TY - JOUR A1 - Maurice, Lisa ED - Potter, Amanda ED - Gardner, Hunter H. T1 - From Olympian to Christ-figure: Lucifer (2016 – 2021) JF - thersites 17 N2 - On the surface the television series Lucifer (2016 – 21) is a simple police procedural but, in actuality, the criminal cases in the show serve merely as window-dressing and structure for the deeper consideration of issues, such as guilt, shame, love, and even the meaning of life on both an individual and universal level. These topics are explored through the ever-developing character of Lucifer himself, who, like other recent anti-hero depictions, is initially presented in a manner that is very different from traditional portrayals of the Devil, and is, in fact, far closer to that of the Greek Olympian gods. Over the course of six seasons, the depiction of Lucifer alters, however, as he becomes a figure that is in many ways Christ-like, but with a 21st century twist that places the individual in an exalted position that is superior to that of divinity. KW - Lucifer KW - Devil KW - Olympians KW - God KW - Christ Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol17.244 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2023 IS - 17 SP - 245 EP - 272 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Potter, Amanda ED - Potter, Amanda ED - Gardner, Hunter H. T1 - Classical Monsters and Hero(ines) in InSEXts, Eros/Psyche and Porcelain JF - thersites 17 N2 - This paper applies Monster Theory to the use of Greek mythology in three creator-owned comic series by female writers: InSEXts (2016 – 2017) by American comic writer Marguerite Bennett and Indonesian artist working in America Ariela Kristantina as well as Eros/Psyche (2021) and Porcelain (2021) by Maria Llovet, a comic writer and artist from Barcelona. In the first volume of InSEXts, set in Victorian London, there are allusions to the Furies and Pandora, linked with the discourse of the repression of women. In the second volume, set in the late nineteenth century Paris art world, the representation of classical subjects in art becomes a means to repress women, and a goddess with a Gorgon-like appearance takes revenge on the male repressors. In Eros/Psyche the story of Eros and Psyche and broken statues forms the backdrop and context for a tale of love and deception at a girls’ school, and in Porcelain a girl is faced with a choice of paths towards Eros or Thanatos, like Herakles at the crossroads choosing between the paths of virtue and vice. With reference to Cohen’s seven theses of Monster Culture I examine how Bennett and Lovett subvert the idea of the monster and the hero. KW - Comics KW - Eros KW - Psyche KW - Pygmalion KW - Medusa Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol17.247 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2023 IS - 17 SP - 96 EP - 124 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Toscano, Margaret Merrill ED - Potter, Amanda ED - Gardner, Hunter H. T1 - Varieties of Supernatural Depictions BT - Classics in Contemporary Media JF - thersites 17 N2 - This article proposes several conceptual frameworks for examining the widespread use of classical intertexts depicting the supernatural in popular media. Whether the supernatural is viewed as reality or simply a trope, it represents the human capacity and desire to explore worlds and meanings beyond the obvious and mundane. Representations of classical gods, heroes, and monsters evoke the power of mythic stories to probe and explain human psychology, social concerns, philosophical questions, and religious beliefs, including belief about the paranormal and supernatural. The entertainment value of popular media allows creators and audiences to engage with larger issues in non-dogmatic and playful ways that help them negotiate tensions among various beliefs and identities. This paper also gives an overview of the other articles in this journal issue, showing overlapping themes and patterns that connect with these tensions. By combining knowledge of classical myths in their original contexts with knowledge about contemporary culture, classical scholars contribute unique perspectives about why classical intertexts dominate in popular media today. KW - Myth Theory KW - Classical Mythology KW - Supernatural KW - Paranormal KW - Afterlife Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol17.249 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2023 IS - 17 SP - 2 EP - 31 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Foster, Frances ED - Potter, Amanda ED - Gardner, Hunter H. T1 - Gods and Magic in Megan Whalen Turner’s The Thief JF - thersites 17 N2 - Megan Whalen Turner’s series The Queen’s Thief (1996 – 2020) centres on the political intrigues in a group of countries which are at once very like – but also very unlike – Bronze Age and archaic Greece threatened by a powerful Persian Empire. The first book in the series, The Thief (1996), begins as a political adventure haunted by stories of the gods. When those gods directly influence the action, the narrative changes from present political intrigue to a fantasy from the distant past. The mythology in The Thief reflects, imitates and distorts archaic Greek creation myths – stories about how the earth and sky were formed, the divine pantheon and heroes. I examine the presentation of this divine pantheon against the narratives about the gods in Hesiod, the Homeric hymns and Homer’s epics. I evaluate how the supernatural element interacts with the largely political narrative of The Thief. In so doing, I explore how the text blends a ‘classical supernatural’ with a world that is like – but in many ways very unlike – Bronze Age and archaic Greece. KW - Greek gods KW - Mythology KW - Young Adult literature KW - Fantasy KW - Magic Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol17.242 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2023 IS - 17 SP - 32 EP - 54 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lovatt, Helen ED - Potter, Amanda ED - Gardner, Hunter H. T1 - Resurrecting the Argo BT - Supernatural Re-makings in Robert Holdstock’s Merlin Codex JF - thersites 17 N2 - This paper analyses the relationship between the figure of the Argo (ship and character) and the supernatural in the mythic fantasy of Robert Holdstock’s Merlin Codex. It shows how Holdstock’s re-writing of the Argonautica draws on various versions from the Argonautic tradition, including Euripides’ Medea, Apollonius, Valerius Flaccus, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Treece and the 1963 film Jason and the Argonauts. It sets Holdstock’s Argo alongside other representations, as divine herself, possessed by divinity, and a channel of communication with the divine, and in the context of Holdstock’s previous work, particularly Mythago Wood, Lavondyss and Merlin’s Wood. The paper argues that Holdstock uses the Argo as a reflection of myth itself, a version of the forest in Mythago Wood, as well as a metapoetic image for the challenges and complexities of adapting a well-known story, bringing multiple mythological traditions (Arthurian, Finnish and Argonautic) together. It reflects on Holdstock’s relationship to the ancient genres of epic and tragedy, as well as Argo as plot facilitator and mechanism of transformation and transition. Holdstock’s relationship with ancient literature is richer and deeper than previously acknowledged; his self-conscious plays reveal a deep understanding of the polymorphous nature of mythical traditions. KW - Holdstock KW - Merlin Codex KW - Argonauts KW - Argo KW - myth Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol17.254 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2023 IS - 17 SP - 55 EP - 95 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Strong, Anise K. ED - Potter, Amanda ED - Gardner, Hunter H. T1 - The Persistence of Memory BT - Forgiveness, Forgetting, and Cultural Assimilation JF - thersites 17 N2 - The 2017 Pixar film Coco and the 2021 Disney film Encanto form a small part of an increasing modern wave of media focused on parent-child conflicts caused by intergenerational trauma and rejection. Other recent works in this genre include the video game Hades, the films Turning Red and Everything Everywhere All At Once, and the television series Ms. Marvel. The traumas in all these films, some directed explicitly at a younger audience and some pitched more broadly, serve as a distinct set of meditations on the immigrant experience, even while not necessarily focusing on literal immigration. They also all invoke imagery of ghosts and death, both echoing specific classical Mediterranean motifs and tropes and incorporating a wide variety of other cultures’ supernatural traditions. These works’ concern with familial traumas of separation, culture shock, and loss of ancestral memories and connections contrasts sharply with the individual-focused myth of the American Dream common to earlier generations of American media, in which a lone individual typically emigrates, assimilates, and succeeds in a new culture, forming a new family and set of myths. However, themes of assimilation and questions of cultural imperialism also form a bridge between ancient Roman and modern North American anxieties and traditions. KW - Classical Reception KW - Coco KW - Immigration KW - Ancestors KW - Underworld Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol17.255 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2023 IS - 17 SP - 125 EP - 142 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cohen-Hattab, Kobi T1 - Pioneers of Independent Jewish Shipping BT - The Emergence of Private Jewish Shipping Companies in Palestine, 1934 – 1939 JF - PaRDeS : Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies in Germany JF - PaRDeS : Zeitschrift der Vereinigung für Jüdische Studien e.V. N2 - The birth of the Yishuv’s national shipping company, ZIM was preceded by private enterprise; the sea had not traditionally been a focus of the Zionist movement. In the 1930s, a five-year span of private commercial shipping saw three companies in the Jewish community in Palestine – Palestine Shipping Company, Palestine Maritime Lloyd, and Atid – before shipping was cut short by the outbreak of the Second World War. Despite their brief lifespans and their negligible contribution to general shipping, these companies constituted an important milestone. Their existence helped shift the Yishuv leadership’s attitudes about shipping’s importance for the community and the need for it to be supported by national institutions. Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-585542 SN - 978-3-86956-552-1 SN - 1614-6492 SN - 1862-7684 IS - 28 SP - 34 EP - 50 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Weinmann, Franziska T1 - Mothers of Seafaring BT - Henrietta Diamond and the Question of Female Representation in the Jewish Maritime Realm JF - PaRDeS : Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies in Germany JF - PaRDeS : Zeitschrift der Vereinigung für Jüdische Studien e.V. N2 - The article aims to trace the contribution of Jewish women in the Yishuv’s maritime history. Taking the example of Henrietta Diamond, a founding member and chairperson of the Zebulun Seafaring Society, the article seeks to explore the representation and role of women in a growing Jewish maritime domain from the 1930s to the 1950s. It examines Zionist narratives on the ‘New Jew’ and the Jewish body and studies their relevance for the emerging field of maritime activities in the Yishuv. By contextualizing the work and depiction of Henrietta Diamond, the article sheds new light on the gendered notions that underlay the emergence of the Jewish maritime domain and illustrates the patterns of inclusion and exclusion in it. Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-585563 SN - 978-3-86956-552-1 SN - 1614-6492 SN - 1862-7684 IS - 28 SP - 52 EP - 67 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Potter, Amanda A1 - Gardner, Hunter H. ED - Potter, Amanda ED - Gardner, Hunter H. T1 - Classics and the Supernatural in Modern Media JF - thersites 17 N2 - Short preface to the special edition of Thersites. Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol17.256 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2023 IS - 17 SP - 1 EP - 1 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lessmann, Kai A1 - Kalkuhl, Matthias T1 - Climate finance intermediation BT - interest spread effects in a climate policy model JF - Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists N2 - Interest rates are central determinants of saving and investment decisions. Costly financial intermediation distorts these price signals by creating a spread between deposit and loan rates. This study investigates how bank spreads affect climate policy in its ambition to redirect capital. We identify various channels through which interest spreads affect carbon emissions in a dynamic general equilibrium model. Interest rate spreads increase abatement costs due to the higher relative price for capital-intensive carbon-free energy, but they also tend to reduce emissions due to lower overall economic growth. For the global average interest rate spread of 5.1 percentage points, global warming increases by 0.2°C compared to the frictionless economy. For a given temperature target to be achieved, interest rate spreads necessitate substantially higher carbon taxes. When spreads arise from imperfect competition in the intermediation sector, the associated welfare costs can be reduced by clean energy subsidies or even eliminated by economy-wide investment subsidies. KW - financial friction KW - banking KW - greenhouse gas mitigation KW - investment subsidy Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1086/725920 SN - 2333-5955 SN - 2333-5963 VL - 11 IS - 1 SP - 213 EP - 251 PB - University of Chicago Press CY - Chicago, IL ER -