Modern Uses of The Theme and Pop Culture
In Hermann Melville's Moby-Dick, the narrator asserts that Perseus was the first whaleman, when he killed Cetus to save Andromeda. Operatic treatments of the subject include Persée by Lully (1682) and Persée et Andromède by Ibert (1921).
Chimera, the 1972 National Book Award-winning novel by John Barth, includes a novella called Perseid that is an inventive, postmodern retelling of the myth of Perseus.
In Rick Riordan's fantasy series Percy Jackson and the Olympians (2005–2009), the protagonist Percy Jackson, a son of Poseidon, is named after Perseus.
In film, the myth of Perseus was loosely adapted numerous times. The first being the 1963 Italian film Perseus The Invincible (which was dubbed and released to the U.S as Medusa Against The Son of Hercules in 1964). The second was the 1981 fantasy/adventure film Clash of the Titans, and the third was that film's 2010 remake Clash of the Titans, which was followed by a sequel called Wrath of the Titans in 2012.
Perseus was also featured in comics. Outside of a comic book adaptation of the 1981 Clash of the Titans film published by Western Publishing and a graphic novel called Perseus: Destiny's Call published in 2012 by Campfire Books, the story of Perseus continued in a couple of comic book series from Bluewater Comics. The first was the 2007 miniseries Wrath of the Titans, (which also spawned a one-shot comic called Wrath of the Titans: Cyclops), while the second is the 2011 miniseries Wrath of the Titans: Revenge of Medusa.
In Masami Kurumada's Saint Seiya comic book, which is inspired by Greek myths, the character Perseus Algol is one of the warriors known as the Saints of Athena, and he wears an armor known as the Perseus Cloth, which represents the mythological figure and also his constellation.
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Famous quotes containing the words pop culture, modern, theme, pop and/or culture:
“There is no comparing the brutality and cynicism of today’s pop culture with that of forty years ago: from High Noon to Robocop is a long descent.”
—Charles Krauthammer (b. 1950)
“The real accomplishment of modern science and technology consists in taking ordinary men, informing them narrowly and deeply and then, through appropriate organization, arranging to have their knowledge combined with that of other specialized but equally ordinary men. This dispenses with the need for genius. The resulting performance, though less inspiring, is far more predictable.”
—John Kenneth Galbraith (b. 1908)
“She is a theme of honor and renown,
A spur to valiant and magnanimous deeds,
Whose present courage may beat down our foes,
And fame in time to come canonize us.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The children [on TV] are too well behaved and are reasonable beyond their years. All the children pop in with exceptional insights. On many of the shows the children’s insights are apt to be unexpectedly philosophical. The lesson seems to be, “Listen to little children carefully and you will learn great truths.””
—G. Weinberg. originally quoted in “What Is Television’s World of the Single Parent Doing to Your Family?” TV Guide (August 1970)
“With respect to a true culture and manhood, we are essentially provincial still, not metropolitan,—mere Jonathans. We are provincial, because we do not find at home our standards; because we do not worship truth, but the reflection of truth; because we are warped and narrowed by an exclusive devotion to trade and commerce and manufacturers and agriculture and the like, which are but means, and not the end.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)