MYTHOLOGY

PROJECT

Anne Louise U. Esplana

Clash of the Titans

Directed by: Louis Leterrier

Official movie poster

Summary

The film begins with a narration describing how the Olympians managed to
overthrow their own creators, the Titans, through the aid of the Kraken, Zeus's creation.
After their fierce struggle, Zeus (Liam Neeson) became the King of the Gods, his brother,
Poseidon (Danny Huston), the Lord of the Seas, and their brother, Hades (Ralph
Fiennes), tricked by Zeus to rule the sickening Underworld in chaos and terror.

A coffin is then seen drifting through the sea before it is rescued by a fisherman,
Spyros (Pete Postlethwaite). When Spyros opens it, he discovers the baby Perseus and
his mother, Danae, inside and raises the boy as his own. Perseus does not know who his
real father and mother are, and worries that he will be neglected when his adoptive
parents have a child of their own, but Spyros reassures him of his love. Years later,
Perseus (Sam Worthington) and his family are fishing when they witness a group of
soldiers from Argos destroying a massive statue of Zeus, effectively declaring war on the
gods. Immediately following the fall of the statue, Zeus rises from the ocean, killing most
of the soldiers and then destroying the boat Perseus and his family are on. Perseus
attempts to save his family from the sinking boat, but is unable to, and passes out on
driftwood from the wreckage. The surviving soldiers find him and take him back to
Argos.

When King Cepheus (Vincent Regan) and Queen Cassiopeia (Polly Walker) of
Argos, at a feast for the returning soldiers, compare themselves to the gods and compare
the beauty of their daughter, Andromeda (Alexa Davalos), to that of Aphrodite, Zeus
appears again, killing the remaining soldiers. When Perseus is unaffected by his attack,
Zeus realizes he is a demigod, and tells him of his true father, himself. Zeus kills the
queen, and demands that Argos further pay for its insolence and vanity; in 10 days, the
Kraken will be released, and if the princess Andromeda is not sacrificed, then Argos will
be destroyed. Zeus then seeks out the gods on Mount Olympus and convinces Zeus to
agree to his plan in order to punish mankind for their lack of love.

Initially, the Argives see Perseus as an agent of the gods and imprison him, but
the king later seeks his help. A woman named Io (Gemma Arterton), who has been
watching over Perseus his entire life, advises him that the only way to avenge the death
of his family is to agree to the king's wishes and attempt to defeat the Kraken. He is sent
out with a small group of soldiers, led by Draco (Mads Mikkelsen), along with Io to seek
the Stygian Witches, while Zeus visits Acrisius (Jason Flemyng), a disfigured man who
was married to Danae when Zeus impregnated her with Perseus. When Acrisius planned
to kill his wife and the newborn Perseus, Zeus sent down a thunderbolt from Olympus,
badly scarring and disfiguring Acrisius' entire body. To help him achieve his goals, Zeus
imbues him with superhuman powers to enable him to kill Perseus. Acrisius attacks the
Argive group, killing several, and even when his hand is severed in the fight, his blood
falling on the sand causes giant scorpions to rise from the desert and continue the
attack. Perseus and the Argives manage to kill the first two scorpions, but are
surrounded by three more, even larger than the first. As they are about to attack, the
scorpions are suddenly calmed by a group of Djinn, gentle and benevolent Sand-
Demons with magical powers. There is initially mistrust between the two groups, until
the chief heals Perseus of grave injuries sustained during the fight, and the two sides
agree to cooperate.

Perseus and his group, via the scorpions, arrive at the barren, rocky "Garden of
Stygia", the site where the Gods ended the Great War and defeated the Titans. They find
the three Stygian Witches, who are hideous and share one eye. They tell Perseus, after
he threatens to throw their eye off the mountain, that Medusa's head will be able to kill
the Kraken, but that he will die in the process. The soldiers go to the Underworld, where
Medusa lives in seclusion in a temple, and only the soldiers enter (Io cannot because she
is a woman). Medusa turns all the remaining soldiers into stone, the Djinn destroys
himself with his heart, weakening Medusa, and Draco, who is gravely injured by one of
Medusa's arrows early in the fight, rescues a cornered Perseus by skewering Medusa
with a stone pillar from the ceiling and allows himself to be turned to stone in order to
give Perseus a clear shot at Medusa's head. Perseus, eyes shut, kills Medusa. As he exits
the temple, Acrisius returns and stabs Io. Perseus fights him again and, this time,
successfully kills him, which turns Acrisius back to human form. Io dies, telling Perseus
"this is the part of the journey you do alone..."

Perseus finds Pegasus and flies back to Argos as the Kraken is being released,
thus destroying the city. As a priest is about to sacrifice Andromeda, Zeus appears, and
has his creatures attack Perseus and steal Medusa's head. Perseus defeats the creatures
and regains the head, as well as successfully turning the Kraken to stone before it
consumes Andromeda. Zeus appears once more and boasts that he cannot die because
he is immortal; but Perseus throws his sword, charged together with Zeus's lightning at
him which banishes him to the Underworld. Perseus then saves Andromeda from
drowning when the apparatus used to restrain her falls into the ocean, but refuses to
become king of Argos.

In the final scene, Perseus stands at the broken statue of Zeus seen at the
beginning. Zeus appears and offers to make Perseus a god on Olympus; but he refuses.
Zeus notes that Zeus will return one day for revenge when mankind is in fear. Zeus
states that if Perseus is still intent to stay on earth then he might give him a gift since he
is the son of Zeus after all. A resurrected Io appears before Perseus, and the two begin to
embrace while Pegasus flies above them.
Characterization
The Protagonist
-Perseus-
Played by Sam Worthington
Perseus is the son of Zeus and
Dana. He was raised by a fisherman
named Spyros who found him in a coffin
adrift in the sea. Spyros and his wife,
Marmara, raise Perseus as their own
son, alongside their daughter, Tekla. As
an adult, his family was killed by the
attack of Faries.
In the movie, Perseus is
portrayed as a typical mortal human. As
the story progresses, it is obvious that he
possesses godlike traits like bravery
because he is a demigod, but has no
special power or ability. In the end,
Perseus decided to stay mortal.
The Antagonist
-Hades-
Played by Ralph Fiennes
As years passed, Hades began
planning to kill Zeus and usurp control
of the world from him. Hades was
responsible for the death of Perseus
family. In the end, with the help of Zeus,
Hades is vanished back to the
Underworld.
Tricked by Zeus, the movie
successfully portrayed Hades who is
filled with revenge.
Setting

Time Greek Heroic Age (8AD)

Place Argos, Greece
Climate Action, Adventure

Conflict

Perseus wanted revenge against Hades for killing his family. Hades wanted
revenge against Zeus for tricking him to live in the Underworld.

Resolution

Io told Perseus that the only way to get his revenge against Hades was to kill the
Kraken. Perseus, with the help of Argive soldiers went to a quest to find the
Stygian Witches. These horrid witches knows the whereabouts of the Gorgon
named Medusa. Perseus beheaded Medusa and used her head to turn the Kraken
to stone. When Zeus found out about Hades' plot for revenge he vanishes him to
the Underworld.

Theme

Heroism
Gods and goddesses
Revenge
Mythology

Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing occurred during the first minutes of the movie when the narrator
tells the story of the Titans. The king of the Titans, Cronus, was warned by an
oracle that someday one of his sons will dethrone him. This made Cronus swallow
all of his offsprings, except for Zeus who was rescued by his mother, Rhea. When
Zeus finally got the chance to defeat his father, he freed his siblings and they now
reign in Olympus. According to the prophecy told by the oracle, every reigning
king will be dethrone by his own son. This has not happened yet to Zeus.

Flashback

The movie showed flashbacks of the origin of the universe at the start.
Tone

The movie made of use 3rd person point of view and is narrated by a narrator.
The movie shows an adventurous tone.

Mood

Chaotic
War
Vengeful

Figures of Speech

Character Line Figure of Speech

Hades "You are specks of Hyperbole
dust beneath our
fingernails."

Queen Cassiopeia "What could be more Hyperbole

divine than her face?
More beautiful than
all of the women of
Greece! More
beautiful than
Aphrodite herself!
The Olympians
should envy her! We
are the gods now!"

Io "Poseidon took her Metonymy

on the cold floor."
(means rape)