Tuesday, October 22, 2013

The 13 Snakes of Halloween #6

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Oh my god, Medusa turned Olive Oyl into stone! Whatever will Popeye do? Will he just toss her into the river and move in with Bluto his real true love?

Bah, I guess not. He's a tricky devil! Everybody knows all an ancient villainess needs is the promise of a good facial and she'll toss aside all of her evil schemes. Women! Anyway here's the whole thing:
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That 1961 cartoon represents the first credit that IMDb gives to the character of Medusa. Doesn't it seem like it must be incorrect that she was never in anything before that? That seems crazy to me. I suppose creating the snake-hair is a difficult special effect, maybe it just took time. Since then the Greek Gorgon's popped up all over the place of course - Ray Harryhausen's take for the 1981 Clash of the Titans has yet to be topped though.

She still terrifies me. I'm not even going to bother doing a "Which is hotter?" between her and the version from the 2010 remake because that is not even a question I mean come on.

Nobody really gives her tragic back-story it's due though - it's always just "Chop the bitches head off!" She's a rape victim who's further tormented by her rapist's wife, for god's sake! I think we should get a full-on Medusa movie, that's what I think. Wait, what's that? We're only interested in Hero's Journeys, you say? Of course. Silly me. Nevermind. Sorry, Uma! No movie for you. Keep looking.

Previously
#1 - Anaconda
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3 comments:

shaun said...

Love the snake focus for this year's Halloween countdown. I hope this makes the list -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuwNCgOYtnw Quite horrific in a childish way.

Anonymous said...

Given the success of Wicked and the in-progress Angelina Jolie Maleficent movie, surely someone in Hollywood is shopping around a Medusa script?

Jee Jay said...

the Harryhausen is number one for sure. My number two would be Tony Randall in the '7 Faces Of Dr. Lao', for the weirdness quotient alone.