Recovering Ideals (4)

The third and fourth stories from DC Comics’ The World’s Greatest Super-Heroes have the most mythological themes. This week, we’ll take a look at Shazam! Power of Hope by Alex Ross and Paul Dini. This features a mistreated boy named Billy Batson who can transform to an adult superhero by pronouncing the name of a wizard.

You want mythology? This story has it. The wizard’s name is Shazam, an acronym derived from the names of Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury. Billy becomes Captain Marvel, “earth’s mightiest mortal”, whenever he says this name. Since he exists alternately as a boy and a supernatural man, he has the characteristics of both. Even as an adult, Captain Marvel shows childlike sensitivity.

There are plenty of action sequences, but what affected me the most was the theme of Captain Marvel interacting with children in a hospital. The captain is advised by Shazam, the wizard, before embarking on this mission.

After he has been at the hospital for a while, there is a charming sequence showing the response given by the soul of a boy in the body of a man when he finds himself in a more adult situation: that of being affectionately thanked by the pediatric doctor of the children’s ward. It is innocently nuanced.

Well, I might as well admit it. The following sequence made me tear up (that’s masculine for “cry a little”). My wife is a school nurse, and this reminded me of a story she told me about one of her students.

The theme that I found the most powerful is that sometimes Captain Marvel isn’t enough, and it takes an ordinary boy like Billy to solve a serious problem.

It takes a human being to reach other human beings. In this sense, the incarnation in Christian doctrine makes sense to me. One of our greatest superpowers is that of being a friend.

Ancient To Modern: Borrowed Gods (7)

Zeus

In the Greek pantheon he is the king of the gods, the god of the sky, the heavens, and thunder and lightning. When compared to the Norse pantheon, he might be considered a combination of some of the attributes of Odin and Thor.  His name in the Roman pantheon is Jupiter.

Jupiter of Smyrna (discovered in Smyrna in 1680).

In the painting below, Jupiter is shown appearing to Semele, one of his many lovers, as per her request. This, of course, kills her since she is a mere mortal. The account is from The Metamorphoses by Ovid.

Jupiter and Semele (1640 or earlier) by Peter Paul Rubens.

I am reminded of God’s admonition to Moses in Exodus 33:20: “No one may see me and live.” This biblical account, by the way, is much older.

Hera is the wife of Zeus and is also one of his (gasp) sisters. Not only did he carry on with mortal women, but also with nymphs and other goddesses. Oh, what has become of our pagan idols?

Zeus and Thetis on Mount Olympus (1811) by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres.

Zeus also appears in (guess what) Marvel Comics…

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… and DC Comics.

I’ll skip the more adolescent, “mean world” representations of later issues.

He  is also portrayed in more movies than I care to list. Furthermore, so much of the Greco-Roman pantheon has been appropriated by Marvel Comics and DC Comics that I grow tired of this sport.

Credit: Marvel Comics

Credit: DC Comics

Next week, I will change topics and begin a series of posts on mythological beasts and spirits.

Graphic Mythology: An Impersonal God

Allow me to jump back into the DC universe and a graphic novel which was a critical sensation. Watchmen was highly regarded (perhaps too highly) and garnered all kinds of superlatives when it came out. The artwork for this limited series now seems dated, but it is good enough to stimulate the imagination and move the story (a strong one) forward. It’s a bit dark and violent for my tastes, but it was well-written and different, especially for the time it was published. I could see what at least some of the excitement was about.

For the purposes of my blog, I will focus on one character and leave the rest of his dysfunctional cohorts to struggle with their humanity. Doc Manhattan was once a man named Jon Osterman until a nuclear accident at the research facility where he worked turned him into a god. He is no longer bound by time, space, or mortality. He can control energy and matter, has mastered the quantum universe, and can change his dimensions at will. He is invulnerable. As can be seen, he has many of the characteristics one would attribute to God. His character is another matter.

Doc is detached to the point of indifference. Though he has the power to prevent it, he watches in bland astonishment as another “hero” called The Comedian kills a pregnant Vietnamese woman. In his post-human state, he has sexual relations with first one woman (Jenny Slater) and then another (a fellow superhero named Laurel Juspeczyk, a.k.a. Laurie Jupiter) but feels nothing for either of them. Selfish preoccupation and insensitivity are among his hallmarks, and he is a god the U. S. government mistakenly thought they could control.

This is not the God of the Judeo Christian tradition. His behavior squares more with that of the male members of the Greco Roman pantheon – most notably Zeus (Jupiter). The graphic novel was a good, albeit uncomfortable, read for me, but if you’re shopping for a god or even just a hero with whom to identify, I prescribe someone other than Doc Manhattan.

Mythology on Canvas (Part 9)

The Perseus Series by Edward Burne-Jones (continued from last week):

To fulfill his promise, Perseus must seek the Hesperides (called sea nymphs in this series of paintings) for help, but he does not know where to find them. He must ask the Graiae (“gray ones” or “gray witches”) for information as to their whereabouts. Since they are sisters of Medusa, they are unlikely to help him willingly.

Perseus and the Graiae by Edward Burne-Jones

The three Graiae have only one eye between them and must share in its use. Perseus steals the eye as they are passing it among themselves and holds it at ransom until they give him the desired information.

Perseus and the Sea Nymphs by Edward Burne-Jones

He then goes to the Hesperides (sea nymphs), who give him a sack for safely transporting the head of Medusa. He also receives such tools as a polished shield from the goddess Athena (evidently shown out of sequence with a mirror in the first painting, The Call of Perseus, shown last week) winged sandals from Hermes, a helm of darkness from Hades, and a sword from Zeus. In the above picture, all of these events are consolidated as the conferring of the gifts by the sea nymphs, who are identified by virtue of being shown standing on a puddle.

(to be continued)

Mythology on Canvas (Part 8)

For the next several posts, I will comment on the Perseus series by Edward Burne-Jones . These paintings are based not strictly on the story from  ancient Greek mythology but also on a rather florid nineteenth century poem whose title and author at present escape my memory. Take, for example, the first painting in the series: The call of Perseus.

The Call of Perseus by Edward Burne-Jones

In looking up the details of the legend, I could find no mention of what this picture depicts, so I am assuming this scene came from the poem. The actual background is that the demigod Perseus was the son of Zeus and a mortal named Danae. Later on in the story, Perseus shields his mother from an amorous king under whose hospitality they are living. In an effort to disgrace Perseus, this king creates an occasion for various men to give him horses as gifts. Perseus (“of course, of course” for those who might recognize this phrase) has no horse but offers to fulfill any wish that the king might lay upon him. He is assigned the seemingly impossible task of bringing back the head of Medusa, a Gorgon with snakes for hair. Upon the mere sight of her, onlookers turn to stone.

(to be continued)

Literary Legislation (Part 2)

Moving toward the acceptable end of the spectrum mentioned in my last post, I would like to consider female characters who are part human and part divine. Typically, they are the products of unions between gods and mortals. That the vast majority of ancient offspring from such unions were men should not surprise us, given the historical context. Whether male or female, such children often did not turn out well. Take, for example, Helen of Troy (also called Helen of Sparta). Though accounts vary, she is sometimes said to be a daughter of Zeus and Leda. The circumstances of her conception are at least slightly disturbing, her immortal father taking the form of a swan before procreating with her mother.

Leda and the Swan by Cesare da Sesto, c. 1506-1510

Her life from there does not particularly take to higher moral ground. Helen’s main (and perhaps only) attribute is her beauty, and throughout her life she is good chiefly for… well, you guessed it.

Helen of Troy by Evelyn Morgan, 1898.

So how, exactly, does this qualify her as a positive example for the role of women in mythology? Uh, good point. Actually, it underscores another point I made last week. Older mythologies show a paucity of female role models, and newer constructions can be used to fill the social void. Jumping back into our own century, consider the title character from Ponyo by Hayao Miyazaki. She is the daughter of a wizard and a sea goddess and is stubborn and strong-willed. Her devotion to Sosuke is pivotal to the plot and to a touching depiction of friendship between young children of opposite sexes.

Still shot from Ponyo, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, 2008.

Another compelling example from animation is Saoirse, the daughter of a selkie and a lighthouse keeper in Song of the Sea by Tomm Moore. This is a truly admirable character who is redemptive to those around her, especially after her transformation.

From Song of the Sea, directed by Tomm Moore, 2014

Next week, I need to take on what could turn out to be a tougher assignment: finding positive examples of “normal” women in mythology.