Classic literature and movie adaptations

[Frederica]

Much as I love Barrymore (and he was certainly born to play Ahab), THE SEA BEAST is the wildest mis-interpretation of a famous novel I've ever seen on film!

Word. Then there was Troy.

Who says the Iliad wasn't the ancient equivalent of an action movie (mass entertainment)?

Not me, it absolutely was. Troy, however, took some liberties...yes, let's call them "liberties"...with the story line that we Homer fans found disconcerting. When I saw it at the theater there were five Homer geeks in the audience and you could tell exactly where we were all sitting by the synchronized squeals of outrage occasionally punctuating the action. Although, I must say, nothing I've ever seen in a film has made me laugh quite as hard as the matching sailor suits worn by Hector and Paris in one scene. Priceless.

[Spiny Norman]

Word. Then there was Troy.

Who says the Iliad wasn't the ancient equivalent of an action movie (mass entertainment)?

Not me, it absolutely was. Troy, however, took some liberties...yes, let's call them "liberties"...with the story line that we Homer fans found disconcerting. When I saw it at the theater there were five Homer geeks in the audience and you could tell exactly where we were all sitting by the synchronized squeals of outrage occasionally punctuating the action. Although, I must say, nothing I've ever seen in a film has made me laugh quite as hard as the matching sailor suits worn by Hector and Paris in one scene. Priceless.

That they did, and I secretly enjoyed them for making the film less predictable. Characters die that "should" survive, but I'm not sure it's a misinterpretation, because I'm not sure the ancient story wasn't originally much more low brow. It's so high brow today that I quite liked Troy's more accessible approach.
Besides, whenever you go to a movie that's based on a book and/or historical events, you'd better expect it to take some liberties or you'll be disappointed every time. (The Trojan horse wasn't in the book (formerly oral tradition) either.)

[Frederica]

Not me, it absolutely was. Troy, however, took some liberties...yes, let's call them "liberties"...with the story line that we Homer fans found disconcerting. When I saw it at the theater there were five Homer geeks in the audience and you could tell exactly where we were all sitting by the synchronized squeals of outrage occasionally punctuating the action. Although, I must say, nothing I've ever seen in a film has made me laugh quite as hard as the matching sailor suits worn by Hector and Paris in one scene. Priceless.

That they did, and I secretly enjoyed them for making the film less predictable. Characters die that "should" survive, but I'm not sure it's a misinterpretation, because I'm not sure the ancient story wasn't originally much more low brow. It's so high brow today that I quite liked Troy's more accessible approach.
Besides, whenever you go to a movie that's based on a book and/or historical events, you'd better expect it to take some liberties or you'll be disappointed every time. (The Trojan horse wasn't in the book (formerly oral tradition) either.)

The Trojan Horse story comes from The Aeneid. You and I must agree to ymmv on this particular issue. I'm all for a director not having excessive reverence for the source material, that makes for a dull film. There is nothing dull about The Iliad, though, so why bend the story like a pretzel? Except to get in those matching sailor suits, gotta love those.

[Spiny Norman]

The Trojan Horse story comes from The Aeneid.

And not from Homeros (who didn't exist or wrote all of it), not from the Iliad, or another Greek source. But I've yet to see any Homeric movies that leave out the horse and stick to the ancient text.
It's a fictional story that has been used and reused time and again, starting with the ancient playwrights and then the Romans, then later medieval chroniclers and artists of the renaissance... Paintings, sculptures, family trees, plays, movies... this is just one in a line of many incarnations from literally thousands of years. They're not replacements, but more a kind of fan fiction, if you will, that testifies to the versatility of the story. And there is also a blockbuster in it, so "Troy" is still a valid approach, if you ask me (but one of many).
Besides, it's not as if other movies are any better.

(Personally I don't relate to any of the characters which is why it all the war and honour in the story quickly start to bore me.)

[Frederica]

The Trojan Horse story comes from The Aeneid.

And not from Homeros (who didn't exist or wrote all of it), not from the Iliad, or another Greek source. But I've yet to see any Homeric movies that leave out the horse and stick to the ancient text.
It's a fictional story that has been used and reused time and again, starting with the ancient playwrights and then the Romans, then later medieval chroniclers and artists of the renaissance... Paintings, sculptures, family trees, plays, movies... this is just one in a line of many incarnations from literally thousands of years. They're not replacements, but more a kind of fan fiction, if you will, that testifies to the versatility of the story. And there is also a blockbuster in it, so "Troy" is still a valid approach, if you ask me (but one of many).
Besides, it's not as if other movies are any better.

(Personally I don't relate to any of the characters which is why it all the war and honour in the story quickly start to bore me.)

OK.