tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3931078954148810179.post6151639821226422474..comments2023-11-03T03:59:28.260-07:00Comments on Story Seer: Troy and Other Ten-Year ProblemsLizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444235737902757507noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3931078954148810179.post-63847327852034700412012-08-21T14:58:11.623-07:002012-08-21T14:58:11.623-07:00"It will trick you into thinking you're r..."It will trick you into thinking you're reading something golden and glorious, and then it'll throw a chapter of death lists in your face and dare you to believe, after all that, that war is a good thing."<br /><br />I know you don't like Achilles, but I like him for this exact reason. Achilles knows he can be golden and glorious. But he also knows the cost of it, and he doesn't know if it's worth it. I think it's absolutely key that ultimately, he doesn't fight for glory or to be remembered like his prophecy promises, but for the death of Patroclus. What's worth fighting for? What's worth dying for? What's it like to be supernaturally awesome at war, but not want to fight?<br /><br />Anyway, I'm not saying you have to like him or anything, but Achilles is definitely the center of a lot of the big and intriguing questions of the Illiad. Personally, he kind of breaks my heart. <br /><br />Odysseus will always be my favorite too, though - I think as Americans we're just predisposed to his underdogness and ingenuity. <3Mizujadahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17233866558758957283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3931078954148810179.post-22420958749666280912012-08-17T21:02:53.575-07:002012-08-17T21:02:53.575-07:00True facts. I wasn't counting the ones not in ...True facts. I wasn't counting the ones not in the poems themselves, but yeah, Clytemnestra is a terrifying badass. I'll take the women in the Odyssey for role-model material any day, but there are tons of women with incredible stories orbiting the Trojan War. The ones with direct contact with the war tend, probably unsurprisingly, to be the most brutal and/or alarming; faced with spear-wielding bloodthirsty soldiers, they're forced to do some scary stuff to survive. (Or not. Oh, Cassandra.) Cressida in particular, as you pointed out, is a super-interesting case.<br /><br />But give Penelope credit: she held her husband's kingdom together for twenty freaking years, kept every influential and ambitious lord in limbo for at least half that time without ever offering mortal offense, and raised a damn cool son in her free time. And she pulled it off without ever resorting to murder. Clytemnestra may be a very impressive sprinter, but Penelope's the goddamn marathon runner of all time.Lizhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14444235737902757507noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3931078954148810179.post-77008268683057870232012-08-16T21:13:54.461-07:002012-08-16T21:13:54.461-07:00Clearly you've forgotten the part where Clytem...Clearly you've forgotten the part where Clytemnestra exists. And kills her husband. In a bathtub. With a fishing net. Clytemnestra > any female in the Odyssey. Also, Cassandra? Super interesting. You could do a whole blog on Clytemnestra living in Helen's shadow. And compare her to some fairy tale where that happens. <br /><br />Cressida too.KoalaThumbshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16766755501552111486noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3931078954148810179.post-28950880232590371592012-08-16T21:13:04.497-07:002012-08-16T21:13:04.497-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.KoalaThumbshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16766755501552111486noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3931078954148810179.post-54790184286974954482012-08-15T22:00:40.432-07:002012-08-15T22:00:40.432-07:00Oh my god, you're right. Ryan Lochte IS a latt...Oh my god, you're right. Ryan Lochte IS a latter-day Achilles: arrogant, annoying, never delivers when the team needs him. Does that mean that Michael Phelps is Hector, and we're living in an alternate universe where Troy won?<br /><br />But the Odyssey lacking awesome women? Please. Penelope? Nausicaa? Freaking Athena? Any one of them could take on all the women in the Iliad combined, and come out the winner. All together, they're like a juggernaut of badass civilizing femininity. The best the Iliad can do for female characters is Helen delivering one smackdown, Hera getting naked, and Aphrodite being ineffectually protective and vicariously boning Paris through Helen. And they're all shown purely through the lens of their sexual appeal and availability, whereas the women of the Odyssey get to be people, and the only one who gets naked on-camera, as it were, is the mid-forties married one. The Odyssey is way more enlightened when it comes to women.<br /><br />Calypso. No contest. Circe is upfront and fair about their fight and gives him directions home after a year; Calypso just stuffs cotton in her ears and sings, "La la la, can't hear you crying, now come do the sex with me again."Lizhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14444235737902757507noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3931078954148810179.post-61717860552927079022012-08-15T21:36:33.238-07:002012-08-15T21:36:33.238-07:00Achilles = Ryan Lochte.
Also, we all know you di...Achilles = Ryan Lochte. <br /><br />Also, we all know you didn't like The Odyssey as much because there aren't any strong female characters. Don't lie. <br /><br />Blog Post: Circe vs. Calypso (who f***s with Odysseus more/better). Title: The Baddest Bitch. KoalaThumbshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16766755501552111486noreply@blogger.com