How do you feel like when someone changes myths?

[FlyingNakedMan]

I guess an example, though it's not a very good one, would be how the author of the Twilight Sage had vampires sparkle in the sun.

Since I've been thinking of doing something like that, but more to actually cause a rivalry of two mythical people.

[I_Write_Ivre]

It's not like that's new for vampires or myths. No one cared two hundred years ago and no one cares now.

I thought we were talking religion, which you DO have to watch out for.

[Aha]

As long as it's done well, I really don't care.

[Kita-Ysabell]

Oh hey, someone who totally isn't me just started a thread about one of my current hot-button issues! Fancy that!

I've started using the term "cosplay characters" for when an author says that they're using a character from a mythology, or a fairy tale, or someone else's work, but the facts just don't bear that out. This happens when an author fails to make any attempt at understanding the source material, and takes it entirely at face value, failing to bring along the ideology or thematic characterization that makes the character what they are in the source material, giving the impression that someone who isn't that character is none the less going about wearing their name and appearance.

Which isn't to say that you can't use characters from elsewhere, or that if you do, you can't change anything, just that you should know why things were the way they were in the first place, so that you understand the real effect of changing them, and are able to preserve the characteristics that make them most what they are.

[I_Write_Ivre]

Kita-Ysabell

Which isn't to say that you can't use characters from elsewhere, or that if you do, you can't change anything, just that you should know why things were the way they were in the first place, so that you understand the real effect of changing them, and are able to preserve the characteristics that make them most what they are.

Just to clarify: If someone wrote Jesus as a woman, but he still preached peace did most everything else in the Bible, would that be considered accurate to source material or a cosplay character?

[Kita-Ysabell]

I_Write_Ivre

Just to clarify: If someone wrote Jesus as a woman, but he still preached peace did most everything else in the Bible, would that be considered accurate to source material or a cosplay character?

I would consider that accurate to the source material if the author used the change in a meaningful way. Like, if it was a reflection on how whatever the writer perceives Jesus' message to be might have been different if preached by a woman. Or if it was a comparison between the political situation of Jesus' time and the gender relations of the setting. Or if it took place in a speculative setting where gender roles were reversed.

Cosplay Jesus looks like Jesus from popular iconography, but shoots laser beams out of his eyes and goes to war with aliens, and the author has probably never read the Sermon on the Mount.

[I_Write_Ivre]

Kita-Ysabell

Cosplay Jesus looks like Jesus from popular iconography, but shoots laser beams out of his eyes and goes to war with aliens, and the author has probably never read the Sermon on the Mount.

Ah, Liefeld Jesus

[Kita-Ysabell]

I_Write_Ivre

Kita-Ysabell

Cosplay Jesus looks like Jesus from popular iconography, but shoots laser beams out of his eyes and goes to war with aliens, and the author has probably never read the Sermon on the Mount.

Ah, Liefeld Jesus

Wait, is that actually a thing? I totally just made it up on the spot.

[I_Write_Ivre]

Kita-Ysabell

I_Write_Ivre

Kita-Ysabell

Cosplay Jesus looks like Jesus from popular iconography, but shoots laser beams out of his eyes and goes to war with aliens, and the author has probably never read the Sermon on the Mount.

Ah, Liefeld Jesus

Wait, is that actually a thing? I totally just made it up on the spot.

No, but Jesus does battle Zeus to wrestling in a Liefeld comic.

[Kita-Ysabell]

I_Write_Ivre

No, but Jesus does battle Zeus to wrestling in a Liefeld comic.

Ah.

me: *pop culture fail*

But yeah, that's pretty much what I mean by a cosplay character.

[FlyingNakedMan]

Hmmm, I think I've gotten a hold of what you meant.

[SkyMessenger]

If it's done well and nothing too ridiculous or insulting, then I'll totally try it

[Ysavvryl]

Messing with myths is fun and redone myths can be great to read. But it helps a lot to know the source material and consider why things are the way they are in myths. And consider what the changes made mean and how they would be made 'realistic' relative to the setting.

[Old Man Maj]

I'm really pissed about the Total Recall remake, with regard to everything from character and casting to plot and effects. Does that count?

[Corona Licorice]

It's not bad, but the critical mistake is leaving loose ends. Well, since the Twilight example came up anyway, yes they added sparkling vamps but gave little explanation as to why. Right from that point we were waiting to some kind of backstory or explanation but it never really came.

I would think, if you want to rework myths, it'd only really be successful if you gave a good explanation as to why things happened the way they did, or explain why the real myth ended up being a misconception (if you decide to write it that way). I find this happens alot in fanfiction, stuff happens, but nobody knows why.