MovieChat Forums > Clash of the Titans (1981) Discussion > Sword and Sorcery OR Sandal?

Sword and Sorcery OR Sandal?

posted 10 years ago by Rainey-Dawn
4 replies | jump to latest

Clash of the Titans seems to straddle both IMO. The wiki categorizes the film as sword and sorcery.

Sword & Sandal (WIKI: depicting heroic adventures in settings derived from the Bible or Greek mythology) - Movies like: Hercules, Sinbad of the Seven Seas, Spartacus, Samson and Delilah and The Ten Commandments.

Sword & Sorcery (WIKI: fantasy, generally characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent conflicts and elements of magic and the supernatural.) - Movies like: Dragonslayer, Conan the Destroyer, Ladyhawke, Willow, Merlin, and The Scorpion King.

Clash of the Titans does fit well in the sword/sorcery category because there is a lot of fantasy and magic in the movie. BUT the movie is also based on Greek mythology which would put it in the sword/sandal category quite well too.

As for now, I have Clash of the Titans in my Sword & Sandal movie list but should I move it to my Sword & Sorcery movie list?

"I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me." ~ The Invisible Man

[–] harry-dresden-977-426523 10 years ago

Since this film has fantasy elements, I assumed it to be Sword and Sorcery. Sword and Sandal always sounded to me like it had more to do with the old historic epics that had no fantasy elements in them. Of course, I guess this movie is a sort of historical fiction, but it is based on myth and not actual history.

It is interesting to note that this movie has actually been classified as Sword and Sorcery according to some sources while Harryhausen's previous Greek mythology work "Jason and the Argonauts" was classified as Sword and Sandal. The reason? Because of the different time periods when the movies came out. That has to be the reason why.

[–] Rainey-Dawn 10 years ago

Thanks Harry for the reply... Then I will put the film into my sword and sorcery group. Just wondered what other fans of the film thought about the category.

"I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me." ~ The Invisible Man

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] glenmusher 9 years ago

I think Sword and Sorcery only really entered into popular vocabulary in Hollywood post John Milius' Conan the Barbarian in 1982. Though obviously earlier films fit that definition of S and S.

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