On Greek Mythology and its darker topics and how modern audiences view them, an essay for some reason.
For further context on my thoughts on a similar topic, please see my post, "ATLA fandom and other fandom spaces have been ruined by purity culture, an essay."
First, for those of you who are new here, let's define what I mean by purity culture.
Purity culture in my own terms can be defined as an extreme obsession with purity, particularly in Western (but mostly American) audiences which is a culture that seeks to make everything positive, pure, and acceptable. Not to be confused with how some religions view purity culture as abstinence.
Please note that before you attack me, I am a person who encourages and champions progressiveness and openness in media. This is not an essay to chase away notions of continuing to represent difficult topics respectfully in modern pieces. Simply, it is to point out something that troubles me, especially in communities that tend to consume modern retellings and the more ancient stories centered around Greek Mythology and other mythologies.
Purity culture and modern Greek Mythology retellings
To put it simply, there is no purity culture in most modern Greek Mythology retellings. There are modern storytelling structures, maybe more kid-friendly ways to put things into perspective, but generally speaking, I have not seen much of a culture in which authors, playwrights, and other kinds of writers have watered down myths into something wholly unrecognizable in which none of the darker topics exist. Instead, they are either retold in a way that fits the target audience, reframed into something that fits the context of the story, implied or not covered because maybe the audience is too young, or outright said because the audience is old enough.
This is not to say that inaccuracies are not a problem. Disney's Hercules exists. (I wouldn't be the first to say that the film is a fun time though.) But completely covering up dark topics is not something modern retellings seek to do.
The Broadway musical, Hadestown, does not shy away from the true ending of Orpheus and Euridicye's story. Jorge Rivera-Herrans' Epic: The Musical does not brush over the atrocities war and desperation bring. Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians, while written as a book series aimed at children, does not hide the consequences children have to face when forced to fight for the gods, including what it's like to grow up under neglectful parents especially. Netflix's Kaos, a show I haven't even watched yet, is aimed at adults, and from the clips I have seen it does not back away from telling the mortals just how messed up the gods are.
So, with all this in mind, it begs the question: Why are audiences so fixated on watering down what Greek Myths and their retellings are?
Purity culture and how modern mythology fans view retellings
This is definitely a controversial opinion, but I don't think that it's beneficial to anyone to have too much discourse over the darker topics present in ancient myths. The fact is that ancient myths were not written for us, they were written for ancient people to explain the unexplainable.
Audiences now tend to view certain aspects of myths as problematic. And yes, they are. I'm not disagreeing with those of you who will argue this point. The problem is that many are viewing these aspects through a purity culture lens through which they don't want to see these topics portrayed at all. (Remember, these myths were not written for you.)
[Trigger warning ahead for mentions of assault.]
The most common mythological characters I've seen argued about are Medusa and Calypso. The common theme between these two characters? Their stories revolve around sexual assault.
Ovid's version of Medusa has her assaulted by Poseidon, while the original Greek version has Medusa already born with her curse. Calypso in The Oddessy is an immortal nymph cursed to live alone on the island of Ogygia because of her association with the titans, namely her being the daughter of Atlas. However, she fell in love with Odysseus (or should I say, potentially obsessed with him), and forced him to remain on the island with her and sleep with her.
In fan spaces, I see these stories argued about a lot. For example, whether they should be talked about at all, whether these women are problematic or not (or if the gods are etc.). And while the point is often made that there were victims in their stories, it's almost as if when audiences find out the truth of their ancient origins, they are in denial.
This Tumblr post in particular comes to mind:
Link to original here.
While the original poster does realize in the tags that this was a topic that had to be reframed because of Riordan's target audience, it reminded me that there are others who find this truth all too jarring.
People forget or fail to realize that Greek Mythology and other mythologies are not pleasant stories. So, it's only to be expected that modern versions of them or stories that use their characters have written disturbing things too.
In Calypso's case, I often see her character canceled in a way only fictional characters can be I suppose. She's not a great person. She forced people to stay with her. Yet, she was cursed to do just that.
It's also interesting that sometimes Calypso is called out because she's centuries old and Percy was 15 if we're going from the retelling perspective of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Yet, Odysseus was also a lot younger than her. Not to mention many of the gods had affairs with mortals an X amount of years younger than them in myths. I don't have to remind you of Zeus' many trysts. The hyperfixation on age difference is something born out of purity culture as well, even if sometimes that difference is only a few years. The gods and immortal beings, however, do not and should not work out the way humans do, but I digress.
Calypso's story is a whole cycle and it is disturbing. There is no use in denying that this is her character, however. Just how it would be the same as denying that fairytales had dark origins. (Remember how Cinderella's stepmother sawed off parts of her biological daughters' feet just so they could fit into the glass slipper? Or how birds picked out their eyes?) The modern Disney-fied versions of fairytales is a whole other topic, but it stems from similar beliefs under purity culture. It's just that there isn't the same kind of audience for fairytales as there is for Greek Mythology, is there?
Purity culture and themes in Greek Mythology, or TLDR
There are common themes in Greek Mythology including betrayal, death, consequences of actions, hubris, loyalty, and overwhelming greed. Gray morality above all, fits into the puzzle that is mythology. Nothing is black and white.
Purity culture has colored the way even themes in Greek Mythology are viewed. Purity culture makes things black and white. In reality, the world is not so. Themes in myths are now too abhorrent to talk about, or too nasty to reproduce. Especially in fandom circles, topics can't be talked about because they are too taboo. People get angry. There is discourse. Suddenly, everything in a myth can be fixed if everyone just had access to therapy.
But, these myths are ancient. These dark topics are common. While many topics are triggering for people, perhaps it would be more beneficial to the art of storytelling itself to simply not engage. Or, better yet, to never try to change the narrative to fit your own personal beliefs.
Ancient people still had the same problems as we do. Watering down what is the truth serves to cover up what looks ugly.
It should not be a surprise that with Greek Mythology comes darkness, and darkness in fiction or in myths should not make anyone angry.
Perhaps if you cannot accept that there are and will always be dark, disturbing topics in stories inspired by mythologies, you should not be part of an audience that consumes them.
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