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By Peter T. Chattaway
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| Sam Worthington as Perseus
in Clash of the Titans. |
SAM Worthington seems to be making a career out of playing hybrid creatures – half human and half something else – who reject their stronger, more powerful half in favour of their weaker half,
as it were.
In Terminator Salvation, he sided with the humans against the machines that gave him his programming.
In Avatar, he sided with the aliens against the humans who gave him his
genetically-engineered body. And now, in the brand new remake of Clash of the Titans, he will, it seems, side with the humans against the gods who gave them life.
Alas, the film was not screened for local critics by press time (I hope to post
something at my blog by the time you read this). One thing we can say about the
film, it seems, is that it will take a much dimmer view of the Greek gods than
the 1981 film did.
The trailers already carry the provocative tagline “Damn the gods,” and Worthington himself has said that his character Perseus – the son of a human mother and of Zeus (Liam Neeson), king of the gods – will insist on identifying with his fellow mortals rather than the gods because
that would be a better message to send to children.
In a similar vein, Gemma Arterton, a former ‘Bond girl’ who now plays an enigmatic figure named Io, has said that her character’s role in the film is to help Perseus realize that “he should open up and embrace his godlikeness in order to defy the gods.”
What we should make of all this is, of course, impossible to say until we have
seen the film for ourselves. But for now, suffice it to say that, as far as the
ancient myths were concerned, Zeus and his colleagues may have been gods but
they weren’t exactly saints – so a little condemnation might have been in order there.
Plus, Christians have had a complicated relationship with pagan mythology over
the years. Sometimes the gods have been condemned as demons in disguise; and
sometimes, as in C.S. Lewis’ Narnia stories, the gods have been depicted as partners with Christ because
together they stood in opposition to the faithless materialism of the modern
age.
Certainly there seems to be a growing trend towards skepticism or agnosticism in
our culture, where supernatural figures of any sort are concerned.
Continue article >>
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Six years ago, the ancient battle epic Troy basically purged the gods from its version of the mythical Trojan War.
Earlier this year, Legion made angels like Gabriel the bad guys in a story based on the premise that God
had decided to wipe out the human race.
And now LatinoReview.com reports that Samuel L. Jackson and Josh Duhamel are in talks to star in Sympathy for the Devil, in which a cop must find a way to “break the cycle” of violence between angels and demons, who will apparently be portrayed as
equally vengeful and dangerous, “with neither side showing anything like mercy.”
What is driving these films? Perhaps it is a growing belief that religion
itself, not merely a handful of religious extremists, is to blame for the world’s problems.
Perhaps it is a sense that the world is going to hell in a handbasket due to
forces beyond our control, and the gods and angels of these films are stand-ins
of a sort for governments and corporations.
Whatever the explanation may be, it will be interesting to see what sort of
audience these films find, and to see what those audiences make of these films.
* * *
In (possibly) brighter news: Of the making of Bible movies, there is no end.
Two new films, both of which are currently just in development, were recently
announced.
Paul Currie, an Australian filmmaker and co-founder of Lightstream Pictures, is
planning to direct a 3D animated movie called The Fourth Wise Man, which may or may not be based on the Henry Van Dyke short story that was
previously turned into a TV-movie with Martin Sheen and Alan Arkin back in
1985. At any rate, the brief clips on the Lightstream website, which include a
bright star and a talking camel, all point towards a nativity theme.
Meanwhile, director David L. Cunningham – who I interviewed for this paper when The Seeker: The Dark is Rising came out three years ago – is developing a 3D movie about Adam and Eve called In the Beginning. The film, if it is greenlit, will be produced by Bedrock Studios, a new
company started by Walden Media co-founder Cary Granat.
There is no word yet on how this ‘family-friendly’ film will deal with the nudity inherent to the story; but presumably, the 3D
effects could come in handy here, with strategically-placed plants and branches
sitting somewhere between the viewer and the characters.
– filmchatblog.blogspot.com
April 2010
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