I mean How do I put this Actual mythology isn't something you *choose* It's just *there*, its relevance is assumed
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Like if someone shows you around their hometown and says "Oh yeah that's where John Henry died racing the steam drill" They're not saying that as a "John Henry fan", they're not talking about something they chose to watch for entertainment and assume you did too
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Replying to @arthur_affect @LizardOrman
People of the past often knew myths were made up at the time and even if people are not fans of something the myth comparison is more about common cultural language. "When Thanos snapped his fingers," can be "Shaka, When the Walls Fell." Comics≠ Religious stories.
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Replying to @Lithobolos @LizardOrman
I strongly disagree with this and I think it's an example of presentism Like, it's starting off with the premise of wanting to imagine that all time periods and societies are basically the same and then trying to force obvious facts about them into that mold
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It is just simply false that the legends of Hercules, even if serious people in the time of Socrates no longer gave them much credence, were "pop culture" in the sense we have it today or that the name of the Pillars of Hercules was a "pop culture reference"
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Pop culture didn't exist Commonly referenced culture among ordinary people existed, sure That doesn't mean it actually literally was the same thing as pop culture like we have now Living in a different time period does, in fact, fundamentally change the kind of person you are
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Replying to @arthur_affect @LizardOrman
When using language to try and describe something we are always going to be off the mark. Presentism the way you seem to be describing it basically destroys the modern human ability to understand something from the past or even another culture.
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Saying something "is like" isn't the same thing as saying "it is exactly this." Same as with your comparison of wage Slavery and chattel slavery being different but still part of the system of oppression. It's not about diminishing but communicating, the alternative is...
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..treating all things as disconnected, and impossible to understand or describe in a way someone can have as close to an understanding as possible without direct experience.
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Replying to @Lithobolos @LizardOrman
I understand that, which is why I made my tongue in cheek comment about the "mythology" comparison being formerly useful but now past its sell-by date I think continuing to use this comparison to defend the "legitimacy" of pop culture begins to obscure more than it reveals
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In particular, I think the people who own Spider-Man *want* us to think of Spider-Man as something that "just exists" in American culture the way Paul Bunyan and Pecos Bill and John Henry just exist -- that it's an organic tradition and not a commercial product
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And I think blurring that distinction is dangerous, it makes us uncritical of things we really ought to be critical of, given how powerful the IP holders behind the superhero media machine have become
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Spider-Man really isn't just folklore that's out there that's a part of your hometown culture based on the shared experiences of your community going back generations He was made up by someone in order to deliberately sell you something
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