Eros is not Cupid
I was taking a break to watch this week's episode of Castle (which I find amusing, though not at all plausible, but mostly it has Nathan Fillion), and after you finish watching ABC suggests some other shows you should watch (because heaven forbid you only watch one). They just throw whatever they feel like up there for you, it's not based on similar genre or anything (which, you'd think they'd do something more like, "you watched show X, perhaps you'd also enjoy shows Y or Z?").
Anyway, one of the shows that came up tonight was Cupid and I was sort of vaguely curious because I am a mythology geek, so I clicked to watch the first few minutes. (Premise: Cupid has been exiled from Olympus and has to make 100 matches without the aid of his bow, and naturally the mortals think he's a whack job so he ends up in the psychiatric ward of a hospital.) I was not terribly impressed, neither of the leads is very appealing to me. First strike. Then the psychiatrist lady decides to quiz Cupid about his "delusion". She's slumped down in an armchair with a big book that says GREEK MYTHOLOGY in big letters on the cover. Second strike. (Cupid is the Roman name of the deity of love. He's Eros in Greek.) She opens the book of GREEK MYTHOLOGY and proceeds to quiz him about Mercury, Venus, and Mars. Strike three, and I'm done (in less than ten minutes)! See, those are also all Roman names for the deities. Sadly, that book of GREEK MYTHOLOGY probably does have the Roman names, since I myself had a book of Favorite Greek Myths when I was a kid that used Roman names. But that bothers me. A lot. (Even as a kid.) It's just the same effect as typos and bad grammar for me: it jars me right out of a story.
Yes, Greek and Roman mythology are generally lumped together under the umbrella "classical mythology" and yes, there are many similarities between them, but they are not the same. They had different variations on similar stories, and the deities had different attributes and meanings to each culture. You can't just slap the Roman names into a book of GREEK MYTHOLOGY and say it doesn't matter. They're not interchangeable. They're from two entirely different cultures.
And this isn't just a problem with this show. It's all over. Like I said, there's books that don't make that distinction, and no one learns mythology these days anyway. There's a cursory bit in the curriculum in sixth grade or so, but no one tells you that the stories are still important. If my mum hadn't been a classics major in her undergrad and if I hadn't been a naturally curious kid, I would never have known either. But when I had that introductory unit in sixth grade, I was fascinated and I found all the books I could on classical mythology. I can still name the core pantheon of gods and goddesses and tell you at least one story about each of them. I'm more well-versed in Greek mythology, but I know there's a difference in the Roman mythology. And that knowledge brings so much to my readings of modern texts.
Pop culture, you fail.
Anyway, one of the shows that came up tonight was Cupid and I was sort of vaguely curious because I am a mythology geek, so I clicked to watch the first few minutes. (Premise: Cupid has been exiled from Olympus and has to make 100 matches without the aid of his bow, and naturally the mortals think he's a whack job so he ends up in the psychiatric ward of a hospital.) I was not terribly impressed, neither of the leads is very appealing to me. First strike. Then the psychiatrist lady decides to quiz Cupid about his "delusion". She's slumped down in an armchair with a big book that says GREEK MYTHOLOGY in big letters on the cover. Second strike. (Cupid is the Roman name of the deity of love. He's Eros in Greek.) She opens the book of GREEK MYTHOLOGY and proceeds to quiz him about Mercury, Venus, and Mars. Strike three, and I'm done (in less than ten minutes)! See, those are also all Roman names for the deities. Sadly, that book of GREEK MYTHOLOGY probably does have the Roman names, since I myself had a book of Favorite Greek Myths when I was a kid that used Roman names. But that bothers me. A lot. (Even as a kid.) It's just the same effect as typos and bad grammar for me: it jars me right out of a story.
Yes, Greek and Roman mythology are generally lumped together under the umbrella "classical mythology" and yes, there are many similarities between them, but they are not the same. They had different variations on similar stories, and the deities had different attributes and meanings to each culture. You can't just slap the Roman names into a book of GREEK MYTHOLOGY and say it doesn't matter. They're not interchangeable. They're from two entirely different cultures.
And this isn't just a problem with this show. It's all over. Like I said, there's books that don't make that distinction, and no one learns mythology these days anyway. There's a cursory bit in the curriculum in sixth grade or so, but no one tells you that the stories are still important. If my mum hadn't been a classics major in her undergrad and if I hadn't been a naturally curious kid, I would never have known either. But when I had that introductory unit in sixth grade, I was fascinated and I found all the books I could on classical mythology. I can still name the core pantheon of gods and goddesses and tell you at least one story about each of them. I'm more well-versed in Greek mythology, but I know there's a difference in the Roman mythology. And that knowledge brings so much to my readings of modern texts.
Pop culture, you fail.