The Old World

Arts and Letters Daily points me to an excellent discussion of the Iliad and other works of that era (and how some are better off lost) and gives a late drubbing to the film “Troy”. Here was one quote I enjoyed about the lost works of the ancient world.

“To have just one more complete poem by Sappho (bringing the grand total to two); to have any of the seventy-five lost plays of Aeschylus, the 116 by Sophocles, the seventy by Euripides; to recover Ovid’s lost Medea, or even a single one of the much-admired love elegies of Vergil’s friend Cornelius Gallus, which once comprised four whole books and of which a single line now survives; to have the crucial missing books of Tacitus’ Annals?for any one of these, there is very little that even the most upstanding classicist wouldn’t do. Any one of them, after all, would add immeasurably to our understanding of classical civilization; any one of them would, indeed, add unimaginably to the treasure house of world literature.” – Daniel Mendelsohn

It’s Good To Be The Queen

In King Arthur news, I found a story that mentions the fact that this film unlike recent epics is being “sold” with images of the female lead Keira Knightley who plays a somewhat different Guinevere than we are used to seeing (a butt-kicking pagan one).

“Originally billed as a Gladiator style epic, Disney are so impressed with Knightley?s performance that, according to Variety, they?re using her face to sell the movie instead. The 19-year-old gets pride of place on the film?s posters and dominates the promotional TV spots. If that wasn?t enough her camera friendly smile will be gracing the covers of Vanity Fair, Entertainment Weekly and Premiere magazine.”

If this tactic does well it could mean good things for the upcoming Boudicca film.

The Religion of Shadowmancer

There is an interview with G P Taylor (author of Shadowmancer) at Christianity Today that touches quite a bit on Wicca and the occult (and Harry Potter).

“I’ve got to admit, I’m one of these Philistines who has never been motivated to read Harry Potter. I’ve seen the movie. From what I’ve seen of the movie, there’s not a lot of witchcraft in it. I’m an authority on Wicca and paganism. What she does is more party-time magic. There are some vague references to things that are taking place, but there are no spells in it. But if it doesn’t attract people into the occult, why has the Pagan Federation of Britain appointed a youth officer to deal with all the inquiries from young people who’ve read Harry Potter and all these other books and now want to become witches?” – G P Taylor

and

“We’ve got understand that kids want to come into a relationship with a God. They want to come and find out why they’re here on this planet. That is why they’re reading all these books. And we as a church, should be saying, We have got the answers for you. We have a God who’s powerful, majestic, and all-loving. The reason why they’re reading these books is because there’s a desire within us all to worship God. It’s quite a natural thing that they want to know about these things.” – G P Taylor

This is funny considering how he admits that it’s pagan-friendly and has pagan themes.

“The story is laced throughout with Christian symbolism, but Taylor says it’s not a Christian book. “The themes are far too dark. It’s got themes from paganism and all sorts of religions in it. I’ve gotten e-mails from pagans who’ve accepted it very well.” – G P Taylor (AJC interview)

So which is it? Or is he simply selling to both sides to capture that lucrative Potter demographic? He certainly doesn’t talk about his deep faith in the second interview, something CS Lewis (one of his heroes) had no problem doing.

Tags: Neopaganism