By Serena Wang
It’s been many years since the Epic of Gilgamesh was written. About 4,000 years ago actually. As the oldest piece of literature discovered, the Epic of Gilgamesh was based on King Gilgamesh, who ruled Sumerian Uruk (now Iraq) in 2700 BC. It must have been quite resonating, as there began the long chain of inspired works that would come all the way through Ancient Greek tales, Shakespearian works and finally, modern day media.
Surprisingly, a lot of recent media has referenced classic literature! Favourites such as the films, Clueless (1995) , 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) and Cold Mountain (2003) all have parallels to major pieces of literature, as well as mainstream music, video games, musicals/plays, and even more literature. We’ll be sorting through some of the most memorable media you might’ve already seen before, both major and maybe slightly less well known.
LITERATURE
For us action/adventure fans out there, The Alchemyst (2007) takes the idea of a powerful immortal living in the modern day, mythological figures from all sorts of origin and alchemy and runs with it. Starring Nicholas Flamel (a familiar name for those who read Harry Potter), The Alchemyst is for the lovers of detail, containing such subtle characterization in every sentence it makes me jealous. This series of 6 features the real Nicholas Flamel, a person rumoured to be immortal when his tomb was raided and the body nowhere to be found, as well as Hecate, Joan of Arc, Prometheus, Mars and King Gilgamesh. If you liked the Percy Jackson series, you’d love The Alchemyst for sure.
I’ll be honest, I’m slightly biased in discussing this one, as someone who absolutely adores The Odyssey. But The Song of Achilles (2011) and Circe (2018) by Madeline Miller are some of the best retellings of Greek mythological stories I’ve ever seen. From the perspective of Patroclus, we are told the story of him, Achilles and the devastating Trojan War in The Song of Achilles. Marked as a romantic/action story, it is a wonderful retelling of the true events of the Trojan War, involving characters straight from the original story in a stunningly skilled way. Circe involves a little less bloodshed but involves the story of a beautifully powerful woman in such a restrictive society of the Greek gods. Another retelling in Circe’s perspective, she begins to engage in witchcraft when exiled by the King of Gods, Zeus, persuading men and gods alike to fall in love with her. We get to see part of the story we see in the Odyssey from her perspective, when she encounters Odysseus in his journey. Madeline Miller does a fantastic job illustrating Circe’s struggle with her magic and its moral wrongs, as well as using the common dismissal of women in Greek times to raise her up. Overall, two extremely well-written books, with an easier comprehension than classic Greek literature such as Homer’s works and a wonderful way to get into Greek mythology.
FILM
Westworld (2016) is a dystopian Sci-fi film, adapted from a film made in 1973, also titled Westworld. Containing 4 seasons released on HBO, Westworld features ideas of artificial consciousness and the result of human abuse against them (Spoiler incoming, but it involves quite a lot of violence). However, throughout the film we get quotes from Shakespeare’s work, most famously quoting Romeo and Juliet in “These violent delights have violent ends”. Westworld also quotes from King Lear, Henry IV, Hamlet and The Tempest, all coming from very fitting characters.
I’ve yet to watch 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) but I’ve heard some positive words about it, maybe from about half the school. This rom-com features two main characters, Kat and Patrick, both with very similar names to their Shakespearean counterparts, Katherina and Petruchio from Taming of the Shrew. 10 Things I Hate About You cleverly spins this play into a modern day high-school story while keeping the themes of defying gender roles, love and identity. Of course, the Medieval times didn’t quite have high-school prom nights or the teenage rebellion and this series takes these ideas and goes wild with them, turning Katherina into a relatable, rebellious female icon and turning the two’s relationship into something quite mutual and respectful. It’s worth noting the setting of Taming of the Shrew, having quite a different challenge in its time of submissive wives and planned marriages in an almost alliance-like manner, which the series heavily deviates from, considering teenagers weren’t really interested in marriage.
I’ll be writing a second part to this next term! Hope you learnt something new about your favourite pieces of media!
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