Would character development be possible in an 'Athena' movie?

Question

Would character development even be possible in a film based on Athena? The reason I'm inquiring this is because we have to pen a short screenplay about her, and I just can't imagine a film surrounding her because she, as a character, doesn't grow. Perhaps I'm wrong and someone can correct me?

Answer 1

She comes from an innocent from Zeus' head. She gets into squabbles with other goddesses and eventually becomes entangled in a human war. She invents the flute so that Pegasus can be captured. She is finally recognized as the Goddess of Wisdom, skill, warfare, and finally of victory.

Answer 2

Gods are rather static characters in myth. They were essentially born fully developed. The main difference (in literature) between them and heroes, is that the heroes were the subjects of sagas which traced their lives. Gods on the other hand were divinities which people worshipped, who happened to have a series of unconnected stories surrounding them.

Piecing the stories together about a god from dozens of ancient Greek kingdoms really doesn't make for a good plot. There is just no continuity or development, they are just too episodic and not designed to fit into any sort of saga. Usually the god just has a walk-in part as a divine agent in some hero saga, also, rather than the story being about that god.

I don't know if you can do much with Athena, except by playing around with the myths a bit,to create a faux psychological angle. You could try it from the angle of "motherless goddess" and "father's favorite" with the twist being that her father had swallowed her mother whole upon learning that she was pregnant with Athena ; and then combine that. with the accidental childhood killing of her step-sister Pallas ; to explain how she was shaped into the figure of eternal virgin warrior.

Answer 3

Maybe in her relationship to something of somebody- like her priestess or a warrior she patronizes. They change and she changes with them.
Or even better- within certain situation she can grow from acceptance to denial , for example, seeing the development of the situation and how the environment has changed. Like a war- at the beginning she accepts the war as a war goddess and to prove herself,but later understands that the war is meaningless, and denies it.