CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Gods of the Silver Screen:
Cinematic Representations
of Myth and Divinity
Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones
Ever since cinema’s infancy, myth – and Greek mythology in particular – has been a
mainstay of cinematic output, in that films either incorporate mythological names
or characters in their titles –The Andromeda Strain(dir. Wise, 1971),The Poseidon
Adventure(dir. Neame, 1972),Black Narcissus(dir. Powell, 1947) – or else recreate
episodes from classical mythology. Jon Solomon estimates that there have been over
eighty mythological movies made by American and European film studios to date,
proving that movie producers are keen to mine the depths of classical myth for screen
materials (Solomon 2001:101). The release of films like Disney’s animated feature
Hercules(dir. Clements and Musker, 1997) and the blockbusterTroy(dir. Petersen,
2004) demonstrates that Greek mythology continues to play a significant role in the
construction of ancient history in mass popular culture. As Martin Winkler puts it:
Ancient myths and archetypes recurring in films attest to the vitality of our own cultural
tradition. Retellings of classical stories on film show that filmmakers have used the
ancient material consciously in order to comment on their own times or that they
unconsciously reflect cultural trends. Ancient myths can also provide instances of more
or less imaginative entertainment. In such processes the classical sources may become
imbued with a creative art and intelligence not readily apparent to a casual viewer.
Openly commercial films set in antiquity, whose historical or mythological accuracy
may leave much to be desired, can still reward a close engagement with their underlying
qualities. (Winkler 2001:3)Winkler identifies two types of cinematic approach to mythology in film: a ‘‘high art’’
approach, permeated with ‘‘intelligence,’’ by which he refers to complex European