*제출기한에 맞춰 하루만에 쓴 스불재
*번역할 기력이 없었어요
Greek mythology is one of the powerful resources that even 21st artists take as a reference. However, the way Greek mythology describes rape scenes is often dramatized and glorified. Therefore, the artists had two chose either accept ancient perspectives or applying modern moral virtue. So, one way to check which perspective is more frequently accepted is checking the art museum.
The author of Antigone Rising, Helen Morales claim that “there are more paintings displayed in art museum in Europe and North America that feature a mythological rape scene than there are paintings displayed by female artists of color” (Morales). Therefore, the past mainstream in art chooses mindlessly followed Greek mythology’s description of the rape toward mostly female figures. In this case, Greek mythology is not just an inspirational source, but one of the useful way to reproduce old misogyny throughout human history.
Interpreting Greek mythology in the 21st century is always tricky to do, especially in the context of sexual violence. Since mythology has a different sense of morals than modern ethics, it can be inappropriate to read Greek mythology recorded even before writing. Although most of the events in Greek mythology are Zeus or his brothers or sons rape women under their authority, the readers knew that story is not real. It seems to give too many meanings to artworks that have a theme from ancient Greek mythology.
However, even Ovid’s Metamorphoses is one of the university’s curriculum; some students “demanded that it be removed from university curricula” (Morales). No matter how the Latin poem which is written around 8CE, some actual people feel uncomfortable or offended. The reason why they can not stand the Metamorphoses is that that features “many descriptions of assault” and “eroticizing trauma”(Morales). In short, the students who study Ovid’s Metamorphoses feel empathy toward women in his poem.
When the distinction between fiction and the real-world is clear, it is less likely to empathize with some subjects. However, it seems there is no distinction between Greek mythology and women who lives the 21st century. When Ovid the dead poem, depicts women who are attacked leaving their bodies and turning into trees or bushes, Morales connects that into dissociation caused by trauma because she has the same issue (Morales). Although those sexual assaults are fiction in Greek mythology, the way women suffer from sexual assaults and even her appearance is to blame for inciting male sexual aggression is still real. Therefore, no matter whether romanticizing or eroticizing sexual violence in Greek mythology, following that in the 21st century can give an offending feeling for the actual victim of sexual violence.
All in all, women’s voice was always neglected or kept in silence in history. When we think of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is a popular Broadway musical and movie in the 1980s, the media and artists still want to reproduce the toxic romanticizing of sexual violence. The 1980s seem far away past because it was 40 years ago, but #MeToo movement was just three years ago. In this situation, Greek mythology is not a myth, but real. Since there are victims of sexual violence who are in the same situation as Greek mythology’s victims, taking Greek mythology’s rape scene as is, it can be claimed by romanticizing crime.
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