f0UR & f!V3 :: f!GHt.

Hollywood stories inspired by books are exactly that. They are inspired. I've never once in my little life seen a movie that was exactly as the book. And even if there is one out there, it's still completely different, because the magic of books is that you see the story in your head your own way; and essentially, subconsciously, you see it the way you want it to be. Prince charming is your prince charming. The beautiful princess is your idea of beautiful. For example, before the Harry Potter movies came out, every little kid I knew was running around with a different, magnificent, imaginative way of seeing the characters as J.K. Rowling's words popped off the page. All of a sudden everyone in the world sees Daniel Radcliffe as the face of Harry Potter. All of a sudden, no one can remember what they envisioned him as before, and this will never change. In a way, movies based on books destroy the imagination. Sad.

In Troy, Hollywood made Paris out to be mister wonderful. They did a decent job in picking Orlando Bloom to play Paris in that he's a good looking guy. But nonetheless, relating to what I sad before, Orlando Bloom isn't my version of the most beautiful man in the world, which is who Paris is meant to be. Paris wasn't mister wonderful. He won Helen of Troy and of course he wanted her, as she is the most beautiful woman in the world, but he didn't necessarily love her. And on her part, she did not love him or want to be with him. She was content in Troy. But in Hollywood's version, Paris swept her off her feet and she gladly helped him start a war by leaving Troy to be with him. A little romance always gets an audience going I suppose.

In the film, Menelaus is killed by Hector once Paris falls to the ground, crawls to Hector's feet, and bats his pretty eyelashes at all the big scary men. In the Iliad Menelaus lives throughout the entire war. He's angry the whole time that he never ends up finding Paris. Paris is a bit of a coward in both the Iliad and Troy. He basically has to be forced to fight for his homeland.

+HR33 :: & then a hero comes along.

Real-life heroes to me are people who help others. And therefore a hero really shouldn't have to do anything differently from other people. They're human, and people should accept that any type of hero can have flaws. If they don't then you can't relate to them, and recognizing that you relate in some ways to a hero can help you try to be more like them. But people will always feed off of other's imperfections, which is sadly the downfall of most heroes.

Walt Disney's Aladdin is a specific hero who's known and loved by all. It's obvious that he doesn't care about materialistic things, but what's on the inside. People remember this to be true even when he gets caught up in image and riches for a moment, and as I mentioned before, a hero rarely mistakes. Like Aladdin, a hero that makes a mistake and yet is still viewed in a magnificent way is truly a hero. His heart is huge, and his head is strong. There's many qualities to his character that causes everyone to be able to identify with him. He's a hero in every respect. He would be considered a hero in today's society because he's not about fighting or causing problems but will do his best to help those who need it if these issues did come up.

Achilles was a hero in his day. If he lived today, I don't think he would be respected in a heroic fashion. His brutality (the only way he thinks something can be accomplished) and his lack of honor because of his ego are his core traits, and those aren't the traits of a hero. A hero can accept authority because it's there, it's a part of society, always has and always will be. A hero is kind hearted and wants the best for others. A hero will defend those incapable of being able to defend themselves because he cares about them, because he wants to, not because he wants his name to live forever.

In relation to Agamemnon, Achilles is more of a supercilious killing machine rather than a hero. Agamemnon fights for what he believes in, for his family and his home, and  only fights because he must. Achilles fights because he can, because he is stronger and faster than others. A trait that they share is their aspirations: that they will be remembered.

xo

+wo :: this is SPARTA.

I love Spartan society. As stated in my previous post, I constantly joke about raising my children, whether they are boys or girls, to be Spartan warriors. 300 is one of the rare movies I can watch thousands of times without becoming bored. I used to be very interested in learning about Spartan history and society, but as my interests moved into a more artistic field I didn't look into as much. I love the way both men and women were raised and generally continued to try to live to their upmost point of physical capacity. Everyone was a warrior. Spartans were the leaders of the combined Greek forces and the boys military training started for them at the age of seven. Women were also educated and although less intensely trained militaristically, Sparta was the only city-state in Greece that educated women at all.

I love that women in Sparta were powerful and respected, unlike anywhere else in this time period. This is the main difference I see between Athenian and Spartan society. They could own properties, they weren't forced to marry and didn't usually marry at a young age, the laws for men and women were the same, they could inherit whatever was rightfully theirs, they could wear what they pleased and go where they want.

Spartans are just pretty much badass.

xo

0N3 :: GR33k My+H0L0Gy.

My younger brother has always been obsessed with Greek Mythology. He would sit for hours reading books on it and attempting to get me to engage in conversation with him about the topic. I picked up bits and pieces of knowledge about the subject from him, but not much that stuck with me since it wasn't a significant interest of my own. I have always loved the movie 300, and have possibly seen it around 300 times. I probably know more about Spartan life individually than I do about Greek Mythology as a whole. I've always joked that male or female, I'll raise my children as Spartan warriors.

I know stories of gods such as Zeus and Aphrodite, half gods like Hercules and Achilles, and tales of creatures such as Sirens and warriors such as Agamemnon. Learning in school when I was younger about events such as the Trojan War lead up to hearing about pieces of Greek Mythology but whether my teacher never elaborated or I simply forgot the information I'm not positive. Bits of movies growing up, stories in Middle School history classes, my parents and my brother are pretty much the only reason I'd know anything about this subject.

xo