Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Cyclops:" The Odyssey" Text To Film?

What subtle or overt differences did you notice regarding the Book IX The Odyssey reading and The Odyssey film clip of the Cyclops episode?  Explain, note, argue, quote, and defend.  Anything regarding the Heroic Code, Guest/Host Relationship, or hubris?  After watching the film clip, please respond during class.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

I noticed that there are many similarities between the two. like how they men used a stick to blind the Polyphemus. But in the book the men strap themselves to the bottom of sheep to leave while a few of them escape through the side and others are killed in the process.

Anonymous said...

The main difference is that at the end most of the men have run out of the cave but some clutched to sheep but in the actual myth, they all clutch to the sheep. Also, they only lose one man whereas they lose several in the actual myth.

Anonymous said...

Polyphemus isn't the best host, but Odysseus ain't the perfect guest. Polyphemus doesn't treat the guest host relation the same way most, but after he is tricked not to eat Odysseus he doesn't seem to hostile, but Odysseus still goes and blinds him, not a very nice thing for a guest to do But I guess Polyphemus had it coming after he ate some of them. Also, Odysseus's hubris is what really hurts him afterwards, when he shout his name and Poseidon can punish him for his actions.

Anonymous said...

The film Odysseus, Odysseus tell the cyclops that he has magic in his head which is different from the text. The Odysseus use of saying his name is nobody is a genius so when the cyclops tell his brothers that nobody blinded his people don't understand what he means. The film also has the men run by instead of escaping gon the bellies of the sheep. Both show the abusing of the relationship between the guest and host.

Anonymous said...

The only differences I noticed were that the Cyclops killed more men in the book, and also, in the book Odysseus called himself "No man" when in the film he called himself "Nobody"

Anonymous said...

I noticed that the cyclops moved a boulder when he went in which prevented them from getting out. I don't think that was in the book. I also noticed that men almost prevented Odysseus from telling the cyclops his name was nobody that is another difference. The giant was described as being extremely large in the book but in the movie he looked a little bit smaller. Lastly the cyclops' brothers never show up its just him but in the book they rush out and ask whats wrong.

Ethan H

Anonymous said...

In this version of when the men are with the Cyclops they trick it when they feed it wine and then it falls asleep, they then blind the Cyclops and then once it opens the door, they use that as an escape. I noticed that once the Cyclops opened the door he yelled for his brothers that he has been blinded and I don't think he did that in the text version. The humans were trying to be it's friend at first, most likely being afraid and telling it that they are it's guests so when it eats one of their men I feel that is the main point they decided to get rid of it.

Anonymous said...

It was slightly different because they strapped sheepskin on them to escape. The guest host relationship was not held there because the Cyclops said that they made their own rules there. Odysseus and his men weren’t really good guests and the Cyclops wasn’t a good host so when that relationship was broken it made it hard for them to get along. Especially when the Cyclops was eating Odysseus’ men.In the film, we didn’t see the ending when they get away but in the last video, he yelled when he was out of reach of the Cyclops his name since he had a big hubris.

Anonymous said...

The film clip showed Odysseus to be more witty and sly. While in the text he appears to be noble and well informed. And the cyclops appears to be more reckless and less informed. The descriptions of events were differently portrayed than how they were described in the text

Anonymous said...

One of the differences I noticed was that Odysseus only poured one glass of the wine to the Cyclops before he was in a drunken sleep in the movie. In the book however, it's said that Odysseus continued to give the Cyclops drinks until he was in a deep sleep. Also, in the movie it seems at if the men just choose to run out of the cave past Polyphemus instead of attaching themselves to the belly of the rams like it was described in the book. These are a few of the small differences I noticed from the text to the film.

Anonymous said...

Similarities with small differences, like in the actual myth, after the men blinded the cyclops, they grabbed onto sheep to escape and many had been killed compared to only one man being taken and killed in the movie.

Anonymous said...

In the video the men don't step themselves on the belly of the sheep, but instead most of the men just sneak away, but one of the men straps a sheep skin onto himself, and he gets caught in the act of trying to get away. Most of the other things that were in the video compared to the book were accurate or at least close to accurate. The main plot points were the same, things like the men piercing the cyclops' eye and blinding him, Odysseus telling the cyclops that his name was nobody so his brothers will think nothing happened to him.

Anonymous said...

The film we watch in class was a shorter version then the book. The book explained more and the film was missing a few aspects of the book. Like for example when the solders are escaping the Cyclops's layer they don't hide under the belly of the sheep.

Anonymous said...

In the book, there were more men eaten and killed. There wasn't much of Hermes in the film, and it seemed much shorter in the film compared to the book. It was a different way than I imagined it while reading the book.

Anonymous said...

The movie shows a lot of similarities, like Odysseus calling himself "nobody" and the men using the sheep to escape. Or how they also blinded the cyclops with a wooden stake. One of the differences were that Odysseus and not all of his men used the sheep to sneak away. But the video stuck to the original story better than most.

Anonymous said...

There were some slight changes, as needed to be made for copyright and some other reasoning, such as to create something new for audiences, and not give them a word for word follow through of the idea and other things going on. But some of the slight differences were it seemed like in the story the cyclops was much madder, and more upset at everyone, killing everyone he saw, causing everyone to hide until he fell asleep.

Anonymous said...


The main idea is the same but some of the smaller details are different. The main thing that is different is the way they got out of the cave. They just kind of walked out rather than strapping themselves to the sheep. The guest/host relationship is broken pretty quickly because the cyclops eats one of the soldiers. The soldiers then get revenge by blinding him and they do this to hopefully to get out of the cave.

Anonymous said...

In the film everyone is afraid of the cyclops. He doesn't accept their gifts and eats one of their men. Then they trick him by getting the cyclops drunk and poking his eye while he's asleep. The cyclops asked Odyssey's name who said his name was no one. He runs and moves the boulder blocking the entrance of the cave while everyone quietly runs underneath him. The text is very similar but at the end Odyssey claims it is him who blinded the monster, Poseidon the cyclops father then takes revenge.

Anonymous said...

The Cyclopes killed more men in the actual myth, then the movie. I understand why this is because movie rating reasons. also in the myth they all ride on the sheep but in the movie only 1 man rides the sheep and 1 man dresses as though he is a sheep.

Anonymous said...

To me i saw several differences but the main ones being that the Odyssey they gave the cyclops one glass of wine for him to sleep, ran out the cave and only one man dies. Where in the book version they gave the cyclops wine until it fell in deep sleep, they left by attaching to the sheep, and a ton of men died. Of course there's more differences but i think these are the most noticeable.