even ignoring everything else wrong with lore olympus (which in itself feels impossible) there is just something really egregious and insulting at the way a "modern retelling" over an ancient greek myth just full-heartedly whitewashes the entire culture and mythos.
and it's not like rachel is the first to do it - greek myths and legends have been whitewashed for centuries, depictions of the gods have been categorically stripped of their ethnicity and origins long before rachel got a hold of them. it's the fact that rachel goes out of her way to insult the original myths whenever she can, that she emphasizes and pushes a western-centric mindset and viewpoint over and over and over and not only reinforces the whitewashing, but continues it down the line.
like, this is the first episode.
rachel goes out of her way to mock the original styles and wardrobes of the ancient greek world, and i get her attempt was to make persephone feel "out of place" with the more "modern" clothing that the other gods wear, but it really just does more to a) demonize demeter, who is almost always in traditional clothing, b) sexualize persephone.
go even broader with it, move away from the clothing itself, and rachel doesn't even bother to use any of the ancient traditions that are core to the myths. like for the love of god, she uses a christian wedding for persephone and hades!
greece is the birthplace of modern democracy and had a powerful judicial system, and rachel instead uses the modern / western iteration of court because ... why not
(completely unrelated but the inserts of everyone except eros and aphrodite come from the stupid zoom session zeus had back when he first charged persephone with treason, meaning we have proof yet again that rachel isn't drawing the characters into the scene, she's making pngs and sticking them into pre-arranged backgrounds downloaded from stock images)
and there are ten thousand more examples i could pull, because this is just the whole entire comic. you can look at a lot of modern adaptions and see where things have been modernized respectfully, and where they are done with disdain for the source material - no one is claiming percy jackson, for example, is perfect, but the author took a great deal of care in his research, and the love for the original myths and culture shine through. lore olympus has zero respect for the original stories, exemplified in how rachel demonizes demeter - the actual crux of the myth. it's bad writing and bad research and further attempts to whitewash a rich and storied culture that had people from so many walks of life, who existed in full spectrum of lgbt identity, who did not conform or even know of the world that exists today. you can modernize without erasing it, and rachel's refusal to do so is one of the many issues tacked to lore olympus.
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The house of Nightingale & Constantine ( P. 3 )
> previous
.・゜-: ✧ :-
"Why are you avoiding me." Green eyes, sharp and unflinching, locked on Danny.
Startled, he turns to the younger boy, Damian? Bruce's only blood kid, he reminds himself.
"I'm not avoiding you." He denies, shaking his head, eyes trailing off.
But Damian knows, he learned and memorised the movements, signs, and behaviour of human kind.
"Do not lie to me, Nightingale."
The use of the name triggers something, and both Damian and Danny jump back, startled and cautious.
"What's the meaning of this!" The boy demanded, snatching his sword from the hilt.
The other raised his hands, pleading. "Look Damian– put the sword down and let me explain, please?"
They stood in tense silence, the sword pushed down reluctant and swiftly tugged back in.
"Explain."
Danny sighs in relief.
"You're more than aware of your parentage, yes?"
A nod, if not slightly confused. "Wayne?"
"No, al Ghul."
He keeps his facial expression and body language closed, obviously trained, and tilts his head to the Ghost. Listening, assessing.
Danny swallows as the air takes on sparks, dangerously close to one another.
If only Dick was in the mansion, maybe he'd cut the air with a knife followed by laughter and help him escape.
"The al Ghul line is in a delicate balance that can be toppled any time," he explains. "it's an old house, new compared to the houses of ancient, but powerful."
"You're saying," Damian drawls, carefully placing the words to form the sentence. "that the line of Al Ghul is... magic." He is studying the older, eyes narrowed and focused.
He knew such accusation would be called ridiculous by the younger. It would definitely earn him a few attempted kills.
"Not all dark houses are magic, just magic adjusted. The reason al Ghul is where it is today is that the founder, your grandfather, is still alive."
"You're aware such claims would have your head."
A wince.
"Fine." Damian scoffs. "We will go back to that after, tell me of the name triggering then."
"Names have power, but family names are more powerful, especially those of dark houses. If another dark house calls—"
"It registers as a warning and summoning." He finished, unfazed at the owlish blinks received.
"You were taught."
"I was, you're right, the al Ghuls are not magic. I haven't taken it seriously back then, I now see the error of my actions." The boy simply states, arms crossed.
"Calling another house of dark by name and immediately pulling a weapon is a declaration of challenge." Dannt adds after a moment of quiet. "I would rather not fight and make an enemy here."
"Not an enemy, but neither an ally?" Is quickly thrown back.
The Nightingale shrugs. "I'm not fond of your grandfather," he admits. "but it's known that every generation changes the house, I would not mind being the ally of the al Ghuls, if it meant you did the contract."
"Being an ally to my name only and to the al Ghul if asked." Green eyes, borderline neon, it reminds Danny of the zone. "Bold."
A grin cracks through, and Danny gestures to the door. "We can discuss the terms during snack time, if you wish, al Ghul."
A spark and Damian scowls harder. "Stop that." He says. "Let's do so, Father would be quite pleased knowing I've made more allies."
As he stomps to out, Danny follows with a jump in his steps, very pleased.
Nightingale 1, Constantine 0!
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ok book club <3 what are we reading that’s actually good and would maybe fill the trc shaped hole in my soul???? and don’t say reread. unless you say reread the dreamer trilogy because i’m so close to giving into the urge.
please. please. give me your suggestions.
as a frame of reference here are non-trc books i love & would recommend (different content, same soul):
watch over me by nina lacour
in memoriam by alice winn
under the whispering door by tj klune
these violent delights by micah nemerever
the anthropocene reviewed by john green
summer sons by lee mandelo
a tale for the time being by ruth ozeki
i need an actual book club but tumblr took away my group chats :(
anyway love you please give me suggestions!!!!!
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rewatching World Trigger. I forgot how gay it was. Osamu straight up says "hey Yuma. I know that we've only known you for like five days, but I can't help but notice that you aren't doing anything with your life right now. Mind if I borrow it for a bit?"
And then Yuma responds with "while its true that we've only know each other for like five days, your kind yet stubborn nature has compelled me. Sure. Why not? From this moment on my life is yours to do whatever you want with. One condition, though. You have to be my boss" and then throughout the story he occasionally makes these little remarks like "I'd do anything my captain (osamu) asked me to."
Like bro what? I really don't think that Osamu fully realizes the weight of the loyalty he somehow managed to earn from Yuma. I don't think he could realize it. From his perspective he cringefailed his way into b rank while Yuma did all the work. "And now Yuma would kill or die for me" is just not a conclusion that would ever occur to Osamu based on the avaliable evidence.
And like, what's going on here from Yuma's perspective? I get that he was a man on the brink when the story started, pursuing a sincerely suicidal plan, and then said plan failed and he was left with absolutely nothing, but I still feel like there has to be more going on here. He decided that he would follow Osamu through hell and back the very same minute that Osamu asked anything of him at all.
It's like, combat is all Yuma has ever known. He doesn't see any future for himself at all, but he especially can't imagine a peaceful one. But he's not a bad kid. He doesn't go out of his way to hurt people. Osamu has proven to be a pretty decent person, willing to sacrifice himself to save the lives of relative strangers. Maybe, the way Yuma sees it, yeah he's a weapon, but if he follows Osamu at least he'll be a weapon pointed in the right direction. He'll fight because it's all he knows how to do, but osamu would only ever ask him to fight for worthy causes. Y'know?
Anyway. The point is that Yuma accepted helping Osamu as his new purpose in life after knowing him for less than a week, and that's A Lot, no matter how you look at it.
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I can't help but think that Waylon Jones is seen as super attractive in Dragon Omegaverse Gotham. Man is a walking tank with scales, fangs, and a tail even in human form and even ignoring that dragon form is a normal aspect of personal appearance to them all there has got to be Gothamites whose preferences run towards draconic over humanoid.
Oh definitely!
Any other city and he would not be seen well, but in Gotham, like you said, those that live there are just Built Different. And yeah, some people very much prefer more draconic forms to human ones. I mean, just look at people IRL lmao.
Not to mention in some continuities Waylon has protected a large group of homeless people who lived in the sewers. Which to Gothamites is Very Attractive.
So yeah. You're 100% right lol.
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