Ruby Sparks Movie Analysis

Greek mythology has always captured attention of artists around the world, there are many paintings, theatrical productions , and stories based on the many mythological tales of Ancient Greece. Now in our modern age the fastest way for a story to spread to the masses is entertainment, and with the development of film and the multitude of visual effects we now have a new media to interpret and display these stories to individuals in their own home. Film is a complex multifaceted way of telling stories that have been around for thousands of years, bringing these stories to life in the way they would have been imagined by their author or even making them fit into modern life with very contemporary story lines. Hollywood likes to use Greek mythology

This is an exceptional example of how Directors can keep the classical themes of a story while making them fit a modern context. Rather than a statue coming to life, in the film “Ruby Sparks” it is the fictional girl the male protagonist has written about. The movie still keeps some of the basic plot points as “Pygmalion” but makes it into a modern subject so those who do not know the story of “Pygmalion” can still enjoy. This is one of the benefits of Using film, now those who have seen this film could quickly relate to the story of “Pygmalion” even if they were reading it for the first time. It is the different plot lines keep viewer coming back for more. “Pygmalion”, by Ovid, is the story of a sculptor who has lost faith in women and decides to make the ideal women out of

Although some of these changes can be considered absurd to those who know the originals, it is for the viewing pleasure of the masses that cinematic leaps are taken and creative license is used. For instance, one thing the movie does not explain is how Ruby manifested from the tale Calvin has written and why. In the classic tale it is Aphrodite who brings Galatea to life, yet in the modern portrayal there is no explanation, leaving the viewer with questions. It could be that the typewriter that Calvin had used was magical, or that a spirit like Aphrodite had helped him out, however it was never answered in the movie. There are also very discrete changes, like the form Galatea held before becoming human, and there are bigger changes like the introduction of a love rival and the inner conflict Calvin has about Ruby being real and his dilemma of changing her personality. In the classic telling, Galatea loves Pygmalion and they are happy together, but the movie portrays much more realistic emotions and the conflict of emotions between the leads and how they interact with each other and others. The quote “ The tradition of imagining alternatives ... of myth goes back to antiquity itself. Our surviving texts reveal different... moments in a