The Yassification of Greek Mythology

Look I'm not going to be one of those "man gets a slight rush every time he tells someone John Lennon hit his wife" That's not helpful and a lot of people who do take issue do tend to also GREATLY oversimplify many Greek myths or act like there is one version when part of the difficulty of talking about these is trying to chase the exact roots given as many of these stories were mainly told orally and often changed depending on the area and culture as well as various translations and history of colonization.

Nor am I saying a writer can't be inspired by the stories and do their own thing.

But my personal issue with a lot of modern "Retelling of Greek myth!" is how a lot of them weirdly lack nuance, even compared to the original source. Was Greek society very patriarchal? Yes but there were still women present and frequent in stories and had different roles.

Most retellings don't really put a different twist on it or explore the side characters' nuance, it's incredibly simplified "This person was actually cool/sad/good and the ones against them suck"

It's the weird Yassification of some characters and mythos that kind of bugs me. Were there queer lovers in Greek mythology and history? Yes, quite a lot actually, but maybe making Ganymede Zeus's twink in your story a bit in poor taste given pretty much his only story is about him being kidnapped and becoming Zeus cup bearer between the ages of 16-12.

Or stuff like the Amazons, people like the idea of a woman-only warrior-based culture but just not really acknowledge the actual warrior side and some of the crimes they'd commit and conflicts they'd get into because "that's not fun!"

Complexity is removed from SO many stories, factions and conflicts to have a clear cut good guy who mainly reacts and an atrocious villain whose philosophies seem to be weirdly modern in how awful they are. Making Heraclues a blood-lustful berserker warrior who or a a happy dummy who uses his strength to solve all his problems is really odd considering in his story his intelligence and wit is constantly underestimated by King Eurystheus but he uses tactics and cunning to achieve several of his labors.

Also, the enlightened Chad angelic Athena and the angry evil demonic Ares in a lot of media is really funny to me because the only thing that makes Athena more positive is her description. "Goddess of Wisdom" sounds really nice but it's still referring to warfare.

Ares is described as wrathful in a lot of stories but that being his only trait is very odd to me when he's a much more nuanced figure than that. Instead, he's a red-pilled dummy in most stories now because he has a different descriptor than Athena.

It's a sign of lack of curiosity of searching for other myths or stories to adapt because people already know of these.

dont play defense

Just to add my own two cents on this. I myself also interpret what calypso did as SA. (And to reiterate to anyone who comes across this, the nature of what happened is ambiguous and you are free to have your own readings of it)

I know it’s easy to say “Soon Into bed we’ll climb and spend our time” is just a singular line and shouldn’t be used as the only reasoning of it. But the line doesn’t exist in a vacuum and there’s a lot of her other behaviors within the song that set off red flags.

To start with the line itself, it isn’t calypso asking him in any way or suggesting it. “Soon” is a statement, not a question. It will eventually happen even if it isn’t now

Not only that but it’s all the ways that she is constantly pushing herself on him against his protests. She refuses to ever actually listen to him and insisting that she is “what he wants and needs”.

When Odysseus finally does snap back at her, going as far as to physically threaten this woman. She swings her weight around by revealing herself as a goddess. He can try but he cannot hurt her. He cannot do anything to stop her. Yeah she says “I bring no pain”, but she is not a reliable narrator. She doesn’t want to hurt ody, hurting him brings her no joy or satisfaction. But she does press on the fact that he belongs to her.

“You’re mine, all mine” with the music becoming ominous behind it

So we have established a pattern of her directly ignoring his boundaries, refusing to listen to him, establishing her own authority/superiority over him, that he is her property, and that what she wants to do is not a request but a statement of fact

I think based on all of these, it is fairly reasonable to assume that some kind of sexual abuse took place in this time period. Or at the very least it would fall under attempted coercion with her trapping him there in the hopes he will eventually give into her desires. Which is still pretty bad.

And i think this is actually a good thing because there should be nuanced portrayals of this abuse. Calypso is not an intentionally cruel person. She means well and she probably even sees herself as helping Ody in some capacity. ‘Healing a trauma ridden soldier with her love’; you can see the narrative she’s spinning in her head. She doesn’t understand or contemplate why she cannot have him if she wants him, why he would refuse her when she’s a beautiful immortal goddess.

He just needs time to adjust, he’ll learn to love her. He doesn’t know what’s good for him, so she’ll be there to guide the way.

None of this is motivated by malice. But it is selfish and entitled and ignorant. Things that anyone can fall prey to. It can be easy for someone ti just ignore your boundaries, it can be easy ti wave away your protests because you “don’t know what you want”. And even just the childish thought of “why don’t I get to have this if I want it”

And that’s it. Calypso is dangerously childish and ignorant. She is all the impulses of a child that were never tempered and was just given her very first toy to play with.

tbh I think Calypso views herself as Odysseus's rest and reward. like, she's the comfort in a hurt/comfort fic. she's the therapy saga. and honestly, a lot of her actions make sense when you look at it like that.

Odysseus is traumatised and scared and hurting. and she understands that. she's so understanding that she doesn't take it personally when he yells or screams or begs -- trauma makes it hard to regulate emotions, after all. he'll calm down in a little bit.

she's so understanding that she's not even hurt when he rejects her advances. he's been alone for so long that he's scared to intimacy now. but she doesn't let that discourage her. he'll get used to the idea eventually.

she's so understanding that she doesn't give up on him, even when he talks and talks and talks about his wife and son. obviously he wants to go back to them, but what he wants isn't what's good for him. that's fine, he doesn't need to know what's good for him yet. that's what she's for.

she's so understanding that she doesn't even let it upset her too much when Ody stands too close to the edge and stares out at sea below like its calling to him. it's okay. she can catch him if he falls.

sure, they're relationship isn't what she's dreamed about for centuries -- real relationships never are that perfect. her Ody has a lot of healing to do. and she'll make sure she's with him through it all.

The Yassification of Greek Mythology

Look I'm not going to be one of those "man gets a slight rush every time he tells someone John Lennon hit his wife" That's not helpful and a lot of people who do take issue do tend to also GREATLY oversimplify many Greek myths or act like there is one version when part of the difficulty of talking about these is trying to chase the exact roots given as many of these stories were mainly told orally and often changed depending on the area and culture as well as various translations and history of colonization.

Nor am I saying a writer can't be inspired by the stories and do their own thing.

But my personal issue with a lot of modern "Retelling of Greek myth!" is how a lot of them weirdly lack nuance, even compared to the original source. Was Greek society very patriarchal? Yes but there were still women present and frequent in stories and had different roles.

Most retellings don't really put a different twist on it or explore the side characters' nuance, it's incredibly simplified "This person was actually cool/sad/good and the ones against them suck"

It's the weird Yassification of some characters and mythos that kind of bugs me. Were there queer lovers in Greek mythology and history? Yes, quite a lot actually, but maybe making Ganymede Zeus's twink in your story a bit in poor taste given pretty much his only story is about him being kidnapped and becoming Zeus cup bearer between the ages of 16-12.

Or stuff like the Amazons, people like the idea of a woman-only warrior-based culture but just not really acknowledge the actual warrior side and some of the crimes they'd commit and conflicts they'd get into because "that's not fun!"

Complexity is removed from SO many stories, factions and conflicts to have a clear cut good guy who mainly reacts and an atrocious villain whose philosophies seem to be weirdly modern in how awful they are. Making Heraclues a blood-lustful berserker warrior who or a a happy dummy who uses his strength to solve all his problems is really odd considering in his story his intelligence and wit is constantly underestimated by King Eurystheus but he uses tactics and cunning to achieve several of his labors.

Also, the enlightened Chad angelic Athena and the angry evil demonic Ares in a lot of media is really funny to me because the only thing that makes Athena more positive is her description. "Goddess of Wisdom" sounds really nice but it's still referring to warfare.

Ares is described as wrathful in a lot of stories but that being his only trait is very odd to me when he's a much more nuanced figure than that. Instead, he's a red-pilled dummy in most stories now because he has a different descriptor than Athena.

It's a sign of lack of curiosity of searching for other myths or stories to adapt because people already know of these.

My vibe about ships since forever tbh

People listing their exceptions to this in the notes are hilarious.

It literally doesn’t fucking matter.

There are no exceptions. It's not real. I have shit I care about - my physical health, my mental health, my family, my dog, my hobbies, etc. - but "someone else plays make-believe the wrong way according to someone else" is never in my top ten thousand priorities.

As I grow older I feel my capacity to understand that Miss Piggy is not a real person reached a peak in my adolescence and is now on a steady decline. I watched a Wendy Williams interview and there's this part that's like "can we get a ring cam!" and Miss Piggy shows her bling and I'm just like fuck she's so iconic. Miss Piggy who are you wearing? Miss Piggy have you ever considered running for office??

Like literally every time I see Miss Piggy there's a period where I need to readjust to the fact that it's not a person, and I feel that period is getting longer and longer with every instance

now all my Youtube recommendations are filled with Miss Piggy interviews. I’m not complaining. Miss Piggy what’s your secret to ageing so graciously

It's not just the audience; professional journalists, hosts, and actors report it is legitimately difficult to not see the Muppet as a person, and it is, in fact, incredibly easy to interview or act with them once the performer gets properly set up.

Like that one time they couldn't figure out why Kermit's audio was so garbage... then realized they'd put the mic on him instead of the performer.

this has been a very longstanding issue - before the muppet show was even a thing some muppets appeared in commercials, such as rolf the dog they had a continual problem where when people directing/shooting the dogfood commercial would give dirrection to rolf that they would be speaking to the muppet, to which rolf REPEATEDLY had to tell them ‘i cant hear you, you have to talk to him’ and point at the performer underneath him rolf is one of the most embarrassing muppets to need this direction as the performer is this, damn, obvious when not on camera

‘sir, i am a bathroom mat, the man you need to talk to is back there’

I did an interview with Gonzo one time, and when I got into the Zoom call, it was the actor on screen trying to figure out his audio. And then once he did, he went like “OKAY!” and then just like dove to the floor and it was Gonzo and there was never a moment when I doubted that the dude was just Gonzo’s tech guy 

I have met a muppet-like puppet in real life and when I tell you that my brain was hacked FUCKING INSTANTLY..... It was a person, I swear it was a person. I asked it for a hug (no i was not 5 years old, i was like 28 at this time). i genuinely don't know what came over me, it was just. It was a person???? Witchcraft

A couple years ago, I was invited to the birthday party of one of my former preschool students. I decided to bring my teaching puppet (a big rat) along because I knew several other kids from that class would be there, and she was always a huge hit with them.

They were, of course, very excited to see her. But what surprised me was that after the kids ran off to play in the sprinkler, the parents around me struck up conversation with the puppet. They continued for at least fifteen minutes, asking her questions like, "how long have you been teaching?" and "eaten out of any good dumpsters lately?" until one dad exclaimed "why have I been talking to a rat puppet this whole time!"