Blog Question for the class

One of the things I found interesting about watching the movie Troy verses reading the Illiad is the ways in which the two stories deviated from one another. For example, in the Illiad the gods had a very active physical role in the story, such as when Aphrodite rescues Paris from the field of battle during his duel with Menelaus. By contrast, when this scene takes place in the film Troy, Paris crawls to Hector's knees for protection, and there is an absence of direct intervention of the gods.

Frequently during Troy when presented with options for doing battle with the Acheans, King Priam cites favor of the gods before engaging in tactical decision that would be catastrophic for Troy, in spite of Hector's advice against doing so. It never seemed like the gods were truly involved in the film anywhere near the same level they were involved in Homer's epic.

My question is, why do you think the gods were absent from Troy (or do you believe they were?) and do you think it has a significant impact on the morals and lessons to be gleaned from the story itself?