This is my second post on Fumito Ueda and Ray Harryhausen. This times it's the Greek myth movies, Jason and the Argonauts (1963) and Clash of the Titans (1981).
Jason and the Argonauts is famous for the fight with Talos and the skeleton soldiers at the end. With Harryhausen, most of the time I don't forget that I'm watching an animated thing that the actors can't see, but that's not the case with Talos. Perhaps that's because he's a giant bronze statue - one of many on the Isle of Bronze - so it fits that his movement should be a bit clunky. He looks pretty amazing, stomping around the island.
Jason's ship, the Argo, has a figurehead of Hera which the goddess inhabits in order to whisper advice to Jason. She tells him ‘Fight Talos with your wits rather than your courage. And look to his ankles.’ It's a bit like Dormin giving you hints when you're taking too long with a colossus.
The stuff that comes out of Talos' heel is apparently something called ichor, 'ethereal fluid' that is the blood of gods and immortals. Also, notice the green where the bronze is corroding.
Jason's next stop is to visit a man called Phineus who's being tormented by harpies because he misused Zeus's gift of prophecy. He's not as successful at batting them away as Ico is with the shadows and turns to Jason for help.
The story goes that Danaë, daughter of King Acrisius of Argos, got herself knocked up by Zeus and gave birth to Perseus. Acrisius, in his anger, has his daughter and baby Perseus locked in a wooden chest and pushed out to sea. We see a seagull flying high above the wooden chest and follow its flight over epic landscapes until it arrives at Mount Olympus and transforms into Poseidon, who tells Zeus what Acrisius has done.
Zeus kills Acrisius and has Poseidon send a sea monster to destroy Argos, while Perseus and his mother arrive safely on an island. We then see Perseus grow up in this idyllic place, both him and his mother rather scantily clad most of the time.
In Shadow of the Colossus, there are kites that bear witness to what happens, including the arrival of Mono and baby Wander in the secret garden. No kite is ever revealed to be a supernatural power in disguise, though.
The seagull flying to Mount Olympus and then transforming into Poseidon -
Perseus practicing his horse-riding skills on the beach -
Having watched Perseus grow up, we hear about a ruler called Calibos who is punished by Zeus for his wickedness and transformed into a hideous beast, reflecting his ugly heart. Calibos had been expecting to marry Andromeda before this happened and unfortunately for her, Calibos has power over her soul, so every night he summons her soul to the swamp where he now resides. This puts a dampener on her marriage prospects and calls for a hero like Perseus to take on the beast and win the fair maiden.
When Andromeda meets Perseus, she realises that she knows him already but only from a dream (when she was being summoned to Calibos' lair). Perseus says to her, “Light has conquered Darkness. You are free”.
Further interventions by the gods mean that Perseus has to take on Medusa, the gorgon, in order to save Andromeda from being sacrificed to the sea monster that destroyed Argos.
Medusa turns people to stone by glaring at them with her glowing, green eyes. The Queen in ICO has a similar power.
And finally there's Pegasus, the winged horse, Perseus' trusty steed.
