From Myth to Cinema and Olympos to Hollywood: The Migration of the Gods in the Context of Semiotics

Mythic memory manifests itself with reproductions in every branch of art. Such a memory, which reveals a conscious transmission in the historical process, provides important data at the point of showing the source of the producing new works and analyzing the context change/renewal. The transfer, adaptation or reproduction of the myths, which are among the dominant narratives of the oral culture, to the literary field and to the cinema with the advancing technology, initiates the semiotic relations between the fields/genres. The myths, which are the products of common sense, thought and imagination of the social consciousness, are not only a source for all kinds of narratives produced latterly, but also fulfill the functions of understanding and telling life. At this point, it is seen that the cinema, which is able to present the narratives both visually and audibly, establishes strong ties with mythological elements. In particular, Hollywood cinema, which has become the symbol of American film production, carries the mythic Olympos to its own geography by creating a new generation of gods through recalling, transforming, adapting or directly sourcing and reproducing the ancient Greek gods at semiotic context. Thus, it constructs a mythological universe that is constantly renewed and whose boundaries are determined by itself. The new generation gods, which are adapted from the comic book genre and mostly inspired by the mythical gods from which it originated, are brought to the movie screen with their unique features. These new gods in the appearance of superheroes create a new epic narrative world in cinema with evolving technology. Thus, while transferring from myth to cinema, a return to myth from philosophy is provided even in the fictional field. The transformation of the ancient Greek gods, who lost their cosmic powers in mythical narratives, into epic heroes over time has a similar thematic structure in the stories of the new gods created by Hollywood cinema. Heroes struggling with the rewriting of an endless cycle in different contexts refer in many ways to mythical narratives and to the heroes (gods and goddesses) of these narratives. These heroes, who reveal the relationship/interaction between cinema and rewriting, which is among the basic functions of myths, show the characteristics of epic/invincible warriors. Hollywood movie heroes, which recall mythic gods/goddesses and endowed with superhuman powers in this respect, are regarded as common protector of all humanity. By this way, a hegemonic discourse tool is revealed with the transformation of virtual reality with increased plausibility. This study examines the semiotic references to the ancient Greek mythology of Superman and Wonder Woman, which are the prominent fictional heroes of Hollywood cinema. In this context, the study emphasizes the resemblance of the Superman character to the Greek god Zeus, while revealing the common features and functions of both heroes. It is also underlined that Wonder Woman is transferred to the cinema with a direct adaptation from Greek mythology. Finally, the films Superman Returns (2006) and Wonder Woman (2017), in which the mythological references and exchanges are more pronounced among the film series created around both heroes, have been analyzed on the semiotic context.