Ok, so they die immidiately when the hero shows up, never being seen petrifying anyone.
Heh. The fairly recent History Channel Clash of the Gods series included a segment on Medusa. According to it, when the story was first being told everyone understood that SOMETHING was so awful that it turned everyone to stone and that something had once been Medusa. But, since everyone who had every seen it had turned to stone, no one had any idea what it actually looked like. So it was that much more scary.
Now, the modern archetype is clearly different and, being a modern kinda guy, go with that. But I do find this alternate very appealing as well.
See, that's the thing about stories. There is no balance or math. It's a story. There's no game mechanics behind it.
With you so far.
If you want things to be "like the stories" then you never roll a single die.
Nope, that is where you are wrong. I'll get back to this.
The medusa was described as someone who could petrify, but shown as someone who dies like a chump as soon as the protagonist shows up.
Not really. There were lots of protagonists who got turned to stone. Medusa was very potent. Perseus is the one who finally came along and beat her. But the establishment that she was so vastly far from being a chump is a critical piece of the story and why the Perseus myth became a lasting legend.
There is no gamist vs simulationist divide. The terms are utterly meaningless.
You seem to fail to grasp that there are stories, tactical mini games, and a third group activities which, for lack of a better term, my friends and I refer to as role playing games. Now, I realize that you also use that term, so you'll need to be careful there. I'll substitute Story Acting Events (SAEs) for when I'm talking about what I do. You can have ownership of RPGs for this conversation.
Now in the SAEs, these are games like a story. And they do involve rolling dice. And part of the reason is that, like Perseus, the players (and their characters) HOPE to be the guy who finally beats the very potent monster and make it, for once, look like a chump. But, they just might be one of the many that fell to Medusa along the way. There is a huge difference between the story teller and listener knowing how it ended, and being in Perseus shoes before the story is over.
You seem convinced that this concept is not only not what you do (which is fine), but that it doesn't even exist.
When you say that being like a story involves never rolling a die, the only thing you clearly communicate is that you have never experienced what I'm talking about.
And when you challenge me on it, but also insist that the terms gamist and simulationist are "utterly meaningless", you make it clear that it is hopeless. You can ask me to explain calculus to you as well. But, if you ground conditions are that you have never done any algebra and FURTHER you insist that the idea of ever using a letter in a math equation is implausible. Yeah, within the bizarre boundary conditions you demand, calculus does not exist. Go enjoy that.
In the mean time, there is some fun for the rest of us to derive.
Its pretend.
...nothing in the movie or story contradicts this interpretation. 
