In today's video I wrestle with how the current super-nova of story publication is a gasping for air of a religio-starved culture after Modernity tried to convince it that oxygen was for dupes.
As the high tide of Modernity continues to recede the fantasy genre has never been hotter. Why is so much fantasy lit located in the Middle Ages? @richardrohlin re-asked this question in the Universal history convo with @PageauJonathan
The best answer seems to be that The Discarded Image amazon.com/Discarded-Imag… was the last time Western Civ had a fully integrated picture of a union of heaven and earth. That image has been discarded for something more resembling the Tower of Babel.
Like an unconscious pilgrim lost in the woods we've sort of doubled back to where we didn't feel quite so lost in hopes of picking up the trail.
But as all the new cognitive science asserts our memories of the lost trail are not ink on an objective paper map but mental reconstructions of where we think we need to be.
When @TheRestHistory did an edition on @GameOfThrones I had no clue as to why. They are a history podcast. Why treat a popular HBO fantasy series known for blood and boobs? pca.st/yiumjl8j
What I didn't appreciate was the history of successive attempts to re-appropriate the Middle Ages. @holland_tom and @dcsandbrook approached the successful series to critique its accuracy and to discern what this said about our confused pilgrim.
Our imagined realism about the Medieval world through the eyes of @GameOfThrones is darker than the historical record. The Medieval period was a time of violence and chaos but it was also an age of Christian norms and chivalry which limited the violence.
When it comes to portrayal of religion in a fantasized past the religious medievalist Tolkien creates a Middle Earth without churches or priests yet its infused with divine purpose. Game of Thrones is replete with religion often used by fanatics for corrupt power games.
Compare @HistoryVikings and the Netflix series @TheLastKingdom . in Vikings both Christians and Vikings live in an enchanted world where God and the gods play integral roles in history. See
One key event in discarding the Medieval Image was the Columbian Exchange. amazon.com/1493-New-World… The quest for a universal history is made far more complex by the need to include the peoples of the globe in a new mapping.
Story telling is subconsciously wrestling with the issues of race and a universal history with new attempts at color blindness inclusion in historical dramas at the same time the same cultural voices declare color blindness itself to be racist. vox.com/22215076/bridg…
We are trying to increase the canvas upon which our mappings of "universal history" are being drawn. Listen to @jordanbpeterson answer a question about religion and Superheroes
Pentecostalism itself is an attempt to redraw the medieval map. Remember the 1980s Christian book sensation "This Present Darkness" which in the story angels and demons battle with medieval weapons behind the scenes during church fights and personal temptation struggles?
This makes @holland_tom initial literary foray into the vampire genre quite fitting. amazon.com/This-Present-D…
For Christian drama Frank Peretti anticipates @neilhimself Neil Gaiman's American Gods amazon.com/gp/product/B00…
I close pondering how anachronistic this makes @SamHarrisOrg feel in his commentary on @jordanbpeterson with @lexfridman
We are striving to re-enchant the world looking back over our shoulders at reconstructive medieval memories. Where will this lead?
To read the whole thread and get other summaries of my videos check out my Substack. paulvanderklay.substack.com/publish/post/3…
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