tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16538843.post6764039895003894575..comments2024-01-02T09:18:23.893-05:00Comments on Written World: I have bigger worries with Thor.Ragnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00373059673228550524noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16538843.post-32809858648833474502011-03-16T23:30:28.036-04:002011-03-16T23:30:28.036-04:00I'm also a Heathen, and consider myself someth...I'm also a Heathen, and consider myself something of a devotee to Hel/Hela. I like the dicotomy she has too, with the light and dark aspects, though I tend to see her more as a beautiful woman rather than the crone (or occasionally as a perky goth girl, for some reason). I honestly don't think she'd mind the look she's got in the Marvel comics. I'm sure she'd rather keep the dual skin tone, sure, but there's nothing wrong with being beautiful and flaunting it. As you said, chainmail bikinis are standard fair in the myths, for all intents and purposes, and the ancient Norse certainly didn't have the hang ups about modesty we do today.<br /><br />I'll admit I was personally a bit rankled by them casting a black guy as Heimdall. Not because I have something against the actor, or even black people, but because it just seemed kind of disrepectful. We can all laugh gleefully at the racists whining about the "race lift" or whatever you wanna call it, but I wonder how many of us would find the same humor if a movie was made staring African mythology and they cast Anasi the Spider with a White actor (who from my understanding, as about the same level of hero worship as Thor does in the Norse). I'm sure we'd be seeing a lot less laughing and a lot more foaming at the mouth. I'm not that hung up over it, and I'm looking forwards to the movie, but still, I wish for the equality of respect that we show to be shown to us.Svartwulfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07538262258700282126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16538843.post-44512330436520028262010-12-23T11:54:48.581-05:002010-12-23T11:54:48.581-05:00Van -- Yeah, but too bad he went on to suggest tha...Van -- Yeah, but too bad he went on to suggest that the filmmakers were nonetheless going to suffer the wrath of the gods.Ragnellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00373059673228550524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16538843.post-59321219961767732222010-12-22T21:28:53.938-05:002010-12-22T21:28:53.938-05:00"Marvel Thor isn't and shouldn't be c..."Marvel Thor isn't and shouldn't be confused with Norse 'myth'."<br /><br />Nailed it!VanVeldinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03441999455333315750noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16538843.post-84660016935591128012010-12-20T17:22:01.727-05:002010-12-20T17:22:01.727-05:00I must admit that when I was fourteen or thereabou...I must admit that when I was fourteen or thereabouts I had a terrible crush on Marvel's Thor. I also mooned after John Denver, but that's neither here nor there. But this was back when John Buscema was doing the art, and it was fabulous. And HIS version of Hela was fully clothed. And she wasn't even evil really, just a Death Goddess, who really really loved her job.<br /><br />And yes, the Warriors Three are a whole lot of fun. I must admit that my mind was boggled when they had the Enchantress turn out to actually be Idunn. Never saw THAT coming!SallyPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05592635194271250605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16538843.post-58337074985693151412010-12-20T11:17:49.546-05:002010-12-20T11:17:49.546-05:00When I read the Marvel Thor adventures I don't...When I read the Marvel Thor adventures I don't really regard the characters as representing the actual Norse gods, but as being kind of similar cosmic beings that may have inspired, been inspired by, or be refractions of the Scandinavian gods.<br /><br />I don't know what the official canonical position is, but I definitely take Marvel Thor and Odin to be a completely different type of character from, say, Ares and Zeus when they pop up in Wonder Woman comics (where they are more clearly intended to be the same entities as worshiped by ancient Greeks). <br /><br />I read the Asgardians are (not coincidentally) much more like the New Genesis/Apokolips characters, or the Celestials or Inhumans, and it always has felt to me like a kind of ... audience error to read them as if they were the same entities worshipped by ancient Norse.<br /><br />(The above in not meant to excuse or condone unnecessary shirtlesseness).E Grantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16538843.post-21152225656115325792010-12-20T10:33:22.798-05:002010-12-20T10:33:22.798-05:00Mymyr -- Impressive. Surely you've heard this...Mymyr -- Impressive. Surely you've heard this one:<br />"About his intelligence no man should be boastful; rather cautious of mind"<br /><br />You know the lingo and the etymology, but I'm not convinced you know what you're talking about. If the gods will be so offended by the performance of a black man, what will they think of one of their professed followers going to a stranger's hall, denouncing their host's values, and then presuming to declare what insults the gods and how they will react to it?Ragnellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00373059673228550524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16538843.post-44921833226620107192010-12-20T08:56:10.331-05:002010-12-20T08:56:10.331-05:00Alleged white supremacy aside, Heimdallr is the wh...Alleged white supremacy aside, Heimdallr is the whitest of the aesir, has nine mothers, was born in sea foam, and is worth a lot more than PC stunt casting in a truly dire comicbook film.<br /><br />I have no time for neopagan hogwash either.<br /><br />Disr are wraiths- same indo aryan root word as provided the DM inscription on Roman tombs- dis manibus, and the intaker of the dead Dis Pater.<br /><br />Vanadis etc. aren't even Norse or cognate words and using them makes things less clear, less accurate- and of course much less credible.<br /><br />Marvel's deities are insultingly inaccurate, but since Lee Kirby Thor is a revival of an obscure golden age Thor character and not some loving refreshment of Norse myth- for reasons (Nazism) that should be obvious given Lee and Kirby's own antecedents and rightly so- Marvel Thor isn't and shouldn't be confused with Norse "myth".<br /><br />Particularly absent in Marvel mythology is not so much the classic portrayals of hranakar but more significantly the utter absence of the underlying mystical meanings. Without them their sterile comicbook tales of Thor really are nothing more than soulless puppet shows.<br /><br />And to the makers of the Thor film and similar travesties- the forces you tamper with are quite real. What you pray for you will receive so beware your mocking ways.Mymyrhttp://www.earth1941.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16538843.post-74769568759461940102010-12-20T06:54:24.011-05:002010-12-20T06:54:24.011-05:00Oh, that's interesting, I didn't know that...Oh, that's interesting, I didn't know that much about Hela (or the Asgardian mythology in general), but there was a scene in this week's X-Factor where they show that half of Hela is rotting/dead (and she hides it). Now that scene makes much more sense, since it's probably referring to what you are talking about here. <br /><br />She's still pretty tarted up though.Matt Duartehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07320627525337447814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16538843.post-12011449008259166732010-12-19T23:52:17.169-05:002010-12-19T23:52:17.169-05:00In all honesty, it IS pretty funny that Heimdall, ...In all honesty, it IS pretty funny that Heimdall, of all the Æsir, is the one cast as a black guy. "Whitest of the gods", remember?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16538843.post-16313970667476391252010-12-19T20:04:38.419-05:002010-12-19T20:04:38.419-05:00I'm glad I read the full post, since my initia...I'm glad I read the full post, since my initial impulse was to rush down and say "Read Simonson's stuff, it's much better!" I'm not an expert on Norse mythology, so I can't say if Simonson's run on Thor hewed closer in that regard too, but I suspect it did. And yeah, I was bothered by Sif being made an invalid in JMS's run as well-it felt like an unnecessary mystery, especially when Thor transformed all of the sleeping Asgardians into their true selves. The reason for it was devious enough to fit Loki, yes, and I suppose that's enough of an explanation for why Thor couldn't wake her up as well. But it still didn't sit well with me to sideline her and keep teasing her absence.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16538843.post-71259831593538452262010-12-19T17:00:06.439-05:002010-12-19T17:00:06.439-05:00I grew up respecting the Norse gods a whole lot, b...I grew up respecting the Norse gods a whole lot, but haven't really read a whole lot of their Marvel Universe incarnations.<br />Having said that, I have never quite understood why creators feel the need to twist the source material - when you've got a rich mythology full of really interesting and colourful stories, why would you want to change it? Anyone should be able to recognise Hel. That picture you posted, that's not Hel.Sarangahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03545162612237984546noreply@blogger.com