Contrasts of Troy and the Iliad

Contrasts of Troy and the Iliad

Troy and the Iliad are very similar in the story line and the all-around theme but there are huge fundamental changes the director made to the story to increase the likeability of the movie. Troy includes some of the significant events from the Iliad but there are extremely important events of the book that he did not include and some events that are important to the movie that never actually happened in the book. The three most important fundamental changes of the movie were the change in where the story had actually began and ended, the nonexistence of the gods throughout the whole movie and the change from Achilles' decision for Patroclus to fight to Patroclus' decision to go.

In the movie Troy the director makes the decision to start the movie at the start of the war, giving the viewers some background information as to why the war had actually began rather than starting nine years into the war like in the Iliad, "Rage--Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles, murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses, hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls, great fighters' sols, but made their bodies carrion, feast for the dogs and birds, and the will of Zeus was moving toward is end. Begin, Muse, when the two first broke and clashes, Agamemnon lord of men and brilliant Achilles." [1.1-8] He also ended the book at the end of the Trojan war, far beyond the end of the epic poem "And so the Trojans buried Hector breaker of the horses." [24.944] most likely to show people what had actually happened. Starting and ending the movie in different spots would help give the viewer a more complete event than what the poem had portrayed. Starting the movie with background information on why the war began gives people more information to help them understand the events of the war. Ending the movie after the war, like starting the movie before, gives the viewers a sense of completeness, you find out what happens to most of the main characters and you see how the war ended rather than just cutting off at Hector's burial like in the poem and having to figure out the ending for yourself.

Like starting the movie in the beginning rather than the middle of the story, the movie was also missing another huge trait of an epic poem; it had no involvement of supernatural beings. The movie completely took out all god/goddess involvement changing the events of the epic dramatically. Not having the god participation throughout the movie was probably a decision they made because of the extreme supernatural events that the gods were involved in would make the movie seem very edited and faked. Aphrodite scooping up Paris during his fight with Menelaus, Apollo pushing Patroclus down the walls, the river fighting with Achilles, "Achilles the famous spearman, leaping down from the bluff plunged in the river's heart and the river charged against him, churning, surging, all his rapids rising in white fury." [21.265-267] Without the participation of the gods the whole theme of fate vanished, nothing was left to the gods, in the movie they talked about Apollo and him sending signs to the Trojans but there was never actual physical participation from any of them. Wolfgang Peterson most likely did not want to add the gods into the movie to keep the movie more realistic for the viewer making everything seem more believable to people in today's generation who do not have as much faith in miracles and gods as they did when this poem was being