The Hero's Journey and a Rabbit Hole or Two

Last week for school we watched Prince of Persia and Clash of the Titans (2010). Both Z and I were pretty opinionated about which movie we liked best. So today I decided to do a Venn Diagram to compare the two movies. It turned into an hour long discussion of the movies, other hero type movies, and technology.

The similarities between the two movies include:
- Heroes' Journey (Z said he is sick of watching movies of this nature, had a discussion of LotR)
- swords as weaponry (which led to a discussion about Star Wars and light sabers, how swords and such make for a more passionate battle of good vs. evil)
- strangers' help him in the quest (more discussion of LotR)
- both raised by an adopted family
- a woman helps them in their spiritual journey (ironically played by the same actress in both movies, which led to a discussion of Odysseus)
- both lost everything they loved
- stood up to evil
- saved the world (which led to a discussion of Percy Jackson)

The differences for Clash of the Titans include:
Based upon Greek Mythology (which led to a discussion on if there is a geek mythology)
takes place in Ancient Greece
His quest is to kill the Kraken
Hades is the mastermind
lost family at the beginning of movie

Prince of Persia differences:
based upon a video game (which led to a discussion about Lara Croft Tomb raider and the graphics on video games based on movies)
set in Ancient Persia
his quest was to prove he didn't kill father, which morphed into stopping his uncle
Nizam is the mastermind
lost family throughout movie

Z decided he thought Clash of the Titans was more realistic. I asked why, playing devil's advocate. He is more used to the mythology. When I brought up Pegasus and giant crabs and Medusa he laughed. We both decided we get a flying horse if they were real.

I liked Prince of Persia more. I think there were more redeeming morals point in it vs. the movie Clash of the Titans. Loyalty, family, standing up to what is wrong, etc.

Somehow we ended up discussing Pokemon and the need for there to be a Star Wars 7,8, & 9. What I planned to be a short twenty minute exercise turned into a great discussion. All that from a Venn Diagram, what a great day.