READER CAUTION: Politics and Religion (and Mythology) Ahead
Here is a no-win proposition: post a blog entry about the pro-life/pro-choice debate. This time, however, the situation veers into Breakfast with Pandora's baileywick. And I'm okay with a no-win post this time.
The controversy involves an online cartoon, created by Planned Parenthood Golden Gate, an organization in my boyhood home, the San Francisco Bay Area. The cartoon depicts a pro-choice superhero, named either Dianisis, Dionysus, or Dianysis, depending on the weblog-- on the video itself, the name is spelled Dianysis, and pronounced (DIE-uh-NIE-suss). The story involves pro-choice Dianysis, an African-American, organic-vegetable eating woman committing some pretty graphic cartoon violence against pro-life characters.
Christian conservatives think D.'s actions are reprehensible and hypocritical. They are correct. There is no excuse for this kind of document in the middle of an extremely potent, sensitive debate, where everyone on both sides of the argument is super-touchy-- and violence is absolutely the point of all the debate.
End of post? If only I were more prudent. No, I'm interested in the name of the superhero, which resembles in pronunciation if not spelling that of the Greek god of wine, chaos, and civilization, Dionysus.
What was the creator of the video thinking when he named this superhero? Did he know that Dionysus is one of the most destructive forces in all Greek mythology, punishing non-worshippers by making them go insane, and in one famous case, causing the murder of a non-believer's mother (see below under Pentheus)? In the video, the superhero also destroys those who oppose her, in all-powerful fashion.
Dionysus is also famous for causing unrestrained behavior, such as women taking on men's roles and vice versa; drunkenness; and other activities that threaten civilization, including unsafe sex that leads to unwanted pregnancies (To be fair to the past, we have no idea how often this happened. People in the ancient world were extremely conservative sexually.).
On the other hand, Dionysus has a positive function in the ancient Greek world. He threatens "uptight" people who hold on to civilization too hard, not allowing the safety valve of revelry and role reversal to renew and refresh society. Consider Euripides' tragic drama Bacchae, with its uptight main character, Pentheus.
Dionysus, in short, destroys to preserve (Wikipedia-- pretty good article on Dionysus). To most, he was creepy and off-putting, but absolutely essential in society. Maybe Planned Parenthood Golden Gate thinks of itself in exactly this way. Or maybe I'm giving it too much credit for deep thought.
One last note: the first name of the President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Golden Gate is Dian. That would get the Egyptian goddess Isis (another good Wikipedia article) into the picture (Dian + Isis)-- an extremely popular goddess all over the Mediterranean, who presided over her own mystery religion (as did Dionysus). Anyone versed in Isis is invited to spin out the implications of this one.
Ironically, Isis has been popularly associated with the Virgin Mary, and Dionysus with Christ. No further comment on that, either.
And thanks for reading.
David, thanks for taking this one on - and in your own self-effacing, humorous and deeply-thought way, as I knew that you would.
Interesting to find "Dianysis" as the spelling in the video itself (which would take far too long to load on my dial-up connection at home), given that Dionysus was the first deity to pop into my head when I pronounced the name (spelled at that particular online news site as "Dianisis") aloud.
Regarding Isis, I'm certainly not well-versed enough in Egyptian mythology to make much intelligent comment, save to reflect - if indeed Isis be part of the mélange that is the "superhero's" name - on the irony of the video's association of contraception and abortion rights with a mother goddess frequently depicted iconographically with her child, Horus, upon her lap.
I will save myself and you any flaming by reserving any further ironic comments to the inside of my head.
Posted by: Todd Granger | August 15, 2005 at 04:59 PM
Cool blog, Frau.
Posted by: Rachele Kanigel | November 01, 2005 at 10:27 AM