"It's that our attitude towards Calypso mirrors the attitude society has toward abusive situations. Where instead of focusing on the victim's experience, we'll trust our eyes and ears more to decide things happened/didn't happen, when we were never there in the first place to witness them."
I get what you mean, but that kind of mirror doesn't actually work very well here. Because, as you mentioned before, Odysseus and Calypso are fictional characters. And this story is being told in a medium where we're meant to immerse ourselves, trust our eyes (via the commissioned artwork/animatics the author had done) and ears (via the music and lyrics) to gather information, and then try and figure out what happened based on what's presented to us by the author.
The biggest issue with the Calypso discourse is that a majority of the fandom, from what I've seen on tumblr, tiktok, and reddit, are coming at this from the perspective of these characters being real people, rather than fictional characters in a setting written by a talented man with a tiktok account and a dream. They don't see Calypso, side character/minor antagonist in a musical. They see Calypso, the "real abuser and narcissistic manipulator". They don't see Odysseus, protagonist of Epic: The Musical. They see Odysseus, "the real abuse victim who was imprisoned and assaulted". And they continually compare their interpretations of these characters to their own experiences as though they are actual living people who need defending from harm, or must be brought justice for their perceived crimes. As a result, any attempts at understanding potential nuance in the musical is lost.
And you cannot compare that accurately to the experience of someone suffering at the hands of an abuser who got away with it for so long because the people around them and their victim didn't see it/couldn't believe it. Because the thing with abusers like that is the fact that they're so good at hiding it. And sometimes they're so good at it, they can turn it around and paint their victim as the abusive or problematic party. That's why so many people don't want to jump the gun and confront the idea of someone "so nice" being an abuser. Why so many people need evidence. If it's the truth, and it's revealed to the wrong person at the wrong moment, it could put the victim in even more danger.
One is fiction. One is reality. One is characters going through a story. The other has a real human being struggling to survive.
At best, attempting to view this moment in Epic as a mirror to how society treats abuse victims is naïve. At worst, it is an actively harmful mindset that could result in someone jumping the gun and causing a lot of harm to someone in an abusive situation.
Hi! I really appreciate you took the time to get in my inbox to call me naive while conveniently remaining anon. Let's try and not get heated here, ok?
Honestly, it's good these conversations take place, so I'll answer you so everyone can read and draw their own conclusions since this was what I meant by that post.
Actually I think you have valid points, so let me explain myself better. If you don't like the word mirroring, let's say hinting.
In art, which is made and reacted to by people who are a product of being born and raised in a societal context, some ideologies and mind frames seep both into the content and it's interpretation. Even when talking about totally fictional situations, you can draw parallels to reality or see where some ideas come from, see hints of real social issues in them.
I'll give you an example: Odyssey Polyphemus. Take it face value, it's about a monster that Odysseus has to escape from. But, more accidentally than on purpose, it touches xenophobia and the way hegemonic cultures would approach others: they look different, they have no (aka different) laws and habits. You, a proper man, have the right to their things. Notice, Polyphemus is wounded in his eye, his "difference".
Please don't think now I'm advocating for Polyphemus' rights. I meant both by this example and my original post, to point to signs, hints, of social issues. In the case of my previous post, these problematic hints are in the way people are reacting to it, not in the way Epic is written.
You said it right, Epic is a piece of media meant to be seen and heard. People are too focused on what they see/hear about Calypso when Odysseus and his own reactions, which were intentionally written this way, is right there. And there, I see a sample of what happens irl. That's it.
Also, your ask elaborates on the reason why people are sceptical, the reasons why this could be detrimental for the abuser, and again, zero about the victim. So maybe think about it.
