Man vs. Monster: The Lesson Of Odysseus' Journey - Epic: The Musical Analysis

[00:00:00]Someone recommended Epic the Musical to me once and I never recovered.

[00:00:04]That is only kind of a joke. Epic is a series of concept albums for an Odyssey musical that the internet took and ran with, creating hundreds of animatics across 39 songs telling the story of Adysius's quest to return home. It has many twists and turns and ideas, a lot of which can be traced to how the music is used in it. And none of them fascinate me more than just a man. Not the song, but the words themselves, which are said several times through the whole musical. And when you combine it with the theme of when a man becomes a monster, it becomes so much more interesting to analyze.

[00:00:40]It's first said in the song Just a Man.

[00:00:43]Unsurprisingly, detailing Odysius having to deal with the challenge given to him by Zeus. As his men sack the city of Troy, he's led to the son of its prince and given an ultimatum. Kill the boy or watch him destroy everything you hold dear. It turns the rallying and rather upbeat tone of the horse and the infant on its head leading into just the man as Odysius has to deal with the challenge given to him. One thing I think is worth noting is that this song isn't about Odysius trying to reason his way out of this. That was in the last song. He's already decided to kill little Aanax.

[00:01:17]He's trying to justify it to himself.

[00:01:20]The main thing we know about his motivation is that his biggest goal is to get back to the family this child will grow up to threaten. Who could blame him for what he's about to do.

[00:01:29]He's desperate and he's just a man.

[00:01:33]No, the song isn't about whether or not he'll do it. It's about the question of if he can live with himself if he does.

[00:01:40]When does the reason become the blame is the line he sings and it's oh so relevant. At what point is retreating into why he has to do it just an excuse to ignore the fact that he's going to do it? He's just a man, but at what point does that man become a monster? Just because there's a reason, something else to blame?

[00:01:59]It's a question the musical sits on without giving the clearest answer. Did Adysius have no choice, or did he have a choice, and he chose to save his family?

[00:02:09]And what does that mean on a moral level? If this wasn't a musical based on a 3,000-year-old Greek poem, we'd probably get a more straightforward answer along the lines of don't kill a baby. But let's keep going through the journey because the use of being a man and the use of being a monster is one the rest of the musical is very much interested in. The next mention of the line is in my goodbye. It's a song about the fracturing of Odysius and Athena's relationship after the Polyphimas battle. Athena insists that Odysius kill the Cyclops and Odysius believes that showing mercy would be a more worthwhile action. Athena states that Odysius simply doesn't understand because he's just a man. And the line is sung by what has been interpreted as the crew mates who just died. Hush, but forcing her point. Odysius overestimates his capability and then has to suffer through the consequences.

[00:03:03]Now, this is where the status of the line gets more complex. Odysius is motivated by a desire to show mercy to his opponent, rejecting Athena's insistence on what he must do as the perfect warrior. But that desire also leads to him acting without wisdom, revealing his identity to Polyphimas without realizing that there would be consequences.

[00:03:22]The use of the line changes it from an attempt to justify an action to a statement on why he'd be foolish enough to do something. Both instances where just a man was used so far were meant to explain why Odysius takes an action. But here it's made clear that its use is negative. Although Athena probably approves of the decision to dispose of Aanax.

[00:03:44]Even if you agree on the idea of mercy over finishing the job, you must admit that Odysius giving his name, address, social security number, and Discord password to the guy he just blinded was the wrong thing to do. It shows a level of overconfidence in his position that leads to disaster. Specifically leads to a direct confrontation with Poseidon who challenges the idea of being merciful to your own detriment which leads to the idea of whether or not Odysius needs to be a monster. After all, Poseidon rebukes Odysius for not killing his son.

[00:04:18]Epic as a story is not advocating for blanket pacifism, especially when dealing with those who mean to do you harm. It's possible, but it has to be applied with wisdom.

[00:04:30]And thus, we're led to Cersei, who turns Odysius's men into pigs in what we're told is a preemptive defensive strike based on past experiences with strangers. The encounter is notable for being an example of Mercy actually working out in Odysius's favor. He doesn't kill her and she helps him. But there is some nuance to this. For starters, Odysius is only really able to approach Cersei this way because she can't use magic to hurt him. But beyond that, it's important to remember that Cersei doesn't try to kill his men. She turned them into pigs, but left them alive, which is why negotiation can take place at all. But this is also the next appearance of the line, I'm just a man, as Cersei tries to turn the tables on him with seduction. And he says that to emphasize his weakness to such a trick.

[00:05:19]But instead of going along with the excuse, he powers through it and resists her, yearning for his wife before begging Cersei for help. In this way, Odicius is showing that he's wise enough to not approach every situation with unnecessary cruelty and strong enough to not try and justify any and all action with the idea that he's just a man. This earns him Cersei's trust as she both restores his men and helps him to find the prophet who will give him advice on how to get home.

[00:05:49]On the flip side, the facts he didn't kill Odysius's men, who remember hadn't actually done anything wrong to her, also creates a negotiating opportunity for her and keeps Odysius from killing her. In this case, Mercy allowed both of them to leave the encounter in a more advantageous position than they otherwise would have.

[00:06:09]off.

[00:06:13]>> However, the trip to the underworld only increases Odysius's desperation. First by reminding him of what he's lost, then by informing him of his mother's demise, and finally by revealing just how perilous the journey home will be, and that whoever makes it to Penelope will be a different man.

[00:06:32]This solidifies Odysius's decision to become a monster, falling more and more into Poseidon's logic, reasoning that as long as he can succeed in bringing the crew home, no one can blame him for the length he has to go to to do so. He reflects on the idea that he's the monster that's been hurting his crew with his mercy. After all, if ruthlessness is mercy upon ourselves, then the opposite must be true.

[00:06:56]He thinks back on the ruthlessness of Cersei, Polyphimmas, Poseidon, and even himself. But he doesn't think about the fact that he and Cersei came to a peaceful agreement and Polyphimas escalated the situation and was made blind. As for him and Poseidon, well, their consequences will come. This works out when he's dealing with the sirens because no matter how sympathetically the artists portray him in the animatic, Od is right. They are man-eating monsters who wouldn't hesitate to kill either him or the next person they run into.

[00:07:30]But the truth is that Odysius is overcorrecting. After all, it was because of his decision to save his crew and deal with Cersei the way he did that they were able to make progress. So, it's that much more of a betrayal of his character when he deals with Sila by sacrificing some of his crew.

[00:07:47]No one sings about being just a man in regards to his actions. But by this point, the song has more shifted into the idea of being a monster. Between mutiny and Aries's verse in God's games, it's clear that there's criticism of Odysius's decision to rely on sacrificing his crew instead of trying to find a way around Sila, which might have been possible, but he never stopped to even consider it. This is even further emphasized because Sila's whole song is about her monstrous actions as something necessary for survival, ending with her and Odysius harmonizing about being the same. But as everyone who's heard the songs knows, this does not work out well for Adysius.

[00:08:28]Of all the people Odysius could afford to treat with ruthlessness, his crew was not among them. They're supposed to be his allies. and doing what he did only led to a mutiny that further led to trouble as Urillicus killed one of the stone gods cows singing that he's just a man as he did it here the line is used to describe making a bad decision as he succumb to temptation and hopelessness but in complete irony to Urilicus's own line during mutiny he's not able to really shoulder the blame of this action he takes for being just a man instead as soon as things start going wrong he immediately turns back to Adysius for guidance. It's all a series of cascading bad decisions, all stemming from creating a threat where there was none.

[00:09:14]And then Zeus shows up, which is rarely a good sign. Fortunately, there are no women present. Ultimately, Odysius has to weigh his desire to see his family with the lives of his crew. And well, he's just a man. A man who loses seven years after all of this. We got one final exploration of all this towards the end of the musical in Odysius. A song notable for treating Odysius like a monster. First in the entire format, what with his name being the title and the choir chanting it. A style mostly used when Odysius is fighting monsters like Polyphimmas.

[00:09:51]And also in this song, it's noted that he takes on the methods of the monsters he fights, doing things like going for the torches. And while a lot of people have noticed those things, I don't think many people mention the fact that this really isn't the first time Odysius is the monster in the song title. Different beast is about him. And it's another instance of a pretty justified descent into violence. Like the sudos were plotting to kill his son and rape his wife. They were not going to stop being a problem just because he showed up. And you can hear it in the lyrics. The suditor trying to invoke open arms called him old king, not acknowledging that he's still the king. And so it's unlikely his pleas were genuine. But at this point, no one talks about being just a man because that line is ultimately just an excuse. An attempt to absolve yourself of the guilt for a choice you've made instead of accepting that that's a choice you made. You are a man and you have done this, but it's not because you're just a man. How you choose to see Odysius morally by the end of the musical is up to you. But regardless, he's acknowledged that he's changed after everything he's been through. That's why his final song is about him asking Penelopey if she'll fall in love with the man he's become.

[00:11:07]It's likely that if he managed to get from killing the baby and immediately go home, he would never have internalized the fact that, you know, he's definitely changed in the war. Shout out to my patrons and channel members. A Skyman, Jar Evolved, Nova F2P, Martin Springer IVth, and Coded016.

[00:11:27]What are your thoughts on Epic and on this video? Tell me in the comments below. And while you're at it, don't forget to hit the like button, hype the video, and subscribe for more. Thank you and good day.