvement of the gods.
' And flashing-eyed Athene took furious Ares by the hand and spake to him, saying: 'Ares, Ares, thou bane of mortals, thou blood-stained stormer of walls, shall we not now leave the Trojans and Achaeans to fight, to whichsoever of the two it be that father Zeus shall vouchsafe glory? But for us twain, let us give place, and avoid the wrath of Zeus. '
The cause for the lack of gods in Troy is not financial like the principal plot differences, in fact seeing gods battle every different and human beings would be viewed quite enjoyable in an action film and would proabably go down quite well with the common viewer. This leads me to agree with that the director has chosen now not to consist of visible involvements of the gods in Troy to in addition enhance the characters, such as Achilles, Hektor and Paris. Achilles shows riot against the gods when he cuts off the head of a statue of Apollo and later suggests that the gods envy human beings which makes sense when the gods aren’t visible, however it in all likelihood wouldn’t have had the equal effect had the viewers witnessed powerful immortal gods battle on the battlefield subsequent the everyday mortals.
“The Gods envy us. They envy us because we're mortal, because any moment might be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we're doomed. ”
Also when a priest of Troy concludes the look of birds to be a correct omen/sign from the gods indicating they should attack, Hektor says,
“Bird signs? You want to plan out strategy based on bird signs?”,
indicating his lack of faith in these omens, and making him appear like a down to earth man who doesn’t choose to count number on the gods to format his battles. This down to earth impact would be misplaced if the gods have been considered slaughtering dozens of mortals on the battlefield in an almighty and divine manner.
And ultimately in the crucial point of the movie the place the Trojan Horse is found the priest believes it to be a gift from the gods and that it would be disrespectful to reject it. Paris strongly suggests that they should burn it, however Priam, Paris’s father (King of Troy), decides to deliver it inside the walls of Troy, in the end leading to the downfall of Troy.
The extent of the ancient basis of the Homeric epics has been a subject of scholarly debate for centuries. Even as researchers of the 18th century had typically rejected the tale of the Trojan warfare as fantasy, the discoveries made by Heinrich Schliemann at Hisarlik reopened the query in modern-day terms, and the subsequent excavation of troy viia and the discovery of the toponym 'Wilusa' in Hittite correspondence has made it possible that the Trojan War cycle was once at the least remotely based on a historical warfare of the 12th century BC, even if the poems of Homer are eliminated from the match by manner of more than four centuries of oral culture. The more that is known about bronze age records, the clearer it turns into the point that it isn't always a yes-or-no doubt but certainly one of knowledgeable evaluation of the way a whole lot of historical information is present in homer, and whether it represents a retrospective reminiscence of Dark Age Greece, or of Mycenaean Greece. The specific narrative of the Iliad is not an account of the conflict, but a story of the psychology, the wrath, vengeance and death of character heroes, which assumes common information of the trojan war as a back-story. No pupils now count on that the person occasions of the story (lots of which involve divine intervention) are ancient fact; however, no scholars claim that the tale is entirely without recollections of mycenaean instances. But, in addressing a separate controversy, oxford professor of greek, martin L West indicated that such an method 'misconceives' the problem, and that troy in all likelihood fell to a far smaller institution of attackers in a much shorter time.
A film that is historically inaccurate gives no benefit to its viewers as the story can be so twisted and modified that it is no longer, a tale of history, tradition or culture. When examined meticulously, it is actually evident however, that the film Troy, is historically accurate as it is based on true records from the ancient Greek life. The military, portrayed via war formations, weapons, and naval warfare, the culture of the Greeks portrayed via burial customs, faith in gods and structure as well as category structure, portrayed through the roles of women, the recognize to the king, and the appreciate to the Myrmidons, Achilles struggle group, are all pieces of evidence that lead to the verdict that the film Troy is traditionally accurate. The military and its extraordinary components that it is made up of are necessary to any nation, mainly one which is emerging to be the most powerful. The navy no longer only protects the country from invaders however also helps in the conquering of new territories to increase the country so that it can grow. Expansion and conquering enemies all deliver up a countries status, which is why the Greeks fought with each other to achieve energy and appreciate from others. Part of the militaries practices which had been necessary to its existence have been struggle formations. The war formations of the Greeks were tightly shaped and equipped so that the enemy could now not penetrate. “The hostilities line a cautiously built wall, the warriors standing with defend touching protect in a strong line. This is likely to have been the position before a battle, with armies drawn up in opposing traces and assembly in this simple formation. The struggle possibly broke up into a mêlée, solely after one aspect had given way, observed by using person duels and single combat. ” [1] It is evident that the conflict formations have been strongly structured so that the navy regarded no longer only more effective and mighty, but greater geared up and consequently extra likely to intimidate the enemy. Once the formations have been broken, the warriors fought individually, trying to kill as many of the opponents as possible. This type of combat in formation was once additionally portrayed in the movie “Troy” where Hector’s army gathered outdoor of the Trojan partitions standing side by side, with their large rectangular shields touching every different for protection. Once hostilities was once initiated however, the guys separated and fought individually. This tournament in the movie was once honestly an accurate portrayal of battle formations in Greece all through 1250 B. C. E and as a result starts offevolved to prove that the film Troy is traditionally accurate.
The category structure of the ancient Greek world was once tons distinct than ours today, although some matters are similar to today’s world. Historical accuracy in the classification structure device is key to a profitable depiction of the historical Greek world in film. The respect given to women, to the king, and to Achilles’ elite warrior group, the Myrmidons, all are historically accurate due to the fact it is very similar to the respect given in the ancient Greek world. The appreciate given to girls in the historic Greek time length used to be small but there were enjoyable parts to it. “Female characters of the higher type led a distinctly independent life…. Although ladies had been technically of citizen status, they had no rights of citizenship. Women had no political rights and could take no phase in anyway in government. ” [10] Evidently women had small admire however these of the upper category have been pretty independent, being allowed to do extra than the poorer women, although none of them could take part in politics. This is also portrayed in the film “Troy. ” The girls of the palace who had been princesses or so took no section in the politics of the palace where all the men assembled, led by using the king and his princes to graph out things for Troy. Although women had no role in politics and government, they performed an essential function in religion. “Within religion female did play an vital role, such as a dominant function at funerals, weddings…. There had been many priestesses. [11] This is additionally portrayed inside the movie “Troy” as when Briseis, the cousin of Hector and Paris, decided to come to be Apollo’s servant she was once commended and it used to be said that Apollo is going to have a splendid servant. Although women had this advantage, they had been regarded vulnerable and a reference to this is made in the movie when it is said that “peace is for female and weak” by Agamemnon. Evidently the usage of that metaphor, female had been considered fragile and therefore peace went straight alongside with women considering peace did not show off nations might or power. Evidently, the movie “Troy” is traditionally correct due to the fact it successfully portrays the recognize given to ladies in the historical Greek type system.
