MovieChat Forums > Clash of the Titans (2010) Discussion > Problems with the humanistic message

Problems with the humanistic message

posted 9 years ago by seekquaze125
2 replies | jump to latest

A problem I have with the remake is it tries to justify humanity's rebelling against the gods by portraying them as oppressive tyrants when they do not come out that way.

1. The gods are not shown to be that bad.

Zeus is repeatedly shown to be loving and merciful to mankind. He aids Perseus. At first he only humiliated Calibos instead of destroying his entire city outright as the other gods wanted. He has allowed mankind to grow strong enough to become independent and only takes action when the gods' lives are threatened. He spares Argos after the Kraken is defeated. The only real complaints we have are some of the male gods sleep around with some mortal wives and Perseus' adoptive father is having a bad run at fishing. Oh, and Io was cursed to be young and beautiful forever instead of being cursed to live forever as old and ugly or any number of other things. The gods come off as kind of jerks, but not oppressive tyrants.

2. Mortals do not come across as any better or perhaps worse.

The well-fed nobles of Argos decide to hold a celebration and only Andromeda remembers the hundreds of dead soldier or considers possible retaliation. It hardly looks like people are starving.

Years earlier, Calibos decided to attack Olympus for some reason...and murder his wife when Zeus humiliated him instead of outright destroying him.

Perseus himself is more interested in vengeance on Hades and being a "man" than in the lives of his comrades or the city. His selfish refusal to use his divine gifts gets his fellow soldier killed.

3. Man claims not to need the gods or their gifts, but only wins thanks to them.

This may be the biggest problem. Perseus wants to do things "as a man" and mankind itself claims not to need the gods and that they "are the gods now." Yet, Perseus only overcomes his challenges and defeats the Kraken by relying on gifts from the gods: the sword, the horse, the strength, even Medusa' head all come from the gods. Without all of that he would never have defeated the Kraken. So he needed the gods and could not win "as a man."

Maybe it was the reediting done by the studio, but the whole plot falls apart with unlikable characters and mixed messages. The original at least lacked these massive plot holes.

[–] sfkidd 8 years ago

Oddly enough, it apparently WAS because of the re-edits and reshoots done by WB. According to the director, in the original cut, Perseus wasn't taking the mission just to get revenge on Hades. In fact, he actually was doing it to save Andromeda much like in the original 80's movie, saying that people shouldn't be sacrificed to appease the Gods. Why this was changed, i dunoo.

What's even more baffling, is that, Zeus WAS supposed to be much more of a dick in that same cut and the original ending that's on the Blu-ray has Perseus go to Olympus to confront him (minus Io getting resurrected). Earlier on, Apollo was supposed to be giving the gifts to Perseus instead of Zeus, having seen through Hades' plot and going behind Daddy Zeus's back on purpose just to stop his uncle.

I think the problem was that both parties involved clearly had wonky views on how the morality in this remake was supposed be (the director wanted Zeus to be a dick but make Perseus more noble and less vengeful; WB wanted Zeus to be more sympathetic and helpful but make Perseus more upset that Hades indirectly got his adoptive parents killed, though he admittedly becomes more reasonable towards the Gods in the end). And such distorted views is what I think ruined the message. Personally, I think the whole "Screw the gods" angle shouldn't have been in this, and it's difficult for me to re-watch this movie without bitching about it. The sequel at least dumped this angle entirely and continued making both Perseus and Zeus more equally likable.

[–] EuropeanMoviesFan 7 years ago

A problem I have with the remake is it tries to justify humanity's rebelling against the gods by portraying them as oppressive tyrants when they do not come out that way.

1. The gods are not shown to be that bad.

Yes, the gods were bad, and in my opinion, humans were justified in rebelling. Since the beginning of the movie, Perseus' adoptive Dad clearly says that the gods are not worthy of humans' praise or worship. These gods were responsible for sending a plague to the continent and the very low catch of fish by the fishermen. And yet, Gods still demanded prayer. After the first humans rebelled by knocking down the statue, Perseus' adoptive Dad is drowned and Perseus blames the Gods. Perseus had not taken part in the first rebellion. Perseus says that his adoptive parent, being more loving and caring, is his real dad.

When the mother of one of the queens claims that her daughter was more beautiful than the gods, Hades, being unleashed by Zeus, turns her into an old wrinkled lady. Any god who punishes humans or kills them for refusing to worship Gods or refusing to acknowledge their superiority, is in no way good god. This is black mail.

2.

Mortals do not come across as any better or perhaps worse. Perseus himself is more interested in vengeance on Hades and being a "man" than in the lives of his comrades or the city. His selfish refusal to use his divine gifts gets his fellow soldier killed.

Being half-man, it was Perseus right to live as such. Perseus did not choose to be born half-god. It was a trick by one of the gods, using the body of a human, to get the mother pregnant. And it was the gods that came to ask Perseus for help to defeat the Gods. Perseus was doing the Gods the favor, and so, he tried as much to do it as a man. he thought that gods were not all good and were the real cause of the war, not men.

3.

Man claims not to need the gods or their gifts, but only wins thanks to them.

This may be the biggest problem. Perseus wants to do things "as a man" and mankind itself claims not to need the gods and that they "are the gods now." Yet, Perseus only overcomes his challenges and defeats the Kraken by relying on gifts from the gods: the sword, the horse, the strength, even Medusa' head all come from the gods. Without all of that he would never have defeated the Kraken. So he needed the gods and could not win "as a man."

Perseus could have easily lived as a man with the challenges of mankind. And he clearly states, in this movie, or in Wrath of the Titans, that this was a war that the Gods had created themselves. It was the God who used Perseus and gave him the gift to defeat the Kraken, not to defeat men themselves. The gift was so that a gift by god could be used to defeat another god. It was never meant to suggest that the gift was necessary to live as a simple man with other men.