Troy!! Homer's The Illiad

[Mazzaup2]

You may have had this topic before - but...
The movie Troy was soooo innacurate it was unbelieveable!! Its was 'inspired' by Homer's Illiad apparently. The mistakes are as follows...
1) Agamemnon doesnt kill Priam - Achilles son Pyhrrus does
2) Ajax doesnt die at Troy - he goes mad and drills his brain out after
3) Menelaus doesnt die! - In fact he is in Homer's Sequel to the Illiad, The Odyssey (There are rumours that thy are palnning to do an Odyssey film so they'll need to butcher that story as well)
4) Patroclus isnt Achilles' cousin - He is his GAY lover!
5) Agamemnon doesnt die! - He get's killed by his wife (Clytaemnestra) on his return home
6) Aeneas (the guy who is given the sword at the end) was not that young - He was a General at Troy so wouldnt have been 18! See Virgil's Aeneid.
7) Achilles deatwass wrong! - He fell in love with Polyxena (not Briseis) and wanted to marry her in Apollo's temple. Paris shot a poisoned arrow (guided by Apollo) which hits his heel and kills him.
8) WHERE ARE THE GODS!! - They control most of the events in the book!! Its is a myth for crying out loud!!
9) Helen doesnt escape Troy - Menelaus (who if you remember DOESNT die) takes her back to Sparta!! (See The Odyssey).
I think ive covered most of the major mistakes that just goes to show that hollywood can severly butcher a brilliant epic story.
Does anyone else agree?

[LeMarchand]

There's always changes between the original source material and any film, for any number of reasons (including, but not limited to: budget, cast, irrelevance to modern society, need to stay wiithin a reasonable running time, need to have fewer characters, stuff on the page won't necessarily translate to film etc). Why should the Iliad be any different?

[jno]

It's possible Homer got it wrong too, of course. In not mentioning the gods, for instance, it may be the film is a lot closer than he was to what really happened. Homer was a poet, not a historian - but it's virtually impossible to make a film out of a poem.

[kaktus]

I have had this debate with myself and others. My boyfriend have heard somewhere, that this should be seen as the events that inspired Homer to write the Illiad, if that is true I guess many of the faults are ok. I would have liked much more, to see a more accurate version of the Illiad, e.g. the gods involment, which I think is great fun. It really annoys me that Helena esapes and so on, as it is supposed to be a heartbreaking tradegy. All this said I can understand that if you want to make a movie out of any literary work you have to cut and paste, unless you want the film to 24 hours long. So all in all I don't know if I agree :0) But I certainly do know what you mean!

[Mazzaup2]

I accept that films should be allowed to take certain liberties regarding the script. BUT when a film claims to be 'inspired by the Iliiad' then it is not dealing with the myth of Troy but instead the story as contained in Homer's Illiad.

Therefore it would make sense for it to be at least loosely based around the events in the Illiad - which it blatantly wasnt!

Another comment was that Homer may have also got it wrong. Although this may be true it does not deter from the fact that the film was BASED on Homer's Iliiad alone. This again means that any poetic liucense on the part of the filmakers should be taken WITHIN Homer's Illiad.

[LeMarchand]

Look at the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy: numerous changes from the books (and it was based on rather than inspired by, which implies than it should have been closer to the book/s than "Troy"). However, LotR was a brilliant adaptation of the source material.

[janesmythe22]

You've already answered your Q-it was 'inspired' by The Iliad (I would say 'inspired' by The Odyssey and The Aeneid as well).
'Troy' is just another film. It seems highly unlikely that anyone would go to see a movie about some "great warriors'" never-ending squabbling and bickering gods, covering just one year of the Trojan war-no victory, no Trojan horse, remember? Just imagine: "Such was their burial of Hector, breaker of horses." The End! Never. Well, at least not produced in Hellwood.
Or maybe too much of Robert Graves' influence in your question? I do not feel that we know much about Homeric attitudes towards sexual relationships between men.
Mind you, all English translations I've come across so far are truly awful (it's only me, though).
And Ajax (Aias) 'drilling his brain out'???

[Kenzo]

well ive not seen the film, but ive got a short story version of the book that begins with all the gods around a table and eris the goddess of discord comes down with a golden apple etc. and at some points the soldiers make contact with the oracle at delphi is this included in the full book version?

if so i was hoping it would have been in the film, that would have added a real fantasy element to it. i like hearing about the gods, it would be good if there were more films that had that sort of storyline to it.

[Mazzaup]

It's not actually in the Illiad but its a very important part of the story of how the battle of Troy originated. What basically happens is that a wedding occurs in Olympus. All the gods are invited apart from Eris (meaning Discord). She was understandably not invited! Eventualy she hears about the wedding and gets jealous. As a way of disrupting (causing discord) she inscribes upon an golden apple the words "To the fairest". She then throws it down the isle causing Hera (symbolising power), Athena (symbolising Wisdom) and Aphrodite (symbolising Sexual love) to fight over it. Eventually they ask Zeus to decide. Not being the fool he gets the naive Paris (prince of Troy) to judge the 'beauty contest'. The 3 goddesses bribe Paris with ultimate wisdom (Athena, ultimate power (Hera) or the most beautiful woman i nthe world (Aphrodite). Paris, symbolisning the young foolish man, chooses Aphrodite who then sends him Helen of Sparta. Hera and Athena subsequently turn against Troy and support the Greeks during the war. Aphrodite therefore supports the Trojans. This is an incredibly intersting part of the myth but not actually involved in the Illiador the film!! If it was then it might have been fogiveable!!!

[Kenzo]

thanks, i wasn't sure if it was included or what.

i like the story with the gods at the beginning.