mythsandheather

[mythsandheather]

a bit shy but abt ur post w the LO coloring book i absolutely agree. its so odd seeing ppl defend her again just bc she posted *some* good art (which imo still was mediocre, shes just using texture again) and the coloring book looks pretty (bc it wasnt drawn by her i believe). like no shes still the same youre falling for "pretty art" again but theres no indication shes grown as a person or writer. Its rlly foolish lol.

No worries about being shy, I’m just happy you agree. I’m fully expecting to get some pushback on my post bc I’ve kinda known for a long time that ppl are willing to completely overlook their serious issues with a creator if they’re presented with some fun visual stimuli.

You’re completely right. She hasn’t changed and tbh neither has her art, she’s just using a different brush. Bull shit is still bull shit, whether you write it with a pencil or in cursive with a calligraphy pen. That doesn’t excuse everything else.

I can’t believe it’s 2024 and we’re still having this conversation. Just yesterday I saw someone on the subreddit do an in depth comparison between several comic scenes and the 90’s Lolita movie, only for people to go right back to bragging about the new pretty colouring book full of the definition of mid art that they bought.

I’ve seen some people say “oh but now I can do better redesigns of her characters!” Like…okay? You could have done that anyway without fucking PAYING her for the privilege, but pop off.

[mythsandheather]

Gonna be real, I’m not super thrilled by the amount of ppl buying the Lore Olympus colouring book, like all the sexism, racism, classism, poor representation, grooming, SA and so much more is suddenly excusable and easy to overlook again because the art is aesthetically pleasing once more.

Like, I thought we were past going “ooh pretty!!!” on a surface level and giving Rachel money, all while ignoring all the glaring deeper issues and all the ppl (like me) who are triggered by LO, but it would seem I’m incorrect.

[mythsandheather]

the sexism in naruto is actually so crazy and all encompassing. every female character is defined by her relationship to men. the majority are boy-crazy. and it’s constantly remarked upon how weak they are when compared to their male teammates.

not only that but the main male characters actively dislike the women they’ve been paired off with. shikamaru is into temari but his infinite dream is not having to marry her. sai ends up with ino despite finding her ugly. naruto thinks hinata is weird and boring. sasuke’s dislike of sakura is infamous.

adult men’s interest in women is seen as comical and alien. (reactions to the sexy jutsu, jiraiya harassing women). almost all of the adult men are perpetual bachelors or sex perverts (and those who aren’t are stand ins for “mom and dad”).

when boys actually do like girls, it’s to show goofy immaturity and innocence (naruto’s crush on sakura that he grows out of as he reaches maturity, lee’s crush which is dropped entirely, obitos crush on rin which lasts into adulthood just to show he isn’t entirely separate from the boy he once was)

the whole ninja society likes to imagine it is a mostly gender blind world where women can thrive but this is SO obviously untrue. women are almost always healers and support. women make up less than 1/3 of the ninjas even at genin level. girls are almost all desperate to become wives and earn the attention of boys who don’t even like them!

mikoto uchiha was a jonin and presumably directly descended from the uchiha line (based on characters commenting that she/sasuke look just like izuna uchiha), but we only ever see her retired and raising her sons while her husband gets to be clan leader. (why?? if he married into the main family and she is an extremely capable ninja??)

similarly kushina uzumaki is borderline royalty and a jinchuriki, but her husband is hokage. once again the mother carries on the burden of power (for her sons to inherit) but the father has the title and status.

even the backstory of ninja enforces this. kaguya literally ate the forbidden fruit, giving the gift of chakra to all of humanity but also dooming them to fight for eternity. literally womens original sin …

anyway it’s not that all this sexist shit is in the story. it’s that kishimoto seemingly has no idea it’s there and believes the women he writes have epic girl power. how do you even do this by accident. why does every boy hate their wife. why did kaguya commit the original sin ! the girl characters want so badly to be with a boy but they don’t even care that the boy doesn’t like them back!! sakura and hinata are in loveless marriages of obligation and THEY DONT EVEN CARE??? they’re into it??? does kishimoto think men are universally forced to marry women they don’t like? does he blame women for this?WHY IS THE ORIGINAL SIN DRIVING THE BUS ALL THE SUDDEN?

[mythsandheather]

i feel like a lot of ppl forget that even though "the rape of persephone" is referring to her kidnapping, that doesn't mean there was no rape involved at all—she was forced to marry a man, and that probably meant consummating the marriage with said man to make the marriage legit. idk i see tons of ppl try to downplay what perse and demeter went through by saying that it was normal back then but like—that doesn't make it right now!

yeah that bugs me too sometimes haha mostly just when I see the argument "well TECHNICALLY 'rape' meant kidnapping / forced marriage back then!" as a defense of Hades' character and it's like guys..... she was still forced into a marriage against her will 💀😭 like I get addressing the language differences and cultural contexts when examining old text like ancient myth, that's a necessary process to the whole thing, but it doesn't really work as a defense for Hades when the original story was still written as a tragedy with Demeter and Kore being the central victims and when he still invaded a young girl's autonomy, sexual assault or no.

but y'know, it's all about "fuck the patriarchy" until everyone's favorite blue patriarch is the one getting called out for grooming and abusive behavior oop- 💅

[mythsandheather]

Was in the local bookstore and engaged in some petty but harmless civil disobedience.

Anyway, lord take the pain of grooming survivors everywhere and give it to Rachel Smythe. Fuck her and her nasty ass ugly little books.

[mythsandheather]

The real question about Greek mythology is who hates it more?

‘Feminist retelling’ authors looking to make a quick buck, Hades/Persephone shippers or DC Comics?

[mythsandheather]

See how they serve face and looks

See how they don't pretend to be something that they're not

Very demure very mindful very cutesy

[mythsandheather]

Btw, for anymore butthurt stans going forward, if any of y’all sincerely have a problem with ppl saying things like what I’ve said, then I’m gonna go ahead and assume you’re kinda racist too.

You cannot be so unaware of criticism and controversy that you’re also completely unaware of the very real people and cultures that are being appropriated and used in bad faith, and how this has upset those people. I should not have to explain why this is bad.

The only way you can still be out here attacking people is if you yourself see nothing wrong with HH’s blatant racism and cultural appropriation.

Fix yourself.

The next season of h*zbin is gonna be some of the most racist shit we’ve ever seen, I can feel it in my bones.

[mythsandheather]

The next season of h*zbin is gonna be some of the most racist shit we’ve ever seen, I can feel it in my bones.

[mythsandheather]

Tossing my hating ass hat into the ring to say that I don’t think Rachel should cook ever again. Nothing but takeaway and microwave popcorn for her from now on. The government should stop her sinful hands.

But I do love how gracious the rest of y’all are being. You’re better people than me.

[mythsandheather]

Vivziepop fans claiming adding black features to her black characters would’ve made it “too difficult” to animate them is a hilarious excuse considering this is the same woman who had characters like these animated:

Another excuse fans have been using is that Vivziepop’s art style is “unsuitable” for black characters, despite her crew members proving otherwise: 

No art style is "unsuitable" for black characters because it's the artist's responsibility to learn how to draw them in their style. There's no excuse for black characters not looking black in your style.

Vivziepop could draw black features in her style but CHOSE not to, hence why none of the black characters look black outside their skin color, which sometimes they don't even have.

[mythsandheather]

I drew this comic for an art challenge on reddit. So I apologize for how rough it is. I rushed like a mad woman trying to get it done.

[mythsandheather]

Zeus fanart but it’s Kath&Kim. You all know the picture.

Hebe and Zeus live together now and every other day, Hebe is telling him that Olympus is about to be overthrown. Zeus does not care.

[mythsandheather]

I GUESS we can focus Persephone and her complete non-issue of a focus on purity culture and finding herself. I GUESS we can focus on Hera’s racist ass realising she likes girls. I GUESS we can have them go into their ugly ass giant forms and everyone has a #girlboss moment where they kinda kick Apollo a whole bunch. I GUESS we can focus on the bad things that happened to Queen Purse and Queen Haemorrhoid that are not based in actual myth in any way. It’s fine, I suppose. I mean it’s really fucking not but whatever it’s fine.

But if I said a far more interesting story would be watching Leto, turned into a typical, evil, scheming, bland, coddling mother, and how she became that way? What if we did the impossible for LO by tackling actually both feminine struggles and Greek mythology instead of tiptoeing around them?

Leto, the titaness, goddess of motherhood, and described as quiet, polite, modest, shy, gentle and warm yet fiercely protective of her children and those she watches over.

Leto who is seduced and then abandoned by Zeus who offers her no meaningful protection as Hera’s rage turns the entire world against her and attacks anyone who dares help her.

Leto who is cursed by Hera to not be able to give birth on land or sea and has to run all over the country side, rejected by everyone and chased by the angry queen of the gods.

Leto who laboured for TWO WEEKS because Hera kept Elythia, the goddess of childbirth, distracted so she couldn’t go to aid Leto.

Leto who, upon her return to Olympus, is supposedly now under Zeus’s protection but is still harassed and threatened by Hera.

In actual myth, Leto never retaliates against Hera (except for this one line where she absolutely GAGS Hera by essentially telling her to stop fronting like she’s better than everyone because when Zeus cheats on her again, she’ll be back to a crying mess) and continues her role as a protector of mothers and children.

The version we see in LO is, obviously, nothing like her. It’s interesting and very easy to think that her mistreatment by the royalty of Olympus would have destabilised and jaded her. Conveniently though, for the supposed feminist retelling, no voice is given to Leto.

So what if I said that watching Leto as she was before, watching her then be seduced, used and abandoned by Zeus and then not protected by him as Hera rains down nothing but abuse and terror on her, turning her into the person she is now…what if I said that that would be a much better story? What then, hm?

[mythsandheather]

Okay so.

The author wanted to avoid incest but only for her main ship so instead of Persephone being the child of Zeus and Demeter, Demeter collects all these perfect roses and using sheer will, creates Persephone out of them like a homunculus.

Hence why she’s bright pink and oh so perfect.

And so the myth of Persephone continued exactly the way Homer wrote it.

Side note: did you know most the gods could get visions of the future, not just Hera?

ALT TEXT in case the resolution is blurry or my writing is hard to read.

The first of two pictures shows Demeter holding a cellphone that holds a picture of the ending panel of Lore Olympus. It simply says “the end”.

The second panel shows Demeter looking upset and angry while holding the cellphone and demanding “what the fuck was that?!”

Zeus is standing next to her, leaning on her shoulder, and explains that “that’s what’s going to happen if you give those one million perfect roses sentience”.

Rest in pieces, Lore Olympus.

[mythsandheather]

Why are all these outfits so fucking ugly

[mythsandheather]

The failure of Greek myth retellings

This is a personal rant about how I, as a Greek and mythology lover, view these modern retellings and how they came out more as a disappointment.

Here are some examples of forced labelling from the book sites like Bookreads:

Do you see a pattern? Is not only they are telling the audience rather than showing how "feminist" are these retellings but also..

Man vs woman

According to the retellings all ancient Greek men are bad, sexist, misogynists, worthless, abusers and women are girlboss ✨. But it's obvious that humans regardless of gender are complex beings.

But when you read the Original epics you realise that women have as much importance in the story as men. But not in the way you are used to...

The women aren't afraid to speak their mind, they have agency, they are a driving force the admire, but it's not with shields, armor or physical strength. They are also showing it with kindness, empathy, cunning but also with anger, sorrow, vengeance.

Penelope, Electra, Antigone, Ariadne, Andromache, Helen, Cassandra etc. ARE strong women! They don't have to go to battle to prove it!

BUT that also doesn't mean we should glorify the women who are abusers and do wrong things!

Clytemnestra for example, exiled Orestes, had her daughter Electra a slave, showed proudly her Trojan women (also slaves) and killed Cassandra an innocent woman.. Do i understand how and why she acted? Yes 💯. Does this justifies her actions ? Of course no.

Medea, killed her brother and her children, and also poisoned Jason's next wife and her father because "she wanted to make him suffer like her". Do i understand why she did it? Yes. Does it justify to have everyone suffer because of one man? No.

Hera, punished several women and men alike because she couldn't do it on Zeus (because he is the king and stronger). Is cheating bad? Yes. Does it justify her to punish someone who was obviously a victim or was powerless against a god? No.

The retellings:

fail to do complex characters.

fail to let the audience come to their own conclusions who's right, wrong or neutral.

They fail to make daring characters without be labelled on a modern stereotype.

Fail to understand the norms of ancient Greece and how they shaped these stories.

Fail to realise that men and women are more complex than modern stereotypes.

I am not against retellings but do better! Making a great retelling respectful to the source and having complex characters with quality reading would be deeply appreciated.

And to the readers to not rely on retellings as "faithful resources".