This Weekend: A Short Summary
Mar. 11th, 2013 07:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
regndoftI am ridiculously late with... everything I should have finished during the weekend, both fan-wise and school-wise. I don't have any entirely good excuses for this.
Was supposed to work thursday-friday last week, but as I had to meet up with a classmate to plan a presentation on the Presocratics and she didn't have time any other day of the week, I had to prioritise that. Not that I'm complaining about not having to work - but it does make me feel guilty, and I need the money.
But even more importantly, met up withstalkerbunny in the afternoon. We had Indian for relatively reasonable prices before going to the Mediterranean Museum; they arrange several seminars and open nights every month, and last week the theme was non-binary gender identity in ancient Greece and Rome.
So obviously, we had to go! I even dressed up nicely for the evening (that's how rarely I get out, folks). There is visual proof of this.
The Mediterranean Museum isn't one I've ever frequented, despite it being quite central and easy to get to; mostly because it's very small, and it doesn't take that long to see everything they have to offer. Perhaps that's why they focus on a very active and open dialogue with its visitors.
I'm not sure what my expectations were when going there; mostly, I think it sounded like a good excuse to meet a friend and not lock myself up at home for yet another weekend. Seeing people can be comforting in itself even if you don't want to be social, and seeing people showing interest in both antiquity and LGBT questions even more so.
That being said, when you're trying to make a specialised topic accesible to the general public, there's always a risk that you... simplify to the point of things being too one-dimensional, or even flat-out wrong. This seminar skirted reeeally close to that edge and occasionally kicked some pebbles over it.
Most notably, while a large amount of the examples came from the world of myths or religious cults, it was never called to attention how, while ritual was important in everyday life in Greece and Rome, the religious and social spheres can't be said to overlap. Deities and other mythological figures frequently confirms and transcend the norms and taboos that apply to mortals; the fact that they didn't acknowledge this when they moved on to talk about accusations of femininity used as slander (as opposed to the positive portrayals of hermaphrodites and effeminate youths in art) seemed to cause some confusion in the audience.
I also wish they would have acknowledged the deep misogyny these societies were steeped in and how that, now as then is the actual foundation for sexual mores in antiquity. I mean, it was hopefully obvious, but the fact that it was never explicitly brought up made me feel... I don't know.
For example, at some point someone in the audience asked if her observation that most Greek statues of men are naked was correct (it is), and then proceeded to draw the conclusion that that meant that the portrayals of women were less sexist than today (which, uh, I'd argue that in the social context of Archaic and Classical Greece, covering a woman's body up in art was another way to express how they were considered possessions to be confined to the domestic sphere, but...) and the professor holding the seminar made no attempt to clarify the difference between objectification in modern media and the standards of ancient Greece?
(Likewise, saying that the Greeks were "scared" of Amazons is a bit of an... understatement. Actual dark mirror of Greek society and representation of chaos, anyone?)
At the same time, I understand if they wanted to focus on the LGBT aspects of these societies and not the role of women, but... seeing how important the concepts of masculinity vs. femininity were, I'd say they were inseparable. :/
So long story short, I thought the seminar was a bit too palatable. I don't want these things to be comfortable; history rarely is. As for the good bits, I quite appreciated the tour of the museum's own collections - perhaps because they focused on Bronze Age Cyprus, as that is their specialty and rather fascinating to me.
Still, it was a very nice evening all in all. We went home around ten o'clock and stayed up past midnight talking about it and everything else between heaven and earth. <3
Other stuff that happened this weekend:
- the books I ordered a while back arrived. Images of Classical Myth for uni, but also John Ajvide Lindqvist's Lilla Stjärna and The Secret History by Donna Tartt. I'm looking forward to reading both of them, but right now I'm caught up with The Life of Pi and Seeing I (for henriettastreet).
- Daphne Ashbrook (who played Grace Holloway in the Doctor Who TV movie) has a Tumblr. I have known this for a while, but this weekend it was taken over by Daleks. My show, you guys. There's nothing quite like it (or its cast, presumably).
- Am currently doing the history of Greek literature at uni. Not entirely unsurprisingly, it just makes me want to write fanfic.
(If I wrote about Doctor/Master in relation to the purpose and narrative devices of the Greek tragedy, would that be fun or just super pretentious? Hmmm.)
- I'm a bit busy atm so the drabbles have been put on hold, but I promise they'll happen. As soon as I've finished the summary for my presentation on wednesday. :)
Was supposed to work thursday-friday last week, but as I had to meet up with a classmate to plan a presentation on the Presocratics and she didn't have time any other day of the week, I had to prioritise that. Not that I'm complaining about not having to work - but it does make me feel guilty, and I need the money.
But even more importantly, met up with
stalkerbunny in the afternoon. We had Indian for relatively reasonable prices before going to the Mediterranean Museum; they arrange several seminars and open nights every month, and last week the theme was non-binary gender identity in ancient Greece and Rome. So obviously, we had to go! I even dressed up nicely for the evening (that's how rarely I get out, folks). There is visual proof of this.
The Mediterranean Museum isn't one I've ever frequented, despite it being quite central and easy to get to; mostly because it's very small, and it doesn't take that long to see everything they have to offer. Perhaps that's why they focus on a very active and open dialogue with its visitors.
I'm not sure what my expectations were when going there; mostly, I think it sounded like a good excuse to meet a friend and not lock myself up at home for yet another weekend. Seeing people can be comforting in itself even if you don't want to be social, and seeing people showing interest in both antiquity and LGBT questions even more so.
That being said, when you're trying to make a specialised topic accesible to the general public, there's always a risk that you... simplify to the point of things being too one-dimensional, or even flat-out wrong. This seminar skirted reeeally close to that edge and occasionally kicked some pebbles over it.
Most notably, while a large amount of the examples came from the world of myths or religious cults, it was never called to attention how, while ritual was important in everyday life in Greece and Rome, the religious and social spheres can't be said to overlap. Deities and other mythological figures frequently confirms and transcend the norms and taboos that apply to mortals; the fact that they didn't acknowledge this when they moved on to talk about accusations of femininity used as slander (as opposed to the positive portrayals of hermaphrodites and effeminate youths in art) seemed to cause some confusion in the audience.
I also wish they would have acknowledged the deep misogyny these societies were steeped in and how that, now as then is the actual foundation for sexual mores in antiquity. I mean, it was hopefully obvious, but the fact that it was never explicitly brought up made me feel... I don't know.
For example, at some point someone in the audience asked if her observation that most Greek statues of men are naked was correct (it is), and then proceeded to draw the conclusion that that meant that the portrayals of women were less sexist than today (which, uh, I'd argue that in the social context of Archaic and Classical Greece, covering a woman's body up in art was another way to express how they were considered possessions to be confined to the domestic sphere, but...) and the professor holding the seminar made no attempt to clarify the difference between objectification in modern media and the standards of ancient Greece?
(Likewise, saying that the Greeks were "scared" of Amazons is a bit of an... understatement. Actual dark mirror of Greek society and representation of chaos, anyone?)
At the same time, I understand if they wanted to focus on the LGBT aspects of these societies and not the role of women, but... seeing how important the concepts of masculinity vs. femininity were, I'd say they were inseparable. :/
So long story short, I thought the seminar was a bit too palatable. I don't want these things to be comfortable; history rarely is. As for the good bits, I quite appreciated the tour of the museum's own collections - perhaps because they focused on Bronze Age Cyprus, as that is their specialty and rather fascinating to me.
Still, it was a very nice evening all in all. We went home around ten o'clock and stayed up past midnight talking about it and everything else between heaven and earth. <3
Other stuff that happened this weekend:
- the books I ordered a while back arrived. Images of Classical Myth for uni, but also John Ajvide Lindqvist's Lilla Stjärna and The Secret History by Donna Tartt. I'm looking forward to reading both of them, but right now I'm caught up with The Life of Pi and Seeing I (for henriettastreet).
- Daphne Ashbrook (who played Grace Holloway in the Doctor Who TV movie) has a Tumblr. I have known this for a while, but this weekend it was taken over by Daleks. My show, you guys. There's nothing quite like it (or its cast, presumably).
- Am currently doing the history of Greek literature at uni. Not entirely unsurprisingly, it just makes me want to write fanfic.
(If I wrote about Doctor/Master in relation to the purpose and narrative devices of the Greek tragedy, would that be fun or just super pretentious? Hmmm.)
- I'm a bit busy atm so the drabbles have been put on hold, but I promise they'll happen. As soon as I've finished the summary for my presentation on wednesday. :)
icon with daphne ashbrook in it!
Date: 2013-03-11 09:36 pm (UTC)sorry the talk wasn't good - but the outfit you wore was!
Re: icon with daphne ashbrook in it!
Date: 2013-03-11 09:46 pm (UTC)Yes. Yes, at least I looked fabulous. Thanks. <3