The storytellers were after good stories. The religious zealots couldn’t tell the stories from reality, which accounted for many of the horrors of the intervening centuries, right up to the present day.
But one has to appreciate Greek understanding of the ability of the human mind to provide its own degree of horror in certain situations. Bloody acts and self-mutilations, were performed off stage but with back lighting that threw the shadows of the actions on the back panel. Audiences were left to apply the sense of horror by visualizing the acts in their own imaginations. Greeks felt this more appropriate and more effective.
In early films a similar method appeared when an actor shot another, but only the firing gun was shown, while sound effects indicated a mortal wound and falling body, or as in the scenes from the original Mummy films, where only its stalking shadow or the shadows of the actual strangulation were seen.
In modern movies and some plays, horrible acts are presented in gory and infinite detail, but somehow fall short of the chilling frisson enjoyed by ancient play goers. Audiences seem to anticipate them and enjoy them.
But, then, so many anti-social behaviors, once proscribed by conscience and morality, have become so commonplace as to seem normal. Old standards are left to the memories of those who lived them or those who have been taught of them and try to apply them. A difficult but ultimately rewarding effort.
I don’t know if reading fueled my young self’s sense of adventure, or if my sense of adventure made me such a voracious reader. Since it turned out well, I don’t much care. But I know that for a while the subject of choice was anything about flying, particularly hang gliding, that I could get my hands on. And pretty much every single book on the subject (not that there was a ton of them, but still) had a chapter on the Icarus story. If that weren’t in the public domain, if royalties still applied, some other descendant of Daedalus would be flying around in his own private jet instead of flapping his great-great-great-great-great granddaddy’s wood-wax-and-feathers contraption.
I don’t know if it was supposed to be a cautionary tale — if so, it worked, as I know of zero hang glider pilots who melted their wing and splashed down — or if the authors just needed to fill space, but there it was. And I never skipped over it. Then again, I was pretty obsessed. If there were a chapter on the sociopolitical ramifications of dacron vs. nylon and single- vs. double-surfaced airfoils, I’d have read every word of that, too. And questioned it even more than that wacko Icarus story.
Frazz by Jef Mallett for Nov 29, 2017 | GoComics.com
“Barney & Clyde” had Cynthia read the myth to younger kids. When they noticed the poor physics, they figured out it must be allegory, but they didn’t like the implied lesson any better, finding it oppressive. Even Cynthia thought they were too cynical for their age.
Bilan over 6 years ago
Did they really believe that it’s warmer at higher altitudes back then?
Richard S Russell Premium Member over 6 years ago
The storytellers were after good stories. The religious zealots couldn’t tell the stories from reality, which accounted for many of the horrors of the intervening centuries, right up to the present day.
sandpiper over 6 years ago
But one has to appreciate Greek understanding of the ability of the human mind to provide its own degree of horror in certain situations. Bloody acts and self-mutilations, were performed off stage but with back lighting that threw the shadows of the actions on the back panel. Audiences were left to apply the sense of horror by visualizing the acts in their own imaginations. Greeks felt this more appropriate and more effective.
In early films a similar method appeared when an actor shot another, but only the firing gun was shown, while sound effects indicated a mortal wound and falling body, or as in the scenes from the original Mummy films, where only its stalking shadow or the shadows of the actual strangulation were seen.
In modern movies and some plays, horrible acts are presented in gory and infinite detail, but somehow fall short of the chilling frisson enjoyed by ancient play goers. Audiences seem to anticipate them and enjoy them.
But, then, so many anti-social behaviors, once proscribed by conscience and morality, have become so commonplace as to seem normal. Old standards are left to the memories of those who lived them or those who have been taught of them and try to apply them. A difficult but ultimately rewarding effort.
axelant over 6 years ago
Jef’s been spending too much time with Stephan Pastis, the bad puns are rubbing off.
William Bednar Premium Member over 6 years ago
Some Greeks even thought that the Earth was round, like a ball, and not flat as other Greeks thought. Scary, I know.
Kind&Kinder over 6 years ago
I don’t mean to wax punful, but Icarus wound up Daedalus as a doornail.
Night-Gaunt49[Bozo is Boffo] over 6 years ago
Frazz12 hrs ·
I don’t know if reading fueled my young self’s sense of adventure, or if my sense of adventure made me such a voracious reader. Since it turned out well, I don’t much care. But I know that for a while the subject of choice was anything about flying, particularly hang gliding, that I could get my hands on. And pretty much every single book on the subject (not that there was a ton of them, but still) had a chapter on the Icarus story. If that weren’t in the public domain, if royalties still applied, some other descendant of Daedalus would be flying around in his own private jet instead of flapping his great-great-great-great-great granddaddy’s wood-wax-and-feathers contraption.
I don’t know if it was supposed to be a cautionary tale — if so, it worked, as I know of zero hang glider pilots who melted their wing and splashed down — or if the authors just needed to fill space, but there it was. And I never skipped over it. Then again, I was pretty obsessed. If there were a chapter on the sociopolitical ramifications of dacron vs. nylon and single- vs. double-surfaced airfoils, I’d have read every word of that, too. And questioned it even more than that wacko Icarus story.
Frazz by Jef Mallett for Nov 29, 2017 | GoComics.com
Stephen Gilberg over 6 years ago
“Barney & Clyde” had Cynthia read the myth to younger kids. When they noticed the poor physics, they figured out it must be allegory, but they didn’t like the implied lesson any better, finding it oppressive. Even Cynthia thought they were too cynical for their age.