Blog 9: Hero’s Quest and Film Part 2

In the film Clash of the Titans is shown the adventure of the Greek hero Perseus, son of the King of Gods, Zeus. One of the parts of the Monomyth is that every hero is reluctant and he is called by an outside force to take the journey. In the Clash of the Titans, Perseus is called by the goddess Thetis. King Acrisius imprisons his daughter Danae to avoid a prophecy. Zeus impregnates Danae and after her father discovers this, he places Danae and her newborn son Perseus in a coffin, and throws the coffin into the sea. Zeus kills King Acrisius and orders his brother, the god of the sea, Poseidon, to release the monster Kraken. The Kraken destroys the city of Argos, and Danae with her son arrives on an island.
Departure: The important part of the Hero’s Quest is that the hero has to take the journey to accomplish the goal. Perseus answers the call from the goddess and he goes on the adventure. The son of Zeus and goddess Thetis, Calibos, is destined to marry the Princess Andromeda of the city Joppa. Calibos destroys Zeus’s herd of flying horses, as a result Zeus punishes Calibos, and turns him into a satyr creature that has to live in the swamps. Calibos’s mother Thetis is very angry at Zeus and she imprisons Princess Andromeda’s soul. Everyone who wants to marry Andromeda has to answer a riddle. The first call for adventure is when Thesis moves Perseus to Joppa. This is when he crosses into the adventure and he accepts his destiny because he stays in Joppa. Zeus provides Perseus with gifts made from the gods which will help him in his journey. The talismans that he receives are a sword, a shield and a helmet, which makes him invisible. According to the Dictionary of symbolism “sword” symbolizes power, strength and protection. The sword is given to Perseus to defeat Medusa. The first threshold that the hero passes is when he goes to Andromeda’s room, while she is sleeping. Perseus sees her and falls in love, he knows that she is his destiny. He wants to fulfill his destiny, to save Andromeda and to marry her. But first he will have to find the answer of the riddle. Pegasus needs help and he captures the flying horse Pegasus. According to the Dictionary of symbolism “horse” is a maternal archetype, symbolizes strength, sensitivity, anger and stubbornness. In the film, the color of Pegasus is white, which symbolizes innocence and spirituality, also sign of death. With the help of Pegasus, Perseus follows Andromeda’s soul. Then the hero finds himself in the Belly of whale, he is in a swamp with monsters and the satyr who rules there. Perseus can’t get away, his only choice is to stay and fight with the monster Calibos. The hero brakes through, he slashes Calibos’s hand, and obtains the hand, but he loses his helmet in the swamp. The ring on the hand is the answer of the riddle. He went to Joppa and he answered correctly, then Andromeda’s soul was free and he could marry her. But Calibos is angry and wants revenge. His mother Thetis wants to destroy Joppa, to revenge her son’s destiny and she makes a demand to sacrifice Andromeda to the Kraken.
Initiation: There is more than one call to action. The goddess Thetis makes Perseus to go on another journey. Perseus continues his journey; he has to find a way to defeat the Kraken. This is when his adventure continues and he has to go on the road of trials. At first Perseus has to find the three blind women with the eye. Perseus has to go through several tests to be able to save Andromeda. Because Perseus loses his helmet, Zeus orders Athena to provide him with another talisman, the owl Bubo. But Athena doesn’t want to be separated from her friend Bubo; as a result she gives Perseus an automatic copy of Bubo. Then Bubo leads Perseus and his men to the three women. They tell him that the only way to defeat the Kraken is to capture the monster Medusa, and use her head. Medusa is punished by the goddess Aphrodite; every being that looks in her eyes she can turn him into stone. Perseus with the answer goes to the border of the Underworld to find Medusa. Another task that Perseus has to go through is to defeat the guardian of Medusa, the dog with two heads. Perseus with the shield defeats Medusa and takes her head. From Medusa’s blood he loses his shield, also two of his men died. Calibos is still angry at Perseus, he stabs Medusa’s head, and her blood produces giant scorpions. After Perseus and his men kill all of the scorpions, Perseus kills Calibos. Perseus begins his journey to capture Medusa’s head. He now accomplishes his goal, which is the ultimate boon and he becomes enhanced hero. As is typical in Hero’s Quest the hero becomes a more developed character after accomplishing his goal.
Return: Another aspect of the Monomyth, is that the hero has the triumphant return. The owl Bubo flies into the swamp and finds Pegasus, who is captured by Calibos. Bubo frees Pegasus, and together they went back to Perseus. Then Perseus goes on a magic flight with the flying horse Pegasus. He is able to come back on time in Joppa to save Andromeda. When Perseus comes near to the ocean, the Kraken pushes Pegasus, and both of them Perseus and Pegasus fall into the ocean. Perseus loses Medusa’s head, but with the help of the owl Bubo, Perseus takes back and exposes the head of Medusa. Then the Kraken turns into stone and crumples into the ocean. Perseus accomplishes the goal of his quest; he saves Andromeda and fulfils his destiny. His destiny is to be forever with Andromeda. The gods placed Perseus and Andromeda as stars to remind the humans of their heroism.
Having an understanding of the characteristics of the Monomyth, makes this film more interesting, because one can compare it to any story about heroes. Stories from any culture, which shows there is a universal idea of what is needed for a Hero’s Quest to be exciting and fulfilling. Every human being has to go on the journey to accomplish the goal, fulfill their destiny and become a superior person.

Work cited:
Biederman, Hans. “Dictionary of symbolism.” University of Michigan Fantasy and Science Fiction Website. 2001. Web. 2 May 2010
http://www.umich.edu/~umfandsf/symbolismproject/symbolism.html/
“Clash of the Titans” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 2 May 2010
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clash_of_the_Titans_(1981_film)
“Monomyth” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 2 May 2010
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth