I was just perusing through that “collaborative pagan weblog,” the Juggler. I like a lot what they’re doing, and it seems like their writers on it are all very intelligent people.

But there was one post in particular that I felt the need to comment on. It’s also posted over at Wildhunt. Jason, of Wildhunt, was complaining about how the new movie, Troy, is telling the story of the Iliad without referencing the Greek gods at all. To me, this isn’t a problem, but he went so far as to call it blasphemous, to which I replied:

i have to disagree here. calling it blasphemous is to suggest that there is some sort of orthodoxy which must be followed in the telling of pagan tales. everyone has a right to interpret stories according to what works best for them. having diverse and varied takes on a story only strengthens it by enriching the tradition surrounding it, and drawing more people into its web.

Also, he made this comparison about telling Bible stories which don’t include mention of God (which inadvertently sounds really interesting):

…it’s like telling bible stories without mentioning God, imagine a scene in the bible where some saint in trouble instead of getting a bit of divine intervention escapes using some sort of MacGyveresque escape method and then talks about how the only thing he believes in is his abilities.

A couple problems I have with this: (1) I think this would make for an EXCELLENT re-telling of the Bible, to strip out all references to God, and divinity. (2) MacGyver was all about divine intervention, except his god was named “Science”. (3) The Bible itself doesn’t so much deal with “saints” per se. Most of the saints were later inventions which were created to allow people to retain polytheistic worship practices under the official guise of Christianity.

And furthermore, does anybody remember “Clash of the Titans” portrayal of the Greek Gods? It was kind of, dare I say, LAME! Cheesy, even. I’m not saying you couldn’t make a cool Hollywood-type story which included them, but it’s a supremely tall order, and I’ve never seen it done.

But anyway, interesting topic, and nice blog(s). Hopefully, you guys are ready to mix it up, because I like arguing about this sorta shit.