The Iliad was adapted into a film in 2004 entitled Troy, in which the story was dramatically and subtly changed in its adaptation. One of the main differences in the film was that there was no intervention or action by the gods, whereas in the book the gods constantly played an active role, ultimately influencing the outcome of the story. Further major changes included making Achilles simply a human man, combining Briseis and Chriseis into one person, and the portrayal of certain characters' emotions and images throughout the film which subtly change the film with great impact. You might think that these changes were horrible and tasteless, however they give an idea of what life would have been like for the characters without the gods, and the characters in a different light than in Homer's story, whether it was negative or positive . one.Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In the Iliad, Homer depicted Achilles as an angry and ruthless, yet compassionate character, with divine and humanistic traits feeding into his essential being: a demigod. Due to the lack of gods in the film, Achilles was never shown crying to his mother at sea to get his "prize" back, therefore leaving the audience with a lack of empathy and resonance with Achilles. In turn, the elimination of this scene and the appearance of the gods showed Achilles in a darker light, as a warrior devoid of sympathy or emotion, perhaps even a ruthless killer as Briseis saw him at the beginning of the film. On the topic of the involvement of the gods, subsequent events unfolded with the same results but differently than originally written. In Book XXIII of the Iliad, where Hector and Achilles fought, Achilles becomes a giant who pursues Hector, who was under the impression that Paris was at his side to help him defeat Achilles. The gods played a crucial role in determining the outcomes of situations such as Athena returning Achilles his arrow when he had not hit Hector with it. Furthermore, without Athena's involvement, Hector knew he was on his own the entire time, never led astray in the battle which would lead to Achilles gaining the upper hand during the battle. On the other hand, this could be seen as a good change considering that the aid of the gods favoring Achilles, was technically a 'cheat' when they aided him in his battles. Also, given the lack of gods in the film, plague and disease were a very real thing and an inexplicable science instead of Apollo's priests and priestesses praying to Apollo to cause an epidemic. Finally, without the involvement of the gods, there are no comparisons to be made between the humans and the gods to see the striking similarities between both, and to point out to the audience that the gods were just as mean and childish as the humans they played with. . This is an extremely important change as it gave the audience a loss of intuition and the characters a loss of guidance and protection. Without validation of the existence or involvement of the gods, there remained doubt, little faith, and no fear of the gods. in Troy the film. This is shown when Achilles belittles Briseis for her beliefs as she did not care for them, nor fear them. In the kidnapping, harming, and attempted sexual assault of Briseis, she attempts to kill Achilles in his sleep. In this Hollywood adaptation where romance must always be involved, Briseis and Achilles fall in love with each other, even though he has killed everyone she has ever known..
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