Guns vs Swords and the Deities Who Wield Them

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Depictions of the gods in pop culture are generally **** poor on the whole. There's little if any cultural sensitivity to those who still worship them, or even awareness that there are people who still worship them. Near as I can wager, things like this are simply adding insult to injury. In some cases it's because the writers are actually intending to be historical, but on the whole I chalk it up to general disrespectfulness and insensitivity to Pagan religions.

I take it as a sign of just how silly people generally find religion, except for the few where it's reinforced every day that they're reasonable.

That's really the only difference that determines how they're treated, IMO, and why demigod Hercules is considered a fit subject for a rollicking action movie starring the Rock in the title role, while demigod Jesus is treated with such reverence that filmmakers often don't show his face on screen.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Speaking of thinking things through, the gods of Pagan religions are not omnimax deities, nor are they creator deities in the style of the Abrahamic god. Anthropomorphic depictions and symbolic icons in Paganisms are basically narrative devices used to help present and convey the nature of the deity to people. Poseidon doesn't need a literal weapon... he is the ocean. Tridents are three-pronged spears used for spear fishing, and fish live in the ocean... so it makes sense to use a trident as a symbol for an ocean deity. It's a symbol.

It's interesting, though, that it's a symbol that represents human use of the ocean. There are plenty of symbols that could be used to symbolize the ocean itself - the fish, for instance - but they used a symbol that embodies not the ocean, but the relationship that humans have with the ocean.

... at the time. For most people, they don't relate to a trident as an actual fishing implement. These days, it's taken more often as a symbol for Poseidon than as a symbol for the ocean. These days, a lobster trap, a ship's radar, or a trawling net would be more evocative of how we relate to the ocean today, but Poseidon is still shown with his obsolete implement. It's a lot like how Greek and Norse gods are often depicted with British accents to make them seem "old-timey" to Americans.

 

[Quintessence]

Looking at you, SMITE: Battleground of the Gods.

*twitches*

The company has also basically openly said they don't give a crap. Or at least that's my read on how they responded to Hindu protests.

If they're going to have the gall to make a game like this, the least they could do is be equal opportunity with their cultural insensitivity. Where's Jesus in this game?

 

[blü 2]

gods [...] Shouldn't they have divine machine guns or something?

I seem to have channeled this message:

I'm omnipotent. I can make and unmake people, planets, stars, galaxies, universes. Be afraid, be very afraid, of the ultimate weapon: the divine finger snap.
​

It doesn't appear to be signed.

​

 

[DavidFirth]

Movies are written so that people will pay money to see them. People are much more willing to pay to see god-like beings fight with swords than a shoot out of some kind. They can see shoot outs on TV.

 

[BSM1]

Movies are written so that people will pay money to see them. People are much more willing to pay to see god-like beings fight with swords than a shoot out of some kind. They can see shoot outs on TV.

Or in their own neighborhoods..

 

[DavidFirth]

Or in their own neighborhoods..

Yes, unfortunately.

 

[Riders]

They didn't even have weapons for the walls of Jericho.

 

[BSM1]

They didn't even have weapons for the walls of Jericho.

Yeah, they blew it...

 

[Kelly of the Phoenix]

They didn't even have weapons for the walls of Jericho.

Bad musicians will kill even whole cities.

 

[BSM1]

Bad musicians will kill even whole cities.

Way to close to home, lol. We just got back from a very bad open mic session.