A quest for a fleece
I didn’t have many occasions to go to the movies when I was young. Only one theatre in town, a limited selection of blockbusters on their single screen, no money. All the right reasons. One title managed to stay in the brain, and tonight it came back.
Jason and the Argonauts was released in 1963, and I went without knowing any of the “back story”. An adventure movie for kids; what else did I need to know? To be fair, the cast was largely forgettable, with the exception of one Bond girl. I mean, even cub scouts recognize great beauty. What the movie had for kids included cool armor, skeletons, cool boats, scenery, cool special effects. You know, cool stuff.
This afternoon, a PBS documentary tried to tie in the real facts behind the scripted tale. In Search Of Myths And Heroes, hosted by Michael Wood, takes a light-hearted look at what inspired the great legends. Places and people to flesh out the texts which are still taught in elementary schools, thousands of years after the fact.
Anyone that is interested by local history knows the scenario. Someone mentions that there used to be (fill in the blank) over by the (fill in the blank), and the quest is on. Will you find the foundation wall, or a lost tool? Archeology on a peanut butter budget. Happily, Mr. Wood has good backers, so we got a whirlwind tour of Greece, Turkey and the Georgian mountains, trying to find bits and pieces of what might have inspired a tale about a golden fleece.
I don’t have the whole story, but there are some neat places out there. Beware of the the local warlords, and bring a camera crew.
