Clash of the Titans!
I just saw this last night and wanted to talk about the Jinn depicted in the movie. I could've sworn someone else had addressed this in a post recently, but I've forgotten now where I read it, so if anyone else remembers what I'm talking about just let me know. Basically i'm thinking the Jinn=new Orc Hordes?
The Jinn: After chasing Calibos to a broken down, abandoned Babylonian(?) temple, his dripping blood creates giant scorpions. Perseus, et al battle the scorpions and then are helped by the jinn, who'd arrived just as the gang was surrounded by the remaining scorpions.
So, the Jinn are described by a Greek (white) character as being inhuman fighters and of course they're coded as other in this movie btwn the character design...which is kinda bark-like/scorpion-ish exo-skeleton with glowing blue eyes, as well as the 'language' the jinn speak (which I couldn't really recognize as anything) and by their dress, mainly their turbans which struck me as being more North African than say...idk Babylonian. Though I think the idea was to reference a catch-all 'Arabic look', which is definitely fucked up considering what happens to the Jinn who decided to stay behind.
The Hunters: The kinder, gentler ethnic sidekicks! Thank goodness they can provide those much needed comic relief moments! smh
Misc: Saw a few brown faces here and there in the Argos city scenes, as well as Alexander Siddig showing up as Hermes. Also thought that the Rock had shown up as Draco, but then realized later it was an entirely different actor. lol The commoners for the most part are dirtied up, I'm sure it's just a way to show that they're workers, farmers, etc but I couldn't help but wonder if it was a way to make them more 'ethnic' looking. I'll have to watch it again to see the differences btwn the soldiers, the nobles and the commoners. Because in the scenes where the there's a man starting to incite the crowd to sacrifice Andromeda to Hades, I noticed that his face was painted w/ symbols, and the hair and dress looked more like a Hindu ascetic of some kind.
The Magical Jinn: Ok, so my whole wtf?face was on when the Jinn heals Perseus out of the blue from Hades' poison, then decides to stick around to help the cause...cuz...idk, Perseus was foretold by the gods to help free....? idk what the motivation was supposed to be, but gosh it was rather convenient. lol Anyways, they all go to Hades to kill Medusa in Athena's temple and after fighting and losing nearly all his men to her, the Jinn is captured in Medusa's coils and is being squeezed to death. She tries to fix him with a stare, but she can't turn him to stone (her expression is priceless btw). The Jinn knows that too, and because he really wants to help Perseus, points to his glowing blue heart and then...wait for it...explodes himself, weakening the Gorgon enough so that Perseus could kill her.
So yeah. That was my biggest wtf? moment. You've got a pre-Islamic jinn dressed up in the garb of a North African blowing himself up. e.O This warrants a big 'fuck you' from me to the producers, writers and director. smh
The Jinn: After chasing Calibos to a broken down, abandoned Babylonian(?) temple, his dripping blood creates giant scorpions. Perseus, et al battle the scorpions and then are helped by the jinn, who'd arrived just as the gang was surrounded by the remaining scorpions.
So, the Jinn are described by a Greek (white) character as being inhuman fighters and of course they're coded as other in this movie btwn the character design...which is kinda bark-like/scorpion-ish exo-skeleton with glowing blue eyes, as well as the 'language' the jinn speak (which I couldn't really recognize as anything) and by their dress, mainly their turbans which struck me as being more North African than say...idk Babylonian. Though I think the idea was to reference a catch-all 'Arabic look', which is definitely fucked up considering what happens to the Jinn who decided to stay behind.
The Hunters: The kinder, gentler ethnic sidekicks! Thank goodness they can provide those much needed comic relief moments! smh
Misc: Saw a few brown faces here and there in the Argos city scenes, as well as Alexander Siddig showing up as Hermes. Also thought that the Rock had shown up as Draco, but then realized later it was an entirely different actor. lol The commoners for the most part are dirtied up, I'm sure it's just a way to show that they're workers, farmers, etc but I couldn't help but wonder if it was a way to make them more 'ethnic' looking. I'll have to watch it again to see the differences btwn the soldiers, the nobles and the commoners. Because in the scenes where the there's a man starting to incite the crowd to sacrifice Andromeda to Hades, I noticed that his face was painted w/ symbols, and the hair and dress looked more like a Hindu ascetic of some kind.
The Magical Jinn: Ok, so my whole wtf?face was on when the Jinn heals Perseus out of the blue from Hades' poison, then decides to stick around to help the cause...cuz...idk, Perseus was foretold by the gods to help free....? idk what the motivation was supposed to be, but gosh it was rather convenient. lol Anyways, they all go to Hades to kill Medusa in Athena's temple and after fighting and losing nearly all his men to her, the Jinn is captured in Medusa's coils and is being squeezed to death. She tries to fix him with a stare, but she can't turn him to stone (her expression is priceless btw). The Jinn knows that too, and because he really wants to help Perseus, points to his glowing blue heart and then...wait for it...explodes himself, weakening the Gorgon enough so that Perseus could kill her.
So yeah. That was my biggest wtf? moment. You've got a pre-Islamic jinn dressed up in the garb of a North African blowing himself up. e.O This warrants a big 'fuck you' from me to the producers, writers and director. smh