#and i'm sure actual indigenous people have more nuanced thoughts about it than i do of course

[ouroborosorder]

I think Arknights' Sami may be, outright, one of the coolest ideas I've ever seen in a piece of fiction. Most things would have said "The Collapsals are why Sami is like this!" But no, Arknights knows better. Sami is already a place where snow falls upwards, where you can see the ghosts of people who are not dead, where 4 story tall shadows pass by and block out the stars at night. Sami is strange, illogical, and hostile, but it is not Wrong. It's just a place where the natural order is different from anything else in the world, but you can come to comprehend it, come to an accord with Sami and the way it exists. But the Collapsals are Wrong. Their blood is poison, their bodies are corpses, their knowledge is a curse. You can't comprehend it. You can't come to an accord with it. You can only die. It is one form of strangeness, the comforting unsettling feeling of a different natural order, being intruded by one that is just outright Wrong, uncanny, broken, and evil.

[genericpuff]

I really can't wait to see how you write Demeter! Is she going to be the villain?

yaay it's a good day for asks! sorry because I'm about to go on ANOTHER HUGE TANGENT LMAO but I hope it answers your question thoroughly enough ! 😅 (and if it doesn't at all lmk LOL) Demeter's gonna be an interesting one. I think you already know the answer to this, but I really can't stand how she's villainized like some Mother Gothel archetype, especially when it comes to how Rachel portrays it, because everything Demeter thinks/does/says is honestly justified, try as Rachel might to make her seem like some insane overbearing 'evil' stepmother. Everything always comes back to "Demeter bad!" whereas reading her depiction of Persephone is like watching The Little Mermaid as an adult.

(it's very frustrating, to say the least LMAO)

Personally I'm gonna be going for what LO started with, but never followed up on - Demeter wants to see her daughter gain independence, but is fearful of her being taken advantage of and hurt the same way she, her "sisters", and her "mother" was (and yes, I have my own way of tackling the incest and familial labels in a way Rachel could have but didn't, I don't wanna reveal too much but it's very fun and I can't wait to explore it haha). All this is gonna affect how her relationship with her daughter plays out - it won't be exactly like the Hymn of Demeter, focusing solely on Demeter's grief, but it won't be exactly like LO either where it throws aside the purpose and messaging of the original myth entirely. All the gods are nuanced and morally problematic in their own way, and that includes Persephone and Hades.

Honestly, I think the reason why so many myth 'retellings' like LO end up being this Flanderized in their characterizations ("Demeter bad, Persephone good!" and "Zeus bad husband, Hades perfect husband!") is because there's so little material surrounding Persephone and Hades compared to all the others. While this can make it fun for having more freedom in re-interpretations, it unfortunately has the opposite effect as well where people tend to forgo the entire point of the original story so they can have some feel good cute story where Hades was some "soft" husband who did nothing wrong and Persephone was some "boss babe" icon with no nuance in between.

I see this type of fetishization of the original myth in a lot of these interpretations but especially Rachel's work. I'm not sure if "fandomification" is a word that can be used here, but I definitely get the feeling Rachel idolizes and fetishizes Greek myth the same way a lot of young Westerners often idolize and fetishize Japanese lore and content, or, more personally, Indigenous cultures (as I myself am Indigenous, specifically Mi'kmaq) - by reducing it down to its most "consumable" formats and turning it into something more 'palatable' and 'fandom-y' for modern audiences that almost comes across as pandering and demeaning to anyone looking for anything with more depth than a teaspoon (and especially to those who belong to the respective cultures being portrayed through this lens).

This isn't to say that creators have to stick to their lane when writing about other cultures or myths, but you can tell when someone hasn't done their research and is working from a very romanticized template they've built up in their heads. Rachel's, in this case, feels like it's definitely come from her time on Tumblr back in the day, when Hades x Persephone writing prompts were all the rage and people were coming up with all sorts of feel good AU content. The thing with AU prompts like that though is they're just that - prompts, memes, mere thought experiments or hypotheticals, not something that can necessarily work as an actual serious long form story unless you know what you're doing. I think creators who want to go so far as to 're-interpret' these stories through their own lens have a huge responsibility to still recognize and treat the original source material with some semblance of respect. In this regard, LO in its current state really should have stayed as a slice-of-life type series if it wanted to keep things light.

And I'm saying this entirely as someone who grew up on weeb content in the freaking West and got more into Greek myth because of LO. That's why I don't entirely chastise it, fandom-y type stories like LO can definitely help introduce people to cultures and stories they wouldn't have batted an eye at before (as I've started to detest LO over the last year, it's made for even better learning because I've had to research the original myths just to see how Rachel is misfiring on them entirely LMAO) but there comes the added responsibility of making sure you're not erasing or reducing the original material in favor of the silly cutesy stuff. It's an entry point, not the entire course! And that's a responsibility that falls both on the audience and the content's creator, IMO.

Yay, more text dumps! Sorry if a lot of that seems weirdly gatekeepy, it's def not what I'm trying to get across, just trying to voice my own frustrations with the depiction of LO's characters as best I can, I feel like a lot of it comes down to Rachel just not having done proper research and relying solely on tropes and self-fulfilling fantasies. If LO stayed as a slice-of-life thing that would have been fine, there's definitely a place for that sort of feel-good goofy storytelling, but by trying to be super ultra serious, it's tripped over its own feet because that's just not what Rachel is capable of depicting at this moment. She's trying to write a super serious story, but doesn't come across as if she actually takes it seriously by extension and it shows.

TL ; DR: Basically, we're gonna actually hone in on Demeter's trauma from the Titanomachy and how it affects her parenting style and 'controlling' tendencies, not only of Persephone, but of the community of nymphs she's fostered over the years. It's not about whether Demeter is the hero or the villain, because that would be missing the point entirely - it's about her role and experiences as a mother and leader of her community, a woman in a struggling position of power among a patriarchal system, and a mother who lost her child to that same patriarchal system, whether by choice or through forced marriage. No matter how one wishes to tell it, whether it's in tragedy or celebration, you can't have the story of Persephone and Hades without Demeter. That is the core of what I want to focus on and bring back to the retellings of Hades and Persephone.

[magsgoestocollege]

i want to capture this feeling, this moment. near the end.

i am sitting in my college dorm room, my fourth one but not my final one, and i have been home from my last college class for roughly thirty minutes. i stalled leaving the classroom because i was sure that i would cry. we spent the semester studying knights, chivalry, romance, and fantasy. it was queer, feminist, and beautiful. i'm so glad i planned my courses to end with this one.

it feels wrong, i think, to be done. to feel done. i still have two-ish finals left, but not really. one just needs to be edited, and the other is a series of knight-themed aita posts. because. liberal arts college. neither are putting the weight of the world on me. my final film screening is in an hour and a half.

i'm throwing a graduation party for myself tonight in the basement of my dorm because reading period starts tomorrow night and i don't want to annoy my housemates. i feel at home here, finally, after 4 years. and i leave it in less than three weeks. there are more than thirty people planning to come to my graduation celebration, more than i ever could've expected. i thought i had three friends, if that. to see so many people want to celebrate my success? well.

senior ball and senior banquet were this weekend. both were unexpectedly wonderful. i got all dressed up in my jumpsuit and crystal. my friend burned my forehead with the curling iron. it still hurts, but i can only be a little mad. it was a special night. i pregamed with my housemates, my second (third?) time being invited. i'm still surprised to be included, honestly, which my therapist raised her eyebrows at. I'm working hard to undo the idea that i have to earn the right to be around other people.

the dance was in the campus center, and they legally can't turn the lights off, so imagine around 200 drunk seniors in formal attire dancing under fluorescent lights middle school-style. it was perfect. i was skeptical of the french fry bar at first, but actually, that is exactly what i wanted. i flitted between housemates and senior friends and graduated friends who were brought by senior dates. i had a beautiful time. the misting rain was cold against the alcohol-flush of my cheeks. i was warm. happy.

senior banquet was perfect. in true banquet fashion, the tables were arranged in a big square with seniors on one side. everyone knew each other. there were no cliques for the first time since I've been attending. the underclassmen showed up in droves. the first years and sophomores performed their skits, recounting tales from the seniors' time in college. someone monologued as me. it was touching. the juniors presented their prophecies. mine was very sweet. I gave my wills away to three juniors and three first years.

i think i'm excited to graduate. i'm certainly ready to leave. to try something new. four years, I've found, is about the longest i can stay somewhere without growing bored or getting too comfortable. i studied video production, indigenous critiques of settler colonialism, and knights this semester. a fine lineup if i do say so myself.

i'm excited to join the school's legacy. alums are known for making waves, after all, and i hope i get to start a ripple. with all its ups and downs, traumatizing experiences, and bright spots, i have certainly come away from college a different person. i'm more self-assured. i'm confident in my ability to succeed. my perspective of the world has opened up and closed at the same time. i can hold nuance and gray area better than most of my peers. i'm still learning who i am, but that's okay. you never really stop learning who you are.

i have to go. my party is in a few hours, and i have a screening to get to. i'll see you soon, though. there's much to say in the next few weeks.