Reactions to story from Illicit Cultural Property

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  • Author unknown

    Odyssey: Cartoonish?

    http://semperegoauditor.typepad.com/ccc/2008/05/odyssey-cart...
    6 days ago in Classics in Contemporary Culture · Authority: 14

    In a post on the film Iron Man, Derek Fincham at the blog Illicit Cultural Properties argues that comics are the modern myths, and explores some of the cultural resonances involved: ...Godzilla is a product of Japanese unease in the 1950's following the dropping of the atomic bomb. Spider Man is the first superhero whose skin we can't see in his costume, because in the 1960s Stan Lee wanted to create a superhero for all races. It's hard not to see the struggle of World War II in Tolkien's work. Now, perhaps I'm just an aging fanboy whose read too much Joseph Campbell, but is the story of the Odyssey really that different from a comic book? The point, I think, is not to choose ancient myths over modern pop culture, but to see how the two inform each other. David Simon has openly acknowledged that the Wire is nothing more than Greek tragedy, save instead of gods and goddesses he substitutes in their place modern institutions like police departments, the media, and the school system. If you're paying attention, I think this nexus between Simon's depiction of the Baltimore drug trade with ancient tragedy can inform both our understanding of urban cities, and realize that many similar struggles existed thousands of years ago. Now, maybe it's just me, but at least could ICP have done the Odyssey the service of comparing it to a "graphic novel" rather than a more lowly "comic book"...?