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<blockquote data-quote="barsoomcore" data-source="post: 2428565" data-attributes="member: 812">I think I see what fusangite's getting at here, though. Look at Greek myths -- they're not about a character who has a desire and struggles to acquire it. MAYBE you could read The Odyssey that way but even then, the Odyssey is pretty much a great big diversion from its hero's desire to reach home and wife. If you took that story to Hollywood they'd demand you rewrote it so that all the weird monsters were sent by the Cyclops who was actually Od's son (Telemachus? What the heck was his name?) blah blah blah so that the whole thing all tied to Od's desire to restore his family.Very few myths or ancient tales work within that structure. Gilgamesh sure as heck doesn't. It's one of the things that gives Chinese films of the 80's such a frenetic, carnival feel -- because they don't seem worried about stuff like following a character and having them fulfill some well-specified desire -- they feel like guys with a camera sort of ran around deciding what was going to happen next as they were filming, based more on what would provide a cool transition than any &quot;character development&quot; considerations.Um, what was I talking about?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="barsoomcore, post: 2428565, member: 812"] I think I see what fusangite's getting at here, though. Look at Greek myths -- they're not about a character who has a desire and struggles to acquire it. MAYBE you could read The Odyssey that way but even then, the Odyssey is pretty much a great big diversion from its hero's desire to reach home and wife. If you took that story to Hollywood they'd demand you rewrote it so that all the weird monsters were sent by the Cyclops who was actually Od's son (Telemachus? What the heck was his name?) blah blah blah so that the whole thing all tied to Od's desire to restore his family. Very few myths or ancient tales work within that structure. Gilgamesh sure as heck doesn't. It's one of the things that gives Chinese films of the 80's such a frenetic, carnival feel -- because they don't seem worried about stuff like following a character and having them fulfill some well-specified desire -- they feel like guys with a camera sort of ran around deciding what was going to happen next as they were filming, based more on what would provide a cool transition than any "character development" considerations. Um, what was I talking about? [/QUOTE]

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