The Song of Achilles

You've heard of the horse girls, but in high school I was one of the other fabled types of teen girl, the Greek Mythology girl. I think at age 15 reading this would have made me feel extremely clever and that feeling alone would have made this at least a four star read. Unfortunately though, at 27 I am fully aware that my favourite parts of mythology are mysticism and ritual, which were sidelined in this for some of my least favourite parts, bloodshed and homoeroticism.

I'm now a filmmaker so it is with warmth that I recall one of my first ever ‘films'; a 25 minute epic retelling of the life of Achilles featuring a flash through white transition of everyone except Achilles and Hector disappearing from the battlefield that I was particularly proud of, even through my entry to film school. Friends and nerdy mythology kids uniting to doss about in togas with plastic swords and fake babies. To my dismay, my particular favourite vignette (Achilles being dipped into the river Styx with his mother only holding his heel, and in fact all heel related mythology) was omitted from this. It was nice that my carefully preconceived and long forgotten images of boats and sails and sea nymphs flashed up before my eyes but I'm surprised that the TikTok girlies hold this rather dry offering in such high esteem. I have to assume that it made them feel clever.