You Fail Mythology Forever

[redbrunja]

Judging from fandom_secrets, there appears to be a segment of the Merlin fandom that is both

a.) disappointed

and

b.) surprised

that the show is going to make Guinevere/Arthur canon, instead of Merlin/Arthur.

....

To which I can only ask, were you dropped on the head as a child? Did you actually think the BBC was going to change the CORE of the Arthurian legend in order to fulfill your slash fantasies? Really now. I can understand being disappointed, but don't be dumb about it. You should know that the family-centric show is not going to change an epic, classic myth to be progressive. (Not saying I don't want gays on my child-friendly programming, but that particular set of homosexuals was never going to happen.)

Comments

[mildmay.livejournal.com]

Jumping in here not so much to disagree as to straighten a couple of things out.

I can understand not liking the anachronisms. I find them hilarious myself (and I'm a history major), but not everyone is going to have my sense of humor. However, in the interest of being fair to the show I feel like it should be pointed out that strictly speaking Merlin is not set in a historical setting. It is an AU fantasy setting. It is not historical Britain. It's not meant to be historical Britain. The writers have said it's an AU. The country they're in even has a different name, and the dragon even gets kind of meta about it at one point.

I'm not saying this should make you like the show, by any means. If it's not your thing, it's not your thing. Like I said, I'm saying it in the interest of fairness.

Also I will say you're wrong about Guinevere and Arthur's relationship. I don't know if you're going to continue watch it, but it's not being set up as a love/hate thing at all. They get scenes in the second half of season one and they are very cute. Like. Seriously adorable. I admit, I kind of ship it. I like their chemistry better than Arthur and Merlin's for all that fandom raves about Arthur/Merlin. But anyway, there's no charged banter, because there's not supposed to be. It's not that kind of relationship. It's Morgana who has the love/hate relationship with both Pendragons.

[cynchick.livejournal.com]

If it was strictly AU I wouldn't be so annoyed by it. Of course its not historical Britain; its just a legend after all. But they call it Albion, which was the native name for Britain before the Saxon conquest in the 5th century. I was a history major too, before I switched to Lit. I guess it wouldn't bother me so much if it didn't have so many inconsistencies. I may even be able to overlook those things if they weren't altering the Arthurian story SO much, right from the beginning.

I may watch a few more episodes to see if anything picks up for me, but at this point I'm not hopeful. :/

[mildmay.livejournal.com]

I couldn't remember the name. I haven't watched it a few months. XD I just know what the writers have said. We aren't supposed to be looking at it as a strictly historical sort of thing.

And I have trouble getting upset over people playing with mythology. These legends have been played with for centuries. I don't think there's a real way to do them wrong. I don't think anything has been altered to the point that it's unrecognizable. They certainly don't mess with the Arthurian cycle more than Hercules and Xena messed with Greek and Roman and even Christian mythology, and I watched those shows constantly in high school. So I'd really have no place getting angry about a fantasy high school AU version of the Arthurian legends. XD;

Also, I admit, finding new ways to play with myths is kind of a literary kink of mine.