On the subject of Perseus, Andromeda and the sea monster

The other day I spent some time thinking about Perseus, Andromeda, the sea monster that was going to eat Andromeda and some of the other characters and aspects of the Perseus myth. I was specifically concentrating on the way comics artist George O'Connor depicted the characters in his recent graphic novel Athena: The Grey-Eyed Goddess versus the way filmmakers depicted the same characters and stories in the two Clash of the Titans movies. Looking around the Internet, I see that the story of Perseus and Andromeda has been a very popular subject for painters over the years.


Perseus and Andromeda by Pierre Mignard


Perseus and Andromeda, Charles Napier


Andromeda, Edward Poynter


Andromeda Chained to the Rock by the Nereids,Théodore Chassériau


Perseus and Andromeda, Guiseppe Cesari


Perseus and Andromeda Giorgio Vasari


Andromeda and Persues, William R.A. Etty


Andromeda, Etty


Andromeda, Gustave Dore


The Rock of Doom, Edward Burne-Jones


Perseus and Andromeda,Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres


Perseus and Andromeda, Anton Raphael Mengs


Perseus Releases Andromeda, Joachim Wiewael


So what's the takeaway here? Well, Alexa Davalos, who played Andromeda in the new Clash movie, probably should have done so at least topless, and the sea monster doesn't really look all that tough. I mean, I wouldn't want to fight any of the sea monsters depicted above, but other than the dinosaur-sized one designed by Napier, most of them look no more terrible than your average komodo dragon or crocodile, and certainly don't seem able to destroy a whole city like the ones in the two Clash movies were threatening to do.