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 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. In 2010 Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief told the story of a Demi God named after Perseus—the only hero to have a happy ending. He also be-heads Medusa in the movie, but is actually a son of Poseidon. The movie was made based on the series of books written by Rick Riordan. A follow up film Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters is due to be released in August 2013.
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 manga, 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. Perseus was also a featured Servant in Kinoku Nasu's original Fate/Prototype version of Fate/stay night as a Servant of the Rider class.
Read more about this topic: Perseas
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