Extra Credit: Jason and the Argonauts-Search for the Golden Fleece

Jason and the Argonauts: Search for the Golden Fleece! What do you think of when you here that? Do you think, “Oh my gosh! A guy named Jason is going to the end of the world to get a retarded piece of fabric!” Or do you think, “Wow! Jason is hero for sacrificing everything to go to the end of the world to get the Golden Fleece and take back his kingdom!” Which sounds like a better story? I think that the second option would be best. The movie, Jason and the Argonauts is very different from the actual myth about the search for the Golden Fleece. There are three main parts in the movie that differ greatly from the myth. First, the beginning is not right. Second, King Pelias didn’t meet Jason in the right way. And third, when Jason actually gets to the Golden Fleece he doesn’t get it the same way.
In the movie, which was made in 1963, King Pelias kills Jason’s father, King Iolcus, and Jason and his mother escape to a statue of Hera. There his mother prays to protect him and if it be her will to protect her also. King Pelias see’s what she is doing and slays his mother. But by the time he gets to Jason, who is still an infant, it is too late. Hera had already placed her protection over Jason and if he were to destroy Jason, he would only destroy himself. But really, in the myth, Pelias was King Iolcus’s uncle who took over his throne. Now, King Pelias, lived in fear of losing what he had taken so unfairly. He had Jason’s father in prison. He would have killed Jason but his mother cried as if he had already died, tricking him into thinking that he wouldn’t have to kill him. In the meantime Jason was carried off into the wilderness. As you can see, they differ exceedingly. King Pelias didn’t kill King Iolcus and Hera didn’t stop him from killing baby Jason.
In the myth, Hera then wanted to help Jason. So for his first test, she disguised herself as an elderly woman. They met on the shore and Jason, being a big man, new that she wanted help over the river. Without hesitation he took the old woman on his back and started to carry her into the current. At the other shore, Hera revealed herself to him and was very pleased. On his journey through the water, Jason lost a sandal so he was a one-sandaled man. In the movie, Pelias was warned that in twenty years he would come upon a man with only one sandal and that man would be Jason. The king waited twenty years and one day while riding his horse along the shore. He was dragged into the water by Hera, who was again disguised. Jason ran into the water and saved Pelias. During the struggle Jason lost a sandal, so now Pelias had met Jason. So apparently, these are two very different versions of the story. Hera didn’t drag King Pelias into the water and try to kill him, which caused Jason to lose his sandal. Jason lost his sandal by completing a task Hera had made for him.
In the movie, Medea goes with Jason to the end of the earth to find the Golden Fleece. In broad daylight the dragon protected the Golden Fleece. Jason killed the monster with his sword and has to quickly get the Fleece and move, because another army was on their way to take the Golden Fleece with them. The army gets there and there isn’t any Fleece on the tree. They assume that the dead creature had eaten it, so they burn it and search for the Fleece, which is not there. Jason had already taken the Fleece and fled. But actually, in the myth Medea, who was under the spell of the Goddess of Love, took Jason to the temple grove, which was where the Golden Fleece was displayed, in the middle of the night. The Fleece was nailed to a tree, which was guarded by a huge dragon. Jason pulled out his sword to kill the beast, but Medea, took out her sleeping potion and the dragon fell asleep. Together they took the fleece and made their way back to the Argo. So, it sounds like the movie is a wee bit off! There was never another army after the Fleece and Jason didn’t actually kill the dragon.
I’m not going to lie, this movie was pretty good. But, I’m a weirdo that way and I like a lot of weird movies. My point is, every movie can never be right on with the actual story, if it is being based on a book, myth, or even a real life story! In this case, the movie, Jason and the Argonauts was in a lot of ways different from the myth of the quest for the Golden Fleece. The beginning was off, how Pelias and Jason met was off and, of course, when Jason actually gets the Fleece, it was still off. But besides those reasons the movie did a great job in showing the hero’s quest for the Golden Fleece!