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Author Topic: Any pop culture pagans here?  (Read 13546 times)

Jabberwocky

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Re: Any pop culture pagans here?
« Reply #15 on: November 18, 2015, 06:27:07 am »
Quote from: Aubren;182386
Now, that's a really interesting question.

Where does is the line between folklore paganism and PCP drawn?


Yeah, it's a pretty fuzzy line and interesting to consider.

Especially with someone like Robin Hood, who's changed massively to suit cultural needs.  (The early legends are very different to the Victorian era Hood).  And who also plays a role in things most people would definitely consider pop culture- Robin of Sherwood, the Disney movie, Maid Marion & her Merry Men and a lot more.

It's much like the issue of the difference between pop culture representations of deities and mythological representations.

You get the same issue with stuff like Shakespeare, because it's both historical and heavily embodied in the public psyche.  That especially gets complex with a figure like Puck, where I think Shakespeare is going to heavily colour the way he's seen.  Especially in the West.
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Jabberwocky

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Re: Any pop culture pagans here?
« Reply #16 on: November 18, 2015, 06:32:35 am »
Quote from: Mama Fortuna;182399
I personally could not ever touch MLP because I know too many people who work on that show (I work in animation)

 
Heh, I know that issue.  I like using music in workings. But I could never use The Indelicates.  Because while they're one of my favourite bands, they're also my online friends Simon and Julia. I know them too well for that to be separated.
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Jabberwocky

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Re: Any pop culture pagans here?
« Reply #17 on: November 18, 2015, 06:42:08 am »
Quote from: Aubren;182349
Any teens or adults that are PCP? What media do you incorporate into your religion?

As an amusing aside, I'm old enough that my first reaction scanning your post was "good grief, people are using fucking angel dust as a sacred rote?". But then I reread it and realised what you meant.
« Last Edit: November 18, 2015, 06:43:03 am by Jabberwocky »
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Re: Any pop culture pagans here?
« Reply #18 on: November 18, 2015, 09:44:39 am »
Quote from: Aubren;182349
So yeah, the atmosphere is a lot calmer here. Any teens or adults that are PCP? What media do you incorporate into your religion?

 
I have actually found that my popcultural impulses tend towards filling in some very particular gaps in my more mainstream polytheisms, with an underlying bit of Craft theory (which is of course drawn from Pratchett).

Specifically: when I need to deal with Powers who are responsive to things that are very modern, very specific to my culture as a Westerner or a USonian, the shape of what I reach for tends to be popcultural or modern-folkloric (and I don't know how to draw the line there either; I mean, speaking of Robin Hood I had a friend who had Major Theories about the importance of the Disney cartoon to certain parts of his psyche).

Which means, for me, that I have strands of the literary end of the modern pagan movement (pulling from fantasy and science fiction reading); it also means things for my understanding of the spirits of place of colonist-origin cities; it also means things like trying to figure out what the heck to do about asking Captain America about what do do about national politics....
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Juniperberry

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Re: Any pop culture pagans here?
« Reply #19 on: November 18, 2015, 10:21:25 am »
Quote from: RandallS;182352
What are " pop-culture pagans"? :confused:

When I lived in Germany I used to go to this little hole-in-the-wall video store and I'd always talk to the owner. I only had my oldest two boys at the time, and they weren't even in kindergarten yet...anyways, we were talking about the kids and I jokingly said how fun it'd be to discuss religion with them when they grow up, but for now they only like comics books and Superman. The owner pointed out to me that for them right now, comic books and Superman were their religion.
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Faemon

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Re: Any pop culture pagans here?
« Reply #20 on: November 18, 2015, 11:17:37 am »
Quote from: Juniperberry;182419
I jokingly said how fun it'd be to discuss religion with them when they grow up, but for now they only like comics books and Superman. The owner pointed out to me that for them right now, comic books and Superman were their religion.


I've read something before (too long ago for me to remember the source, sorry) about how comic book heroes might fulfill some archetypes necessary for something or other in life. When it comes to Barthes' categories of religion as a way to: describe the world as it is, celebrate the possibilities of the world as it isn't, organize culture by supporting cultural values, and positioning people within the culture...it could be argued that comic books do all that. But I don't know, the fervor of enjoyment from suspending disbelief might not necessarily be exactly the same thing as belief. Although, the fervor or regularity of being a fan might be described as "religious".

More recently, I got to read an anthropological study called “Pocahontas Goes to the Clinic: Popular Culture as Lingua Franca" by Cheryl Mattingly, and if I read it right then it basically described how the Disney brand and Marvel (which is now also Disney), by their presence, symbolically as each character serves as a brand, or in conversation ice-breakers like "which is your favorite...?"--well, those seem to bridge other social strata, so hospital workers, umm...care more for patients who are of color or lowerclass. It's great that it does that, but of course I would have thought that people in charge of medical care ought to be caring for patients anyway especially if they're kids. And there was some stuff at the end about how pop culture character became similarly instrumental in child psychotherapy. Both of those might be arguably examples of some positive effects similar to a shared, culturally-dominant faith in that they provided narratives that could be shared and/or personal.
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Altair

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Re: Any pop culture pagans here?
« Reply #21 on: November 18, 2015, 11:27:21 am »
Quote from: Aubren;182349

So yeah, the atmosphere is a lot calmer here. Any teens or adults that are PCP? What media do you incorporate into your religion?


a) Definitely NOT a teenager here. I'm old.
b) Like you, I'm a pagan (of the nature-centered variety) who really doesn't do magic.
c) Not much pop culture influence, EXCEPT...

...I used to write and edit for Marvel Comics, and I have long held that the superhero genre is the last bastion of mythmaking in our myth-impoverished Western culture. Which is probably why my gender-polarized view of deity sometimes finds elemental expression in the fictional persons of--

--the best of all the X-Men, Storm, as the goddess
(air, with a bit of fire in that she has an indomitable will)

...and, on the other side of the coin...

--Prince Namor the First, the Sub-Mariner, as the god
(water, with a bit of earth in that he's physically superstrong).
 
Yeah, I know, very old school; but like I said, I'm old. On the rare occasion I set up an altar, I have an action figure of each to represent the elements/male-female aspects of deity. As a gay guy, I find it interesting that I invest the traditionally "male" elements in a female character, and the traditionally "female" elements in a male character.

More often, though, I'm not focused on pop culture and more on my own self-created pantheon. (Hey, one of the plusses of being a former Marvel comics guy is that I'm reasonably adept at mining archetypes to create my own expression of them!)
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Altair

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Re: Any pop culture pagans here?
« Reply #22 on: November 18, 2015, 11:31:38 am »
Quote from: Altair;182423

deity sometimes finds elemental expression in the fictional persons of--


Only as I wrote that post did it finally consciously dawn on me--after being a Marvel devotee for almost 50 years--that the Fantastic Four's powers are elemental. Not just the Human Torch and the Thing; all of them.

Duh.
The first song sets the wheel in motion / The second is a song of love / The third song tells of Her devotion / The fourth cries joy from the sky above
The fifth song binds our fate to silence / and bids us live each moment well / The sixth unleashes rage and violence / The seventh song has truth to tell
The last song echoes through the ages / to ask its question all night long / And close the circle on these pages / These, the metamythos songs

Emma Eldritch

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Re: Any pop culture pagans here?
« Reply #23 on: November 18, 2015, 01:34:24 pm »
Quote from: Jabberwocky;182415
Heh, I know that issue.  I like using music in workings. But I could never use The Indelicates.  Because while they're one of my favourite bands, they're also my online friends Simon and Julia. I know them too well for that to be separated.


I feel like that would be even weirder! Like with a fictional character 'reality' is a bit subjective, but with someone you know it's like... no, they're physically real enough to like, eat eggs for breakfast, so you can't experience them quite the same way as Superman or something.

Quote
As an amusing aside, I'm old enough that my first reaction scanning your post was "good grief, people are using fucking angel dust as a sacred rote?". But then I reread it and realised what you meant.


That was my first reaction too. XD

Aubren

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Re: Any pop culture pagans here?
« Reply #24 on: November 18, 2015, 08:22:07 pm »
Quote from: Mama Fortuna;182407
That sounds like something on the writer's end. We just handle the actual animation up here and are generally as in the dark as anyone else when it comes to the scripts.

I never knew there was so little communication between the two.

 
Quote
A good friend of mine loooooves both of them. I personally think I might like GF, but SU sounds way too happy for me. I prefer my entertainment to skew towards things where every character is sort of horrible and there's no kind and loving moral. Venture Bros. remains my favourite cartoon. (Life goals: becoming Dr. Orpheus.)

Nooooo. SU is very psychological! In spite of Gravity Fall's monsters/horrors of the day, the most horrific episode I've ever seen in a modern kid's show was in SU. SU focuses on psychology more than anything else, which makes it a very satisfying show to watch that strikes you in the gut/feels harder than some other cartoons can.
Especially in & around season 2.
But yeah, it does have happy, loving moments as well.
I think SU's sole purpose is to make its watchers mentally healthier.

Gravity Falls is good, but it has some problems. I'd say if they worked a little more with the script and storyboard, they'd be excellent insteas of good. I know some thing's missing in certain spots, but I can't say for sure what the exact issue is. There are some racist elements, too.

Don't watch the show, too violent.

Quote
Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you said you were thinking of working with particular characters from SU and GF. I was just thinking if you had not yet done it, hey, fuck it, you should try it out if you feel the urge. What have you got to lose, you know? My apologies, I must have read that wrong.

Most of that you got right in this reply. But I am seriously thinking about working with a villain, but I feel like I need some kind of protection before working with them. They are a macrabe trickster after all- and more importantly, I'd be working with them in their element where I'm currently 99.8% defenseless.
« Last Edit: November 18, 2015, 08:25:39 pm by Aubren »
Wazhazhe

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Re: Any pop culture pagans here?
« Reply #25 on: November 18, 2015, 09:02:57 pm »
Quote from: Jabberwocky;182416
As an amusing aside, I'm old enough that my first reaction scanning your post was "good grief, people are using fucking angel dust as a sacred rote?". But then I reread it and realised what you meant.

 
On a funny note,  I'm too young to know what angel dust is. Is it like faery dust? Does it help you fly? XD
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Re: Any pop culture pagans here?
« Reply #26 on: November 18, 2015, 10:30:37 pm »
Quote from: Aubren;182435
I never knew there was so little communication between the two.


Oh, totally. I worked on Rick and Morty from the pilot to the second season, and I never read a single script - I only saw the animatics. If you're in production or a supervisor it's a bit different, but the grunts are there to do a job, you know? Generally an animator doesn't get to talk to the creators.
 
Quote
I think SU's sole purpose is to make its watchers mentally healthier.


That's wonderful! And so, SO not for me. XD I have a friend in the industry who is about seven years younger than I am, and I have frequently had to explain to her that although I can appreciate the positive messages - especially in shows aimed at a younger audience, omg - it's not what I personally want in entertainment. I think that's why I wind up watching so many British comedies - the characters are usually horrible people.

Quote
Don't watch the show, too violent.


It's ridiculously clever, but certainly not for everyone. I have a high tolerance for cinematic violence - I'm a horror fan.

Quote
But I am seriously thinking about working with a villain, but I feel like I need some kind of protection before working with them. They are a macrabe trickster after all- and more importantly, I'd be working with them in their element where I'm currently 99.8% defenseless.

 
Protection is certainly not a bad idea. I also think that with tricksters especially it's always a good idea to take a really serious look at the whys behind the desire to work with them. That's just been my personal experience, however, your mileage may vary. I like the idea of working with villains though, that sounds pretty enlightening.

sailor

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Re: Any pop culture pagans here?
« Reply #27 on: November 18, 2015, 10:32:07 pm »
Quote from: Aubren;182437
On a funny note,  I'm too young to know what angel dust is. Is it like faery dust? Does it help you fly? XD


Fly?  Yeah, I guess so.  fly as in  think you can jump off a building safely.  cousin's school didn't have a police presence for weapons, but did for PCP.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phencyclidine

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Re: Any pop culture pagans here?
« Reply #28 on: November 18, 2015, 11:18:46 pm »
Quote from: Aubren;182435

 Nooooo. SU is very psychological! In spite of Gravity Fall's monsters/horrors of the day, the most horrific episode I've ever seen in a modern kid's show was in SU. SU focuses on psychology more than anything else, which makes it a very satisfying show to watch that strikes you in the gut/feels harder than some other cartoons can.
Especially in & around season 2.
But yeah, it does have happy, loving moments as well.
I think SU's sole purpose is to make its watchers mentally healthier.


 
I've been mulling this thread over for a while, and now I realize I might be a bit Pop Culture-flavored, myself. I tend to see the Beast from Over the Garden Wall as an aspect of Cernunnos (not exactly, but it's the best way to articulate it), and I've been trying to figure out how to work Welcome to Night Vale into my practice, as a lot of the quotes from the podcast resonate really strongly. OTGW actually holds a *lot* of personal significance for me, so I have incorporated bits and pieces of it into the things I do.

Something that helped the lightbulb pop on over my head when I was first getting poked to do Roadwork was actually Supernatural, which I find not at all strange.

I'm actually working on an Old Woman Josie 'Our Lady of the Angels' art piece right about now.

I need to go think more about this...
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Re: Any pop culture pagans here?
« Reply #29 on: November 19, 2015, 02:42:10 am »
Quote from: HarpingHawke;182444
Something that helped the lightbulb pop on over my head when I was first getting poked to do Roadwork was actually Supernatural, which I find not at all strange.

 
So it's not weird that every time we watch Supernatural I think of you and Roadwork? (Or that when I listen to your 8tracks playlist I think of Supernatural?) ^_^
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