Human beings have always known that life is
unpredictable, and often difficult to go through alone; because of this,
societies the world over found their own ways of coping with this fact. Some
cultures created witches that were responsible for terrible droughts, others
developed an idea of a Sun God that caused the sun to rise and set. However,
disregarding the variations, one constant remains: the idea of a figure or
multiple figures who have always had a hand in deciding what the fate of the
human race was going to be. Whether this took place thousands of years ago,
hundreds of years ago, or ten years ago is irrelevant. This idea is a powerful
one indeed, and it sparked two separate entities to life during separate time
periods: gods and superheroes. While the thought process behind these figures
may seem fundamentally different, they really serve the same purpose and, in
many cases, similar characteristics that allow them to serve this purpose. During
the course of this paper, I seek to add fuel to the idea that this is indeed
the case by proving that the Gotham
City Sirens, modern day superheroes, are similar to the ancient Grecian
goddesses Athena, Persephone, and Demeter in terms of character types, as well
as their similar roles in their respective societies and cultures.
Throughout
history, people have created stories to explain the world around them and how
it functions, and the ancient Greeks were no different. The Greeks created many
different gods and goddesses, all of whom encompassed the different aspects and
ideas of life as they knew it.l This provided an explanation for
things such as seasons, famine, earthquakes, and various other natural
phenomena that previously had no explanation. With the idea of gods and
goddesses influencing the way the Earth behaved, they could explain away these
occurrences as the will of the gods as opposed to terrifying things that they
could not control. For example, when the goddess Persephone was stolen away by
Hades, her mother Demeter’s preoccupation with searching for her caused a
famine that left every crop that the Greeks had grown to die, leaving everyone
with no dependable food source.2 This explanation more than likely
provided a little peace of mind to those who, otherwise, would have been
absolutely devastated by the loss of the crops.
Along
with providing explanation for phenomena that, at the time, could not be explained,
the Greek gods and goddesses provided a sense of authenticity and weight to
what the government said and did. They also provided a sense of entertainment
for the masses in the forms of stories and myths that involved monsters,
heroes, action and fantasy, effectively letting people escape into stories
instead of dealing with whatever things may be going on in their own lives.3
In
order to connect to the various gods and goddesses, mortal humans assigned each
of them certain traits and stories, along with having placed them in a
human-like society, to make them more relatable to everyday situations humans
were likely to face.4 For example, Athena was dubbed as the goddess
of war, justice, skill, wisdom, the arts, and industry.5 Another
example of this is Persephone who, due to her association with Hades, was
crowned goddess of the Underworld and was responsible for the bringing of the
seasons with her visits to her mother Demeter outside of the Underworld.6
Demeter herself was an Earth and fertility goddess who was responsible for
caring for the Earth’s plant life.7 These character types, along
with many others, allowed people to find a connection with a particular god or
goddess and pray to them in times of need.
Religion
was as much a formal idea as it was a personal one, and people certainly
practiced both of these ideas. Mark Cartwright states in his article Greek Religion that:
Whilst the
individual may have made up their own mind on the degree of their religious
belief and some may have been completely skeptical, certain fundamentals must
have been sufficiently widespread in order for the Greek government and society
to function: the gods existed, they could influence human affairs, and they
welcomed and responded to acts of piety and worship.8
These
general ideas, combined with a person’s morals, made Greek religion a very
easy-to-practice idea. Whether you left a flower on your hearth after saying a
prayer to Hestia or paid for a private sacrifice to be conducted in Athena’s
honor, you would be able to worship the gods and goddesses of Greece in a very
personal way.9
On
a societal level, religion was also very important to priests and common people
alike. Festivals in honor of particular gods and goddesses were a very
important part of Greek life; so much so, in fact, that warfare was actually
prohibited during the events that took place during the large festivals.10
Panathenaia, for instance, is a very ancient festival meant to honor the gods
Athena and Erechtheus. Among the festivities were gymnastic contests, boat
races, equestrian contests, a musical contest, and more.11 On the
final day of the festival, a procession was held that was
…most splendid. It
comprised the victors of the games of the preceding days, the pompeis or
leaders of the sacrifices, both Athenian and those of strangers, a large quota
of cavalry, the chief officers for the army, bearing olive branches, doubtless
with their metoikoi as skaphêphoroi following, in later times the ephebi
splendidly equipped: while of women there was a long train of kanêphoroi, with
the wives and daughters of the metoikoi as their skiadêphoroi and diphrophoroi;
then the Athenian people, generally marshalled according to their demes.12
This
festival, and many others like it, was simply one way of honoring the gods that
citizens felt had done so much for them. Other ways included making a
particular god the patron god of your city, such as Helios was for Rhodes, or
the creation of a special temple to honor a single god at a particular site,
like the Parthenon for Athena in Athens.13
As
far as the emotional relationship between mortal men and the Greek gods was
considered, as opposed to how they were celebrated in the physical world, that
is a different story entirely. Overall, throughout the mythology that came out
of ancient Greece, any relations between man and god were considered fairly
civil and possibly even friendly, though severe punishments were doled out to those who showed
“unacceptable” behaviors like overzealous pride and ambition. The mythos
surrounding the gods and goddesses emphasized the weakness of humans in
contrast to the harsh unpredictability of nature and everything it contains,
and therefore in contrast to the gods they believed controlled these natural
elements; because of this, the Greeks resigned themselves to the fact that they
were dependent upon the gods and goddesses’ happiness to survive.14
Though
modern day humans do not look to Greek gods and goddesses to help solve every
day problems, we have figures that function in a fairly similar way in our
society: superheroes. According to Morrison,
The best superhero
stories deal directly with mythic elements of human experience that we can all
relate to, in ways that are imaginative, profound, funny, and provocative. They
exist to solve problems of all kinds and can always be counted on to find a way
to save the day. At their best, they help us to confront and resolve even the
deepest existential crises.15
This
statement rings true for superheroes, but also strikes a chord with the gods
and goddesses of Ancient Greece as well. The gods, according to myth, often
took human forms and interfered directly in human activities to manipulate
results.16 This idea of interfering in human activities to “save the
day,” if you will, is fairly common through both the myths of Greece and modern
superhero comics and movies.
The
other connection between the two is the fact that, though they have different
methods of doing so, both genres have a habit of looking at pressing issues
during their respective time periods; in ancient Greece, the idea of Persephone
being kidnapped by Hades provided explanation for the famine that was
destroying all the crops.17 In the superhero world, ideas such as
sexism and intimate partner violence are both explicitly stated in the text and
implied, leaving readers to think about these issues long after they have
finished consuming the media encasing the superhero story. When looking at the
delivery of messages from both ancient Greek religion and from modern
superheroes, they really are not all that different at all; both can
incorporate varying art forms to get their point across, ranging from artwork
and writing to acting and music to convey a specific idea, and both have been
wildly successful in doing so. After all, the myths of ancient Greece managed
to influence an entire country with their characters and ideas. As for how
superheroes have impacted the modern world, since 2000, thirty-seven superhero
movies have been released, ten live-action television shows have aired,
numerous animated series created, and independent comic publishers have grown,
all of which have increased the demand for superheroes and their narratives. A
wonderful example of this idea is Marvel’s The
Avengers, which shattered a box office record, making $200.3 million in its
debut weekend.18 If that many people are clamoring for the stories
that superheroes create, it really speaks bounds about the influence they
actually have on modern culture, as well as modern society as a whole.
Though, looking at superhero narratives through the eyes
of a historian, you start to notice similarities between certain figures in the
action-packed world of comics and movies and those who ancient peoples
worshipped as their gods. However, the most obvious association is between the
characters Catwoman, Harley Quinn, and Poison Ivy, also known as the Gotham
Sirens, and the ancient Greek goddesses Athena, Persephone, and Demeter
resepectively.
In
the movie Catwoman, the namesake of
the movie bears a striking resemblance to Athena, as she is a pursuer of
justice as Athena was the goddess of it. While her motives were not clear after
her initial transformation into the feline-antihero, throughout the movie her
moral compass strengthens and she becomes a defender of the common people, as
shown through her attempt to take down the Hedare Beauty, a gargantuan makeup
corporation. Hedare Beauty wished to release an anti-aging product that, if
usage was stopped, it would begin to rot away the skin of the wearer, along
with other negative side effects. Catwoman began her quest to take them down
once she realizes that they were the ones who killed her and spurred her
transformation into the superhero, and she will achieve her personal form of
justice through whatever means necessary, even if that means bending (and possibly
breaking) a few rules in order to do so.19
Throughout
the movie, it is shown that Catwoman has a fairly combative fighting style
compared to the other Gotham Sirens, which is fitting, seeing as Athena was a
female war goddess amongst her other traits. Catwoman repeatedly claws, kicks,
punches, and assaults the villainous characters, showing that she is not afraid
to get aggressive, an attribute that Athena would admire for its tenacity as
well as the skill involved in such a fighting style, along with being an
attribute that ties her to the goddess once again.20
The
third talking point for Catwoman and Athena’s association is the way both of
them are “born”. Athena’s mother Metis was swallowed by Zeus in fear that Metis
would produce a more powerful son than himself, and while inside of him, she
created a robe and helmet for her daughter. The hammering of the helmet caused
Zeus great headaches to the point where Hephaestus ran to his father and split
his skull open with a hatchet. From his head emerged Athena, fully grown, in
her mother’s helmet and robe, implying that Metis died whilst inside him, and
that Athena emerged alone.21 Patience Phillips was murdered by
Hedare Beauty when she found out about their plan to release the anti-aging
product and reborn as Catwoman thanks to new life being breathed into her by a
cat inhabited by the Egyptian goddess Bast.22 While this connection
may seem like a stretch at best, there is
a connection there; both Athena and Catwoman were “born” because of someone
else’s murder. In Athena’s case, the murder of her mother Metis, and in
Catwoman’s case, the murder of her alter-ego Patience Phillips.
The
Greek goddess Persephone and the character of Harley Quinn share a few
similarities as well, the main link between the two of them being the
relationships they both fall into. Persephone was kidnapped by Hades and forced
to become his bride, making her a goddess of the underworld. Even after Demeter
realized where Persephone was and asked Zeus to intervene, Hades still managed
to keep Persephone for his own, requiring that she spend two thirds of the year
with him down in the underworld.23 Harley Quinn, on the other hand,
was a psychiatrist originally that ended up falling in love with her patient,
The Joker, and essentially being dragged into his world of madness. Even when
her friends Poison Ivy and Catwoman try to tell her that the relationship is no
good for her and that The Joker will continue to abuse and use her the way he
has, Harley finds that there is no good solution to her problem because she
loves him so much, and thus there is no escape for her. It is to the point
where Ivy, in one panel, states that “[The Joker] tried to kill you!”, to which Harley responds “That just proves he wants me back!” after a fight
the lovers had had.24 This proves how entrenched in his life he is,
and furthers her link to Persephone in that she has no escape except to Poison
Ivy (who is linked to Persephone’s mother Demeter) and Catwoman, symbolic of
the few months a year that Persephone can escape to live with Demeter out of
the underworld.
These
two mirror each other almost startlingly in storyline as well as physical
attributes. Persephone is described as being “such a beautiful young woman that
everyone loved her,” in her myth.25 Harley, concurrently, is
described and portrayed as “blonde, blue eyed, and bubbly,” a classic beauty in
every sense of the word.26
Between
Harley Quinn being tied to Persephone and Athena to Catwoman, one would think
the associations would become stagnant for lack of evidence. That, however, is
not the case. As for who the third Gotham Siren, Poison Ivy, is tied to, it is
none other than Demeter. Demeter and the character of Poison Ivy
are tied together in perhaps the simplest of ways thus far: their symbols.
Demeter was a Greek Earth goddess who controlled the bringing forth of grain,
fruit, and vegetables along with other fruits of the soil.27 Poison
Ivy is often portrayed covered in and controlling vines and flowers, showing
that she has a fair amount of pull over how and when things grow, just as
Demeter did.28
Another
way the two of them are connected is through the idea of fertility. Demeter,
along with being an Earth goddess, was also a fertility goddess that looked
over not just the fertility of the Earth, but also that of the women who lived
there.29 Poison Ivy takes painstaking care of her plants almost as
if they are her children, which shows the link to Demeter in one way. The other
way is the fact that Poison Ivy is often the most scantily clad of the Gotham
Sirens with a fair amount of her cleavage open to public viewing due to her
costume choice. And though this is not the most obvious tie between the two of
them, it portrays a fair amount of female sensuality, which is quite often
linked to the idea of fertility.30
The
final way these two can be connected is the motherly attributes of both of
them. Demeter was Persephone’s mother and, when she went missing, she searched
tirelessly in an attempt to find her daughter again.31 Poison Ivy
has motherly attributes as well, as shown when she invites Harley to live with
herself and Catwoman, as well as every time she attempts to persuade Harley
into leaving her abusive relationship with the Joker. She has all of their best
interests at heart and, thus, becomes the maternal character in all of the
commotion, even if the link is not plain to see.32
Whether
it be in the modern era or hundreds of years ago, humans rarely change; we as a
species have always wanted something good and just to believe in to help guide
us through the chaos that is our everyday lives and the tragedies that can
sometimes interrupt them. And, to an extent, our solution to this problem has
not changed much either. During ancient Grecian times, they created gods like
Demeter, Persephone, and Athena for these purposes. In the twentieth century,
we have created superheroes like Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, and Catwoman for the
same purposes as the gods were originally created to fulfill. To an extent, we
even based these characters off the ones that had already existed in the lore
of the past. Regardless, the superheroes we have now, while not gods by any
means, still serve the same basic purpose as the goddesses of ancient Greece:
protect the good, punish the wicked, and always be there to save the day.
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