The Aeneid

Carrie Bradshaw noted in her final lines of Sex and the City that there are, “Those that bring you far from where you started.” That is, when destiny takes hold it carries you far from where you thought that you would be. This idea comes is a common theme within television, film, and literature. This concept of destiny has roots in Virgil’s The Aeneid. When following Aeneas, “the pious Roman superstar,” through The Aeneid, we find that in following what the gods tell him his destiny is Aeneas is taken further than he ever anticipated and has to make huge sacrifices. As “The Economist” dated October 23, 2001 notes, Aeneas, “always seems, at least psychologically, to be carrying a huge bag of household gods and an aged father.“

The film White Noise gives us an understanding of the problems that meddling in the affairs of another level of existence can cause. Juno is portrayed in Virgil’s epic as a cruel goddess who meddles with humans in order to get her way. Juno’s attempts to prevent destiny by stopping Aeneas from founding a new Troy in Italy. Her justification behind stopping Aeneas is that his decedent, Romulus, will found Rome that they will eventually over take and destroy Carthage, Juno’s beloved city. In White Noise, the main character attempts to contact his wife after her death. In the process he meddles with the lives of people who are still living, resulting in unfortunate consequences. Juno’s attempts to change the destiny of people leave a wake of horrible consequences behind her. But Juno’s interference is more than just simple meddling. It has much more serious repercussions.

One Major implication Juno’s actions had was influencing an affair between Aeneas and Dido. The result of this action was more than just a simple love, but instead she directly leads to the suicide of Dido. This direct meddling by the gods makes it so that Dido can’t fulfill her destiny.

The power of fate is not just changed by the wants of the gods, but by human power. Just like in the film Remember The Titans, the power of fate can be changed by the desires of the humans involved. Underlying the story of the Titans was their personal desire to unite and change history.