#but there's a clear difference between mythology and modern pop culture

[broomsick]

A few personal thoughts concerning Marvel, and deity depictions in pop culture

I will first and foremost start by saying that when it comes to pop culture depictions of Loki, Floki Vilgerðarson seems a lot closer to the deity’s true character than Marvel’s Loki, in my opinion. It’s his laid-back mannerisms but cryptic nature that do it for me. For whatever reason, some pagans still like to establish parallels between Loki as a deity and the shallow depiction Marvel makes of him, though when you observe the two even remotely, they really have nothing in common. Still, pop culture will be pop culture, and we cant expect for non-pagan writers, scenarists and the like to depict deities in the same manner as we pagans would, for the reason that they simply don’t believe in these deities. A fictional work will have to forego certain ties to myth (in the case of Floki Vilgerðarson, symbolism that tie him with the deity Loki) for the sake of scenario.

Now, the major difference between these two depictions is their purpose, or base intent, and it’s what makes me to slightly prefer Vikings’ Floki as a deity depiction. The thing is, establishing a few parallels between him and the deity without ever clearly stating that he does embody the deity creates quite a subtle result. Members of the audience who are familiar with the norse myths will recognize right away that Floki serves as representation of this deity, while those who aren’t, perceive him simply as another character among the cast. In fact, one could observe that in many instances, Floki plays the same role within the narrative of Vikings as Loki within the myths. This makes for quite the interesting parallel and, by never clearly highlighting this symbolism, the show leaves Floki’s ties with Loki to interpretation. This, in my opinion, is quite the clever way to depict a deity. So much so that one could think the writers of the show were aware of neo-paganism as a modern practice. They treated Ragnar Lothbrok’s character in the same manner, often emphasizing his resemblance with Óðinn, but never truly asserting it.

On the other hand, in terms of purpose, Marvel’s Loki has never had any pretense of being even remotely close to the deity of the myths, which makes him a very wobbly inspiration for new pagans to picture Loki. Unfortunately, this seems to be a tendency which sticks on many social media platforms. Which is why I think a crucial step in research within the context of pagan belief is to entirely detach oneself from pop culture depictions. This might sound obvious, but I have often witnessed pagans base their opinions of deities upon pop culture, whether they’d been aware of it or not. For example, I have once seen someone tell me they wouldn’t ever respect Thórr or his worshippers, because he was, and I quote, a “prime example of toxic masculinity”. Which, to me, is quite contradictory, considering how his historical worship was more often than not centered around fertility of the crops and non-violent concepts. Plus, his role as a sort of “warrior” deity in the myths is far from unique. In fact, many norse deities have been depicted as warriors in the myths, and Thórr is far from alone in that matter. Hence, the idea of his “toxic masculinity” does seem to stem from pre-conceived ideas created by pop culture. Which is why as I’ve mentioned, it was extremely important on my spiritual journey that I draw a clear line between deities and their pop culture depictions, no matter how accurate, and no matter if the deities concerned were believed to appreciate these depictions.

It is, of course, easy to subconsciously associate a deity with their pop culture counterpart and it would be an impossible task to not find parallels between the two, especially if attention was given to respecting mythology. For this reason, I don’t and will never try to avoid tv shows, games or movies that depict the Gods. Enjoying such content is not disrespectful in the slightest, in my opinion. The name “God of Outcasts” has, for example, become commonplace in pagan circles despite having been created from scratch by Marvel, for Marvel’s Loki. In this case, however, I believe the name does no harm at all. In fact, it seems quite popular among pagans, so much so that many aren’t aware it even stemmed from pop culture. One could see the name as respectful of the myths and for this reason, I believe it’s entirely harmless for worshippers of Loki such as me to use it within their practices, as long as awareness is kept concerning the fact that his has little ties with historical practice. Such a practice is among the perks of neo-paganism being centered around the individual and their ability to nurture their own belief! The only hazard I find to be worrisome, when it comes to pop culture and its depictions of deities, is when one’s idea of a deity starts to blend with a fictional depiction, and when the fictional character starts to have precedence over the deity.

[fairylandblog]

Goblins, British Dark Faeries

Goblins are an intriguing part of faerie folklore that has deep roots in European mythologies, especially those from the British Isles. Often, stories portray them as mischievous and malevolent. Most stories depict these mysterious beings as small, ugly figures who enjoy causing trouble and chaos. Goblins are often linked to the darker, less organized parts of the fairy realm, while their faerie relatives are often seen as beautiful, graceful, and kind. One thing that stands out about goblins is how sneaky they are, as well as how they like to play tricks on people. They enjoy getting travelers lost, stealing small household items, and creating general chaos. This naughty behavior often shows up in many forms, from harmless jokes like hiding shoes to more harmful actions like making people sick or unlucky. Many stories say that goblins live in caves, under bridges, and other dark, secret places. Most of the time, stories depict these dens as dark, crowded, and brimming with stolen goods.

In different societies and stories, goblins look very different from one another. People say that some of them are horribly misshapen and ugly, with sharp teeth, claws, and grotesque features that make individuals feel sick and scared. Others are just small and cute, with traits that are more amusing than scary. Sometimes, goblins exhibit green skin, reinforcing their connection to nature and the earth. Even though they have a negative image, goblins are complicated beings in the faerie hierarchy. In some stories, they can even be useful, albeit in a roundabout way. They have a rough wit and charm about them. In some stories, for example, goblins might do small jobs, protect you, or teach you important things if you treat them with care and give them gifts. Their dualistic quality highlights the unpredictable and complex sides of faerie beings. The relationship between people and goblins isn't clear-cut. They are neither completely beneficial nor completely bad, which shows how unpredictable the faerie world is. Many stories portray the goblins as nature's protectors, punishing those who harm or disregard nature. These stories often aim to impart a lesson to people, encouraging them to coexist peacefully with nature and all its inhabitants. In some stories, goblins are evil spirits who represent the fears and unknowns of the night and prey on weak or unaware people. Goblins are even more mysterious because they have magical powers. They often have magical abilities, like the ability to disappear, change their appearance, or cast spells to trick and confuse people. These skills make them both tough opponents and tricky partners. The elements, particularly earth and darkness, frequently influence the magic of goblins. This demonstrates their connection to strange, hidden forces. This elemental power allows them to alter their surroundings, blend into the shadows, and move undetected.

Modern fantasy writing and pop culture have reimagined goblins numerous times, each iteration enriching the story. In J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, goblins (also called orcs) are hardworking, evil creatures that live in dark, underground lands where they hide treasure and make evil weapons. J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books showcase the intelligence and business acumen of goblins. They run Gringotts, the wizarding world's bank. These different interpretations show how flexible goblin lore is and how popular it still is. Even with these differences, goblins are still unpredictable, sneaky, and intriguing faerie creatures at their core. They continue to fascinate our imaginations by combining fear and interest in a way that speaks to how people feel about the unknown. Goblins tell us that there is only a thin line between the real world and the magical world. They warn us to be careful in a world where the unknown and the unseen are always close by. In both old and new times, there are many stories about them, which shows how powerful myths are and how rich the faerie world is.

[married-2-the-music]

K-pop Discography Deep Dives: Kingdom

A Disclaimer: I was planning, when I first started Tumblr, to be a lurker, but then I began an office job and needed something to listen to to keep myself occupied. And then, I started going through entire K-pop groups’ repertoires, album by album, and jotting down my thoughts. And then, I stumbled into K-pop tumblr and decided, you know what, there’s at least four people on this hell site who would read in depth rants about these discographies and at least five who wouldn’t read it and then get mad because it’s kind of our job as K-pop fans. My lukewarm takes should be taken with an entire silo of salt and the knowledge that this is completely for fun and occupying my very bored, very neurodivergent brain. With that being said, enjoy!

I’m talking about Kingdom today, so let me lay out my credentials. I’ve been a casual fan since around 2022, although I wouldn’t call myself a Kingmaker just yet. This discography deep dive is getting me there though! I’m considering going to their US tour this year, if they come anywhere close to where I live. We’ll see. Obviously, just like the (G)I-DLE one, I’m being harsher than I usually would be as a usual listener because this is a review, after all.

Let’s start with the concept. Kingdom is a group built around the idea that each member represents a different well-known king from a different country. Before we dive in the music, I wanted to talk for a minute about the controversy surrounding the very idea of the group, which boils down to the question: what counts as cultural appropriation and what counts as appreciation? For a group with such a focus on internationality, all 7 members are Korean, which means that they’re inevitably going to be representing cultures that they aren’t a part of, and, indirectly, profiting from them.

Personally, I’m unsure what to think about this. As a lover of history, I really enjoy what they’re doing, and it’s clear to me the amount of work that went into the research and stories for each piece. That being said, with the exception of the Russian one, I don’t belong to any of these cultures, and it's not my place to declare it all fine. Everyone needs to make up their own mind. So, with that out of the way, let’s start.

For this group, we’ll go album by album, starting with History Part 1: Arthur. As befits a legendary monarch from a millennium and a half ago, Excalibur feels otherworldly, from the angelic choir to the outfits that are an odd combination between common k-pop leather stage clothes and medieval knight’s armor.

Overall, what’s most notable about Excalibur is that it truly feels like a beginning: the song exalts Arthur and shows none of the later cynicism of the other monarchs featured. It seems to be the start of his reign, full of hope and bravery, and a revolution, with the phrase, “Follow me now, history begins with us." The accompanying album is also pretty good, with Night Air standing out as a softener to the army-like march of the title track.

The next album focuses on Chiyou, who in Chinese mythology is the God Of War. While this era isn’t my personal favorite, I do think it's the one that best captures who they are as a group. This song, Karma, may be their prettiest, a unique blend of traditional Chinese strings and flutes and modern trap.

Surprisingly, the god of war doesn’t get a song about battles, but the opposite: a song about moving on from the pain of loss that they bring and the need to find salvation for both oneself and future generations by striving for peace, with the visuals balancing the red-tinged fighting the song warns against and the blue-lit tranquility it’s is advocating for, as dancers spin with colorful fans. This album has several good b-sides, with the best being Magical.

Album three switches things up a bit, not only by transporting us to Russia, but also by focusing on a real person for their central character: the incredibly divisive Ivan IV, better known as Ivan the Terrible. It’s probably no coincidence that Black Crown is also the first song to paint its protagonist in a negative light, as Ivan struggles with whether to let the darkness corrupt him after taking control.

The song itself is neither their best or worst, but does an excellent job of building tension with classical strings and very sharp ballet movements. This idea of power, who has it, and the price they’d pay to keep it is a running theme in Kingdom’s work, but this song is the most upfront about it. This accompanying album is alright, although I prefer the first two, and the b-side On Air is quite good, especially in the melding of voices. My biggest gripe is that its instrumental intro is the best album track, with lovely combinations of electronic and classical, and I wish more of it carried into the song as Karma’s intro does.

With Pt. IV, Dann, the middle of the planned seven albums, we finally reach Korea, which, to no one’s surprise, makes the title track Ascension the most historically accurate of them all, being filmed at an actual Korean palace. The main character of this album is Dangun, the legendary founder of Korea, who spends Ascension lamenting the failures of his reign that have caused the people to revolt; they’re now outside, prepared to break the palace gates down, and he has nowhere to run.

Like Ivan, Dann has let power corrupt him, but unlike Ivan (and Arthur), Ascension is his ending, not his beginning. The instrumental of this one is rife with ancient drumming and EDM, a match that shouldn’t work but absolutely does. Similarly, the accompanying album is the best of the six so far—I couldn’t decide between Illusion and Blinder as a hidden gem—and somehow it hangs together despite seeming as miscellaneous as the others; the dual title tracks definitely help with the balance and cohesion.

Speaking of which, the other title track deserves some attention as well. Promise isn’t only a song with a music video that could best be described as a three minute and twelve second historical kdrama, but also just absolutely beautiful. It’s a very traditional Korean ballad, with a backing piano, building strings, and of course, a soft drum beat as the base layer. It starts quietly, as many ballads do, but it's at its post-chorus, which is full of pained yearning and the begged question, “Why does my love hurt so much,” (and which I’ve heard accurately described as “utterly transcendent”), that the song catapulted its way into my absolute favorites, not just of Kingdom, but of k-pop in general. It was while listening to this song that I noted that Kingdom has lovely voices and a real talent for harmonizing with each other, and I desperately wish more of their title tracks would use it.

Anyway, rant over, back to the main albums, and Part V: Louis. The title track Long Live The King is about the “Sun King” Louis XIV of France, who was famous for his very long reign, and his struggles with watching those he loves die and the world change around him since he lives to be so old; again, another thing someone exchanges for power, although he isn’t as vilified for it.

Normally with Kingdom’s title tracks, the East Asian songs are more historical while the European ones are more fantastical, which isn’t surprising, although this one looks as though it could’ve been filmed in Versailles with its 18th century costumes and gilded decor. But, while the song itself is pretty good, its album is the weakest, with none of the b-sides quite working for me.

And the last album focuses on Jinmu of Japan, a mythological figure said to be its first emperor, but the title track Dystopia, despite its name, moves away from the price that rulers pay for power and instead, like Excalibur, appeals directly to the audience, this time asking them to throw off the chains of society and break free from the pain inflicted on them.

Unfortunately, again like Black Crown, it doesn’t incorporate the classical sample close to enough to be on par with the others, and also doesn’t have the slowly built tension of Long Live The King or the beauty of Karma, and so kind of…meanders around without a strong identity of its own. The accompanying album this time is decent again, with Song of The Wind what should have been the title track. Unlike many k-pop groups, their ballads are all excellent and feel more genuine than their “cool”, rap heavy songs, like Warning, Burn, or Elements.

When finding groups, I always want to figure out what makes a group unique, worthy of my time, and to see if they have an established identity, which Kingdom has in absolute spades. The issue I have isn’t with any of their ideas or songs themselves, but with their work as a whole. What’s odd is that, while they do have this clear identity in their title tracks, they don’t follow through with it in the rest of their discography, and end up sounding a lot like other groups of their time. But when they’re good, they’re really good, delivering songs full of questioning power and catharsis.

My top five are Promise, Excalibur, Night Air, Ascension and Song Of The Wind. Overall, Kingdom gets a 7.5/10 from me. (Which I want to emphasize is still very good). I enjoyed this deep dive too, and especially getting to learn about the members of the group, who I didn’t know much about when I started. Who knows? Maybe by the time their American tour makes its way to me, I’ll be cheering in the stands too.

So, see you next time for a girl group!

[harrowscore]

No, not that "superheroes are the new USA mythology" bullshit again

[thefloatingstone]

I’m not joking about the JV thing btw.

I’ve been in the Invader Zim fandom since 2005. And even back then JV was vocally unimpressed by his fanbase. Heck while the show was AIRING he would take things the fanbase wanted to see and actually do them but like in a monkey’s paw kind of way.

“Zim should have a love interest!” JV introduces a female Irken who Zim tries to woo when he thinks she’s a human girl just to make his disguise more believable. She ends up being someone whose life Zim ruined and her entire goal is to murder Zim. They end up hating each other’s guts.

“Zim should have a human friend!” JV introduces Keef. probably one of the most terrifying characters in the show as he obsessively follows Zim around and becomes stalkerish and possessive in a way that starts bordering on being too real to be funny.

“Zim should find out his mission is fake” Enter the Florpus happens

JV is not only against the ideas and tropes his fandom has asked for but literally gives the fandom the exact opposite in some cases. Or when he doesn’t give the exact opposite he makes fun of common tropes in the fandom. Zim and Dib being friends a big one.

And although there are fans who come and go or who many years later will still be annoyed that JV doesn’t give them what they want, it’s been going on so long now that the long time fans have reached a point of

“LOL That’s our Vasquez!”

Seeing JV make fun of his own fanbase and troll them without outright being viscous or hateful towards them is just what being in the fandom is. And it works because of the nature of IZ in the first place. It’s a cynical, dystopian dark comedy that parodies modern American culture. Every character gets the short end of the stick at some point and the humour comes from how stupid everything is, often due to the character’s own faults. So having a fanbase where the most favourite tropes are what gets turned onto its head and made fun of? That’s perfectly on brand with the entire tone of the canon itself.

And honestly? I really adore this. A fandom of “Don’t ask JV what the canon for this one idea is because he’s gonna tell you the most anti-climactic answer on the planet. Just make up your own headcanon.” or “Zim and Dib are friends in this comic/fanfic and I don’t give a fuck I just wanna write it lol. It’s not canon at all but honestly who cares.”

There’s very little argument about “how canon” something is because it’s either canon or its completely not and not even pretending to be.

Also compare this to how several shows have suffered in the age where Twitter is a thing and you can directly communicate with show creators.

You get My Little Pony. a show that started out being about friendship and lessons about inter personal relationships told through funny humour and likeable characters. It attracted an adult audience by accident, especially a young adult male audience, who then as time went by more and more and more wanted focus on the LORE. On background characters. On the MYTHOLOGY of the world. And as time went on the show devolved into a mess of memes, pandering to the fans, references to other pop culture until it just became a mess of trying to solve world shattering events and wars with “we should all be friends” type logic.

You have Steven Universe which has a lot of writing problems, and when fans point out the problems have the writers try and EXPLAIN why the problems weren’t actually problems because see there’s actually this behind the scenes thing that happened and we’re showing it in a NEW episode that completely justifies the original problem! Which as a result ends up creating a community of “Theory crafters” so obsessed with what they’re NOT getting told because what is being given to them doesn’t explain things properly. With then theories getting taken as canon and so when the actual show doesn’t MATCH the theories those who liked those theories end up pissed.

You have shows like Star Versus the Forces of Evil which actively tried to bait its audience with different ships across its seasons and actively putting shippers against each other, while yoyo-ing the characters back and forth between potential love interests just to keep a certain aspect of its own audience invested in the romance side of things until it inevitably crashed and burned in its finale.

And then you have JV. Who doesn’t give a single fuck about what his fandom wants or thinks and if you try and bother him about it he will actively do the opposite of what you want just to spite you. Resulting in a relationship of very clear distinction between what is canon, and what is not. And not being bothered if your Zim and Dib Friendship fic could happen in canon or not. Because it can’t and it won’t. And you don’t care you writing it anyway.

This is why the Invader Zim canon has managed to remain recogniseable as itself despite the internet and social media becoming what it is. Because JV has no interest in placating fans. And at this point, the fans have no expectation for him to do so.

And although there is still discourse and bullshit and arguing and antis and fights... at least Invader Zim as a cartoon, movie and comic, is still 100% Invader Zim.

And that’s why JV being such a troll to his fanbase is something I honestly love.

[sugar-petals]

A Tarot Reader’s Utensils

☞ Here go some classic paraphernalia that can aid your reading process or serve as multi-purpose decorations.

disclaimer ✸ none of those are obligatory, all they do is make card reader life easier and prettier 😄 this post serves to inspire whatever serves your taste, convenience, and affinity. 

- a latin dictionary. trust me, it’ll serve you well. 

- little treasure chests and mason jars. every tarot reader becomes an apothecary down the line. mason jars are great to put battery-driven fairy lights in, it’s a quick and easy tarot table decoration to light up your spreads.

- standard notebook. everyone regrets not photographing or writing down their reading results every time.

- plants. i feel like us tarot readers are drawn to cacti in particular. maybe it’s because their maintenance is easy and they give powers of self-protection. i mean what does a cactus do: guard itself with spikes and a stable exterior. every energy worker can benefit from that. we naturally gravitate towards it anyway.

- for some of us, runes are the next step and i honestly can’t recommend making your own set enough once you researched the essentials. they are so helpful and great to carry with you. portable magic if you will. mix VERY well with pulling tarot cards. 

- candles, you know the deal. homely lighting is one aspect, but it’s also great for inviting the energy of wands i.e. fire. needs proper 30cm distance to other utensils and 10cm between each other, keep that in mind.

- an item that connects you to your family lineage. the tarot likes people who know their roots. if you ask the cards about your ancestors, such an item is even more beneficial. pick something with extra use. example: my father’s family is connected to italy — that’s where the tarot came from, no item needed. but for my mother’s side, i have a matryoshka doll. i can put little folded spells and affirmation notes into it. the dolls in a row also circle my tarot table so they look like protectors 😅

- clear quartz and tarot decks are best friends. a larger point rested on top of the card pile will amplify it energetically and keep it together physically. a crystal’s benefits are derived from its physical setup, so in this case clear quartz makes your readings clear. don’t look for it, the stone comes into your life out of nowhere.

- magnifying glasses. the LWB (little white booklet) that comes with some decks is printed in tiny font.

- shells are great. not just for keeping crystals, pendulums, or smudge sticks in them. also, shells for casting yes or no questions in addition to the tarot, cowrie shells (e.g. cypraea tigris) are the usual pick. 

- for tray-like shells, e.g. look for: all types of pectinidae (classic scallops), haliotis (abalones), pinctada (blue mother-of-pearl inlay), hyriopsis (shell halves with enclosed pearls), veneridae (venus shells), mimachlamys sanguinea or potamilus purpuratus (pink).

- if the star, empress, high priestess or moon show up in your self-readings, a star map you can rotate comes in handy. all these cards have references to constellations. you wanna see what the night sky shows you on the horizon that night.

- books on deities, angels, ascended masters, and spirit guides. whatever pops up in your day-to-day life often. e.g. the tarot has a lot of cards with angel references, it’s good to know. if you work with oracle cards, i bet my cactus you will need all four types of books sooner or later.

- pretty boxes and baskets. for your decks, it’s good to keep it all in one spot. boxes without a lid however, keep your cards in sight so you use them regularly. using decks equals charging them.

- empty old perfume bottles (smaller ones) and vintage ceramic pieces. if your clear quartz is busy elsewhere, you can put them on resting decks. i also found worn-out keys to be just perfect for that. 

- paper, pencils, scissors, rulers, stickers, labels. gotta love making DIY decks.

- a large juice mug. repurposed as a huge glass of water. you forget time when you do readings and need prolonged focus. keeping it close will save you from having to get up grumpily. also: making gem water is the shit. check which crystals you can use for it. 

- fossils. a statement piece or several smaller ones (you’ll be surprised, they are quite cheap). fossils activate ancient knowledge which is what the tarot is all about. great to put into crystal grids, too. choose whatever you’re guided towards. maybe something found in your country to make it even more personal.

- tarot cloth. a huge duh but you can’t actually find it. it’ll come to you.

- a book of world religions and mythology. the tarot has so many references. e.g. the hierophant’s insignia. or the high priestess with the tora. the hanged man representing saints. the hermit being a druid. the wheel of fortune being karma. the sphinx depictions on the chariot. even if you’re not religious, knowing about these details can help you understand the full imagery.

- let me be a pop culture victim: selenite towers. a modern tarot reader’s antenna crystal. it’s in every pick-a-card youtube reading and all over ig. i think it’s clever marketing, but still not a hoax if you know what greek tradition it has. it’s connected to the moon and the high priestess because selenite shimmers just like our lunar friend in the sky. selene (Σελήνη) = greek for moon. it was said to change according to the moon phases. be careful because it’s more porous, selenite is a saline structure with a mohs hardness of merely 2 out of 10. 

- a meditation pillow. energy work and introspection/awareness go hand in hand. it’s great to chill out and observe your breath for a little while. tarot readings can be taxing, grounding is the right thing to do.

- if you don’t look it up online, an astrology book. so many astro details in tarot. e.g. the emperor has an aries-inspired throne. or, swords represent air signs.

- salt lamps. they’re affordable, their vibes are great, they’re beautiful. tarot readings with candles, fairy lights, and salt lamps on are a different level. salt has so many properties physically and metaphysically, where to start. you can only win if you have a salt lamp.

- fake fur. perfect for your tarot table if you don’t use candles. crystals, shells and runes will never roll away. it’s the ideal decor and easy to repurpose on your tarot chair, altar, or shelf if you want to change it up.

[aion-rsa]

How Xena: Warrior Princess used Greek Myth

https://ift.tt/327z9ZK

First of all, sorry if this bursts anyone’s bubble, but sadly Xena: Warrior Princess is not a ‘real’ character from Greek myth. Whereas Hercules and Iolaus from Hercules: The Legendary Journeys are both important characters from Greek mythology, the three most important characters in Xena: Warrior Princess – Xena, Gabrielle, and Callisto – are all original characters with entirely original stories.

Xena does have things in common with some characters from Greek myth. Most obviously, the Amazons (who appear in the series and adopt Gabrielle as their princess, but Xena is not one of them) are a ‘real’ Greek myth – not a real people, but a mythical tribe who appear in numerous stories from Greek mythology. They were described as a tribe of warrior women, who cut off one breast to make it easier to shoot arrows – oddly enough, the show left out that detail!

The closest non-Amazon character to Xena is probably Atalanta, a huntress who killed centaurs with arrows (with both breasts intact), won a wrestling match against the male hero Peleus, and refused to marry until a suitor could beat her in a foot race, which no one was able to do without cheating. The goddesses Artemis and Athena, who both appear in the series, had traditionally masculine attributes as well, and Athena is especially similar to Xena as she was associated with war (as well as the male god of war, Ares), but they were both completely divine beings, and so were considered a bit different to mortal human women.

Keeping it real

The series did include lots of elements from ‘real’ Greek mythology. Numerous Greek gods and goddesses turned up over the course of the show, from famous Olympians like Ares, Zeus, and Aphrodite, to less well known deities like Nemesis (goddess of justice), Morpheus (god of dreams), and Discord (in Greek Eris, the goddess of discord). Some early episodes were inspired by stories from Greek myth, like Hercules freeing the Titan Prometheus from being chained up and having his magically regenerating liver eaten by a giant eagle every day (Season 1’s ‘Prometheus’); the story of Odysseus, known by his Latin name Ulysses in the show, and his long journey home to his wife Penelope (Season 2’s ‘Ulysses’), and Season 1’s brief glimpse of the Trojan War in ‘Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts’.

For the most part, rather than directly adapting specific myths, the series used characters, elements and ideas from Greek mythology to create new stories. As a 1990s show, the series used the blend of arc plotting and standalone episodes that was common at the time. This meant that the show, like an anthology show, could do different types of stories in different episodes, allowing it to incorporate not just the tragic and dramatic tone of some Greek myths, but the comedic and light-hearted tone of others as well – for in the ancient world, playwrights used mythological characters and themes for both tragedy and comedy.

Ancient Greek playwrights would mess around with the stories people thought they knew to surprise their audience and keep their attention. The famous story of the witch Medea murdering her own children, for example, was an innovation of the playwright Euripides, adapting earlier stories where they were killed by accident or killed by other characters. So what Xena (and parent show Hercules: The Legendary Journeys) was doing was exactly what ancient Greek dramatists did, taking ideas and characters people know and playing around with them to create something new.

Remixing the myths

One of the interesting things about Xena: Warrior Princess was the way the show took place in a vaguely described mythical time which seemed to cover millennia of not just Greek mythology and legend, but even well-known, real and dateable Roman history. For the ancient Greeks and Romans, there was a sense that the distant past was a time of myths, and that gods and heroes and monsters walked the earth long before their own time. However, they also had a fairly strong sense of there being a rough chronology to these stories. Certain myths happened in a certain order, and there was a clear progression of ‘Ages’ with different events belonging to different periods. The Titan Kronos was in charge first, then he was usurped by his son Zeus. Mankind was created by the Titan Prometheus, and Woman inflicted on them as a punishment to Prometheus by Zeus (ancient Greek myth was not as feminist as the show it inspired, as you can tell!).

The Greek poet Hesiod outlined five Ages of Man. The Golden Age was the reign of Kronos, when men lived like gods. When Zeus took over, the Silver Age began, and men were now inferior beings who had to work for a living. The Bronze Age was an age of strong, warlike men who were destroyed by Deucalion’s flood (the Greek equivalent of the story of Noah’s Ark). Next was the Age of Heroes, and this is where myth starts to meet legend and pre-history. This is the period when the Trojan War supposedly took place – the war is fictional, but the city of Troy is real (it’s at a site called Hissarlik in modern Turkey) and so were the Greek city states described in the stories, so this war can be placed in a real timeline of human history, at around 1200 BCE, even if the war as described in the stories never really happened. The final age was the Age of Iron, Hesiod’s present day of around 700 BCE, an era of misery and toil (Hesiod was not much of an optimist).

Xena throws all of this chronology out of the window and blends everything together into a glorious mish-mash of myth, legend, and history. The 10-year Trojan War is covered in a single episode set at the end of the siege. Heroes from different stories appear in no particular order. King David of Israel turns up – he lived around 1010-970 BCE, which would be a couple of centuries after the Trojan War.

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Most bizarrely for a show supposedly about Greek mythology, substantial chunks of Roman history are thrown into the mix as well, forming major story arcs across the years, especially in the fourth season. Producer Rob Tapert is obviously keen on this period because he later produced the STARZ Spartacus series – starring his wife, Lucy Lawless, a.k.a Xena – which features several of the same characters including Julius Caesar, Crassus and (briefly) Pompey.

Even when using real historical characters, though, Xena folded in decades’ worth of history. Most of the characters and loosely adapted plotlines follow the collapse of the Roman Republic and the beginning of a monarchy under the emperors in the first century BCE, and although it’s loosely adapted to say the least, there are lots of genuine details. Julius Caesar really was kidnapped by pirates as a young man (and had them all executed later on) and the power struggles in the dying years of the Republic really did feature an alliance between Crassus, Caesar, and Pompey, and the famous love affair between Mark Antony and Cleopatra. The British Queen Boudicca, or Boadicea, however, lived over a hundred years later, and although Julius Caesar invaded Britain twice, he never actually conquered it (it was the later emperor Claudius who did that) so even the Roman historical chronology is all over the place.

There’s something kind of wonderful about this ‘throw everything at the wall and see what sticks’ approach to chronology. There are lots of fun depictions of Julius Caesar in pop culture (from the dude with the surfer hairdo in Tapert’s Spartacus: War of the Damned to Kenneth Williams camping it up in Carry on Cleo) but none are quite as off-beat as Karl Urban repeatedly trying to kill Xena and even escaping the underworld after death to create a new reality where she never met Gabrielle, in an attempt to save himself. And the idea that the first Empress and possible serial killer (depending which ancient Roman rumours you believe) Livia was really Xena’s daughter – and a formidable warrior – is rather fun too.

Playing in other cultures’ sandpits

It wasn’t just time that Xena jumbled up whenever the writers felt like it – the series also included plenty of gods, myths and heroes from other places that had nothing to do with Greece or Rome. From Norse gods (including Loki and Odin) to Hindu gods, to Tau Chinese characters, to the early medieval British hero Beowulf, Xena’s “time of ancient gods, warlords, and kings” and “land in turmoil” could be anywhere, anywhen. This gave the writers great freedom in choosing the stories they wanted to tell and playing with them in new and creative ways, as well as allowing them to cast a diverse group of actors to play them.

Casting black actresses Galyn Gorg and Gina Torres as Helen of Troy and Cleopatra respectively was reflective of academic movements throughout the late 1980s and 1990s to recognise the importance of black Africans to Mediterranean culture, and it has been argued that the real Cleopatra was black, as while her ethnicity was primarily Greek (her Greek ancestors conquered Egypt), her grandmother was a concubine of unknown origin. But the wide range of sources of inspiration Xena drew on meant that they could largely cast actors suited to their roles, regardless of skin colour. Although the goddess of Love, Aphrodite, was somehow still portrayed as a slim, ditzy blonde in pink, which is not a representation the ancient Greeks would have recognised – their statues of Aphrodite are a lot more rounded in body shape and wear even less clothing!

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Xena: Warrior Princess, like a lot of great shows from the 1990s, was a series full of good humour and creativity that didn’t take itself too seriously most of the time, but was still able to land a dramatic punch when it turned its mind to it. It’s a method of making television that, when done well, can give audiences the best of all worlds, and perhaps one that might see a bit of a comeback if audiences start to tire of heavily serialised, grimdark TV. The series’ approach to Greek mythology was like its approach to story-telling in general – use the things that you think will work, don’t be afraid to change things, to mix it up, to mess things around, and tell whatever story you want to tell using whatever tools are available to you to tell it. The ancient Greek playwrights would have been proud.

The post How Xena: Warrior Princess used Greek Myth appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[hms-chill]

RWRB Study Guide, Chapter 8

Hi y’all! I’m going through Casey McQuiston’s Red, White & Royal Blue and defining/explaining references! Feel free to follow along, or block the tag #rwrbStudyGuide if you’re not interested!

James I (203): James I/VI (First of England, Sixth of Scotland) is known for both translating the Bible and being just... so, so incredibly gay. The book mentions that he promoted a dumb jock to gentleman of the bedchamber, but it leaves out that 13-year-old James would just make out with dudes in public, and that the dumb jock (George Villers) was James’s third serious adult relationship. His friends introduced him to George because his last boyfriend was bad for the kingdom. 

George Eliot (205): Mary Anne Evans wrote under the pen name George Eliot to escape the stereotype that women could only write romances. She wrote seven novels, of which Middlemarch is the most famous, known for their realism and psychological insight.

Daniel Defoe (205): A pioneer of the English novel, Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe as well as a series of divisive political pamphlets and tracts.

Jonathan Swift (205): Irish political writer most famous for A Modest Proposal, a satirical piece that suggests cannibalism of infants as a more humane response to the British treatment of Ireland than letting them grow to starve in adulthood.

Dickens... “woman who languishes away in a crumbling mansion wearing her wedding gown” (205): Charles Dickens wrote stories concerned with the lower classes. This quote in particular refers to Miss Havisham from Great Expectations, who was left at the altar and refused to take off her wedding dress or even put away the food set out for the wedding.

Sense and Sensibility (205): This is probably Austen’s second most popular novel (after Pride and Prejudice); it follows the four Dashwood women in their move to a new home following the death of Mr. Dashwood. Like most of Austen’s novels, the opinionated narrator follows the women through a series of romantic mishaps, culminating in a happy ending.

Green American Money (206): Fun fact, British money is blue and orange and purple and all sorts of fun colors! It also all looks different, because (at least in Scotland) four banks are allowed to print pound notes, so there are four different designs all in circulation.

Sean Hannity (206): A conservative American political commentator.

Harvard rowing (206): Rowing is like... the bougiest of sports.

Pleiad (206): In Greek mythology, the pleiades were the daughters of the titan Atlas who became stars following his entrapment under the earth. They are remembered for their beauty and loyalty. Myths of the missing pleiad explain why only six of the seven stars are visible to the naked eye. According to some sources, the missing pleiad is Merope, who was shamed out of the sky for her relationship with a mortal.

Minute Maid Park (206): The baseball stadium associated with the Houston Astros baseball team; it seats just over 41,000.

Politico (207): An American political opinion news source.

Drop-kick Murphys (208): An American Celtic punk band. (listen here and here)

The Klan (209): The Ku Klux Klan, an incredibly racist organization that has been responsible for the lynching of thousands of people of color.

Kim Nam-June (210): Kim Nam-Joon, known as RM or Rap Monster, is the leader and rapper of the K-pop group BTS.

Milwaukee (211): The largest city in and main cultural center of Wisconsin, which is a “swing state”, meaning that it could go either way politically in a national election.

Seth Meyers (211): An American talk show host and comedian whose creatively titled show, Late Night with Seth Meyers, is liberal-leaning. He hosts celebrities and often chats about politics or the news.

Clear Crystal Quartz (211): Apparently the most “iconic” crystal, it is believed to be able to help with clarity and the achievement of goals.

Wimbledon (213): The oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious.

Royal Box (213): The royal box at Wimbledon is a section of the best seats, reserved for royalty and specially invited celebrity/politically powerful guests.

David Beckham (213): A former professional soccer player and current fashion icon known for being hot and wearing nice suits.

McQueen (214): Alexander McQueen was an openly gay British fashion designer who rose from a lower class background to become one of the most famous designers in the world. Though he died in 2010, his brand continues to be known for unconventional fashion shows and theatrical imagery. 

Dashikis (215): A colorful, ornate piece of clothing somewhere between a shirt and a tunic originally from West Africa.

Orangery (218): A very large greenhouse or conservatory designed for growing orange trees.

Woman at her Toilet (218): This painting shows a woman in her bedroom putting on her socks with a little dog next to her; you can see it here.

Baroque bed* (218): Baroque art was designed to show off a monarch’s power; it is incredibly extravagant (Versailles is pretty much the iconic Baroque thing; you can see more about it here).

The Killers (219): An American rock band formed in the early 2000s and known for having donated over $1 million to charity (they did “Mr. Brightside”). (listen here and here). According to McQuinston’s twitter, the song Henry plays is “When You Were Young”, which you can listen to here.

Dred Scott (219): In the 1857 Dred Scott v. Sandford case, the US supreme court ruled that the constitution did not extend to or protect Black folks. 

Nina Simone (219): An American singer/songwriter/political activist whose music spanned a variety of genres and whose activism focused largely on the civil rights movement and was largely influenced by her “friend” Lorraine Hansberry, a Black lesbian playwright. (You know Hozier’s “Nina Cried Power”? She’s Nina) (listen here and here)

Otis Redding (219): Considered one of the greatest singers in American pop music and was one of the foundational soul artists in the US. (listen here and here)

Brahms (219): A German composer known for sticking to more classical forms of music while his contemporaries often leaned toward more dramatic or opulent styles. (listen here and here)

Wagner** (219): A German composer who wrote both the music and the librettos for his operas; his works tend to be very complex, and he has been credited with beginning modern music. (listen here and here)

Romantic (219): Artistically, the Romantic movement was a direct response to industrialization that called for a return to and celebration of nature. Queerness was very much a part of this movement, as it was seen as a return to or celebration of one’s natural state (think Byron).

War of the Romantics (219): A music history term used to describe the split between conservative composers like Brahms who wanted to stick with the Baroque, opulent styles of the past century and radical progressive composers like Liszt, who favored newer styles that blended music with narrative and morals.

Liszt (219): A Hungarian composer known for a diverse body of work and his position as the leader of the radical progressive group in the War of the Romantics. (listen here and here)

Alexander Scriabin (219): Russian composer known for his atonal or dissonant music. (listen to the piece Henry mentions here)

Elton John’s “Your Song” (219): A song written before Elton John came out, but with his queerness in mind. In a 2013 interview, John referred to it as “a perfect song”, and that the lyrics (written by Bernie Taupin) got even better as he got older and sang it more. (listen here)

Consecrated (220): made holy.

DNC (221): The Democratic national conference, when members of the Democratic (liberal) party get together to prepare for a presidential race.

College Republicans of Vanderbilt University (221): Vanderbilt University is a private (and therefore more expensive) school in Nashville, Tennessee. Its location in the South and its price tag would both mark it as being more conservative.

Cage match (221): A type of wrestling match that takes place inside a steel cage; the most common way of winning is by escaping the cage, usually by climbing over the top.

Paul Ryan (222): A conservative retired politician and former Speaker of the House.

The Second Amendment (222): The second amendment grants Americans the right to bear arms (have guns).

Salon (222): An American news and opinion website with a politically liberal editorial stance.

Air Force One (222): the president’s plane

“My Canadian girlfriend” (223): A running joke that someone (often a high schooler) whose partner goes to another school or lives somewhere else is made up.

Five Guys (225): Five Guys Burger and Fries is a popular fast food burger chain across the US.

Vampire Weekend (225): An American indie rock band.

The general (226): the general election in November, when Americans would vote for their president

Plainclothes (226): out of uniform

The Beekman (226): A very fancy hotel in Lower Manhattan, near the Brooklyn Bridge.

NATO (233): the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; an intergovernmental military alliance between 29 North American and European countries.

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*every time I read this, I flinch just a little bit. Baroque architecture is just... so much, and the concept of a Baroque bed when beds/bedrooms are supposed to be simple to help you rest... It’s just so much and I hate it with all of my being. I’m sorry if you like Baroque furniture, but especially for Henry, who dreams of a simple life where he can just write and be anonymous... It’s a big yikes.

** Literally no one asked, but his stuff is just... it’s so boring? Like I’m sure it’s great to fall asleep to or calm down to, but I tried to listen to it while I wrote this and I just couldn’t. Liszt is better, but he’s no Mozart. Also? Mozart wrote BOPS. ONLY. “The Birdcatcher’s Song” slaps and no one can change my mind on that.

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If there’s anything I missed or that you’d like more on, please let me know! And if you’d like to/are able, please consider buying me a ko-fi? I know not everyone can, and that’s fine, but these things take a lot of time/work and I’d really appreciate it!

—–-

Chapter 1 // Chapter 7 // Chapter 9

[brokehorrorfan]

Blu-ray Review: The Fly Collection

David Cronenberg's The Fly is commonly cited as a remake that is superior to the original; an assertion that's difficult to argue, but both films are effective mashups of science fiction and horror for their time. In fact, the Fly franchise - the 1958 original, its two sequels, the remake, and its sequel - is quite good as a whole. Scream Factory has collected them all on Blu-ray in a box set dubbed The Fly Collection.

Each of the five films is housed in an individual Blu-ray case with original poster art, all of which are packaged inside a rigid slipcover case featuring new artwork. 20th Century Fox's existing high definition transfers have been utilized, and each presentation is crisp and clear. The movies are accompanied by a variety of newly-produced special features along with archival extras to make viewers buzz with excitement.

The Fly begins with an atypical murder-mystery, in which the mystery is not a whodunit but rather a whydunit. Helene Delambre (Patricia Owens, Sayonara) immediately confesses to killing her husband, scientist Andre Delambre (David Hedison, Live and Let Die), via hydraulic press - first to her husband's brother, Francois (Vincent Price, House on Haunted Hill), and then to the detective on the case, Inspector Charas (Herbert Marshall, Foreign Correspondent), - but she refuses to say why.

The slow build pays off with a dramatic reveal toward the end of an extended flashback sequence that makes up the film's second act. Andre invented a light-speed teleportation device, the disintegrator-integrator, that he eventually went through himself, only to have a pesky fly unknowingly join him. The result is a disquieting hybrid with a human body topped by a fly's head, revealed in an iconic shot that harkens back to the climax of The Phantom of the Opera.

The creature is ingrained in pop culture, but it's easy to imagine audiences in 1958 being shocked by the dramatic reveal. The theatrical trailer smartly features Vincent Price addressing the audience directly, teasing the "unearthly horror" without revealing anything. The special effects may be schlocky by modern standards, but the overall concept - based on the 1957 short story of the same name by George Langelaan - holds up quite well.

The Fly is directed by Kurt Neumann (Rocketship X-M) and written by James Clavell (The Great Escape), marking his only foray into genre pictures. Neumann died under mysterious circumstances shortly before the film's release, missing its commercial success as one of Fox's biggest hits of the year. Shot in CinemaScope with Color by Deluxe, the picture features cinematography by Karl Struss (The Great Dictator) that makes the laboratory's sleek production design pop.

The Fly's Blu-ray disc has two audio commentaries. The first is a new track featuring filmmakers/historians Steve Haberman (co-writer of Dracula: Dead and Loving It) and Constantine Nasr. It's educational but far more casual than the average historian commentary, and much better for it. The second is a light, cheery track with Hedison circa 2008. His memory is sharp, and he proudly discusses playing his character for the duration, including when his face is obscured by a cloth and, later, the fly mask.

Fly Trap: Catching a Classic is ported over from the 2007 DVD. The making-of featurette includes Hedison, Haberman, David Frankham, Tony Timpone, Donald F. Glut, and more, and even touches on the sequels, but at 11 minutes, it's only able to scratch the surface. A 1997 episode of Biography on Vincent Price features interviews with the likes of Roger Corman, Dennis Hopper, Roddy McDowall, Hazel Court, Norman Lloyd, and daughter Victoria Price. Extras are rounded out by a brief Fox Movietone News segment about movie monsters attending the film's premiere, along with the aforementioned trailer.

Fox was quick to capitalize on the success of The Fly with a sequel, Return of the Fly, released in 1959. This was a time when sequels were not the norm, mind you, so the budget is noticeably smaller. It was shot in a mere 10 days and recycles sets from the first film. CinemaScope was utlized agan but this time in black and white, which feels like a regression yet also lends itself to a film noir atmosphere. It greatly pales in comparison to its predecessor, naturally, but it fares rather well for a rushed, cheap followup.

Price is the only original cast member to reprise his role, although several other characters return to be played by different actors. Well on his way to genre stardom, thanks in no small part to The Fly, Price receives top billing this time around; although he's still not really the main character. That honor goes to Brett Halsey (The Devil's Honey) as Philippe Delambre, the now-adult son of Andre who wishes to continue his father's mysterious work, against Francois' wishes.

Despite Andre's attempts to destroy all traces of his research in the previous film, Philippe is able to successfully recreate the disintegrator-integrator with the assistance of his father's former associate, Alan Hinds (David Frankham, 101 Dalmatians). Hinds, however, is a dastardly double-crosser out to sabotage Philippe for his own gain. He ultimately causes Philippe to suffer the same fate as his father, turning him into a mutant fly creature.

Writer-director Edward Bernds (World Without End) rehashes a lot for the sequel, but there are some interesting twists. While the original story's creature largely garnered sympathy between shocks, the sequel's creature is a victim that's out for revenge. It's occasionally played for scares, although the mask - oversized and cheesy compared to the original - isn't nearly as effective this time around, but the viewer is rooting for, rather than sympathizing with, the monster as a hero.

Return of the Fly's Blu-ray disc boasts three audio commentaries, two of which are new. Frankham showcases a miraculously good memory for a 93-year-old, citing events from 50 years prior with ease. He's joined by friend/actor Jonathan David Dixon, who facilitates the conversation and fills in the blanks as needed. The actor's sweet demeanor and impressive recollection caused me to add his 2012 autobiography, Which One Was David?, to my to-read list.

Film historian/author Tom Weaver's new commentary is informative yet feels conversational; a welcome change of pace from the typically dry solo historian track. The third commentary is an archival session with Halsey and film historian/journalist David Del Valle. It may not be the most enlightening listen, as Halsey's memory isn't as strong as Frankham's, but it's enjoyable enough. Other special features include the theatrical trailer, a TV spot, and a still gallery.

The diminishing budget and resources between The Fly and Return of the Fly pales in comparison to the decline from Return to Curse of the Fly. Released in 1965, the third and final entry in the original series was produced in the United Kingdom. With Price unable to return, as he was under an iron-clad contract with American International Pictures, a new story was conceived. The go-for-broke sequel extends the mythology but distorts the familial lineage, and there's no fly this time around.

Taking another jump into the near future, the film opens with a woman, who we later come to know as Patricia Stanley (Carole Gray, Island of Terror), running away from a mental institution in her underwear. The slow motion sequence is more likely to be mistaken for a Roger Corman exploitation picture rather than identified as a studio sequel. Patricia runs into Andre Delambre's grandson, Martin (The Spy Who Loved Me), and the two quickly fall for one another despite their respective sordid pasts.

Beyond the opening attempt at titillation, this is a slow burner that's decidedly less familiar than its predecessor. Martin and his father, Henri (Brian Donlevy, The Quatermass Xperiment), have continued to make advancements using the technology developed by Andre. They have successfully teleported between Quebec and London with terrible consequences; deformed experiments gone wrong are kept locked away like prisoners. A grotesque effect in the last act is a fitting precursor to the remake.

Director Don Sharp (The Kiss of the Vampire) and writer Harry Spalding (The Watcher in the Woods) present an interesting moral quandary. Once again shot in CinemaScope black and white, the picture has a bit of a Gothic horror atmosphere. It's never fully harnessed, but the plot flirts with Patricia's descent into madness. An ill-advised Caucasian actress (Yvette Rees) playing an Asian role - with obvious fake eyelids to change the shape of her eyes - is a harsh reminder of racist practices in Hollywood.

Curse of the Fly's Blu-ray disc kicks off with an audio commentary with Haberman and Nasr, who once again provide a thorough, analytical look at the film, making a compelling argument for it being superior to Return. In new interviews, actress Mary Manson recalls going under complicated makeup to play the "very, very odd part" of the film's most integral creature, and continuity person Renee Glynne doesn't remember much about her work on the picture but offers a perspective from a rarely-heard crew position. The theatrical trailer, a TV spot, and a still gallery are also included.

When The Fly received the remake treatment in 1986, director David Cronenberg (Videodrome) put his patented body-horror spin on the concept. But beyond the Academy Award-winning makeup effects, which are aberrant and plentiful, lays a beautiful romance. The lean-paced film gets into it right away, opening with quirky scientist Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum, Jurassic Park) meeting journalist Veronica Quaife (Geena Davis, Beeteljuice).

Brundle courts Veronica by showing off his latest invention - teleportation devices known as telepods - and enlisting her to document his monumental findings. Brundle eventually goes through the telepod himself, unaware that a fly is in the device with him. While he's ostensibly unphased at first, he quickly discovers increased physical abilities. The benefits are short-lived, however, as he literally falls apart as the fly molecules overtake the human ones.

Unlike the original film, which hinged on a single, big reveal of a human-fly hybrid, Cronenberg and co-writer Charles Edward Pogue's (DragonHeart) script features a metamorphosis that slowly progresses - with gooey, practical effects by Chris Walas (Gremlins, Raiders of the Lost Ark) - throughout the film. Regular Cronenberg cinematographer Mark Irwin (Scream, There's Something About Mary) captures the atmosphere in an environment that begins cold and gets warmer as the film progresses.

Goldblum's awkward charms are at a peak. He and Davis were already a real-life couple, and their chemistry is palpable on screen. John Getz (Blood Simple) plays the third part of their love triangle as Stathis Borans, Veronica's boss and ex-boyfriend. But the intimacy extends beyond the relationships; the sparse film has but three essential roles, all of whom the viewer gets to know on a visceral level. The romance is supplemented by a heartstring-pulling score by Howard Shore (The Lord of the Rings, The Silence of the Lambs).

The Fly's Blu-ray disc offers two audio commentaries: an archival track with Cronenberg and a new one with The Artist as Monster: The Cinema of David Cronenberg author William Beard. Cronenberg's commentary is a fascinating mix of anecdotes and insight, such as the telepod design being based on a Ducati motorcycle cylinder and how he had to stop Davis from subconsciously mimicking Goldblum's distinct mannerisms. Beard's analytical track digs into the film's subtext and explores its themes, giving context to how it fits into Cronenberg's filmography. There's also a trivia track, in which bits of information pop up while the movie plays.

A new interview with comedy legend Mel Brooks (Blazing Saddles) - who produced The Fly under his Brooksfilms banner - is a highlight of the set. The 93-year-old Hollywood veteran chats about Cronenberg, Goldblum, David Lynch, and more. Other new interviews include producer Stuart Cornfeld, who reveals that Robert Bierman was going to direct until a family tragedy prevented it and that John Malkovich was originally sought for the lead role; Iriwn, who discusses the unique experience of working with Cronenberg, including their unfortunate falling out; and Shore, who explains how he implemented tragic themes for his first symphonic score of this size.

A plethora of existing special features are ported over. Fear of the Flesh: The Making of The Fly is a three-part documentary produced by Fox in 2005. The three stages of the film's production are covered by Goldblum, Davis, Getz, Walas, Pogue, Irwin, and more over the course of 135 minutes, not to mention extended/deleted interview segments. The Brundle Museum of Natural History features Walas sharing design concepts and effects materials alongside behind-the-scenes footage. Deleted and extended scenes, including the alternate ending, are also featured.

The disc contains a number of written works to peruse: Langelaan's original short story, Pogue's draft of the script, Cronenberg's rewrite of the script, and three 1986 articles about the film ("The Fly Papers" from Cinefex and "The Fly: New Buzz on an Old Theme" and "More About The Fly" from American Cinematographer). Other extras includes pre-production film tests, the original electronic press kit, a vintage profile on Cronenberg, various trailers, teasers, and TV spots, and still galleries (poster and lobby cards, publicity, behind the scenes, concept art, and four different effects galleries).

Much like the original The Fly, the remake's success led to a sequel. Released in 1989, The Fly II saw Walas assume the director's chair for the first time in his illustrious career. The script is written by Mick Garris (Hocus Pocus), Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption), and Jim and Ken Wheat (Pitch Black). The pacing languishes in comparison to its predecessor, but it's not a bad followup overall. While Irwin and Shore's contributions are missed, the film reunites the talents of Hellraiser and Hellbound: Hellraiser II cinematographer Robin Vidgeon and composer Christopher Young.

The film opens with Veronica (recast with Saffron Henderson, Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan) giving birth to Seth Brundle's baby - a squirming, amorphous creature - while Stathis (Getz, the only returning cast member, sporting a fake beard) looks on. The child, Martin Brundle (Eric Stoltz, Mask), suffers from a dramatically accelerated life cycle in terms of both physical growth and intelligence, so by his fifth birthday, he looks like he's in his 20s.

Martin is offered a job repairing his father's telepods in the laboratory in which he was raised. While working, he becomes romantically involved with a fellow employee, Beth Logan (Daphne Zuniga, Spaceballs). Their relationship is far less organic than the one depicted in the previous film, but it largely works. Martin eventually enters a cocoon-like state, only to emerge as a creature with virtually no humanity left for a final act that feels more like an Aliens knock-off than a Fly sequel.

Despite Walas helming several ambitious special effects - including a messy head crushing that initially earned the picture an X rating - he’s unable to outdo his landmark work on Cronenberg's film. The effects feel comparatively restrained with the exception of the the fly creature's final form, which looks a bit too cartoony. Yet, as beautifully tragic as Cronenberg's film is, The Fly II contains what is perhaps the franchise's most heart-wrenching scene: Martin watching his dog - his only friend - go through the telepod with disastrous results.

The Fly II's Blu-ray disc features new interviews with Cornfeld, who opens up about the difficulties of working with the studio on the sequel; Garris, who details his quite interesting original concept that greatly differs from the final product; Ken Wheat, who explains what he and his brother's draft introduced to the project before Darabont came on for the final rewrite; Vidgeon, who discusses working with Walas as a first-time director; Young, who talks about tapping into the emotional aspects and how his score differs from that of The Fly; and special effects artist Tom Sullivan (The Evil Dead), who talks collaborating on the creatures with other artists.

An audio commentary with Walas and film historian Bob Burns, whose extensive prop collection includes several pieces from The Fly II, is carried over. The old friends' camaraderie is apparent as Walas expounds upon the experience, including Davis' reasoning for not reprising her role. Transformations: Looking Back at The Fly II is a 48-minute retrospective from 2005 with Walas, Young, and producer Steven-Charles Jaffe (Ghost, Near Dark). Extended interviews with Walas (a sprawling 80 minutes) and Jaffe are also included.

The Fly Papers: The Buzz on Hollywood’s Scariest Insect is an hour-long TV documentary from 2000 about all five Fly films. Narrated by Star Trek's Lenoard Nimoy, it features Hugh Hefner, Ray Bradbury, Walas, Hedison, and more. Walas' crew's video production journal offers a behind-the-scenes look at the film's special effects. Young provides a master class in soundtrack composition in relation to his work in The Fly II. Other extras include storyboard-to-film comparisons with optional commentary by Walas; the original electronic press kit plus extended segments with Walas, Stoltz, and Zuniga; an alternate ending; a deleted scene; teaser and theatrical trailers; and still and storyboard galleries.

Genre fans should be afraid... be very afraid of not owning this set. Scream Factory has a reputation of going above and beyond for their collector's edition releases, but their box sets - like this and the recent The Omen Collection - are downright essential for horror completists. From presentation to special features, The Fly Collection does justice to each entry in the influential franchise.

The Fly Collection is available now on Blu-ray via Scream Factory.

[jageshemashftw]

Can we talk about Kebechet for a quick sec?

Cause I really want to talk about Kebechet for a quick sec.

So, for those that don’t know, Kebechet is the daughter of Anubis in Egyptian mythology.

Before I can really talk about Kebechet, I should first clear up some misconceptions about Anubis some people might have, because it’s actually kind of important to the story.

First and foremost, Anubis is NOT the God of Death, or rather the God of the Duat, the Egyptian afterlife. A lot of people tend to think of Anubis as the Egyptian equivalent of Hades.

First off, It’s an incredibly aggravating pet peeve of mine when people say ‘Oh, this god is the (insert culture here) equivalent of (insert culture here)’s god.’

Because different cultures have different histories which reflect how they develop there spiritual, mythological, and religious belief structures. Saying Anubis is just Egyptian Hades completely ignoring the massive difference in Greek and Egyptian histories that formulated these two deities in the first place.

Point is, cross-cultural parallelism between pantheistic deities is stupid and I don’t like it. Yes, I know that cross-cultural parallelism DOES happen throughout history, especially in regards to mythology (The Greeks and Romans being a major perpetrator of that) but it doesn’t change the fact that some people take it too far in the efforts of simplifying mythologies to make them more easily palatable for the pop-cultural coda, wherein you lose a lot of the nuances and flavor of the mythology when you do that.

So, by all means, study the anthropological process of paganism being osmosis’d into monotheistic belief structures. Just do it responsibly and do your homework first.

Boy, I went off on a tangent.

Anyway, Anubis, not the God of Death or the Afterlife. In many sources, that would be his Father-Uncle Osiris. (Yes, the Egyptian Gods were incredibly incestous, get over it)

Anubis is specifically worshipped as the God of Mummification (Being the inventor of the process of mummification), Funerary Rites, and JUDGING the dead, not so much presiding over them.

Now, keep in mind, one of the more frustrating aspects of Egyptian mythology is that the details of there myths tend to vary from telling to telling. Like, more-so than other mythologies.

This is because deserts... were fucking hot and nigh-impassable without days or weeks of prep-time.

Because of this, the major cities and towns of Egypt were very isolated from each other. They of course had trade and commerce, they were still a collective culture onto themselves. But each city and town tended to develop their own personal sub-cultures that were entirely unique to them.

This process wasn’t exactly unheard of in other cultures. Hell, modern cultures still do this to this day. It’s just that Egypt kind of got hit with this sociological phenomenon more than most because, again, deserts.

Because of this, Egyptian myths and stories tend to have differing... Regional Variants on a lot of the details, both large and small.

Ask for a story in Memphis, then ask for the same story in Cairo, and you’re likely to get two very different tellings.

Just concerning Anubis, there are some versions of the myth where he ISN’T the inventor of mummification. That honor goes to his mother and aunt, Nephthys and Isis, when they resurrected Osiris, to which they then taught Anubis the process so he in turn could teach the priests of Egypt. Other versions still have Anubis working alongside Nephthys and Isis to invent mummification while others hold Anubis as the sole creator of the process.

This is where Anubis’ daughter, Kebechet enters the picture. (Man, I took a long honking time to get to my point!)

So Kebechet is the snake-headed daughter of Anubis with his wife, Anput.

Sort of...

This is one of those ‘Regional Variants’ I was talking about. See, a common element in Egyptian mythology is that many gods came in pairs, one male and one female, who shared in their sphere of influence. So Anput, being Anubis’ female counterpart, was also the Goddess of Mummification and Funerary Rites.

Now, the exact nature for how these male and female counterparts regarded each-other gets a little crazy depending on the variant you ascribe to. In some versions, these counterparts are very literal counterparts, essentially another, alternative form that each God and Goddess could swap to and from at any given time, essentially being both male and female simultaneously.

Other variants simplify this to simply having the counterparts married, or otherwise separate but equal entities.

Point is, when most stories want to empathize who Kebechet’s mother is, they usually go with Anput who, in some ways, is also her father.

Anyway, Kebechet is often depicted as Goddess of Purification. Specifically, the purification of one’s mortal body after death which, in turn, purified the Ka or soul.

See, ancient Egyptians had this thing where letting the body rot would adversely affect the soul in the afterlife. This is why preserving the body through mummification was such a big thing in Egypt.

To that end, Kebechet is often depicted as her father’s aide and assistant in preparing the bodies for the soul’s journey to the afterlife. But, there is one story where she provides a very active roll to the process outside of just being Anubis’ little helper.

See, the story goes that, as Anubis was attempting to perfect the process of mummification, he kept hitting a road-block on how to keep the bodies from rotting before he could even get very far in the whole process.

Kebechet (who I will remind you had the head of a snake), wanting to help her father, bit one of the bodies and injected it with some of her venom.

Miraculously, the venom actually did a wonderful job keeping the body from rotting long enough for Anubis to actually do the whole mummification thing. So, he harvested as much of his daughter’s venom that he could to give to the priests of Egypt.

And that’s the story of how Kebechet invented embalming fluid.

See, what gets me is how exactly that first conversation between Anubis and Kebechet went when she first tried this. Like, how did she know that would work?

—-

Anubis: Argh! Sons of the Pharaohs! No matter what I try, the flesh decays far too quickly. I must find a way to still the rot before-

Kebechet: I HALP!! *happily bites the corpse*

Anubis: Kebechet, sweetie, what the fu-!

Kebechet: I HALP!!

[thesinglesjukebox]

SUDAN ARCHIVES - GLORIOUS

[7.44]

We're taking US Thanksgiving off, but here's an early holiday gift for the sidebar...

Kylo Nocom: Brittney Parks' stage name, Sudan Archives, suggests ethnomusicological compilations and, in turn, the complications of consuming folk music without entertaining the imperial gaze. Her musical trajectory appears to be a conscious transition away from her earlier projects' pan-African aesthetic, relying less upon the abstract othering of world music and instead indulging in a more fine-tuned otherworldliness. What remains is the tension of alienation. On "Glorious," Parks artfully relays her familial economic anxieties, spitting out each syllable over hypnotic gurgles that sound like an Afrodisiac cut sampling "Jig of Life," and the toil of her work is audible in the panting of "feels so close yet so far away." A quick verse by Cincinnati rapper D-Eight proves a necessary disturbance: first, to dislodge any notion that Parks is "a strange alien from Africa" and to provide a sincere celebration of her hometown roots; second, to provide an unexpected, more conventional lyrical contrast to Parks' work-song verses; third, to be a really badass Fatman Scoop-type hypeman once "Glorious" veers off into freewheeling glee. Accessibility may have sacrificed some of the interestingly arcane aspects of Parks' music, but "Glorious" shows how pop structure can be used for more complex and yet more human ends. [8]

Ian Mathers: A swirling, heady combination of slinky R&B, traditional Sudanese songs praying for good fortune, and what the singer/violinist herself calls "literally some Irish jig shit." But "Glorious" works so phenomenally well that it doesn't feel at all like a hybrid, especially on the dark grind of the chorus. [8]

Leonel Manzanares de la Rosa: The clear predominance of North African sonic sensibilities and musical phrasings in the song's fiddle melody is a brilliant way to represent the overarching concept in Sudan Archives' Athena -- the influence of African and Egyptian cultures on the imagery and expression of Greek, and, by extension, all Western mythologies. But D-Eight's guest verse, while it's technically efficient and establishes the ancient-modern element, undersells the track's purpose. It works as a piece of Afrofuturist R&B, not so much as an introductory single. [7]

Katherine St Asaph: The exact sort of R&B/traditional fusion that seemingly everyone in 2003 was attempting a half-assed, appropriative version of, not knowing the ceiling for it was this high. Between this, Kelsey Lu, and other artists I'm sure I'm forgetting, I can't wait for alt-R&B to get expansive and sumptuous, rather than minimalist and chill. [9]

Tim de Reuse: A sparse, breathy collection of sounds loosely clustered around the beat; as elements of a whole, they only make sense right near the end, when everything clicks together under a ticklish shaker loop. Until then, there just aren't enough opportunities for things to bounce off each other. [6]

Alfred Soto: The beat's steady clip-clop and the rush of the rap and violin melody create an aural tension: not quite glorious, but excellent enough. [7]

Julian Axelrod: Sudan Archives is an astounding talent, so it's no surprise she can blend Irish jigs and traditional Ghanaian hymns into a beat that actually knocks. I hope this becomes a hit so she can afford to work with rappers who don't sound like her next door neighbor's nephew. [6]

Thomas Inskeep: Mixing a violin -- Parks' playing is rooted in Sudanese fiddle music -- with contemporary R&B is on some next-level shit, and "Glorious" is just one example, dragged down a bit by an unnecessary guest rap. But you can hear how she thinks about sound differently than most in R&B these days. [7]

Michael Hong: "Glorious" showcases Brittney Parks' violin as the vibrant heart of her music. Listening to her violin dance the jig as gracefully as it does is hypnotic, drawing focus away from everything else: the programmed drums, the guest verse, and Parks herself. The violin is spry enough to bounce across her murmured hymn, yet sharp enough to pierce the blown-out instrumental and present itself in the foreground. Any other string instrument would weigh the piece down, but her violin dances with elegance and grace. It loops in mesmerizing circle, then switches to a lethal strike at a moment's notice. On D-Eight's guest verse, it slices through like a warning, and he's wise enough to take heed, cutting himself short before the violin slashes back into focus: a statement that Parks will not be upstaged. "Focus on the bottom line," she sings, but if you're listening to her voice instead of her instrument, you're not really paying attention. [9]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

[tipsycad147]

Artemis – The Greek Goddess of Hunting

Artemis (Roman counterpart Diana) is the Greek goddess associated with the moon, chastity, the hunt, childbirth, and the wilderness. Daughter of Leto and Zeus, and twin sister of Apollo, Artemis is considered the patron and protector of young children and the patron of women in childbirth. Let’s take a closer look at the life and symbolism of Artemis.

The Story of Artemis

The story goes that Artemis was born on Delos or Ortygia. Some accounts say that she was born a day before Apollo. At three years old, she asked her powerful father Zeus to grant her six wishes, which were:

That she could remain unmarried and a virgin

That she would be given more names than her brother Apollo

That she could bring light to the world

That she would be given a special bow and arrow like her brother and have the freedom to dress up in a tunic when out hunting

That she would have 60 nymphs as friends who would keep her company and look after her hunting dogs

That she would have rule over all mountains

Zeus was amused by Artemis and granted her wishes. It’s clear that from an early age on, Artemis valued independence and freedom over everything else. She felt that marriage and love would be distractions and would take away her liberty.

Artemis swore never to marry, and like Athena and Hestia, Artemis remained a virgin for eternity. She was very protective of her chastity and guarded it with ferocity against any man who attempted to dishonor her. There are many myths that outline how Artemis punished men for violating her privacy:

Artemis and Actaeon: Artemis and her nymphs were bathing naked in a pool when Acaeon chanced by and fell to gazing at the group of beautiful women bathing in the nude. When Artemis saw him, she was furious. She turned him into a stag and set his pack of fifty hounds upon him. He faced a painful and tortured death and was torn to pieces.

Artemis and Orion: Orion was an old companion of Artemis, who would often go hunting with her. Some accounts suggest that Orion was the only love interest that Artemis had. In any case, it didn’t end well for him. Fascinated and attracted by Artemis, he tried to take off her robes and rape her, but she killed him with her bow and arrow. Variations to this story say that Gaia or Apollo intervened and killed Orion, to protect the purity of Artemis.

Like many Greek gods, Artemis was quick to respond to perceived slights. If she felt she was disobeyed or in some way dishonored, she retaliated swiftly. Frequently, her legends include her turning enemies and denigrators into animals for her to hunt. In addition to this, however, she was seen as a protector to young girls and a goddess of childbirth, demonstrating her capacity for caring as well as retribution.

Temple of Artemis, Jerash

Artemis was worshipped throughout ancient Greece and many artistic renderings have her standing in a forest with her bow and arrows, a deer by her side. She was frequently given special worship by those expecting children. As a goddess of childbirth, people would donate clothing to her sanctuaries after the successful birth of a child as a way of thanking Artemis for her favour.

The oldest art of Artemis depicts her as Potnia Teron, or Queen of the Beasts. She stands as a winged goddess, holding a stag and lioness in opposite hands. In Classical Greek art, however, Artemis is shown as a young huntress, a quiver on her back and bow in her hand. Sometimes, she is shown accompanied by one of her hunting dogs or a stag.

In Roman mythology, Artemis’ equivalent is known as Diana. Diana was believed to be the patron goddess of the countryside, hunters, crossroads, and the moon. While Artemis and Diana have quite a lot of overlap, they could be characterized very differently and are therefore not the same.

Symbols and Characteristics of Artemis

Artemis is depicted or associated with numerous symbols, including:

Bow and Arrow – As the goddess of the hunt, the bow and arrow was Artemis’ primary weapon. She was known for her accurate aim and would strike down anyone who had irked her.

Quiver – Like the bow and arrow, Artemis is often shown reaching for an arrow from her quiver. This is one of her most prevalent symbols and strengthens her associations with archery, hunting and the outdoors.

Deer – The deer is considered sacred to Artemis, and she is often depicted standing with a deer beside her.

Hunting Dog – Again, a symbol of hunting, Artemis would hunt with seven of her hunting dogs at any given time. The dogs signified her love of the hunt.

Moon – Artemis was associated with the moon and her worshippers revered the moon as a symbol of the goddess

Artemis was powerful and is a symbol of a strong woman. She symbolizes:

Chastity and virginity

Independence

Childbirth

Healing

Freedom

There’s no doubt that Artemis was one of the most powerful goddesses of Ancient Greek myth. But her personality often showcased contradictions, making her appear as an unpredictable, often wrathful, figure. For example:

She was the protector of young girls and the patron of women in childbirth but would bring sudden death and disease to girls and women.

The deer is a sacred symbol of Artemis and yet she transformed Actaeon into a stag to be killed by dogs.

She was worshipped for her virginity and known for remaining chaste, and yet it is she who is one of the most famous goddesses associated with childbirth and fertility.

She was fiercely protective of her mother, and together with Apollo, killed the children of Niobe just because she had boasted that she had given birth to more children than Leto.

Artemis is considered compassionate and kind, and yet was often ruthless and exacted revenge for seemingly small slights on her honor.

She had Aura raped by Dionysus for doubting Artemis’ virginity

She killed Chione for boasting that she was prettier than her

Some accounts say she killed Adonis for boasting that he was better at hunting than she was

Festival of Brauron for Artemis

Many events and festivals were held in Artemis’ honor, such as the Festival of Artemis in Brauron. For the festival, girls between five and ten years old would dress in gold and run around pretending to be bears.

It’s believed that this festival came about in response to the legend in which Artemis sent a tamed bear to her temple in Brauron. A girl antagonized the bear by poking it with a stick and it attacked her, prompting one of her brothers to kill it. This enraged Artemis and she retaliated by sending a plague to the town. After consulting with the Oracle, a person thought to have a link to the gods and the ability to foretell the future, they were told that no virgin should marry until she had served Artemis in her temple. Hence, the Festival of Artemis in Brauron was born.

Artemis In Modern Times

The Artemis Program is a project by NASA committed to landing American astronauts, including the first woman and next man, on the moon by 2024. It is named after Artemis in honor of her role in Greek mythology as the goddess of the moon.

Artemis continues to inspire writers, singers and poets. She continues to inspire pop culture. The Artemis archetype, a young withdrawn young girl, facing many challenges and bravely and fiercely rising to face them, is very popular today, giving rise to characters such as Katniss Everdeen of the Hunger Games, who also is seen with a bow and arrow as her symbols. She was also depicted as a character in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.

Artemis Goddess Facts

1- Who were Artemis’ parents?

Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto.

2- Did Artemis have any siblings?

As Zeus daughter, Artemis had many half-siblings, but she was closest to her twin brother Apollo, often serving as a guardian to him.

3- Did Artemis ever marry?

No, she remained a virgin for eternity.

4- What were Artemis’ powers?

She had impeccable aim with her bow and arrow, could turn herself and others into animals and was also able to  heal and control nature to some extent.

5- Did Artemis ever fall in love?

Despite drawing a lot of attention from other gods as well as mortal men, the only person believed to have truly won Artemis’ heart was her hunting companion Orion. Orion was unfortunately believed to be killed by either Artemis herself or Gaia (goddess of the earth).

6- Why did Artemis kill Adonis?

In a version of the story of Adonis, Adonis boasts that he is a better hunter than Artemis. In revenge, Artemis sends a wild boar (one of her prized animals) which kills him for his hubris.

7- Who created Artemis’ bow?

Artemis’ bow was believed to have been created in the forges of Hephaestus and the Cyclops. In later cultures, her bow became a symbol of the crescent moon.

8- Does Artemis have a temple?

Artemis’ temple at Ephesus in Ionia, Turkey, is known as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. There she is worshipped primarily as a mother goddess and it is one of the most well-known places of worship to Artemis.

9- How many hunting dogs did Artemis have?

Artemis was given seven female and six male hunting dogs by Pan the nature god. Two were said to have been black and white, three were red, and one with spots.

10- How did Artemis get around?

Artemis had a special chariot,  pulled by six golden-horned deer that she captured.

In Conclusion

Artemis continues to be one of the most popular of the pantheon of Greek gods. People continue to take inspiration from the legends of Artemis, intrigued by her contradictions, love of freedom, independence and power.

https://symbolsage.com/hunting-greek-goddess-artemis/

[legendofthematriarch]

The Matriarch (Ch. 1)

Then there was something. A blink of consciousness, into a green and blue void of space and time. She sees a branch, and then words form in her mind. Language and thought, downloaded directly into her very being at a rapid but somehow still manageable pace. The basics, of course. I’m born of Yggdrasil, she thought. A newborn child of mythology, her pages blank of all history. Ready to make her mark upon the multiverse and cosmos. There was still yet so much to be done, though.

She was a beautiful woman, of darkened and tanned skin. She was nude, as all newborns are. Her skin unscarred and unmarked by time or touch. She possessed gorgeous orange eyes, along with a smooth and youthful face. Her hair was of shoulder length, black as night. It would have been considered difficult to mark her out of a crowd if she wore standard clothing, beyond her otherworldly eyes that seemed to glow in dimmer light conditions. What conditions did she find herself in, but a void that she remained in for indeterminate time. Create, another word popped in her head. What to create, though? She supposed that she was to start with the basics. Hmmm, ground. Yes, that’ll do. It was not an instantaneous process, as dirt formed beneath her feet while she levitated several feet above. Grass came after, and she found feet touching and feeling earth for what she could only perceive as the first time. She found it to her liking. The blades tickled between her toes, which cracked a smile and a giggle. There’s a voice, she discovered! My my, that will be useful. She spoke aloud for the first time in her existence, “Uh, more?” 

She noticed her plot of land being smaller than a single acre. She expected a world, somehow. That thought formulated into an expansive field, the dirt forming into a flatland of comforting grass. She frowned, the aesthetics of which displeased her. She expected rolling hills, and then it became so. The land became pregnant, birthing further plantlife. The more she thought, the more that there was. Trees began to sprout from the branch of Yggdrasil, spawning a sparse forest that dotted the landscape, which by the hour was becoming more homely and livable. Hour by hour, more necessities were required. A house, some clothes. She thought nothing of her nudity, but if she were to have guests in the future she’d figure it may be polite to possess some form of robe. So it came to pass, a lovingly layered dress formed around her, the fabrics born of grass and reeds that had made their home around her. It was simple in form, but it’ll do for her purposes. Though, her purpose still eluded her. As information slowly crawled its way into her mind, she thought of childbirth and immediately painted her spawning as irregular. She was not born directly from the gods that call Yggdrasil their home, but the universe deemed her existence necessary. What is she, who is she. So many questions, and not a soul was around to answer them. She surmised that she too, was perhaps a god. A god of what, though? She still lacks a name, and a motivation that still eluded her. She’ll have to start with something of course, and the only thing that truly came to mind was… “Matriarch”. More of a title than a name but parents have done worse, and she has none to speak of. Still, the thought of motivation creeped into her mind, and she just wanted to learn. So much, as much as possible. Just as the thoughts came to be, a massive summit of a structure broke free from the void and into her grassland. The rumbling was intense, the ground shook beneath her and she popped into some levitation to counteract the sensation. The Matriarch had to investigate of course.

The building was fairly featureless in its own right. It lacked windows, and was more of a monolith than a building. It was longer than it was wide, but it had to have been a few dozen stories in height, and easily dominated much of the early flatlands she had created. Her brows furrowed at this, as it was quite the eyesore in comparison to the beauty of the land she originally created. She still lacked a house proper, and if she was as powerful in this realm as she thinks she is then there might be plenty of room for improvement. Still, the investigation had to continue. Hells, there’s not even a door. Then there was, as her thought willed it to be. She stepped inside and was overcome with senses. It was nothing like the land of nothing on the outside. It was… a library. Refurbished and practically used. It utilized darker browns and was lit very dimly, looking abandoned and apocalyptic. There was a draft coming from an unknown source, as stacks of scrolls and papers fluttered around the place without a care. Using her very limited detective skills, she surmised that it was indeed an abandoned library. She heard no sounds of any beast or persons, but the halls and shelves echoed the flying of papers and the shuffling of books as time and weight shifted their location. Of significant interest, she randomly picked one and skimmed the initial pages. First in a language she did not at all understand, the words shifted into understanding within a few moments. It was a collection of poetry, based around forlorn lost loved ones. The themes involved wartime, or hasted divorces due to family and circumstance. Cute, she thought, but her investigation was not over. She shut the book and flicked her fingers across several bindings, enjoying the sensation of the rough leathers they boasted. Plucking another book out merely a foot or so away, she discovered that the theme could not have been more different. It was a combat manual, with plenty of pictures and diagrams. It was a sort of martial art, originating in an earthen country. Her expression was neutral, but she nodded in approval as a realization hit her. 

“Gods and hells,” she thought, albeit aloud despite not a soul to be present to hear. “There’s no sorting here whatsoever, is there.” A smile cracked upon her face, which contorted into a deep grin. It’d take quite a bit of time to sort this mess, wouldn’t it? A type of glee washed over her. Sorting would require a great deal of reading. Her motivation was a bit blurred before, just an abstract thought. However it just became very clear and very real. The Matriarch exists to learn, and that’s exactly what she would go on to do.

To a mortal’s perception, hundreds of years would have gone by. Several, in fact. The sorting of her expanse of knowledge only took a couple of decades with some focused sorting, but Matriarch would have gone ahead and added another as her focus constantly drifted into reading the books in full. Her sorting was haphazard, being categorical rather than alphabetical. She eventually decided to sort them by some earthen centuries to help her follow a linear path of technological understanding. Effectively learning things ‘in order’. 

The Matriarch learned how humans evolved from primates, to walking and speaking. They discovered fire, language, and civilization. She learned of the weapons and war they created and used upon each other, as well as educated her on their love of music and art. She loved it all. As she drifted into the more modern times that included engineering and computers, she thought those would be incredibly useful tools in streamlining her process. 

So, she created her own estate with the full benefits of electricity. An octagonal tower with various wings dedicated to the expected purposes. An office, a kitchen, some guest bedrooms. Just in case. 

Her estate was extravagant and comfortable. She went with a theme of red and white appealed to her greatly, with the occasional black highlight. Even in terms of color theory, this was a popular choice in human culture and media. The colors just complimented each other well, the sharpness of red complimented the monochrome of the black and white, and it’s a theme she would use throughout her void-spawned estate. With the occasional practical choice of brown and other colors, as to make sure her interior did not look like a cartoon of some kind.

The guest bedrooms were more or less scaled down versions of her own main bedroom, which housed some of the obvious necessities. A desk, a computer, a bed. Singles for the guests, a double for herself as she liked to sprawl around and swim in the silks from time to time. Sleep seemed to have been unnecessary for her, but she still found it useful to decompress her mind after several dozen hours of straight reading.

Her office was outfitted with computers and a sort of emulated internet; in the sense that she was not directly connected to anything. Ultimately, her systems effectively “refreshed” every so often to give her access to more updated information. 

As alluded to, none of this happened over a small period of time. She’d dedicate chunks of time to singular tasks. Sorting the library took the bulk of her first few years of existence. Again, as sleep and sustenance was unnecessary, her own estate did not become important until she read about things that she simply wanted to possess. Once a manual of interior decorating was discovered, well… she just had to have it of course.

In a way, her own personal realm remained disconnected from all others. She yearned to explore, but there was still far too much to learn in order to be prepared to interact with others. A creeping, nagging feeling became incredibly irritating to deal with over a grand deal of time. She was lonely, as the more she learned of outside worlds the more she wanted to interact with them. There was of course, nothing blocking her from directly doing so. The massive branch of Yggdrasil that hung over the blue and green alien sky still invited her soul to find the nine realms and beyond, to possibly even meet her creators. She still felt too impotent to interact with her fellow gods. As they were thousands her senior, with the activity and experience to match such a boastful existence. All she had were books, and as some mortal scholars have said; “Experience is the best teacher of all”. She wasn’t even sure her own existence was known at all. Of all the centuries she spent fixing up her realm, not a single soul or deity found themselves to her. No answers, no family, not even a reverberation in the aether. It was an awful feeling, a quivering in her heart. She wanted so much, but saw so little of herself.

[lyrical--creature-blog]

“Half Spirits”

In another installation in what seems to be slowly becoming a series of “fictional terms with potential real life applicability”, I want to discuss another concept with the potential to describe real world phenomenon. Some of this, to be clear, will be UPG. Japanese culture is heavily steeped in its belief and involvement with spirits (more often than not referred to as yokai). A concept rooted in both folklore and pop culture media is the idea of a “half spirit” or “hanyo” (also spelled “hanyou”) - that is, an individual born of the union between a spirit/yokai, and a human, or alternatively, a human tampered with by “unnatural means” to become a half-spirit. With that being said, there are at least two major distinct differences between the half-spirits of Japanese folklore, and those of Japanese pop culture. In folklore, there are many common tales involving children born of the union between a yokai (often, if not always, a woman), and a (often, if not always, male) human. In these stories, their children are indistinguishable from other humans. They possess no abnormal physical or spiritual traits, with only one, arguably two exceptions. Contrary to this, in Japanese pop culture, hanyo children will often display mixed human/spirit traits and characteristics, and possess some degree of spiritual power. Examples would be shows such as Inuyasha, InuxBoku, Otome Youkai Zakuro, etc. The second distinction is that the term “Hanyo” is actually a modern invention, attributed to mangaka Takahashi Rumiko, who coined the neologism by combining the kanji for Han (half) and the kanji for Yo (apparition). Thusly, hanyo is not actually a historically rooted term.  In the real world, the folklore version is the most probable, obviously, however I’d consider it likely that it be more a combination of the two (within reason). As it’s believed in some circles that those with unusual features (pointy ears, green eyes, etc) may have something like fairy blood in them, it could be posed that the same could be said of hanyo. Additionally, just as I mentioned in my last post about Slay Vegas, it would be fair to assume that a half spirit would possess some character traits or abilities above that of a “normal human”. Within practicality however, these would likely be limited to things like Fairy Sight, healing, and so on, and so forth. Some may argue that a concept based in Japanese folklore has no business being exported outside of Japan. I would disagree, at least in this particular instance, as there are many similarities between mythologies from around the world, and the concept of humans and ethereal beings marrying and procreating is certainly not something limited to Japan. It is, however, the only culture that has created a specific term for their offspring, as far as I can tell. And considering the term hanyo is a word rooted in pop culture and thus not historically sacrosanct, I believe it can safely be transferred from fiction to the real world.  Now, I want to expound a bit further on this concept, but please note everything beyond this point is UPG. One thing worth considering is how, or even more importantly, why, would half-spirits be made. I have a number of theories. As for the how: -As suggested through folklore, a spirit and a human would, for whatever reason, procreate, just as a normal human pairing would (this could be a one time interaction, or multiple times as a bonded couple. It could be with the sole desire to simply have a family together, or with purposes more abstract than that (see the “why” section below). It could be a male spirit and female human, or vice versa. (I don’t hold strictly to the idea of the “magical wife” being the only format for hanyo to be born. I think this is simply a trend influenced by male authors coveting “special” brides, and not indicative of female spirits being more likely to seek out human companionship than male spirits.) -An otherwise normal human pregnancy could be altered, cursed, or blessed, depending on the reason and the spirit involved, to turn the gestating child into a half-spirit. This could likely be done without the knowledge of the biological parents.  -During conception, a spirit could possess the body of one of the biological parents in order to conceive a half spirit child.  Why: -A spirit, as stated above, may fall in love with a human and wish to build a family with them, same as any human couple might. -A spirit may be nearing the end of its life and wish to leave behind an heir (potentially less likely, as I don’t think spirits possess the same kind of ego as humans do in this regard) -A spirit may wish to procreate but cannot find a spiritual mate, so they take a human one.  -A human may have won the favor of a spirit, knowingly or unknowingly, or a spirit may have found itself indebted to a human, and thus blesses their future child (or children) as a token of their gratitude or payment of debt, turning it into a half spirit, blessed with unique abilities or traits. This could extend even to a spirit taking pity on a human, and giving them a blessing as an act of kindness. -On the opposite end of the spectrum, a human may have angered, cheated, or wronged a spirit, and the spirit would curse their offspring in revenge, or as payment for their debts. This kind of half spirit child would likely be erratic and troublesome, and bring misery to their household, or be sickly and weak and sapped of its normal vitality.  -A spirit could make half-spirit children for its own purposes. Perhaps a guardian of the forest would create half spirit children to increase the number of people willing to protect nature. Perhaps a spirit with a hatred for humans would create half spirits to weaken human bloodlines. Perhaps a large number of half-spirits being born in one area would increase that spirit’s power and influence within the local spiritual hierarchy. The reasons could be many, possibly innumerable.  In my opinion and experience, spirits are extremely varied. Their reasons and motivations would be as countless as they themselves are. The half-spirits they create, likewise, would also be varied. Some would be for good, some for ill, some benign. There may be tell-tale evidence, or only subtle symptoms.  Some possible signs include: -Being born of a one night stand, or a short term relationship which concluded shortly after your conception or birth. Little is known about who your other biological parent is or was. -Having been marked from an early age by adults in your life as being different, abnormal, unique, “something special”, a “round peg the world tries to fit into a square hole”, or otherwise set apart from other people. -Being abnormally talented or skilled, especially in areas pertaining to the supernatural, such as magic, healing, insight, foresight, empathy, etc. -Having been predicted by doctors to be sickly or unwell, but being born healthy. (Or vice versa).  -Being a Slay Vega -Being a rainbow baby (a child born after a miscarriage or child death, especially if there were multiple) -You were born with features considerably or completely different than what you ended up with after a few weeks or months time. (E.g. being born with black hair but ending up with blonde hair). -Your birth marked the end of some kind of turbulence in your family (or alternatively, marked the beginning of it) -One of your parents passed away or disappeared shortly after your birth -Feeling inherently drawn to nature, craving its presence, feeling allied with it.  -Feeling inhuman or set apart from humans. -One of your parents is notably different from most people. They are more beautiful, kind, they draw the love of others, people inherently trust them, they have a healing touch, etc. -Having a history of magic practitioners in your family, or at least one parent involved in magical practices.  Again, these are only a few possible symptoms. Once more, if you resonate with the above concept or information, I would encourage you to feel free to use the term hanyo to establish community with other likeminded individuals. However, because the term hanyo is used in reference to several fictional characters, I propose the tags “ #Hanyokai ” and “ #Hanyo Com “ for those who wish to find others like them. 

[socratitillated]

Myth vs. Legend

That’s a misleading title, I know. I’m starting to get into King Arthur, both from historical and literature perspectives, and it’s brought back some old thoughts and feelings on Greek “mythology” as a whole. It’s something that’s been debated in basically every scholarly community, but I’ve recently been turning it over in my head and I want to get my thoughts down on “paper.”

These thoughts basically cumulate to a single question: how do you discuss a topic that spans over hundreds of years and forms of communication?

Greek mythology isn’t simple. It’s an oral tradition that was periodically written down over the centuries. These texts were influenced by the author and time period of their composition. This becomes quite clear when these different branches and texts don’t completely line up in chronology (ex. Achilles’s son’s age during the Trojan War).

The issue deepens when we view works, like those by Euripides, written well after the Iliad or other earlier texts. Euripides’ tragedies don’t exist in a vacuum to their contemporary political and social issues. For example, Oedipus Rex premiered during the Peloponnesian War, which basically changed the course of ancient Greek history.

My point with the above paragraph is that these fundamentals of Greek mythology all draw from a common shared oral history, but are written by several people, sometimes hundreds of years apart.

Of course, we don’t only get information on ancient Greek religion from epics, tragedies, and other published sorts of Greek literature. We have plenty of archaeological evidence. I haven’t done the research recently to discuss the whole of Greek society in-depth. Especially since the “ancient Greeks” weren’t a monolith of a single culture. Just look at the similarities and differences between the Spartans and Athenians. Or, just look at Athenian history. It’s a wild ride.

The issue is that pop culture discusses “Greek mythology” as if every single Greek believed the same thing. Or, as if ancient Greek literature is like a bible of ancient Greek religion. For me, the interesting part of Greek “mythology” is how ancient Greek norms, religion, history, and culture all interact in these texts. And what’s most interesting is that we’ll probably never be able to fall on an absolutely “correct” answer to any question we can raise. 

Societies aren’t made up of a single type of person. Athens in the mid-5th century wasn’t made up of 100,000 clones or Euripides. It’s much easier to view Greek mythology as a single, solid biblical text where the characters all act consistently and where all ancient Greeks believed in the same exact things. 

I remember when we read the Iliad in high school and discussed it completely divorced from its cultural context. That’s fine, ancient works can be enjoyed as they are. The Iliad is valuable for more than just it’s time-period of composition. I’m just personally interested in the context and I wish that our curriculum had delved into it.

I’m sorry for this extremely pretentious post. You don’t need to have years of Classics education to enjoy these stories or learn about ancient Greek beliefs. But I personally think that the historical and culture complexity is half the fun. It wouldn’t be as interesting if it was easy.

Oh yeah, I just remembered why I titled this “Myth vs. Legend.” At what point is something a mythology? At what point is something a legend? At what point is something just a really fun story?

I know I can google this right now and get 500,000,000 answers. But, you know, it’s just fun to think about it. And it’s easier.

I’ve been learning about the roots of the King Arthur “legend” and it’s quite clear that there is a fundamental connection to Welsh mythology (unfortunately, I don’t know enough about this topic to actually discuss it. Hence, the research). Furthermore, several early medieval monks write about an Arthur or the King Arthur as if he was a real person. 

It’s much more complicated than I expected and I’m wondering why this came as a surprise. It really shouldn’t have. I know I thought about this before, especially when I read the Mists of Avalon and tried to look up some Arthurian legends. I never really did much research on it, so my brain must have reverted to the typical Arthurian Romance archetypes. 

King Arthur is so intrinsic to modern Western society, yet it took me years to really even learn about these aspects of his character. I guess I wrote this post so I can keep these points in my head as I read and learn more about these topics. 

Just view this as a think-piece by someone who hasn’t really thought enough to post about it. If you got this far, I applaud you. If I got things completely wrong, then I’d love to be corrected so I don’t go repeating this nonsense again. 

[theswiftreview]

Snake charmers: Medusa, Taylor Swift, and the prevalence of the serpentine woman

With the end of the Rep era upon us I figured I’d make my flagship post an essay I wrote about Taylor, Medusa, and the power of the snake woman.

Where were you when Kim Kardashian called Taylor Swift a snake?

In case you were living under a particularly large, particularly remote rock during this seminal moment in pop culture lore, here’s a refresher:

It’s July 2016 and Taylor Swift is fighting a war on two fronts. Her Instagram comments are flooded with snake emojis after a public breakup and copyright battle with Scottish DJ and producer Calvin Harris. Harris publicly accuses Swift of “trying to bury” him by revealing herself to be a co-writer on Harris’s hit “This Is What You Came For”. Meanwhile, in another corner of Twitter, Swift is fighting a second battle over Kanye West’s song “Famous”, where he claims “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / I made that bitch famous”. Swift maintains that, though West contacted her before the song was release, he never disclosed the full lyrics, namely the “bitch” line. West’s wife, Kim Kardashian West, gets involved and on July 17, National Snake Day, she administers a final blow in the form of a tweet: “Wait it's legit National Snake Day?!?!?They have holidays for everybody, I mean everything these days!” Kardashian West ended her tweet with a slew of snake emojis. Immediately concerned citizens began leaving thousands of snake emojis in Swift’s Instagram comments and, though Swift employed a St. Patrick-esque filter to drive the snakes out of her social media comments, the damage was done; the name Taylor Swift had become synonymous with “snake”.

Kardashian West’s tweet is probably the closest the 21st century will ever get to experiencing the Shot Heard Round the World. The tweet didn’t even mention Swift but it tapped into a collective understanding that Taylor Swift was a snake.

Snake imagery and folklore has existed in Western tradition in some form or another for millenia, though the meaning is as slimy and elusive as the real-life reptile. Each culture seems to have its own take on what serpents represent, whether they’re virtuous or evil, poisonous or benign.

But what does it really mean to be a snake?

Swift has reclaimed the snake motif and incorporated it into promotional material for her 2017 album reputation. Fans can buy snake rings from her website. They can wear snake t-shirts and buy concert date posters of snakes slithering through the skylines of America’s largest cities. During her reputation Stadium Tour shows, snake imagery was everywhere, from the snakeskin detail on her costumes to the giant inflatable cobras that appear periodically during her performance.

Swift has leaned into her public image as a snake woman, though she is hardly walking on new ground. Swift’s branding as a snake woman, as well as the circumstances surrounding that branding beg a comparison to the mother of all snake women, Medusa.

Even before Snakegate, Swift’s ~reputation~ was veering in a Medusa-like direction. Over the years, Swift’s tendency to write—sometimes critical—songs about her famous exes has made her a target of constant criticism. Her albums have been portrayed in much the same way Perseus describes the walk up to Medusa’s abode: eerily populated by a group of unsuspecting men frozen for all to see in the very moment they had the misfortune of coming into contact with her.

The tale of Medusa is famously recounted in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, though, of course different versions exist. In Ovid’s telling, Medusa is one of three sisters and the only mortal among them. Medusa’s beauty—bolstered by mythically great hair—catches Neptune’s attention and he rapes her in Minerva’s temple. This angers Minerva, who takes revenge upon Medusa. Medusa’s beautiful hair is “woven through with snakes”. She lives in solitude, accompanied only by her snakes and statues until the day Perseus arrives and decapitates her in her sleep. For modern readers, the myth’s blatant victim-blaming is hard to ignore, especially now in the midst of the #MeToo movement.

Medusa is the western canon’s premiere snake woman, but her relationship with the scaly creatures is intriguingly complicated. Medusa is dangerous, yes, but it is not her scalpful of snakes that makes her so. Medusa’s true weapon is her stare, which turns men into solid stone. The snakes, therefore, do not represent danger or violence or even death. Instead, they represent a loss of status and a lapse in justice.

Indeed, Swift’s reputation is built with these same materials. “My castle crumbled overnight...they took the crown but it’s alright,” she sings in “Call It What You Want”, acknowledging the massive hit her popularity took in 2016. Earlier in the album, on “I Did Something Bad”, Swift laments the unfairness of the public trial that played out on the internet, “They’re burning all the witches even if you aren’t one.” The bridge of reputation’s lead single “Look What You Made Me Do” blatantly showcases Swift’s estrangement from the world: “I don’t trust nobody and nobody trusts me”.

With reputation Swift gives us something completely missing from Metamorphoses: the snake woman’s perspective. Notably in Metamorphoses, Medusa’s origin story is told from the perspective of her murderer for the entertainment of others. Medusa’s rape is merely a plot point designed to bolster Perseus’s heroic narrative. Medusa is never allowed the opportunity to speak for herself or take control of her own narrative. On reputation, however, Swift turns the tables on the one-sided snake woman narrative and allows for a more fair interpretation.

Recently, there has been a feminist push to reevaluate the stories and circumstances of the women who populate Greek myth. This charge has been led by Madeline Miller, author of Circe, and Emily Wilson, the first female translator of The Odyssey. Miller and Wilson have repeatedly analyzed the role of translatorial and reader bias in our understanding of mythological women like Medusa.

Since most 21st century readers can’t read Homer in the original Ancient Greek, they lack the tools to critically assess semantic choices influenced by the translator’s own cultural moment and personal biases. These scruples may seem small, but they quickly add up. And, as Swift has reiterated, a bad reputation is hard to shake.

In her detailed translator’s note, Wilson gestures many different places in her translation where she has attempted to correct established misogynist language that has been present in translations of Homer’s poetry for centuries. “I try avoiding importing contemporary types of sexism into this ancient poem, instead shining a clear light on the particular forms of sexism and patriarchy that do exists in the text,” Wilson writes.

In her note and in public appearances, Wilson has particularly mentioned her handling of the scene where Telemachus, Odysseus’s son, executes women accused of sleeping with Penelope’s suitors. Previous translations have described them as maids or servants but Wilson chose to translate the term as “slave” in order to reiterate the lack of agency and freedom the women had.

In a way, reputation is doing the same work. Like Miller and Wilson, Swift is reevaluating an established understanding of an ancient myth, in this case Medusa, and presenting it from an entirely new perspective.

reputation shows that Miller and Wilson’s efforts to cast a critical eye upon the ingrained misogyny we’ve taken for granted in ancient texts are able to expand outside the realm of classical studies. We can apply this same framework to contemporary pop cultural narratives with the same result.

Though the parallels between the Medusa myth and reputation are most likely coincidental, they should prompt us all to ask, “Why?” Why is it so damaging to be labeled a snake woman? Why is that a symbol that must be reclaimed? Why have we allowed this to go on for so long?

Works Cited

Homer. The Odyssey. Edited by Emily R. Wilson, W.W. Norton Et Company, Inc., 2018.

Ovid. Metamorphoses. Edited by Charles Martin, W.W. Norton & Co., 2005.

Swift, Taylor. Reputation, Taylor Swift. 2017.