Ah Jean, this is absolutely what I needed today. I'm home alone and a bit frazzled from work so this is the perfect combo of interesting, escapism and friendly company. Thanks as always!
This was so interesting and so well done!! You cover a lot of background that I didn’t know and it is really cool to see how all the well known myths connect.
As a classicist and feminist with perhaps an unhealthy interest in Helen, this thoughtful, comprehensive, and nuanced portrait of one of mythology's most fascinating figures makes my heart happy. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!
Listened to this while packing moving boxes and the combo of autumn + a lil Classics lecture is making me nostalgic for packing to go back to uni. Loved this 🥰
loved this scholarly perspective! i’d be very tuned in to hear more thoughts or analysis you had on helen in the future, my interest is particularly piqued by the paintings you mentioned, or artistic depictions of helen, themes, societal attitudes that those depictions reflect, or what they say about helen’s character or her many myths!!
This was extremely interesting I really want to read more about Helen. I enjoyed her character in Women of Troy by Pat Barker and I didn't reliase there was a classical text called women of troy as well
I really enjoyed that, I have been fascinated by Helen since I was a child. I would like to read the two books by Euripides, I think they took some of that in an episode of Xena about The Trojan War as a warrior princess and that is how she met Xena. There is a great line, Paris' brother argues with Paris about letting Xena into the gates, "Why would you want a Greek Warrior in our gates?" Xena answers calmly, "I have never lifted a sword for Greece." (at the time that was true but it changes later on.) I was wondering if you either Read Helen of Troy by Bettany Hughes or seen her documentary about her? She talks about a lot of the same things you do.
@JeansThoughts she's an extremely passive character. A lot of the mythology is stripped away in this version: there's no gods, so a lot of the nuances of Fate & consent is removed. I think the author wanted to write a book about the contemporary ideas of motherhood & then just place it in a "historical" setting, because her & Clytemnestra portrays two different ideas of motherhood. Helen is depicted as naive & easily swayed because Paris flirts a lot with her & then she just decides to run away with him to Troy, Sparta be damned. (Aphrodite can't get blamed here). Overall, it was a boring book that kept the trope of demonizing Helen with its rigid ideas of good and bad. (Basically everything happens TO HER & she wasn't taking any active role in her future. Also, her characterization was flat & uninteresting) I found it a very poor retelling.
Would you ever consider writing your own story on Helen? I loved this video. I’ve always been surprised that there wasn’t a film or book with Helen as a three dimensional character. The portrayals always felt lacking. I hope in the future we will have stories that do her justice!
@@Emiliemooles I’m excited for Helen’s Judgement - I’ve got my fingers crossed aha. I have to say I don’t really have any compulsion or desire at the moment to write a Greek myth retelling set in antiquity. Maybe I’ve just spent too much time on the nonfiction aha.
very enjoyable video. Would love for a deep dive on Aphrodite and Persephone. I think Persephone for me also has the same mix of did she choose hades or not really. I maybe mistaken here since i don't know what the original texts say about her.
I'd LOVE to talk more about Aphrodite - she fascinates me so I'm glad someone else would be interested aha. On the topic of Persephone, it doesn't cover every aspect of her mythology, but I did do a video specifically on her relationships with Hades. Interesting enough it's one myth where the ancient versions are almost entirely consistent - i.e. she is not willing - however it has had this really interesting modern revamp and that's where the ambiguity lies. The video is here if you're interested ^_^ th-cam.com/video/GwXF3QF5wwo/w-d-xo.html
Ah Jean, this is absolutely what I needed today. I'm home alone and a bit frazzled from work so this is the perfect combo of interesting, escapism and friendly company. Thanks as always!
@@mariluzgil-cervantes1030 aw I’m so happy to be of service ♥️
This was so interesting and so well done!! You cover a lot of background that I didn’t know and it is really cool to see how all the well known myths connect.
I'm so glad you found it interesting!!!
As a classicist and feminist with perhaps an unhealthy interest in Helen, this thoughtful, comprehensive, and nuanced portrait of one of mythology's most fascinating figures makes my heart happy. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!
Listened to this while packing moving boxes and the combo of autumn + a lil Classics lecture is making me nostalgic for packing to go back to uni. Loved this 🥰
This was so interesting thank you Jean, you really do not hear enough about Helen. It would be great if you could do a video on Hera or Medea 😊
I would love to do one on Medea - I love her so much! She's done such injustices aha.
loved this scholarly perspective! i’d be very tuned in to hear more thoughts or analysis you had on helen in the future, my interest is particularly piqued by the paintings you mentioned, or artistic depictions of helen, themes, societal attitudes that those depictions reflect, or what they say about helen’s character or her many myths!!
Excellent video, Jean! A character who intrigues me it is Cassandra.
Yes! Cassandra is my favourite character in all of Greek mythology.
love how you started this, caught my interest
Put this on this morning while cleaning and re-organising my bookshelves, and I loved it!
@@subtlefire7256 aw I’m so glad!!!
Loved this so so much! Thank you for putting it together. I find Helen so fascinating.
Perfect video for the background of a work day ❤
This was extremely interesting I really want to read more about Helen. I enjoyed her character in Women of Troy by Pat Barker and I didn't reliase there was a classical text called women of troy as well
I really enjoyed that, I have been fascinated by Helen since I was a child. I would like to read the two books by Euripides, I think they took some of that in an episode of Xena about The Trojan War as a warrior princess and that is how she met Xena. There is a great line, Paris' brother argues with Paris about letting Xena into the gates, "Why would you want a Greek Warrior in our gates?" Xena answers calmly, "I have never lifted a sword for Greece." (at the time that was true but it changes later on.) I was wondering if you either Read Helen of Troy by Bettany Hughes or seen her documentary about her? She talks about a lot of the same things you do.
Daughters of Sparta is a dual-POV book about Clytemnestra and Helen.
@@neliaaa oooh what’s Helen like in it?
@JeansThoughts she's an extremely passive character. A lot of the mythology is stripped away in this version: there's no gods, so a lot of the nuances of Fate & consent is removed. I think the author wanted to write a book about the contemporary ideas of motherhood & then just place it in a "historical" setting, because her & Clytemnestra portrays two different ideas of motherhood. Helen is depicted as naive & easily swayed because Paris flirts a lot with her & then she just decides to run away with him to Troy, Sparta be damned. (Aphrodite can't get blamed here).
Overall, it was a boring book that kept the trope of demonizing Helen with its rigid ideas of good and bad.
(Basically everything happens TO HER & she wasn't taking any active role in her future. Also, her characterization was flat & uninteresting)
I found it a very poor retelling.
This was so informative and I appreciated it so much. Thank you!
I'm so glad!!!! Thank you
Would you ever consider writing your own story on Helen?
I loved this video. I’ve always been surprised that there wasn’t a film or book with Helen as a three dimensional character. The portrayals always felt lacking. I hope in the future we will have stories that do her justice!
@@Emiliemooles I’m excited for Helen’s Judgement - I’ve got my fingers crossed aha. I have to say I don’t really have any compulsion or desire at the moment to write a Greek myth retelling set in antiquity. Maybe I’ve just spent too much time on the nonfiction aha.
very enjoyable video. Would love for a deep dive on Aphrodite and Persephone. I think Persephone for me also has the same mix of did she choose hades or not really. I maybe mistaken here since i don't know what the original texts say about her.
I'd LOVE to talk more about Aphrodite - she fascinates me so I'm glad someone else would be interested aha.
On the topic of Persephone, it doesn't cover every aspect of her mythology, but I did do a video specifically on her relationships with Hades. Interesting enough it's one myth where the ancient versions are almost entirely consistent - i.e. she is not willing - however it has had this really interesting modern revamp and that's where the ambiguity lies. The video is here if you're interested ^_^ th-cam.com/video/GwXF3QF5wwo/w-d-xo.html
Zeus is ''kindless''???? Zeus is LIFE and LIGHT!