Minotaur: Analysis 1

Minotaur Analysis

Andrew Yu

Sheridan College

Mr. Andrew LiVecchi

November 18, 2022

Minotaur: Analysis 2

How does the Minotaur (2006) movie draw inspiration from Greek mythology. I think

that Minotaur is an inspired piece of cinematography telling a hero’s tragic story where he and

his village people are sent to be sacrificed Minotaur. This is modern retelling of part of the

mythos of Theseus and is based on the killing of Minotaur and far off the original story made to

be shortened into a movie length story.

There are few very few similarities between the mythos of Thesus and the slaying of the

Minotaur and movie retelling of Theo and the slaying of the Minotaur. One loose similarity

would be that they both ended up being one of few brought to be sacrificed to the Minotaur.

Another loose similarity would be that they both voluntarily become one of those sent to be

sacrifices (Jessica, p. 231) (English, 2006). One of the more similar things in both depictions of

the Minotaur would be that they are both half man half bull creatures. The last similarity would

be the love they found before being sent into the labyrinth. Theseus fell in love with Ariadne,

daughter of Minos’ and she would be the helping him kill Mino (Jessica, p. 231). And in the

movie retelling would get into romantic affairs with the sister of the ruler that would help him

eventually kill the Minotaur and escape the labyrinth (English, 2006).

There are many differences between the Mythos of the Minotaur and the movie Minotaur.

One of the first differences being the call to action of the hero’s, Theseus being the feeling of

frustration of his powerful city of Athens would need to send sacrifices to the Minotaur (Jessica,

p. 231). Theo’s reason being because of a dream of a girl that told him she would be waiting for

him in the labyrinth (English, 2006). Another difference would be the time frame of the

reoccurring sacrifices. In the movie the sacrifices took place every 3 years when in the original

mythos it took place every 9 years (English, 2006) (Jessica, p. 231). Another difference is the

location of where the heroes originated from as Theo came from a village and Thesus was the
Minotaur: Analysis 3

son of a king. The reasoning for sending sacrifices is also different, In the movie it was because

they wanted to cover up the embarrassment of their own prince dying to the Minotaur by

blaming it on Theo’s village (English, 2006). Whereas in the original mythos it is because

Athens had committed a crime and sent 7 sacrifices to atone for their crimes (Jessica, p. 231).

The killing of the Minotaur was also much different, with the movie taking a lot of creative

liberty to make a fight scene longer than what happened in the original mythos where Theseus

simply cut the neck of the Minotaur with the dagger given to him by Ariadne (Jessica, p. 232).

Whereas in the movie he uses what seems to be flint and strikes in on the walls of the labyrinth

to create a spark to light the flammable a gas that seems to be present in the labyrinth in the

movie. This then leads to the Minotaur being lit ablaze and loose one of his horns that Theo uses

to kill the Minotaur by holding the horn and letting the Minotaur pierce itself with the horn. The

next difference between the stories is that Theseus ends up saving all the victims of the sacrifices

(Jessica, p. 232). Whereas in the movie he only saves 2 other people. The layout of the labyrinth

in the two stories are also different. The labyrinth in the original telling had only 1 entrance with

it also being the only exit with tall walls that moved every day changing the layout of the

labyrinth (Jessica). But in the movie, it was much simpler where it was just a few winding caves

with a door that was held shut on the other side with a well going down into the labyrinth that

was used to send sacrifices down to the Minotaur. (English, 2006). The way of which the heroes

escape the labyrinth are also different where Theseus uses a strand of thread that he would use to

follow back to the entrance of the labyrinth once he was done killing the Minotaur (Jessica, p.

232). Whereas in Theos’ case it was because of Raphaella the sister of the king would tell him

the of the existence of the escape (English, 2006). Another difference would be that in the movie
Minotaur: Analysis 4

telling of the mythos the king would end up dying by the hands of his sister whereas in the

original movie no such harm would happen to the kind of Crete (English, 2006).

In conclusion, very little was taken from the original mythos of Theseus. Other than the

base concept of sacrificing people to the Minotaur very little connections between the story of

Theseus can be linked to Theo in the movie the Minotaur. The reason for this drastic change in

story was to make a movie that was more modern and to make the story easily digestible and fit

within a movie length film. With many more differences than similarities in this story I would

say that this movie tried its best to retell the story of Theseus but fell short with a lot of changes

in the story for the sake of convenience and making the story much easier to consume.

References
English, J. (Director). (2006). Minotaur [Motion Picture]. Retrieved November 18, 2022
Jessica, M. a. (n.d.). Slate. Retrieved from Mythology Unbound An Online Textbook for
Classical Mythology:
https://slate.sheridancollege.ca/d2l/le/content/1015628/viewContent/13062432/View