. If the Argonians had been diplomatic with the gods by praying something like "Hey, we realize you made us, and we're really grateful for that. But if you don't stop messing with us for no reason we will starve you." they'd have kept the moral high ground.
Perseus himself gets dangerously close to this by denying his godly heritage and gifts for what is essentially vanity (another form of pride). He won't use them because he hates the gods, and because he wants to be able to say "A man did this". The point of the "war" wasn't militantatheism over Jerkass Gods, but the evils of misused power. In his case, ignoring them. It's only by using the sword and all of his strength to fight Kalibos and later Hades that he succeeds.
Where the movie fails to nail this Aesop down is by having Zeus, Perseus and the humans fail to reflect on this. Though it didn't call for a long Patrick Stewart Speech, a few words on it by either Perseus or Zeus would have sufficed. Instead, Zeus briskly ends by glibly advising Perseus to "treat them better than we did". This is Zeus were talking about; the guy basically caused all the turmoil in the movie by allowing his pantheon to kick around mortals and tricking Hades into hell. Yet he escapes any kind of real retribution or true epiphany and stays a Karma Houdini.
2010 Film Missed a good Aesop
Considering this was a kids movie, I think there was a missed opportunity for a serviceable Aesop about how Pride can hurt anyone.
On the godly front, the Olympians are Jerkass Gods that depend on the worship of humans. Their Pride comes from expecting, no, demanding to be loved in spite of all the horrible, horrible things they do.
On the mortal front, queen Cassiopea neatly represented how man taking the gods' place is both arrogant and dangerous *. If the Argonians had been diplomatic with the gods by praying something like "Hey, we realize you made us, and we're really grateful for that. But if you don't stop messing with us for no reason we will starve you." they'd have kept the moral high ground.
Perseus himself gets dangerously close to this by denying his godly heritage and gifts for what is essentially vanity (another form of pride). He won't use them because he hates the gods, and because he wants to be able to say "A man did this". The point of the "war" wasn't militant atheism over Jerkass Gods, but the evils of misused power. In his case, ignoring them. It's only by using the sword and all of his strength to fight Kalibos and later Hades that he succeeds.
Where the movie fails to nail this Aesop down is by having Zeus, Perseus and the humans fail to reflect on this. Though it didn't call for a long Patrick Stewart Speech, a few words on it by either Perseus or Zeus would have sufficed. Instead, Zeus briskly ends by glibly advising Perseus to "treat them better than we did". This is Zeus were talking about; the guy basically caused all the turmoil in the movie by allowing his pantheon to kick around mortals and tricking Hades into hell. Yet he escapes any kind of real retribution or true epiphany and stays a Karma Houdini.