This is a personal rant about how I, as a Greek and mythology lover, view these modern retellings and how they came out more as a disappointment.
Here are some examples of forced labelling from the book sites like Bookreads:
Do you see a pattern? Is not only they are telling the audience rather than showing how "feminist" are these retellings but also..
Man vs woman
According to the retellings all ancient Greek men are bad, sexist, misogynists, worthless, abusers and women are girlboss ✨. But it's obvious that humans regardless of gender are complex beings.
But when you read the Original epics you realise that women have as much importance in the story as men. But not in the way you are used to...
The women aren't afraid to speak their mind, they have agency, they are a driving force the admire, but it's not with shields, armor or physical strength. They are also showing it with kindness, empathy, cunning but also with anger, sorrow, vengeance.
Penelope, Electra, Antigone, Ariadne, Andromache, Helen, Cassandra etc. ARE strong women! They don't have to go to battle to prove it!
BUT that also doesn't mean we should glorify the women who are abusers and do wrong things!
Clytemnestra for example, exiled Orestes, had her daughter Electra a slave, showed proudly her Trojan women (also slaves) and killed Cassandra an innocent woman.. Do i understand how and why she acted? Yes 💯. Does this justifies her actions ? Of course no.
Medea, killed her brother and her children, and also poisoned Jason's next wife and her father because "she wanted to make him suffer like her". Do i understand why she did it? Yes. Does it justify to have everyone suffer because of one man? No.
Hera, punished several women and men alike because she couldn't do it on Zeus (because he is the king and stronger). Is cheating bad? Yes. Does it justify her to punish someone who was obviously a victim or was powerless against a god? No.
The retellings:
fail to do complex characters.
fail to let the audience come to their own conclusions who's right, wrong or neutral.
They fail to make daring characters without be labelled on a modern stereotype.
Fail to understand the norms of ancient Greece and how they shaped these stories.
Fail to realise that men and women are more complex than modern stereotypes.
I am not against retellings but do better! Making a great retelling respectful to the source and having complex characters with quality reading would be deeply appreciated.
And to the readers to not rely on retellings as "faithful resources".
it's kinda funny to me how many people are so focused on henry being so 'logical' & 'rational' when the man is superstitious af. like he tried to do ornithomancy (the greek divination practice when you read omens through birds' behaviour), & at a certain point, he & richard see a pregnant dog & henry says that's a very bad omen, referencing horace's odes (“let the wicked be led by omens of screeching from owls, by pregnant dogs, or a grey-she wolf, hurrying down from lanuvian meadows, or a fox with young.”), & i found it quite interesting too, as that puts part of the dark in dark academia, u know what i mean?
My existence is a scandal ✎
Wolfstar hits harder if Remus isn't conventionally attractive.
Because while Sirius is still deep in denial and internalized homophobia, he's convincing himself like "it's okay, i'm not gay, anyone would want to kiss Remus once in a while, he's just objectively hot"
Except Remus is awkward and quiet when not around friends, he's too tall like he grew up too fast and doesn't know what to do with this extra height, his scars scare people away, he wears grandpa sweaters, drinks tea in his free time and goes to sleep at 9 pm, he can't flirt for the life of him (even though he could bc he's witty and sarcastic) because he has no self-confidence and it shows.
He's basically a loser (affectionate) and Sirius is like "it's okay, no need to panic, he's the sexiest man on earth but that's just an astute observation, no gay thoughts here"
and i just think that's funny as hell
no i dont think richard was "not smart enough" for the greek class. but lets not pretend his monetary status is what kept him from fitting in. Bunny was not rich, despite his illusion of wealth/big rich guy persona and his 'friends' knew this. Even the twins weren't well off, lol. Only Francis and Henry were wealthy.
The reason richard never became a core part of the group (unless absolutely necessary) was simply this: he was boring. he was a voyeur whose sole purpose was bearing witness to something greater than himself (nnnot really. all these guys were kind of pathetic and swept up in the tides of their delusions.)
that is part of the tragedy of richard and his entire story: he wanted, so badly, to be a part of this group, this other-worldly phenomenon that could never really accept him. he got swallowed whole and spit right back out by the very people he had built up to be these divine beings of perfection. He becomes doomed to forever feel the grief of a rejection so in-his-face and the only closure he gets is some fantasy he forces in a foggy dream.
Happy New Year of the Peacock!! 🎉
(As you know, if you seize enough territories in China, any year can become the year of the peacock)
Lord Shen from Kung Fu Panda 2
hot take maybe, but my opinion of you automatically dives if the first reaction you have to a cool character is to ask if there’s a c.ai bot of them. write shitty fanfic like the rest of us, or just maladaptive daydream if you must. find a community and rp online!! we’re losing important social and writing skills to a tech product controlled by and overseen by the slimiest, most exploitative billionaires silicon valley has seen in a generation and we’re doing it willingly???
Honestly, this is the best scene that shows Henry's madness.
I kinda hope The Secret History never gets a movie adaptation because being forced to read the book is a test you have to pass to get into this fandom.
richard: …so, what i was saying- i was really upset about john lennon’s death
henry: oh, i’m sorry. was john lennon your uncle?
richard:
s1 jayvik in my mind
I'm an artist (at least my mother told me so)/ message me, if you want to talk/ any pronouns/ dni: terf
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