Answer:
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Adventure stories have two significant characters—the protagonist, who is typically the hero; and the antagonist, typically cast as a monster or a beast. Heroes become popular because of their valiant nature and their ability to accomplish their missions without compromising their righteous nature. The monsters embody the fear of unknown. Every artist (be it a painter, sculptor, poet, or a writer) regards these two opposing characters in a unique way. For some artists, a hero may be a well-built and robust character, whereas a monster may be demonic, ugly, and scary. A filmmaker may portray these two characters according to his or her own perceptions of them. The hero may be a humble person. A monster may not be hideous in appearance, but a normal person with dark shades in his or her character.
There have been many instances in movies where mythical or legendary monsters have been used as references.
For example, in the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?, the director, Joel Coen, has created characters who reflect the well-known characters in The Odyssey. For example, the cyclops in the Greek epic is a one-eyed giant monster who is a shepherd by occupation. The cyclops is used as model for the character of Daniel “Big Dan” Teague in the movie. Played by John Goodman, the character has one eye, and is evil and also a pastor (which could be an oblique reference to “pasture” and, therefore, a shepherd). In the epic, Ulysses and his crew had angered the cyclops. In the movie, the character of Ulysses (played by George Clooney, also based on the main character in The Odyssey by the same name), angers Big Dan. Big Dan then kills Ulysses’ friend Pete. In The Odyssey, the cyclops kills some of Ulysses’ crew. Later in the movie, Big Dan is stabbed, in the same way that the cyclops is stabbed by Ulysses in The Odyssey. Therefore, there are quite a few similarities in the actions of the two characters.
Another example is that of the three-headed Greek dog, Cerberus. This monstrous dog is a protector or the guard dog of the Underworld in Greek mythology. There is a parallel in the three-headed monstrous dog who guards the philosopher's stone in the Harry Potter series. Apart from the three heads, Cerberus has the tail of a serpent, and Hagrid proclaims that he got him from a “Greek chappie.” That seems to be a vague description of Hades in the Harry Potter movies.