What would 'gods' think of their protrayals in modern media?

[Chris0013]

That Oikos yogurt commercial was just on where they have Ares as a spokes person...what would Ares think of that?

Or Hercules about the Kevin Sorbo Hercules series?

Or any gods think of portrayals of them whether flattering or not??

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Hercules might take the tv show in good faith. He has a stronger connection/patience for humanity. Ares probably would feel the commercial as mockery but beneath his notice.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

The Norse Gods would probably be quite confused and baffled by Marvel Norse and MCU Norse.

Myth!Odin - Since when is Loki my son?
Myth!Thor - Since when have I been blonde?
Myth!Loki - I am not as hot as this guy but you won't hear me complaining.

Not that Marvel or MCU Loki is accurate, but it's a take that I doubt Myth!Loki would find offensive because in a lot of ways, it's very flattering of the Scarlip. I think that's true for everyone. In a lot of ways MCU Norse or Marvel Norse reflects how the Norse Gods would have liked to have been seen rather than how they really were.

Myth!Odin was a scheming one-eyed scumbag, not any better than Loki. He was a wandering shape-shifting rapist much like Zeus, and was also quite keen on low-brow hijinks and tricking people. One of his many names is Bolwerk, which means "Evildoer". His whole idea was to have mortals slaughtered so that they could be his slaves to fight on his behalf on Ragnarok. Anthony Hopkins' Odin in Thor Ragnarok, at least in the backstory is closest to Myth!Odin. The whole concept of Odin lying and stealing stuff is true, because all the Asgardian great weapons -- Gungnir, Mjolnir, Skithblathnir -- were stuff made by either Svartalfheim or Nitharvellir and which the Asgardians swindled away.

Myth!Thor was a really dumb guy (seriously as much as people complain about Aaron's Thor or MCU Thor that's nothing compared to the original). One of his most famous episodes was when Loki tricked him into crossdressing as a bridesmaid for a dwarf to marry. Also in the myths, Mjolnir wasn't enchanted that only the worthy could carry. Myth!Thor was also capable of cruelty to innocents, like one time he tossed a living dwarf into a burning funeral pyre just coz.

Myth!Loki is somehow both more incompetent than and more dangerous than Marvel Loki. Loki in the myths was often a guy who got into messes and then got out of them but he always came a cropper. Whether it was having his lips scarred, having to change into an animal and have sex with animals and give birth to foal as part of a crazy scheme. If you read the myths in a rough chronological way (i.e. earliest Loki story to Ragnarok) like for instance in Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology, the overall arc is one of a college fratboy dudebro suddenly becoming an Evil Overlord, which is not improbable what with 45 in the Oval Office, but certainly something of a big tonal shift. The Lokasenna which is basically Loki insulting and saying nasty and cruel (but true) stuff to the Aesir, is Loki at his best and worst.

So most likely the Aesir will see this and praise Marvel for the free propaganda.

[davew128]

Or Hercules about the Kevin Sorbo Hercules series?

https://hercules-xena.fandom.com/wik...inia_title.jpg

[JudicatorPrime]

So most likely the Aesir will see this and praise Marvel for the free propaganda.

Indeed they would. Marvel has made the Norse gods far more popular than they've ever been, including when they were actively worshipped. Thanks to Marvel they've gone from being a "Who are they again?" to global first name recognition status.

In fact, Marvel has done such a phenomenal job with Odin and the gang that the other pantheons would likely have destroyed Marvel out of jealousy and spite. You won't hear them campaigning for equal time or a deity diversity push. Not when a few bolts of lightning, or an eternal curse, or an earthquake that rips open the earth and swallows Marvel HQ whole is much more effective. The only upside is that we might get to see the carcasses of our favorite comics creators strung up as constellations.

[Sutekh]

Indeed they would. Marvel has made the Norse gods far more popular than they've ever been, including when they were actively worshipped. Thanks to Marvel they've gone from being a "Who are they again?" to global first name recognition status.

Eh, whoever decided to name Thursday probably did more to make Thor a household name than Marvel has, at least in the English-speaking world.

That said, Marvel has gone that extra step by making Thor a pop-culture icon in places like Korea.

The Greek gods are the ones I'd be concerned about. They are infamously petty, jealous and spiteful, and even a less than obsequious reference to them can invite horrible curses and vengeance. Hercules might not give a hoot about most of his portrayals, even the Falstaffian buffoonesque ones, but Disney's version of Hades would likely have been the end of that company, when Hades got around to hearing about it.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

In fact, Marvel has done such a phenomenal job with Odin and the gang that the other pantheons would likely have destroyed Marvel out of jealousy and spite.

I mean that's how it works. The fact that the Norse Gods were so underexposed at the time, and so obscure, and definitely not worshipped anymore, means that they were ripe to be be made into Marvel IP without any people raising a fuss. You can't do that with active religions like Hinduism or the monotheistic faiths. I mean since Christianity is such a dominant religion, it's going to be a long long time before any writers have the freedom to say, make Jesus a superhero (leaving aside the issue that a dude who believed in 'turning the other cheek' is probably not amenable to go out and beat people up).

And you know there's something deliciously grand about the fact that the most dominating visual references for the Aesir, this Nordic Germanic belief system, was created by Jewish World War II vets.

Eh, whoever decided to name Thursday probably did more to make Thor a household name than Marvel has, at least in the English-speaking world.

Not really. Only a small minority of people knew that trivia. For most people Thursday is just Thursday, and only a few people know it's ties to Thor. The fact is that the Norse Gods and their entry to popular culture is a recent phenomenon. You won't find a single reference, allusion, and depiction of the Aesir in Dante, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Cervantes and so on. Even in Germany...like the King Frederick the Great, said that Norse stuff, "isn't worth a shot of powder". Until the 19th Century and the early 20th Century, stuff like Wagner's Ring operas, Tolkien's scholarship which brought Norse ideas into the Fantasy genre, and Kirby and Lee...Norse Mythology was far less well known than Greek and Roman, and even Egyptian mythology. And people who did it, felt it was trashy and not as "sublime" (to use an old-timey word) as the Greek stuff. Fact is that Greek Mythology was adapted into epic poetry, into great dramas, into vases and sculpture and so on, whereas all Norse myths have is a collection of stuff jotted down centuries later by a Christian dude who only did it because he realized that it was needed to get it down to understand dated references in poems and everyday language...not because he liked any of it.

If you want to imagine a Greek mythology world, you have a host of ruins and stuff made by the Greeks to refer to which is why if you look at say Disney Hercules and Wonder Woman 1984, or Clash of the Titans you will find some similarities between all of them. You don't have that with the Norse...which served Marvel fine. Norse mythology owes far more to popular culture than literary tradition and so on. And again that was because it was new, little known, and wasn't really tied down or set in stone.

[Frontier]

I just see Thor watching himself in the MCU and thinking to himself "This seems less like me and more like...Hercules" .

[Revolutionary_Jack]

I just see Thor watching himself in the MCU and thinking to himself "This seems less like me and more like...Hercules" .

Marvel Comics Thor would yes, but not Mythology Thor.

Mythology Thor wouldn't. He would be puzzled about why he's blonde...but mostly he'll approve of Hemsworth's Thor I think. His objections in Thor 1 would be "Since when is genociding Frost Giants bad, we do that all day", in Thor 2, he'd be like "wait Freya isn't my mother and why is my wife Sif ditched in favor of this mortal wench". In Thor 3, it'll be "Wait Ragnarok is a good thing?"

Mythology Thor would be weirded out by Marvel Comics Thor too. "Why am I treating these fellow mortals as team-mates and equals when the correct attitude of mortals is to bow down and worship and fear me?"

[Frontier]

Marvel Comics Thor would yes, but not Mythology Thor.

Mythology Thor wouldn't. He would be puzzled about why he's blonde...but mostly he'll approve of Hemsworth's Thor I think. His objections in Thor 1 would be "Since when is genociding Frost Giants bad, we do that all day", in Thor 2, he'd be like "wait Freya isn't my mother and why is my wife Sif ditched in favor of this mortal wench". In Thor 3, it'll be "Wait Ragnarok is a good thing?"

Mythology Thor would be weirded out by Marvel Comics Thor too. "Why am I treating these fellow mortals as team-mates and equals when the correct attitude of mortals is to bow down and worship and fear me?"

I thought this thread was talking about the comic versions' reaction.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

I thought this thread was talking about the comic versions' reaction.

The OP refers to stuff like Ares in a yogurt commercial and the Kevin Sorbo series...so it's in general about the actual gods as they were once worshiped in the societies and language-centers they originated.

[JudicatorPrime]

Eh, whoever decided to name Thursday probably did more to make Thor a household name than Marvel has, at least in the English-speaking world.

But that's my point. Thursday wasn't always called Thursday. Same with Tuesday (Tyr), Wednesday (Wotan/Woden/Odin), or Friday (Frigg). Naming the days after gods was commonplace and largely dependent on who the local and/or dominant deities were. The Greeks and Romans did it, too (e.g., Saturday named for Saturn). The fact that there weren't any other pantheons to challenge the naming of days is partly why humanity continued that convention. But if gods actually existed, there's no way that we'd use Norse god names globally for those days of the week. In all of my readings of myths and religious texts, the gods (and their subjects) do not willingly embrace the influence of other outside gods. The Earth would have been one heck of a war zone until primacy and a pecking order was established. And we aren't even talking about the demonic entities, so of whom easily rival the likes of Zeus or Ra in terms of power comparatively speaking. Given the incredible numbers of Eqyptian and Hindu deities, it's quite possible our days of the week would be named after one of those pantheons.

[shooshoomanjoe]

But that's my point. Thursday wasn't always called Thursday. Same with Tuesday (Tyr), Wednesday (Wotan/Woden/Odin), or Friday (Frigg). Naming the days after gods was commonplace and largely dependent on who the local and/or dominant deities were. The Greeks and Romans did it, too (e.g., Saturday named for Saturn). The fact that there weren't any other pantheons to challenge the naming of days is partly why humanity continued that convention. But if gods actually existed, there's no way that we'd use Norse god names globally for those days of the week. In all of my readings of myths and religious texts, the gods (and their subjects) do not willingly embrace the influence of other outside gods. The Earth would have been one heck of a war zone until primacy and a pecking order was established. And we aren't even talking about the demonic entities, so of whom easily rival the likes of Zeus or Ra in terms of power comparatively speaking. Given the incredible numbers of Eqyptian and Hindu deities, it's quite possible our days of the week would be named after one of those pantheons.

Except vikings didn't speak English.

[Indian Ink]

Except vikings didn't speak English.

The English barely spoke English as we now know it. The Vikings and Anglo Saxons could understand each other far better than we now, could understand them

[PCN24454]

The Norse Gods would probably be quite confused and baffled by Marvel Norse and MCU Norse.

Myth!Odin - Since when is Loki my son?
Myth!Thor - Since when have I been blonde?
Myth!Loki - I am not as hot as this guy but you won't hear me complaining.

Not that Marvel or MCU Loki is accurate, but it's a take that I doubt Myth!Loki would find offensive because in a lot of ways, it's very flattering of the Scarlip. I think that's true for everyone. In a lot of ways MCU Norse or Marvel Norse reflects how the Norse Gods would have liked to have been seen rather than how they really were.

Myth!Odin was a scheming one-eyed scumbag, not any better than Loki. He was a wandering shape-shifting rapist much like Zeus, and was also quite keen on low-brow hijinks and tricking people. One of his many names is Bolwerk, which means "Evildoer". His whole idea was to have mortals slaughtered so that they could be his slaves to fight on his behalf on Ragnarok. Anthony Hopkins' Odin in Thor Ragnarok, at least in the backstory is closest to Myth!Odin. The whole concept of Odin lying and stealing stuff is true, because all the Asgardian great weapons -- Gungnir, Mjolnir, Skithblathnir -- were stuff made by either Svartalfheim or Nitharvellir and which the Asgardians swindled away.

Myth!Thor was a really dumb guy (seriously as much as people complain about Aaron's Thor or MCU Thor that's nothing compared to the original). One of his most famous episodes was when Loki tricked him into crossdressing as a bridesmaid for a dwarf to marry. Also in the myths, Mjolnir wasn't enchanted that only the worthy could carry. Myth!Thor was also capable of cruelty to innocents, like one time he tossed a living dwarf into a burning funeral pyre just coz.

Myth!Loki is somehow both more incompetent than and more dangerous than Marvel Loki. Loki in the myths was often a guy who got into messes and then got out of them but he always came a cropper. Whether it was having his lips scarred, having to change into an animal and have sex with animals and give birth to foal as part of a crazy scheme. If you read the myths in a rough chronological way (i.e. earliest Loki story to Ragnarok) like for instance in Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology, the overall arc is one of a college fratboy dudebro suddenly becoming an Evil Overlord, which is not improbable what with 45 in the Oval Office, but certainly something of a big tonal shift. The Lokasenna which is basically Loki insulting and saying nasty and cruel (but true) stuff to the Aesir, is Loki at his best and worst.

So most likely the Aesir will see this and praise Marvel for the free propaganda.

I think you're exaggerating their negative traits. They were fairly warmongers but not nearly as malicious as you seem to be making them out to be.