Epic, the Musical, by Jorge Rivera-Herrans -- (Blog by Susan Price)
Oh, and all those of us who earn our living by words.
I also discovered that the worship of the Olympian Gods is no longer a thing of the past. Like Druidism, it’s been revived, as ‘Hellenism’ or ‘Hellenic Worship.’
While skipping about on the internet, I happened on a forum where present-day worshippers swop tales of how Hermes has helped them, and exchange photos of their home shrines. There are useful tips. For instance, suppose you are an American teen, part of an orthodox Christian household, but secretly worship Zeus and Aphrodite. You want to set up a shrine to Them, but can’t face dealing with the uproar that would cause. What can you do?
Well, make yourself a ‘traveller’s shrine.’ This is a lidded tin that will fit in a pocket or bag. Inside the lid, put your image of the pagan God of choice. Or, indeed, any God of your choice. In the tin, you pack a small candle or tea-light and such offerings as flowers, coins and written prayers. You keep it safely out of sight in bag or pocket, but when alone, you can take it out, take off the lid, prop up the image, light the candle and communicate with your God.
Another discussion was about making a drawing of Hermes for a shrine, the drawing in itself being a votive offering to Him.
But what does Hermes look like? Should He be drawn as an adult, bearded man, as the early Greeks depicted Him? [Left]– Or as the beardless boy He became in later Greek belief, and as the Roman Mercury?
Various links to Classical and Neo-Classical statues were posted, as guides.
And then someone mischievously said, ‘How about this Hermes?’– and posted this link. (Sorry about the adverts you'll have to skip if you follow it.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6U2NI6_390
Animation by Koki Omi.
(I have to say, if those useless sub-titles are an example of AI, then Hermes, smite AI.)
This was the first I’d heard of Epic, the Musical, by Jorge Rivera-Herrans. (So, okay, I’m out of touch.)
In case you’re as out-of-touch as me, Epic, the Musical retells the story of Odysseus and his struggle to return home to Ithaca from Troy. (Which everyone and his auntie seems to be retelling at the moment.)
As the Wikipedia entry tells us, Rivera-Herrans wrote Epic as his senior thesis, and posted the process on Tik-Tok, where he gained a lot of fans.
The musical is split into eight parts:–
The Troy Saga
The Cyclops Saga
The Ocean Saga
The Circe Saga
The Underworld Saga
The Thunder Saga
The Wisdom Saga
The Vengeance Saga
It seems odd to call the sections of a Greek Myth by the old Norse word for ‘story’, but I suppose ‘saga’ has come to mean ‘a long, rambling tale’ in English, so fair enough. Each ‘saga’ has three to four songs.
Originally, Rivera-Herrans had a contract with a distribution company– but the company turned on him and tried to take over his copyright. Quite rightly, Rivera-Herrans took them to court, to get his rights back – and then published the musical himself, on-line, after auditioning singers through Tik-Tok.
The music has a sophistication that goes above my head, with leitmotifs and different instruments representing different characters. It’s influenced by rock, pop, and ‘world music’, as well as orchestral. I'm really not qualified to comment on it.
Except to say: It's very catchy.
The musical has never been produced on stage, but it’s on YouTube and Tik-Tok. Its visuals are supplied by 'animatics', some professional, some produced by amateur fans, or teams of student animators. There's a wide variation in quality but what some lack in polish they gain in liveliness and wit.
An 'animatic', I've learned is the animation equivalent of a 'preparatory sketch.'
On-line, you can find several different versions of Epic labelled ‘full film.’ The music is Rivera-Herrans', though the selection of songs changes. But each ‘full film’ has visuals by different animators, and sometimes different animators for different Sagas. Occasionally, the animator changes mid-song.
This isn’t as much of a mess as it sounds. Animators have obviously followed a script, though adding their own flourishes and detail. Characters look broadly the same from song to song– and even where they look different, it isn’t hard to tell who is who.
***
If someone had told me this before I’d seen any of Epic, I would probably have hated the very idea of it, and refused to watch it. And, indeed, I have friends who I’ve told about it, and who’ve hated the very idea of it, and have refused to watch it.
But I came on it unexpectedly, having never heard of it– and I love it!
Hermes, for instance– at least in the animatic above– chimes so much with the Hermes of my imagination. The big smile, the energy, the confident, practiced way he dives and swoops and then lies back on the air as if on a sofa.
But there’s sub-text too (or sub-animation).
In this particular animation, Hermes casually tosses Odysseus off a cliff and, as Odysseus plummets, Hermes lies on the air beneath him, watching his terror and smiling in his face. At the last minute, Hermes catches him with one hand. There’s a shot of Hermes’ grasping hand bunched in the back of Odysseus’ tunic. Hermes then takes his wrist and drops him on firm ground.
Fair enough for the mischievous Trickster God, you might think. (Who seems to be wearing a highwayman's mask. Well -- He was God of Thieves.)
But watch the whole of Epic (at least in this version), and you see that, at the beginning, after Troy is finally defeated and razed, Odysseus is ordered by Zeus to murder a baby prince of Troy, to prevent the baby growing into a man who will seek revenge. (This may remind you of things going on in the world today. ‘Humanity’ never learns.)
Odysseus, longing to return to his own wife and son, can’t bring himself to cut the baby’s throat, but Zeus warns that neither can he leave him alive. The King of the Gods, (and of storm and lightening) is the last person you want to piss off when facing a hazardous sea-journey. (It was always wise to avoid offending the Greek Gods anyway. A vindictive lot.) So Odysseus grasps the cloth the baby is wrapped in, and throws him from the city’s battlements.
This moment is echoed, later, by Hermes hand grasping the cloth of Odysseus’ tunic.
But Odysseus was obeying Zeus’ orders when he killed the baby. So why does Hermes– Zeus’ servant– torment Odysseus for also obeying Zeus?
Maybe, just because He can– this is the Trickster God, after all. But perhaps this is a reflection of Odysseus’ bad conscience? The terror he feels as he plummets through the air is also his guilt at having killed a baby.
But this 'bad conscience' interpretation of mine is based on the animation, not on the words of the song.
In 'Wouldn't You Like?', I'm also taken with the moment as Hermes is leaving, when Odysseus thanks Him for His help. “Don’t thank me, friend,” the God replies. “You very well may die.” Hermes is no more than the messenger. He’s not looking for thanks, and doesn’t much care about the outcome. (In other animatics, Odysseus has a more startled reaction to this throw-away remark.)
The whole of the story, especially as told by Rivera-Herrans, is how Odysseus has to become more and more brutal and ruthless as he pursues his desperate need to get home to his wife, son and kingdom. (Indeed one of the songs is called 'Ruthlessness Is Mercy Upon Ourselves.'*
*'Ruthlessness' features the God Poseidon, enraged at the blinding of his son, the Cyclops Polyphemus. The animatic is by 'Neal Illustrator', one of my favourite animators of these clips.
Although I am a bit baffled by why Poseidon is initially shown as having only one arm. I can't remember any myth where the powerful god Poseidon became an amputee.
Hermes was called‘the Helper’ by Homer, and is usually represented as the kindest and most helpful to mankind of all the Olympians. But He’s still the powerful God of Fortune and Mischance, and even He has a sinister edge. He comes to the newly-dead, after all, and escorts them to the Underworld.
I love Hermes in this next clip, 'Dangerous.' (I apologise again for the adverts you’ll have to skip):-
Animation credited to Zieru.
I love His energy as He zooms about. But I also love Odysseus’ ferocity and passion as he declares, “I have to get home!” And,
‘Be dangerous?’ –
I’ve trained all my life for this,
I can’t tell you what I’ve paid for this!”
Although it strikes me that, considering what Odysseus has already gone through at this point, he hardly needs to be urged to 'change his mindset' or 'put it all on the line.' Already done that, thanks. (And Hermes' staff seems to be missing its two coiled snakes.)
It's another by ‘Neal Illustrator.’ 'Thunder Bringer' shows the ever-randy Zeus as a very handsome, preening older man, posing to show us His splendid profile, great teeth and muscular torso. You can almost see Him eyeing the plains of Earth for some pretty piece (male or female) that He can wink at. Though it should be said that, on-line, some of Zeus’ Hellenic worshippers strongly object to this portrayal as belittling of the God of Law and Justice. He wouldn’t, they say, be so unpredictable or petty.
No? It's in the legend! And Zeus was the God of lightening and storms, which are fairly unpredictable, and aren’t known for their sense of justice and fairness. Indeed, the Mediterranean has always been known for sudden, fierce storms that spring out of nowhere. That’s Zeus, that is.
Why does he blast Odysseus' crew with lightening? Because, when they were starving, they killed some cattle they found on a remote island. And wouldn't you know?-- They were Zeus' sacred cattle. Bad luck. Not just any old sacred cattle, note, but sacred cattle belonging to the King of the Gods. Oops.
One of the things I always loved about the Greek Gods is that They don't bother pretending that They love humanity. They didn't create us, after all. We are verminous intruders on Their garden, the Earth, roughly equal to the rats in my garden.
The Gods are powers of Nature, mostly indifferent to us. Oh, now and again They might take a shine to an individual, or a plea for help might catch Them in a good mood-- but if you dare to assume that They will always be kind, you're asking for a lightening bolt round the ear. -- Which is a pretty accurate picture of our place in the Universe, I think, however much we pride ourselves on our 'control of Nature.' Wait you for the next volcanic explosion, tsunami, pandemic...
4000-5000 Years
I think, most of all, what appeals to me about Epic is: here is a story that is 4000 to 5000 years old. It began as an oral story, was written down, was re-written and re-told and told again for centuries. First in halls, and around fires; then on stages and in books; then on radio and in films… It has never stopped being told.
From camp-fire to cinema screen, tellers expanded and emphasised the parts they liked; dropped parts they didn’t, changed the interpretation of characters and their actions – and their listeners took it away and retold it again. Parts they couldn’t remember, or didn’t like, they re-made.
(I remember, decades ago, waiting for a bus in my local bus-station, when a group of teenagers rushed in, eager to get the bus home because 'Jason and the Argonauts' was on telly that afternoon. Did a similar group rush home, 4000 years ago, because the bard might recite the tale of Jason or Odysseus?)
As my beloved old fairy-tale endings have it: My tale is done. Take it away and let it ride back to me on another’s tongue.
Or: That is my tale. If you liked it not, sweeten it with your own telling.
And here is The Odyssey, riding back to us again on the internet, in music and language of at least 4000 years after its first telling. And again, told by many voices. The songs and music may have been recorded by professionals, in a professional studio, and remain the same – but the animatics interpreting the songs have been done by all sorts of people, professional and amateur, all bringing their own take to it.
They added life to the characters, they added details– such as Hermes throwing Odysseus off a cliff, as Odysseus had thrown the baby off the battlements. In doing so, they change the way you hear the music.
Instead of story-tellers trekking from court to court, to sing their stories by firelight and lyre-music, now, four thousand years later, the story-tellers are whizzing around the world by the internet. I love it.
And surely, this is what the internet is for?
The full cast of Epic can be found here.
If you enjoyed the 'animatics' above, you might like some of the others. This is another take on 'Wouldn't You Like?, credited to 'Orange' which I like even more than the one above, with Hermes suddenly taking on the top hat and tail-coat of a ring-master. (And roller-skates on His feet.)
And here is 'Legendary' by 'Gigi' with the young Telemachus, trying to cope with his father's long absence and a palace full of brawling 'suitors'. (The owl flitting about is the emblem of the Goddess Athena.)
And 'Little Wolf', also by 'Gigi', where Telemachus attempts to take on the suitors and is beaten up -- until the Goddess Athena turns up to help. (When Hermes, at the end of 'Dangerous' tells Odysseus, 'I'm not the one who fought for you...' Well, it was Athena who fought for him.)
Mind, I think it's pretty funny that Athena declares in the song, that She can't stand 'bullies and those who impose their will'... This is the Greek Gods we're talking about, right? They were every One of Them bullies (even Hermes, though He didn't have as much spare time for it, given all His jobs.) None of Them ever hesitated to impose Their will. Well, They knew best, of course.
But I suppose it's true enough that nothing infuriated them more than mere mortals throwing their weight around or so much as hinting that they could equal the Gods at anything, even bullying.
So let's end by offering thanks to Hermes, the God of all those who make their living by words -- and pitiful as it is, I offer this blog to Him, and humbly request that he might kick a little inspiration my way. In His own time, of course.
Comments