How to bring the wonder woman myth down to earth...

[transvestitegod]

The Greek gods can be very interesting, but sadly, often aren't. Whether it's Clash of the Titans or Percy Jackon, the gods are pretty boring. Immortals had some cool momements (eg, Poseidon diving into the ocean to create a tidal wave), but all-in-all, they too were kind of generic. It's this type of generic Greek god that I really hope they avoid in WW.

eta: I actually like these movies, but not because of the portrayal of the gods. Don't hate it or anything, mostly just too standard to really stand out.

I like your wordplay.

[Outside_85]

I dont know what Mountains of Madness is, but Cameron and Del Toro teamup? HELLZ YEAH!

H. P. Lovercraft novel/story...the one with Cthulhu in.

[Castel]

Whether it's Clash of the Titans or Percy Jackon, the gods are pretty boring

You should stop watching crappy movies.

[Dr. Hurt]

H. P. Lovercraft novel/story...the one with Cthulhu in.

Oooooh, that would have been excellent!

[Outside_85]

Oooooh, that would have been excellent!

Sadly it's been post phoned because Pilgrim's tanking :(

[Whirlwind Dinamo]

Erf, i really hope something like that never happens.

Look, remove all the mystical and gods related events from the Odyssey, what's left ? Just the story of some guy lost in sea. Who cares ? Same with WW, to put her in such an overused and unimaginative setting as the military would be really a terrible waste.

I think the military and mythology arc can often work side by side

[BraveSirRobin]

Any hypothetical WW movie should definitely start on Paradise Island, same as Thor started in Asgard. He got to fight frost giants and show off his power so we bought into his mythological status and THEN he was sent to Earth, only after we knew and believed he had such power. And at the end, he wasn't fighting tanks and soldiers, he was fighting a powerful sorcerer on a magic rainbow bridge and it wasn't camp in the slightest. We saw the human aspects of him as a character, but when sh*t hits the fan, he is a godlike being and will damn well fight like one.

You could do a similar route with WW. Maybe on Paradise Island she must prove her worth by fighting (e.g.) a Hydra, or a minotaur, some definitely mythical beast. Then we go with the Perez story where she and Steve Trevor find out Ares is trying to cause an apocalypse, and then final battle, Hades brings along his monsters and zombies, the Amazons show up and we have ourselves a proper mythological battle.

[Stanlos]

Let Wonder Woman be Wonder Woman.

This, for its winning-eth-ness!

[Red Mask]

I'm not a pro-Helenist. So I'd rather they keep the Greek gods out of most Wonder Woman stories. It doesn't make her relevant to the modern world and modern women's issues. Who wants Aphrodite and Hera's advice on relationships? We have talk shows where people are already doing that. We've got napalm to kill off creatures like the Hydra. Saying it's magical doesn't impress me because fire is what beat it in the myths and man has mastered fire. We even have a movie where the U.S. airforce killed a giant tarantula. Harpies can get shot down by helicopters, or cut up in the blades.

[Brannon]

I'm not a pro-Helenist. So I'd rather they keep the Greek gods out of most Wonder Woman stories. It doesn't make her relevant to the modern world and modern women's issues. Who wants Aphrodite and Hera's advice on relationships? We have talk shows where people are already doing that. We've got napalm to kill off creatures like the Hydra. Saying it's magical doesn't impress me because fire is what beat it in the myths and man has mastered fire. We even have a movie where the U.S. airforce killed a giant tarantula. Harpies can get shot down by helicopters, or cut up in the blades.

Greek myth, as well all myth, is a reflection of various aspects of the human psyche and is always relevant.

[dupersuper]

Why would you want to "bring mythology down to Earth"?

[Outside_85]

Hmm, read through this tread and it occurred to me that Gary23 (if he/she's not been scared off), might be looking for the Too Human approach to make the Gods believable.
For those of you who don't know what that is; essentially it's a very Kirby-esque take on Norse mythology where nothing is magic and everything is extremely advanced machinery and where the definition between God and Mortal is depending on how much tech you have in your body. (the games hero Balder is as such considered Too Human because he has a low amount of tech in him)

As for 'grounding' Wonder Woman...no, I still do'nt believe that's needed. What the mythology does need however is adapting to fit into the modern world, otherwise we will get to hear the 'girl Thor' complaints.
And I say that because, Thor was pretty much the same guy he was supposed to have been a thousand years ago, which added a great amount of the comedy to his movie (the fish out of water).

Now Diana will most likely have to go through a similar phase, when/if she gets her own movie, but they dont really need her to be that out of water as Thor was. As the animated WW movie did, she could be saddled with a mission and mindset which would leave her partially immune to the 'wonders' of the modern world.
The same should be true for the Gods, because their world isn't limited to Olympus or Themyscira, so it would be natural for them to keep up with the changing times. If we imagine Ares being the main foe of the movie, we could see him for most of the movie walking around the modern world setting things in motion and looking no different than any other human, save for one or two visual hints of his otherworldly nature (bare feet, empty eyes, could just be the way he talks). But when things eventually comes to a fight, he could simply change into a more imposing warrior-form before he jumps into the fray.
Plus we could get the imagery of ancient monsters of myth stomping around a modern city fighting the armed forces.

It's a bit like the Constantine movie, for all its flaws (mostly about Constantine himself), it did do it's pure blooded angel and devil visual justice in a very simple way. Gabriel for most of her scenes being just a woman in a suit, with only Constantine being able to see her wings. And then we had the show-stealer when Lucifer himself showed up, no horns, no red skin, no fire; just a very creepy bastard who didn't wear shoes to cover his oil/acid smudged feet...not to mention had more charisma than anyone else in that movie.
Film does get bonus points from me for killing Shia's irritating sidekick character Chas at just the right time, about 10 sec after John finally admits he did something good.

[brettc1]

There seem to be a lot of threads at the moment where the OP is about Wonder Woman being less incredible, less unbelievable.

I mean for goodness sake, I am reading stories where a guy can lift the planet Earth and shed one drop of sweat. But somehow Wonder Woman has a credibility problem?

[Outside_85]

Sadly I think it's somehow rooted in that some readers personal beliefs are challenged through this book. Like, most systems of beliefs are build on the notion that it is the only real one and the rest are pretty much lies...and in this book one extinct system of belief is not only active in the modern world but also real.

Compared to that, a benevolent space alien is more believable (or perhaps less challenging).

[dupersuper]

There seem to be a lot of threads at the moment where the OP is about Wonder Woman being less incredible, less unbelievable.

I mean for goodness sake, I am reading stories where a guy can lift the planet Earth and shed one drop of sweat. But somehow Wonder Woman has a credibility problem?

It's probably the same people who say said planet mover is too powerful.