#davidic dynasty

[hyperpotamianarch]

So, Jewish Fantasy! A very nebulous idea that tries to catch form in many different ways. I don't know much about how it works outside of Israel - I saved the recommendation list that circulated around here but didn't try anything from it yet (outside of Spinning Silver, which I read before I ever saw the list). So, if anything of what I say seems ludicrous to you because you've seen a book that does it well - don't hesitate to recommend it to me! Though I'm not sure how applicable it will be for what I'm about to say.

There are a couple of angles from which one can try to get at Jewish Fantasy: through using Jewish folklore and myth as a basis for your story, through using Jewish characters or by writing out of a Jewish cultural context. In certain stories, different angles tend to be more pronounced - Charashta is based on Midrashim and Jewish folklore, Spinning Silver has Jewish characters, and Agam HaTzlalim is written out of some degree of Jewish culture. Yeah, two of those are Israeli books that weren't translated, feel free to give alternative examples but those are the only one I can safely talk about since I've actually read them.

I could elaborate more on that, but what actually made me want to write a post on the topic was a post about how so much of Fantasy is Greek (in a way) and Sci-Fi is Roman. And that made me think, what about Jewish Fantasy? And while this is a topic I've thought of and been somewhat involved in conversations on for some time now, this is looking at it from a particular angle. An angle which could be examplified by the simple question: why is there no Jewish Disney Princess?

All right, all right, settle down. I know about the Vanollope von Schweetz thing. Quite frankly, considering the source for it is the word of the actress and that it has no effect on the story whatsoever, I think I'm fine with ignoring it. Feel free to shout at me in the comments, hopefully the rest of the post will explain this better.

You see, the problem is that Disney Princesses mostly come from stories about Medieval Europe, and in that particular time and place "Jewish" and "royalty" were inherently contradictory. A Jewish girl couldn't have been a princess, because Jewish communities were never a part of the ruling class. At least not in medieval Europe.

Now the reason what I'm saying is rubbish is because of other contradictory examples, like Mulan or Tiana, and maybe Pocahontas or Esmeralda. And based off of those examples I could probably whip up a couple of ideas on how to do an interesting Jewish Princess story - base it on the Book of Judith, for example, or offer a Jewish twist on some European folktales (which might be hard considering some of them actually have straight up Jewish characters playing as the villains), or... have a movie about Jews assimilating into European culture... Yeah, I can see why Pocahontas or the Hunchback of Notre-Dame might feel a little uncomfortable. But the point is: Fantasy is based on Medieval times, and Jews' role during that time wasn't one of royalty.

You can't really write a medieval Jewish kingdom, because there wasn't really any. And yes, many people try using the Khazarians for that. However, their kingdom was only Jewish for a century, maybe, before it was completely destroyed. Plus, we barely have any data on what it looked like, and its culture was likely very different from Jewish culture. So the medieval presentation of Jews would have to be of a persecuted minority. That, essentially, is what we see in Spinning Silver: a Jewish family in medieval times, a member of which serves as our protagonist. And Maryem is pretty much constantly angry about the antisemitism flourishing all around her. So I suppose that could be an example to follow - along with the stories about Maharal of Prague and the Golem, fighting blood libels.

So, you can portray Jews as an oppressed minority, constantly fighting their persecution. An alternative could probably be following the example of Ḥassidic stories, talking about the Rebbe, the Renter, the Trader and the Widow (regular character archetypes in such tales). You could have the antagonist be the local Pariz, nobleman, or perhaps the gentile that decided to be a robber, or occasionally a fellow Jew who out-leassed your protagonist from their home. All regular tropes in the day-to-day life of an... (checks notes) early modern Eastern Europen Jew? Huh. I suppose it's not exactly the same period.

Either way, if you want your story to be more fuly Jewish, to not always play against the backdrop of a non-Jewish kingdom, you have some interesting options. The first question would be: are you taking from the past or the present? If you choose present, well, you can choose between Diasporan or Israeli culture. In addition, this will more or less constrain you to some type of Urban Fantasy or other Hidden World stories, with not much of an option to delve into Epic Fantasy. If that's what you want to do - great! Go ahead and do that. Personally, I have some degree of a problem with how I've seen Israeli culture portrayed in stories so far, but that's a story unto itself.

If you choose past... well... Jewish history is nothing if not long. And if we're really trying to make a more Jewish backdrop, we'll probably need to pull from Jewish independant states or kingdoms. Of which there are a couple that can be used - Ancient Israel throughout the time of the Tanach, from the Judges through the first kings and the divided kingdoms of Judea and Israel; Yehud Medinta, which while it existed under the Persians had a Jewish governor for certain periods; the Hasmonean Dynasty, with all its ups and downs; the Kingdom of Adiabene, which converted to Judaism for a time; some short-lived Jewish independant states in defiance of the Romans; and of course, the infamous Kingdom of Khazar. There are also legendary kingdoms of the lost 10 tribes, which could possibly work as interesting additions. It is also important to note that in the Tanachic period I included a pretty vast array of periods, including the Judges (periodical local saviors and heroes), the House of Sha'ul (which isn't too easy to characterize), the Davidic Dynasty (Temple! Prophets! A bloodline promised to last! Evrything you might want from a kingdom), and the Kingdom of Israel (a couple of dynasties have their own characteristics, but most didn't survive for long).

Maybe I'll try my hand in suggesting what a kingdom based on the Hasmonean Dynasty could look like later. For now, let us start with: there is no medieval Jewish kingdom, so we'll take one from the Hellenistic period or from the Bronze Age to cover it up! Either that, or we'll try figuring out the structure of the early medieval kingdom that converted to Judaism that one time.

I'm not sure how much of a point I made, really. Thank you for reading, and have a good day!

[suthnmeh]

I'm kinda late to the party, but life is cray! So here's my latest contribution to the Good Omens universe agsfaagds.

I really wanted to see our demon and angel in more alternate historical settings and chose the Tang Dynasty, with some help from my friend. I wasn't going for something entirely historical looking, but inspired. So I studied the style of a bunch of drawings and paintings of the era, as well a whole lot of traditional clothing.

And DON'T even get me started on those hanzi. To any Chinese reading this, I'm sorry, I did the best I could XD And hey, if anyone would like to offer to rewrite the poem PROPERLY, that would be amaziiiiing! (It hopefully says "To the world" and that red thing would be the artist seal with my name.)

[dreamconsumer]

Emperor David of Trebizond (1408-1463) and some of his sons (including Basil and Manuel).

David's surrender on 15 August 1461 marks the end of the Empire of Trebizond and of the Byzantine imperial tradition.

[joearlikelikeswrestling]

[starrycourtss]

👀👀

JAY WHITE MENTIONED??? (someone help, I swear I'm going delusional)

[denimbex1986]

'Try and explain the motivations or internal psychology of recent Marvel Cinematic Universe villains. If one engages in this exercise, one will be quickly disappointed to see that many of these foes have no real relevance to the world audiences inhabit. Dar-Benn from The Marvels, for instance, was justifiably mad about what happened to her planet and her response to that trauma was to suck up the sun(?). Kang in Quantumania was so vaguely defined that it was impossible to get a read on the character. Kro in Eternals, meanwhile, was such a throwaway baddie that even MCU diehards likely forgot he existed! Compare such subpar adversaries to Kevin "Kilgrave" Thompson (David Tennant), the villain of the first season of Jessica Jones.

A man with the ability to control minds, Thompson kept detective Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter) under his control for months on end. As a result of this experience, Jones struggles with PTSD and has withdrawn herself from the world. Throughout the first season of Jessica Jones, Kilgrave proves a terrifying foe and one who, despite carrying such heightened superpowers, perfectly embodies several terrifying elements of reality, such as male privilege. Kilgrave’s inability to see other people as human or even consider the humanity of those he controls is a stylized depiction of how often men in Western societies similarly refuse to gaze into the point-of-views of marginalized genders. His superpowers may have been rooted in comic books, but Kilgrave was decidedly a villain ripped from the real world. This is just one of many fascinating attributes of the character that make Kilgrave somebody who needs to return to the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe pronto.

Kilgrave Deserves to Be One of the Netflix Elements Brought to the Marvel Disney+ Shows

As Marvel Studios fleshes out its multimedia plans for the rest of the 2020s, it’s clear many elements of the Marvel/Netflix shows from 2015-2019 will be incorporated into the broader universe. When programs like Daredevil and Luke Cage were running, there was a bit of a divide between these shows and the larger movies. Characters on these Netflix entities would occasionally reference Captain America or Iron Man, but the first three phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies never acknowledged these characters in return. Starting with Hawkeye and Spider-Man: No Way Home, though, certain actors and figures from the Netflix shows have been carried over into the bigger Marvel Cinematic Universe projects. It’s still unclear (though presumably unlikely) if the narratives of the Marvel/Netflix shows are still canon, but folks like Charlie Cox’s Daredevil are now fixtures of modern MCU media.

While that doesn’t mean Avengers: The Kang Dynasty will be focusing exclusively on Danny Rand/Iron Fist (Finn Jones) and Willis Stryker/Diamondback (Erik LaRay Harvey), it does mean a bevy of Marvel/Netflix characters are now at the disposal of future Marvel Studios programs. Kilgrave would be a fantastic character to incorporate into these forthcoming projects, especially since his presence as a more grounded figure would fit in with some of Marvel’s upcoming TV ambitions. Projects like Echo and Daredevil: Born Again are being marketed as adult-skewing programs that aren’t afraid to engage in thornier, more challenging material. Kilgrave, a man who commits murder and rape rather than pursue nebulously defined cosmic MacGuffin’s, would be a perfect villain to fit into this narrative landscape.

Plus, Kilgrave isn’t somebody who’s been seen in tons of other media beyond the comics. While he's shown up in a pair of video games and occasionally appeared in animated TV shows like The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Kilgrave has largely been restricted to the comics and his appearances across the three seasons of Jessica Jones. This isn’t a character like The Joker that’s been done to death in pop culture, there’s lots of new territory one could explore when it comes to Kilgrave. This could even include giving him his purple skin from the comics, a trait Jessica Jones hinted at with his default purple suits, but never went all-in on. That visual detail encapsulates how much there is still to do with Kilgrave.

It doesn’t hurt that Kilgrave is played by a beloved actor like David Tennant, whose fanbase only seems to grow as the years progress with his roles in post-Jessica Jones programs like Good Omens. Tennant is always a welcome presence in any capacity and getting him back for further MCU projects as one of his most famous and chilling characters would be an exciting development. It’s not like Tennant was a “nobody” before Jessica Jones (he had Broadchurch and Doctor Who, after all!) but he’s only become even more prominent since that Netflix show wrapped up its run. That uptick in notoriety has included a string of notable voice-over roles in Disney projects like Ducktales and Ahsoka, a sign that the parent company of Marvel Studios is keen on a good relationship with this performer. These qualities tied into the esteemed career of David Tennant would surely be another incentive to get Kilgrave back into the MCU picture.

David Tennant's Kilgrave Would Give the MCU a Tangibly Terrifying Villain Again

The most important facet of bringing Kilgrave into the MCU, though, would be finally bringing back tangibly terrifying villains back into this sprawling saga. Recent MCU titles haven’t been entirely devoid of solid baddies (The High Evolutionary in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was an enjoyably over-the-top creation) but too many modern foes in this franchise leave something to be desired. Dar-Benn, Kang, Gorr the God Butcher, Kro; they’re all too removed from anything resembling discernible reality. While Thanos proved truly haunting because he was a big purple alien who acted like a weary human being, few recent cosmic MCU baddies have registered as remotely in touch with the real world.

Kilgrave would solve that problem and then some. This figure was truly terrifying in his nonchalant evil, while his ability to manipulate the minds of seemingly anyone Jessica Jones encountered provided a vivid visual metaphor for how omnipresent toxic men are in American society. They’re everywhere, even when they’re not physically in the room! Embracing such a terrifying baddie rooted in heavy real-world material (like the sexual trauma he inflicted on Jessica Jones) didn’t weigh down Jessica Jones as a show but rather gave it extra gravitas. That’s not the kind of praise one could offer recent MCU baddies obsessed with convoluted cosmic justice. David Tennant is always a welcome sight in any piece of pop culture, but him returning as Kilgrave would be especially helpful for the broader Marvel Cinematic Universe.'

[georgefairbrother]

One of the more interesting casting choices for Henry VIII (aside from Sid James), would have to be Ray Winstone for a 2003 Granada/WGBH mini-series. Winstone made the conscious decision to speak in his natural voice, and played Henry as a boisterous East-London crime-boss with a hint of fading mid-70s Elvis charisma.

He had some very strong support in terms of additional casting; Helena Bonham Carter as Anne Boleyn, David Suchet as Cardinal Wolsey, Mark Strong as the Duke of Norfolk, Assumpta Serna (Sharpe) as Katherine of Aragon, Emilia Fox as Jane Seymour, Emily Blunt as Catherine Howard, and Sean Bean as Robert Aske.

There were a few classic quotes and moments; Norfolk is not confident in portrait artist Hans Holbein’s ability to capture Anne of Cleves ('You know these artistic types, unreliable!'). During negotiations following the Pilgrimage of Grace, King Henry calls Robert Aske 'a cheeky sod', and when Thomas Cromwell (Danny Webb) turns up for his execution, the young, nervous axeman assures Cromwell that he had been practicing all night, then buries the axe twice in Cromwell’s back (complete with sound effects and audience reaction) before finally managing slice off his head, to a big cheer from the crowd.

It was originally to be written by Alan Bleasdale (Boys from the Blackstuff) but it appears that creative differences with the producers and early funding uncertainties led to him being replaced by Peter Morgan.

The series won an International Emmy for most outstanding television movie or mini-series.

[dirafames]

woman's version of the roman empire

[wonder-worker]

A.J Pollard’s biography on Edward IV was so cringe lol (generic; minor but frustrating inaccuracies; intensely judgmental at times and oddly dismissive at others while never considering the broader context; entirely diminished and trivialized Elizabeth Woodville as both queen and wife of his main subject in the name of "defending" her; created a false dichotomy between Edward and Henry VII’s styles of ruling and lauded the latter at the former’s expense even though Henry literally followed Edward’s example for the very things Pollard was criticizing Edward for; had a downright nonsensical and thoroughly misleading conclusion about Edward’s legacy & Richard’s usurpation that was based entirely on hindsight, Pollard's own assumptions, and the complete downplaying Richard’s agency and actions to emphasize what Pollard wrongly and misleadingly claimed were Edward's so-called 'failings', etc, etc)

I wanted to buy his book on Henry V but after reading this shitshow and the synopsis of that book, im guessing it's going to be 10x worse, so...no thanks

[hyperpotamianarch]

So, for the time being, I pretty much dominate the #alternate jewish history tag. By which I mean, all posts under this tag are ones I either wrote or reblogged. This is, of course, meaningless. Even so, I intend to take care of this little corner of my supposed kingdom, though invaders are fully invited. Please, it would be my pleasure if you add to this tag.

Either way, this tag currently has three AUs. As the purported owner of this tag, I intend to list them - while tagging the original creator when necessary.

The first AU is going to be the one I conceived of, naturally, since there can be no ownership disputations of it: the Jewsade.

The Jewsade is an AU based on the historical divergence of His Dark Materials. However, it's an AU worth exploring for its own merit IMO. Its divergence point is around the 1520s, with the Jewish false Messiah David Reubeni and Shəlomoh Molcho. In our world those two ended up eventually killed by the Spanish Inquisition; in the world of the Jewsade, they succeeded in getting the artillery David was trying to obtain and used it to conquer Eretz Yisra'el from the Ottomans. What happened with it later? Currently it's a riddle I can't answer, possibilities range from a disaster by the hands of the Ottoman Empire or Portugal to the continued existence of a Jewish kingdom in the Middle East, barely holding its own against both Christians and Muslims who want to take the Holy Land to themselves. Exploration of it is still at work, and I'm considering presenting it in random documents of various sorts from the period. It doesn't currently have a clear masterpost, I might work on that in the future.

The second AU I've put under this tag belongs to @aviad1b. This is the Hasmonean independence AU. It's not too well-built as of yet (and might also be related to the next AU, we'll see), but the basics are: the Hasmoneans don't give up their independence to the Romans and remain a kingdom for longer. This is a bit of a hard feat, because the Hasmoneans were sort of allies to the Romans even prior to that and the civil war is what caused them to turn to a passing Roman general to solve the dispute. After you avoid that... well, the Hasmonean dynasty still needs to keep its independence between the ever-greedy Rome and the rising Perthian empire, which is not going to be easy by any means. Even if they manage surviving one civil war... well, there will be others. However, it might be interesting to picture them somehow still prevailing, despite all the odds.

The third and more recent addition comes from @magnetothemagnificent's idea of a world where the 2nd Temple was never destroyed, the 2nd Temple Still Standing AU as I chose to call it, if you have different suggestions I'm open to hear them. A lot of the discussion on it includes the note of how much we don't know what the world will look like. Christianity might not exist, or be way smaller. The Jewish Diaspora would be way smaller adn would be mostly merchants. New technologies would be applied to old traditions and sometimes adjusted to them - the beacons to indicate the start of the month will stay, but their role would be fulfilled more with modern communication technology; flights to Eretz Yisra'el will commonly have space for cattle for the Korbanot; Cohanim would dominate the field of dermatology in order to be experts on Tzara`at, some working in construction (and some with textiles?) for the other types of it as well; religious institutions will be vastly different, with structures from 2 milennia ago surviving to the Modern Day in some form; Levyim maybe being dominant in fields of music and poetry; maybe melodies used for written texts in the place of punctuation; no written Mishnah or Talmud, things are mostly kept oral; and a lot more stuff.

There's the question, with that latter AU, of how that might happen. No rebellion against the Romans might be a possibility, though a bit hard to pull up. The Hasmonean Dynasty retaining independence can help, hence the reference I've made earlier. The Great Rebellion could also (maybe) fail before it escalated to the level of besiegeing Jerusalem. I really don't know. And unless you go by the "History is a rubber band" theory of time travel, there really isn't any way to know. So I suppose we should all just think about it a little more, and making stuff up can work, as long as you keep an eye on historical events.

Now, you might accuse me of certain hautiness in writing this. Please don't. Believe me when I say, I'm just enthusiastic about alternative Jewish histories, and would like to popularize the use of that tag. I would really like seeing farther AUs based on Jewish history - I had the pleasure to encounter a couple on Facebook, following a workshop on writing alternate Hannukahs in a meet-up organized by a group of interest on Jewish Fantasy in Israel. But there can be many more, and while I would love to contribute where I can and where my help is wanted, I prefer not to start any more than the one I'm already working on. So thank you to all the participants.

Note: the reblog chain for the Hasmonean Independence AU I shared here is only an exchange between me and Aviad. However, the 2nd Temple Still Standing thread includes (beside my and Magnetothemagnificent's posts) contributions from @alyssumlovesthecosmere and @fromchaostocosmos, hope you don't mind I'm tagging you as well.

[theundergrounddog]

The screens only show BOSS DAWG once so tonight I made sure to catch it.

[elitehoe]

OH IM BARKING BROTHER

[deadpresidents]

Read any good books since your last update about your recent reading?

Yes, although I forget when I last shared the books I've been reading, so hopefully I don't repeat anything.

I know that I've repeated this book because I've mentioned it several times over the past couple of weeks, but I can't help but remind everyone again about Steve Coll's excellent new book, The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A., and the Origins of America's Invasion of Iraq (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO). It's definitely the best book I've read so far this year, and it's one of the better books I've read in the past 10 years.

Other recent books that I've read and would recommend checking out:

•Radiant: The Life and Line of Keith Haring (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) by Brad Gooch

•The Far Land: 200 Years of Murder, Mania, and Mutiny in the South Pacific (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) by Brandon Presser

•UFO: The Inside Story of the U.S. Government's Search for Alien Life Here -- and Out There (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) by Garrett M. Graff Garrett Graff has quickly become one of those authors who I go out of my way to immediately pick up his latest books because he's so well-connected and I ALWAYS learn fascinating things from his books. I don't know if there's a writer/journalist today who has better access to the American defense establishment or proven to be more capable of shining a light on many of the most secretive aspects of the United States government.

•"Uncool and Incorrect" in Chile: The Nixon Administration and the Downfall of Salvador Allende (BOOK | KINDLE) by Stephen M. Streeter

•Life After Power: Seven Presidents and Their Search for Purpose Beyond the White House (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) by Jared Cohen

•The Liberation of Paris: How Eisenhower, de Gaulle, and von Choltitz Saved the City of Light (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) by Jean Edward Smith

•Unruly: The Ridiculous History of England's Kings and Queens (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) by David Mitchell

•The Rise and Fall of a Palestinian Dynasty: The Husaynis, 1700-1948 (BOOK) by Ilan Pappe

•In the Houses of Their Dead: The Lincolns, the Booths, and the Spirits (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) by Terry Alford

•Kingdoms of Faith: A New History of Islamic Spain (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) by Brian A. Catlos

•Borgata: Rise of Empire: A History of the American Mafia, Volume 1 of the Borgata Trilogy (BOOK | KINDLE) by Louis Ferrante

•Soldier of Destiny: Slavery, Secession, and the Redemption of Ulysses S. Grant (BOOK | KINDLE) by John Reeves

•His Final Battle: The Last Months of Franklin Roosevelt (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) by Joseph Lelyveld

•Charlie Chaplin vs. America: When Art, Sex, and Politics Collided (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) by Scott Eyman

[stars-and-galaxys]

YOU WERE JUST TRYING TO GIVE ME MY BEST CHANCE

6x12, A Murder Most Foul//Mythological Beauty - Big Thief//Susan Smith - wych elm//1x01, Pilot//6x12, A Murder Most Foul//5x15, Sisters//The Apostolate of Holy Motherhood//The Harpy - Megan Hunter//Massacre of the Innocents - Léon Cogniet//1x04, The Price of Gold//1x02, The Thing You Love The Most//Mythological Beauty - Big Thief

[tuttle-did-it]

‘The Monte Carlo Murders’ guest stars in Murder, She Wrote

Patrick Bauchau (Carnivále, Castle, Panic Room, The Pretender, Burn Notice, How to Make it in America, Extraordinary Measures, Numb3rs, 24, Alia, The Dead Zone, House, Earth 2, Clear and Present Danger, Columbo) - one of my favourite character actors

David Birney returns (The Twilight Zone, St Elsewhere, Glitter, The Love Boat, Hawaii 5-0, etc)

Lise Hilboldt returns (Sweet Liberty, Superman 1978, Chicago Hope, Matlock, My Two Dads, Dynasty, Plain Sight)

S8 E14, 2 Feb 1992

[celebclippinz]

Magazine clippings & movie sill