0872NOTPerseus_Letterier

0872NOTPerseus_Letterier

Ovid Met. 4.605-5.249
Apollodorus Libr. 2.4.1-5 and 3.4.2-3

The Clash of the Titans (dir. Louis Letterier), 2010, Warner Brothers. Liam Neeson as Zeus, Ralph Fiennes as Hades, Sam Worthington as Perseus, and Gemma Arterton as Io. The Kraken as himself.

A set of clear nods to its 1981 forebear (0872NOTPerseus_Davis) belie the originality of this Perseid. Updated to include apocalyptic religious fanatacism but also an intriguing new aspect of Io (no longer bovine), this film overcomes its glitz to raise some unexpected questions about the reception of classical myth.

For a reaction, see MythMatters post 11 August 2014 —"Clash of the Perseids (2010): Percy Jackson v. Clash of the Titans, part I"

Now Playing no. 17.

OGCMA slides are designed by Roger T. Macfarlane for use in Classical Civilization 241 courses at Brigham Young University.
The present resource contains information assembled for The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts, 1300 - 1990's, edited by J. Davidson Reid (Oxford 1994), and it is used with express permission from Oxford University press.
Address concerns or inquiries to macfarlane@byu.edu.