I have not systematically sorted out the history of Hollywood Greek mythological films. I think there will be them in the silent film era? The main thing that impressed me was the governor's "Hercules in New York". The strong governor couldn't help shaking his chest in front of the camera. It was not so much a Greek mythology, it was an action comedy. In fact, "Hercules in New York" also reflects the position of Greek mythology in Hollywood movies-the ridiculous crossing and spoof. In fact, Hercules is one of Hollywood's most favored figures of Greek mythology. "From 1957 to 1965, there were more than 10 films about the legend of Hercules, some of which were relatively close to the original work, while others only retained the original names of individual characters. In 1957, "Hercules", the scene was magnificent. , Not only added the story of the Heroes of Argo Ship, but also incorporated a lot of love scenes, which was very eye-catching. In 1960, "The Love Adventure of Hercules", the audience did not notice that the film was seriously separated from the original. , Because their attention was focused on the glamorous carcass of porn star Jenny Mansfield. In 1962, "Three Clowns Meet Hercules", even the well-informed hero was stunned this time, three A clown, a scientist, and his girlfriend returned to the past through the time machine, and they began to play tricks on the unfortunate hero. This is a completely absurd drama. From 1963 to 1965, there have been many stories about Herakler. His films tirelessly rushed to the screen. Most of them were shoddy and mischievous films. You can guess their quality from the following film names: "Hercules Fights against the Moon Man", "Hercules Roaming the Bible"... In the heroic series of those years, "Hercules and the Princess of Troy" may be regarded as the leader in the B-level film. It is about the legendary story of the hero and the princess of Troy Hesione and the sea monster. The story of the film is compact. The plot is vivid and there are almost no cold scenes. No matter from acting or special effects and photography, the film strives for perfection and becomes the top spot among movies of the same subject" [1].
Comparing with Hercules' experience in Hollywood, it is not difficult for us to understand the face of "Percy Jackson". In my opinion, "Percy Jackson" is actually two copycats: one is the copycat "War of the Gods", and the other is the copycat "Harry Potter". To say that he copied "War of the Gods" is based on the prototype of the story. This Percy is actually Perseus. In "The Thieves of the God and Fire", the letters that little Posey saw in the museum drifted. It seems to have drifted into Perseus (Perseus), his name Percy (Percy), I think it is also a homophonic of Perseus. And Perseus, like Perseus, is the illegitimate child of the gods in the world (the Greek gods have many illegitimate children in the world), and they also have the experience of killing the Gorgon Medusa, fighting the Hades, etc., of course. Different times, my father is different: Percy was born of Poseidon, the god of the seas, Perseus was born of Zeus, the god of the seas-from a genealogical point of view, although Persie Jackson was a few thousand years younger than Perseus , But he is also Perseus's peer cousin.
As for the shadow of "Harry Potter", it is more obvious in "Percy Jackson". In essence, both are youth growth films, and both have a journey from the real world to the magical/magic world. Even the training camp where Posey entered is very much like Harry Potter's Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In addition, the combination of the two heroes and the three heroines is the same as the orphan-like situation of the male one. In fact, the original author of "Percy Jackson" does not shy away from his reference to "Harry Potter", so even the naming method is exactly the same: the protagonist's name + the core suspense of the episode. In order to challenge Warner, Fox also specially invited Chris Columbus, the director of the first two episodes of "Harry Potter" to direct the tube. The similarities between the two films are well known to passers-by.
However, "Percy Jackson" is difficult to achieve the glory of "Harry Potter". J.K. Rowling is very brilliant in suspense settings and social metaphors. Although Rick Ryton's writing is very dazzling, but Still a little bit inferior in screenwriting skills. However, "Harry Potter" became darker and more adult afterwards, especially since "Order of the Phoenix". With the improvement of Voldemort's body, big topics such as racism, terrorism, and public opinion control have become more and more attractive. Eyeballs are not very suitable for children to watch. It is estimated that the last two episodes of "Death" will scare a lot of flowers and plants. Although the MPAA’s ratings for "Percy Jackson" and "Harry Potter" are both PG-13, from the point of view of "family carnival", the former is far better than the latter. One of the reasons why elementary school students recommend "Percy Jackson". Furthermore, "Percy Jackson" completed the integration of classic themes with youth subculture. In the world of "Percy Jackson", the Greek gods are nothing but supernatural variants of contemporary Americans. This is like "Twilight", where supernatural elements such as vampires and human wolves are packaged in conformity with the aesthetic taste of the post-90s generation. Naturally, they will have their own hard-core audience (I hope Logan Lerman is qualified to cooperate with Robert • Pattinson PK).
In fact, Greek mythology is a rich treasure trove of themes, but Hollywood, which has always been "used", does not involve much. This may be due to the religious and cultural background. Western culture has the theory of the origin of the so-called "Shuangxi Civilization". One Xi is Hebrew and later deduced the Christian spirit; one Xi is ancient Greece, which later deduced the philosophical rational spirit and the culture of trade jurisprudence. The looming appearance of Hollywood Greek mythology movies has always been constrained in this "double Greek" game. From the perspective of world literature history and cultural history, Greek mythology is certainly one of the background factors of Hollywood culture. The blood of those ancient stories is also continued in the current electronic media narratives. Not only the United States, but Greek mythology has become the culture of all mankind. Treasure-remember Masami Cha Tian? Didn't the Japanese also make use of the subject matter of Greek mythology? Moreover, most of the enlightenment of Greek mythology of the generation born in the 80s in the Mainland was also completed by this "Saint Seiya" (even the director of the new version of "War of the Gods" bluntly said that he was also influenced by "Seiya", and he also invited the car Tian Zhengmei draws the movie poster).
However, after the advent of the "New Testament", the discourse and ideological hegemony of the "Trinity" was established. Isn't it a pagan behavior to speak arrogantly about the Greek gods? Don’t you see that "Avatar" with a bit of pantheism will also be criticized by the Vatican? Therefore, no matter how lively the Greek gods are, that is the past tense. "Harry Potter" cleverly avoided the will of "God" (the church never appeared in the film), "Lord of the Rings" completely emptied the background of the times, and "Percy Jackson" wanted to put the protagonist in the contemporary era. In the United States, the embarrassment of this religious background will show up sooner or later-it deserves to be a bad box office for "Sacred Fire Thief".
Of course, the current American religious and cultural background is relatively loose, but the modern religious system is monotheistic. The ancient polytheistic thinking has long gone away from us. The Greek mythology is very popular and the relationship between the characters is ambiguous, but this kind of multi-headed story clues, I am afraid it is not right with the underlying thinking structure of contemporary movie audiences. In addition, in the ancient oral epic era, there is no distinction between history and mythology, which is also a problem. For example, in "Troy", IMAX3D route can be used to shoot mythology, but Wolfgang Peterson has taken the route of historical blockbusters.
There are many Greek mythological stories in American dramas, and even the strong lily color of "Xina the Samurai Princess" can be filmed, which shows the charm of Greek mythology. However, after all, Greek mythology is shrouded in the shadow of the hegemony of Hebrew culture, and it is difficult to become the mainstream of Hollywood. Recently, 3D special effects technology has advanced by leaps and bounds. Greek mythology has provided special effects personnel with a ready-made experimental text. This is the fundamental reason why the gods on Mount Olympus are favored by Hollywood (see the old version of "The Gods" in 1981. "War", the fight between the heroes and the watchdogs of Hades is a sluggish stop-motion animation). In this sense, Greek mythology should not last long.
Finally, YY: Uma Thurman starred in Medusa, does it mean that she is going to be the endorsement for Versace?
This is not an implanted ad.
【1】Zhou Ziheng "The History of Greek Mythology", published in the 16th edition of Jiangnan Times, June 21, 2004
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