Hollywood and Unicorns don't mix!

Do you think that Hollywood does a good job with their unicorns?

yes	29.9%	[ 144 ]
no	50.8%	[ 245 ]
what's a unicorn?	19.3%	[ 93 ]
Total Votes:			[ 482 ]

[kimika56]

chaotiquewhim

The 'horse-with-a-horn' image is a widely accepted one for unicorns; it was in all the fairy tales I grew up with. In that sense, it isn't wrong; this is what a lot of people envision a unicorn as.

I have to agree with this. It seems to me that this was what I was taught a unicorn was. I've also heard that a unicorn is supposed to be Dragon-like, but that never made sense to me when I was little. The horse with a horn, it was what I was taught and raised with, so it makes a little more sense to me.

[Somnambulism]

I usually never freak out about how unicorns are interpreted in Hollywood movies.

Werewolves, on the other hand...

Well, that's another story.

[oriental_illusions]

Symptom of the Universe

What makes is a "good" depiction though? Is there a conan of books that say "and this is what a unicorn shall look like?" Are their debates among scholars over what can seen as a unicorn?

Obviously not because fantasy creatures are not products of an objective reality, they are a cultural construction (in the fullest sense). As such, any claim that "Hollywood makes bad unicorns" is ridiculous because there is no objective standard to judge a "true" unicorn because no true unicorns exist.

Just because something is a cultural construction doesn't mean it doesn't have standards. All Gods of any religion are "cultural constructions", yet they are specifically described. Ra is not Allah. And the basis for fantasy creatures is a part of history, so in many ways it is important to keep them historically correct.

chaotiquewhim

The 'horse-with-a-horn' image is a widely accepted one for unicorns; it was in all the fairy tales I grew up with. In that sense, it isn't wrong; this is what a lot of people envision a unicorn as.

Just because the majority accepts it doesn't mean it's right. In history, once, the majority believed the world is flat. And they were wrong. I'm not saying that how unicorns are portrayed is as important as whether the earth is flat or not, because it's not. But it shows that the majority isn't always the way to go.

kimika56

I have to agree with this. It seems to me that this was what I was taught a unicorn was. I've also heard that a unicorn is supposed to be Dragon-like, but that never made sense to me when I was little. The horse with a horn, it was what I was taught and raised with, so it makes a little more sense to me.

The dragon-like unicorn you heard of would be one of the oriental unicorns. It has the body of a dragon, the legs of a stag and a single horn.

[Wishbone Redemption]

As a hard-core fantasy fan, I have to agree. The Sci-fi channel gets them wrong, too; but it's rarer for them to get something right than to get it wrong.

[Asamai]

lol, true! xd

[Dynamo Kiev]

In history, people believed that unicorns looked more like goats. Now, they believe them to look more like horses.

Mabye before then, in ancient times we have no record of, they thougth of unicorns as sheep with two long turquois horns, and the horn-goat thing is really a bastardization of an earlier form.

Neither is more or less right than the other.

[(Shoujo+Ramune)]

Ridley Scott's LEGEND. Though they don't fit the mythological descriptions they're still a damn sight better that any other hollywood unicorn. That whole movie is kick-a**. So sparkly.

[Balmung224]

frankly i thinkg the unicorn looked good in narnia

[oriental_illusions]

Nolandon

In history, people believed that unicorns looked more like goats. Now, they believe them to look more like horses.

Neither is more or less right than the other.

I believe the goat unicorn (I've also heard it called the Gothic unicorn) comes from a different culture. There are many different types, all with their own descriptions. But as far as I know, a horse with a pasted on horn isn't one of them.

[Symptom of the Universe]

oriental_illusions

Just because something is a cultural construction doesn't mean it doesn't have standards. All Gods of any religion are "cultural constructions", yet they are specifically described. Ra is not Allah. And the basis for fantasy creatures is a part of history, so in many ways it is important to keep them historically correct.

And where do those standards come from? The culture who defines them. Ra is not Allah, you are correct, but that is because those seperate cultures have different standards for who God is.

How is the basis for fantasy cretatures historical? They may have basis in myth, but myths change to fit cultures. The unicorn is an archetype and archetypes grow and change based upon the cultural context.

[Cruciarius]

i think they do unicorns fairly well.

unicorn = horse with a magical horn growing from its head.

pegasus = horse with a horn growing from its head and has wings.

the only mythological beast, that i can think of, that was done wrong, was the basilisk in harry potter. a basilisk is a 6 or 8 legged (i forget which) lizard, which can turn things to stone, by looking at them. harry potter's basilisk was a big snake, which "froze" things. they removed the legs and it didn't turn things to stone (stone as in a real stone. not that "frozen" like state).

[oriental_illusions]

Symptom of the Universe

oriental_illusions

Just because something is a cultural construction doesn't mean it doesn't have standards. All Gods of any religion are "cultural constructions", yet they are specifically described. Ra is not Allah. And the basis for fantasy creatures is a part of history, so in many ways it is important to keep them historically correct.

And where do those standards come from? The culture who defines them. Ra is not Allah, you are correct, but that is because those seperate cultures have different standards for who God is.

How is the basis for fantasy cretatures historical? They may have basis in myth, but myths change to fit cultures. The unicorn is an archetype and archetypes grow and change based upon the cultural context.

I guess you're right, and the "horse with a pasted on horn" could be the "modern culture" unicorn. But I still feel that it is a poor imataion of the true traditional one and lacks the colorful cultural development that all other unicorns boast.

And Cruciarius, Pegasuses don't have to have a horn. The original Peg that came out of Medusa's neck didn't have one.

[Demonic_princess_unicorn]

hi and good afternoon biggrin

[[science.geek]]

uh.. ther was unicorns in the book cronicals of narnia: the llion witch and the wardrobe. so thats y thers unicorns in teh move

[oriental_illusions]

jonas_is_smart

uh.. ther was unicorns in the book cronicals of narnia: the llion witch and the wardrobe. so thats y thers unicorns in teh move

I didn't say there weren't unicorns in the book, I'm saying that they portrayed the unicorn wrong in the movie. It is especially bad since a CORRECT unicorn was on the cover of The Last Battle.