Monday, March 31, 2014

The Bond between Old and New

What is the relationship between old and new?  Classic and Modern?

The BYU symposium gave me a new perspective and reminded me of something I think I already knew.  The New is here because of the Old.  Modern texts morphed from the Classics.  Like T.S.Eliot I also believe that we need the past in order to understand and create a future. 

One of the presentations I saw was on the modern TV adaptation of “Merlin”, the Camelot myth, and the deviations that were made from the original text to better suite modern ideals and expectations.  Apparently, I old bearded man is not very relatable… but a 19 year old boy total is!  Guienivere’s adultery was scandalous back then, but modern rules of “was it for true love?” makes it much more ok these days.  And, we don’t seem to be able to handle to evil of a character who has the conflicting tendencies to be good — so current writers saw the need to split up the Lady of the Lake into two characters so viewers wouldn’t have to go through such an internal acceptance/ shunning battle. 


Thinking about my own topic, I see the empowerment of woman also going through a kind of metamorphosis.  Modern woman seem to feel that feminism is just simply standing up to the oppressive male.  Since when did a woman’s empowerment have to only come to her if she is up against a man?!? 
Like Alice standing up to the Queen, I feel a woman can step into her empowered role as long as she is standing up for herself, not just standing up against a man.  



>> More coming as I respond to an enthusiast response to the question: “At what moment did Alice step into her role as an empowered woman?” 

1 comment:

  1. Glad to see these connections to your current writing from the papers you heard!

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