The Original and the Best
Many people like to think that we, as a species, are falling into more and more depraved sensibilities. They think that, somehow as time goes on, our tastes are becoming more violent, more sexual, and less moral. These people have never read Greek mythology.
They’ve probably also never read the mythology of most other regions.
It just goes to show that when you’re looking for prime material for dramatic soap operas, you can’t beat the originals.
Humanity has always been a little bit depraved, our stories reflect the things we like to hear about, not necessarily the things we like to do. While there are negative elements to human societies, the general populace tends to be remarkably normal and friendly. That’s why we tell stories of this nature, they’re exciting, they’re different, they’re sexy.
Nowhere else is this as clear as in the mythology of the ancient Greeks. Gods leave their divine wives or husbands and sleep around with mortals, they enact brutal punishments on each other, and humans sit back and enjoys the display when they’re not getting caught in the crossfire. Anyone who’s ever stayed home sick from work or school and turned on day time TV to pass the time can tell you, this sort of thing is surprisingly entertaining. The best part is that everything a soap opera’s got, Greek myth has done better. The kidnappings are more elaborate, the affairs are more sexy, and the murder is more…murderous. When someone gets cheated on, it doesn’t just result in some simple human betrayal, oh no. If Zeus makes love to Alcmene and fathers a demigod son, Hera doesn’t just get even with Zeus. She causes his son to go berserk, forcing him to slaughter his entire family. Ultimately leading him to perform incredible feats to redeem himself.
Tell me you’ve seen something that awesome on Days of Our Lives. Yeah, you haven’t.
All of this is why I, personally, find Greek myth so exciting and such a great first step into the world of mythology. There are so many story elements we still use and recognize today in our own storytelling, making it much easier to dive right in and enjoy them for what they are. All mythology has this to a degree, but the ancient Greeks have inspired much of what makes up western civilization today, making them the best option if you’re just starting out.
So grab a book, read some myths, enjoy the convoluted relationships and the betrayal. Relish the violence and sexiness. Cheer for the heroes and boo the villains.
Like sands through the hourglass, these are the messed up things in Greek mythology.
Don’t forget about the incest! It just goes to show that when it comes to smut, you can’t beat the classics.
Oedipus screwing with his mom and ended up putting an end to his own bloodline, and Inana seduced her own father in order to steal all his riches and have them shipped over to her city Ur.
Yep, shit just got real. *cues dramatic DUN DUN DUN*
This strip reminds me of one of my favourite rants that I recently revisited when I watched Disney’s Hercules. Rather than portraying or building on established Greek mythology (like his famous 12 labours), the filmakers decided to CONTRADICT it by making the villain Hades, rather than Heracles traditional enemy Hera. There’s so many things wrong with that. Hades is possibly the most passive character in Greek mythology. He doesn’t need to do anything except wait. Eventually everyone comes to his domain. Unfortunately, I think the Disney film has influenced subsequent films that treat Greek mythology. In the recent remake of Clash of the Titans, the villain is again Hades. As far as Hera goes, in traditional mythology Hera does everything in her power to destroy Hercules because she is jealous of Zeus’ affair with a mortal woman. In the Disney film, Hera is Hercules’ mother?!? That just makes my brain hurt.
When watching Hercules, it occurred to me that Disney christianises Greek myths. In Hercules, Hades is basically a Christian Satan, while Zeus is Christian God.
They misrepresented the richness of Greek mythology. And it annoyed me greatly too.
oh also the disney heracles is the legitimate son instead of the result of an affair. not cool.
Well you gotta keep in mind that Hercules is a kids movie. Imagine the parental outcries Disney would have had to suffer if they had stayed true to the original version.
I mean come on, lets get real here; Would you have showed your kids a cartoon involving infidelity and brutal murder?
I dunno, my Dad let me watch Braveheart when I was 7. Granted, not a cartoon, but I turned out fine. He just said “Stuff like this used to happen, some of it still does.” I never really questioned it. Kids can handle more then most adults, I’ve found most parents cannot.
My Dad also read the entire Lord of the Rings series as my bedtime story, explained the North Irish conflict, and taught me Lenyrd Skynard lyrics all before age 10. I’ve turned into a fairly well rounded (at least I hope), opinionated, and un-psychologically scared young woman. Let your kids know the juicy stuff, trust me, if you explain it well and answer their questions they can handle it.
True, but maybe Disney should try coming up with more original material, instead of bastardizing other peoples and cultures work.
I am not a Disney fan.
Haha! Awesome. I love how K’s mouth is full of food in the last panel. Brilliant.
there was a lot of rape from Zeus behalf >.> so maybe is more like a LAW & ORDER thingy
I have always loved Greek Mythology, those were my stories as a kid. When my camp used to go to the library once a week while everyone else went to the magazines or computers I went straight for the Greek Mythology section. I recently took my brother and his friends on a school field trip to a museum and they were stoked about the Greek sculptures and paintings telling awesome stories, it made me have some hope for the future generations.
For some reason I see the bowl as being full of rice.
I’m assuming every other normal person would believe it to be popcorn.
Rice would be PERFECT! Instead of popcorn & butter, rice & soy sauce or something! AMAZING! It might even be healthier. The problem with such a big bowl is the rice on the bottom will be too wet and it would get clammy.
The Greeks and Romans were just like that. It’s not even limited to the gods. When you read a comedy by Plautus or Terence and realize that the happy ending is based on a guy realizing that “Oh, that one chick I drunkenly raped was my *fiance*, s’all good” you realize that modern entertainment is basically for chumps.
Everything we enjoy about comedy today is derived from wives dressing up a male slave as the new wife of another male slave so that her husband will attempt to have sex with the wrong person while making jokes about unexpected cucumbers and surprisingly large forearms.
I suddenly have a desire to write a pilot for a Greek style soap opera.
I have been giggling uncontrollably for the past 15 minutes because of this…
Well, there’s a side effect – I have been reading Greek Myths since I was 5 years old, and had only that normal version with sex and violence, not some kiddie, soft thing. Now my boyfriend is sure that it was the thing which made me so messed up. This and Grimm’s Fairy Tales. And maybe a bit of Japanese cartoons later.
But, yeah, it is an evidence that humanity always liked those things, not only recently started to, and, indeed, originals are still the best.
I’ve always been rather fond Norse mythology myself, the story of Fafnir is rather gripping in it’s own way
I found it gruesomely hilarious when a god was murdered for no reason and proceed to bleed so much that a race of giants drowned, except for two who had a boat.
Good point. They should totally have a mythology show like that! I’d totally watch it.
The text over the picture is priceless. Yeah, whoever could imagine history on the History Channel in the real world?
You, son, are just – smart! Over the edge. Nice going!
Has anyone seen the Indian mythological soap operas based on Indian mythology? They’re almost as scandalous, violent and sexy as the Greek myths- bare naked hunky guys running around in beads and animal skins; gorgeous women in glittering jewelry with gracefully draped thin fabrics that keep falling off. English subtitles- of course. The latest is the best- “Devon Ke Dev… Mahadev”. There are several streaming sites on the web, including YouTube. I’m hooked.