Iliad vs Troy

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Troy is a 2004 British-Maltese epic war film written by David Benioff and directed by Wolfgang Petersen. It is based on Homer's Iliad which revolves from the beginning to the end of the 10 year Trojan War. Achilles leading his Myrmidons along with the rest of the Greek army invading the historical city of Troy, led by Hector's Trojan army. The differences in Troy compared to the Iliad are the absence of the Gods, characters and plot development, and the addition, exclusion, and reversal of key points. The gods played a role in the book and they determined who was going to live or die or which side was going to win or lose. The Gods were not present in the movie except Achilles mother Thetis. The movie shows Achilles' mother, though it doesn't explicitly name her as a goddess. And Achilles says he's met the gods and not been impressed. The movie tries to touch on their existence without actually showing them manipulating the humans. This doesn't work well in the movie, since it brings in the gods on the one hand yet fails to show how they affect the outcome of the war. In the epic, the Trojans rely on certain gods to protect them, but because of relationships not fully understood by them, the gods let them down. Events happen to the Trojans partly as punishment (the violation of the guest-host relationship, Cassandra and Apollo, etc.). The movie portrays none of this, except for a moment or two where characters display fear of gods' retribution; when we see no clear evidence of this happening, it reinforces a sense that the gods have no real role to play. In any case, both texts (epic and film) reflect the culture they were made in - one believing in a pretty straightforward reward-and-punishment relationship with the gods, the other largely dismissing that possibility. The movie and the book both displayed the main theme which was Achilles' anger and it also
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