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At the first glimpse of the terrible head of medusa, they whitened into marble
I've created this article as a prose rewrite of other Medusa/gorgon popular culture lists that includes what I believe is notable information and excludes the excessive trivial references and minutae of other versions. Medusa and the gorgons are iconic figures, and some of their uses in fiction are notable, in particular because they are ancient figures that persist in our culture.
Do not add every minor reference to Medusa or gorgons here; the information in this article should provide notable and new information about the use and dramatization of these mythological figures. In particular, the use of the word "Medusa" in the title of a song or album, or the mere inclusion of the character in a video game, is not in itself notable and is therefore inappropriately listed here. References like these will be deleted to keep this article free of the excessive trivia and fancruft that has made previous versions eligible for deletion. TAnthony 02:06, 9 July 2007 (UTC)
I've removed the following items from the article as they are unreferenced and at this point have little relevance (individually) to the cultural impact of Medusa or gorgons; I'm collecting them here because a future source may potentially make one or more of them relevant. Do not re-add any of this data without sources asserting notability. Anyone interested in finding every video game or whatever that features Medusa can look at the What links here page for Medusa.
*
Charles Stross's novella
The Concrete Jungle features a "scientific" explanation for the ability of a Gorgon to turn people to stone, which is then used as the basis for technological devices which play a central role in the story.
*In
A Tale of Two Cities by
Charles Dickens, Book the Second Chapter IX is titled "The Gorgon's Head," and the gorgon is alluded to in the subsequent description of the Marquis St. Evremonde's stone chateau (as well as mentioned at the end of the chapter).
[4]
*In the
Disneyland/
Disney World ride, the
Haunted Mansion, there is a morphing painting of a beautiful woman in a temple turning into Medusa.
*
Madame Medusa is the name of the villainess from
Disney's animated film,
The Rescuers (1977).
Though I've only added data relating to 2-3 games, I would like some answers from you on why the games are not important when there is a greater chance that younger generation will have the first glimpse of these mythological creatures from games, comics and movies instead of visiting some museum displaying some classical Greek vase or say some old time concept art of Medusa. Besides Cinema and Gaming have significantly influenced the 'Popular Culture' and the representation of Gorgons and other mythical creatures remain similar to what have been passed down from Ancient Scholars. It should be noted that in the game 'Titan Quest' and 'God of War', Medusa and her sisters are involved in Main Quests. As far as the valid references considered, I provided that.-- Fylindfotberserk ( talk) 12:06, 14 May 2010 (UTC)
Now if you demand a book for referring purpose which "mentions" people playing e.g "God of War" have knowledge of 'Medusa/Perseus story', that's simply ridiculous. Instead you should be asking for electronic, I mean some "reliable" web references which I had provided with my updates and can also be done for other games and yes a typical gamer will be well aware of Medusa and her significance in Greek mythology than a typical tourist visiting some Greekish Museum. And that will be because of In-Game references to classical Greece as well as supplementary Game docs and Goodies if he/she hasn't already read about them in books or online. In Age of Mythology for example, Perseus and Medusa do not fight in game, but their stats window clearly explains the Mythical story. You might point out that comics, games, movies do not stay loyal to the original story, but then again, in many cases you have multiple versions of a single mythical encounter. Moreover, it should be noted that Medusa and for that matter any other mythical character stay true to their basic characteristic features and behaviours even if the story is changed. In every incarnation, Medusa appears with her "snaky hair" and petrifying power.
I'm aware of size concerns. If that's the reason, then we can move it into a separate page or we can just mention the name of the games, movies, comics etc where Medusa appears instead of writing elaborately like what has been done in the past.-- BerserkMonk ( talk) 17:07, 14 June 2010 (UTC)
Might it not be useful, however, to note the various depictions of Gorgons in popular media that do NOT conform to the female human/snake hybrid? For instance, in both the Castlevania and Dungeons and Dragons series of games, there are monsters called Gorgons that instead look like giant bulls that can turn people to stone? Of particular interest, I think, is that Medusa appears in her "traditional" form in these media as well. Alucardtepes ( talk) 03:20, 2 September 2011 (UTC)
In others Medusa looks perfectly normal--even quite attractive--unless viewed through a mirror or other reflective surface (e.g. "Meddy" in the Land of the Lost series). -- The_Iconoclast ( talk) 05:29, 27 March 2014 (UTC)
I think the Land of the Lost depiction should be included. -- 2600:6C65:747F:CD3F:3C4C:E256:4C6:208C ( talk) 20:52, 4 April 2020 (UTC)
A version of Medusa is also in 'The Sarah Jane Adventures' series 3 episode 3. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A00:23C7:6E0D:A401:A0C7:EFD:4079:B0B7 ( talk) 10:53, 9 April 2022 (UTC)
This new article is a new presentation of information and should be considered as such. As noted above, it includes notable information and excludes the excessive junk that got previous articles deleted (like song titles containing the word "Medusa"). It is not simply a prose version of the previous list! Perhaps there is some information that is unnecessary, but it is not all worthy of deletion.
I actually agree that the prevalence of useless trivia is a problem on Wikipedia, but there is room for information that can realistically be useful to someone. When I am researching something as a reader, I want to know that Livia was dramatized in I, Claudius, what films were made about the RMS Titanic and yes, some places where Medusa has been portrayed and how the name has come to cannote certain things in our culture. TAnthony 04:45, 9 July 2007 (UTC)
I have found a great source and am in the process of rewriting and citing the article sentence by sentence. I'd appreciate a reasonable amount of time to get the article in shape before someone acts on its possible deletion. Once I've implemented this particular source I will also seek others to round out the article (by the way, this first source is "searchable within the book" on Amazon.com if anyone is interested in checking it out). TAnthony 02:18, 10 July 2007 (UTC)
This is a new presentation of the information, which includes sources. I am not finished, but I have sourced much of the article and removed much of the non-notable info. Previous deletions of similar articles should have no bearing on this one. TAnthony 03:27, 13 July 2007 (UTC)
Canuckle 15:17, 14 July 2007 (UTC)
This article was created for a specific purpose, and that was that the cultural impact of the Medusa character has more detail than what can reasonably fit on the main article.
I've removed the tag as firmly against the consensus established in the deletion vote for this article. We've got people voting to KEEP and also people voting to DELETE who do not want this info on the main article. The merge idea goes against the views of one full side and much of another side. It is therefore completely inappropriate and demonstrably against consensus. DreamGuy 21:37, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
I'm not sure if a list is desirable, but I've wanted to try one out for a while. What do you think of this? Looks like the sort by date doesn't like pre-1000 dates. Canuckle 06:01, 17 July 2007 (UTC)
Date | Title | Type | Artist | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
200 BC | Alexander Mosaic | Painting | Medusa on the breastplate of Alexander the Great in Pompeii mural | |
8 | Metamorphoses | Poem | Ovid | ca. 8 AD |
1554 | Perseus with the Head of Medusa | Sculpture | Benvenuto Cellini | Bronze |
1597 | Medusa | Painting | Caravaggio | Oil on canvas |
1600s | Medusa | Painting | Leonardo da Vinci | Oil on canvas, possibly the work of an anonymous Flemish painter, active ca. 1600 |
1617/1618 | Head of Medusa | Painting | Peter Paul Reubens | “perhaps the earliest original treatment for 16th-17th Century European art…the depiction of the severed head of Medusa, ‘entwined by snakes,’ was for artists of that period a very handy way to demonstrate their ability to instill fear in the spectator.” [10] |
1644-1648 [11] | Bust of Medusa | Sculpture | Gian Lorenzo Bernini | White marble [11] |
1801 | Perseus with the Head of Medusa | Sculpture | Antonio Canova | |
1854 | On the Medusa of Leonardo da Vinci in the Florentine Gallery | Poem | Percy Bysshe Shelley | Published after his death |
1878 | Medusa | Painting | Arnold Böcklin | Oil on canvas |
1904 | L’esprit a combattu le mal | Painting | Paul Klee | “portrays a complete reversal of roles -- Perseus is painted full face with a terrible countenance, while Medusa turns aside.” [12] |
1922 | Das Medusenhaupt (Medusa’s Head} | Book | Sigmund Freud | Medusa is presented as “the supreme talisman who provides the image of castration -- associated in the child's mind with the discovery of maternal sexuality -- and its denial. The snakes are multiple phalluses and petrifaction represents the comforting erection.” [12] |
1976 | Perseus | Sculpture | Salvador Dalí | Bronze [13] |
See the Hidden Text warning below (visible if you edit this page) that I saw added to a helicopter page. Could be adapted here and elsewhere. Canuckle 21:04, 26 July 2007 (UTC)
...and drops of it later transform into fearsome giant scorpions;
A little pedantic but I'm fairly sure that the blood dripped through the sack carrying the head onto regular scorpions. These scorpions then grew to a fearsome size rather than the blood transforming into scorpions.-- FruitMonkey 09:29, 27 July 2007 (UTC)
Here's another bust [3] by Gian Lorenzo Bernini that should be on the list. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Canuckle ( talk • contribs) 13:35, August 13, 2007
In some depictions, Medusa has wings on her temples.
Is it on some of the myths?
Does it have some deep meaning?
I thought it was the standard depiction of
Hypnos.
--
84.20.17.84
10:44, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
I have removed a new list of trivial appearances by "other gorgons" in comics, etc. pulled out of other articles. Obviously, this article was created and adapted in the face of AFDs and such to feature only notable and sourced depictions of Medusa/gorgons, not list every single time the character appears on a TV show or in a comic. This article remains incomplete, but this small stuff will put it in danger again. Thanks.— TAnthony Talk 17:12, 28 February 2009 (UTC)
Shouldn't this be merged with the main Medusa article? I was looking for this information on the main article, and didn't find this article until later. IshtarDeity ( talk) 01:33, 29 August 2010 (UTC)
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The User:Moomblum has made this edit in November 2018. Nearly all of the other editos of this editor have been reverted due to their blantant ignorace to Wikipedia:No original research. I suggest this edit to this article also be reverted. However, I leave that to you, the person reading this who is more familiar with this subject, or keep it if you'd rather. Cheers. — Prhart com♥ 01:58, 15 March 2019 (UTC)
The "Modern use" section is really getting out of control in terms of size - I've cut it down several times and it still feels like a mess.
With an article like this, I think the best policy is to only include appearances which are mentioned in a linked Wikipedia article. This avoids us having an excessive number of entries for video games where Medusa appears as an opponent, or having people add self-published novels or short stories featuring the character into the "literature" section. I would encourage everyone editing the article to only add entries that meet this criterion, and to remove any which fail it.
See also WP:IPCEXAMPLES for further discussion on what should be included in articles of this kind. Gimubrc ( talk) 14:42, 17 May 2019 (UTC)
![]() | This article is rated B-class on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
![]() | It is requested that a photograph of the sculpture Medusa With The Head of Perseus, actually presented at the
Collect Pond Park until 18th of April 2021 be
included in this article to
improve its quality.
Wikipedians in New York City may be able to help! The external tool WordPress Openverse may be able to locate suitable images on Flickr and other web sites. |
At the first glimpse of the terrible head of medusa, they whitened into marble
I've created this article as a prose rewrite of other Medusa/gorgon popular culture lists that includes what I believe is notable information and excludes the excessive trivial references and minutae of other versions. Medusa and the gorgons are iconic figures, and some of their uses in fiction are notable, in particular because they are ancient figures that persist in our culture.
Do not add every minor reference to Medusa or gorgons here; the information in this article should provide notable and new information about the use and dramatization of these mythological figures. In particular, the use of the word "Medusa" in the title of a song or album, or the mere inclusion of the character in a video game, is not in itself notable and is therefore inappropriately listed here. References like these will be deleted to keep this article free of the excessive trivia and fancruft that has made previous versions eligible for deletion. TAnthony 02:06, 9 July 2007 (UTC)
I've removed the following items from the article as they are unreferenced and at this point have little relevance (individually) to the cultural impact of Medusa or gorgons; I'm collecting them here because a future source may potentially make one or more of them relevant. Do not re-add any of this data without sources asserting notability. Anyone interested in finding every video game or whatever that features Medusa can look at the What links here page for Medusa.
*
Charles Stross's novella
The Concrete Jungle features a "scientific" explanation for the ability of a Gorgon to turn people to stone, which is then used as the basis for technological devices which play a central role in the story.
*In
A Tale of Two Cities by
Charles Dickens, Book the Second Chapter IX is titled "The Gorgon's Head," and the gorgon is alluded to in the subsequent description of the Marquis St. Evremonde's stone chateau (as well as mentioned at the end of the chapter).
[4]
*In the
Disneyland/
Disney World ride, the
Haunted Mansion, there is a morphing painting of a beautiful woman in a temple turning into Medusa.
*
Madame Medusa is the name of the villainess from
Disney's animated film,
The Rescuers (1977).
Though I've only added data relating to 2-3 games, I would like some answers from you on why the games are not important when there is a greater chance that younger generation will have the first glimpse of these mythological creatures from games, comics and movies instead of visiting some museum displaying some classical Greek vase or say some old time concept art of Medusa. Besides Cinema and Gaming have significantly influenced the 'Popular Culture' and the representation of Gorgons and other mythical creatures remain similar to what have been passed down from Ancient Scholars. It should be noted that in the game 'Titan Quest' and 'God of War', Medusa and her sisters are involved in Main Quests. As far as the valid references considered, I provided that.-- Fylindfotberserk ( talk) 12:06, 14 May 2010 (UTC)
Now if you demand a book for referring purpose which "mentions" people playing e.g "God of War" have knowledge of 'Medusa/Perseus story', that's simply ridiculous. Instead you should be asking for electronic, I mean some "reliable" web references which I had provided with my updates and can also be done for other games and yes a typical gamer will be well aware of Medusa and her significance in Greek mythology than a typical tourist visiting some Greekish Museum. And that will be because of In-Game references to classical Greece as well as supplementary Game docs and Goodies if he/she hasn't already read about them in books or online. In Age of Mythology for example, Perseus and Medusa do not fight in game, but their stats window clearly explains the Mythical story. You might point out that comics, games, movies do not stay loyal to the original story, but then again, in many cases you have multiple versions of a single mythical encounter. Moreover, it should be noted that Medusa and for that matter any other mythical character stay true to their basic characteristic features and behaviours even if the story is changed. In every incarnation, Medusa appears with her "snaky hair" and petrifying power.
I'm aware of size concerns. If that's the reason, then we can move it into a separate page or we can just mention the name of the games, movies, comics etc where Medusa appears instead of writing elaborately like what has been done in the past.-- BerserkMonk ( talk) 17:07, 14 June 2010 (UTC)
Might it not be useful, however, to note the various depictions of Gorgons in popular media that do NOT conform to the female human/snake hybrid? For instance, in both the Castlevania and Dungeons and Dragons series of games, there are monsters called Gorgons that instead look like giant bulls that can turn people to stone? Of particular interest, I think, is that Medusa appears in her "traditional" form in these media as well. Alucardtepes ( talk) 03:20, 2 September 2011 (UTC)
In others Medusa looks perfectly normal--even quite attractive--unless viewed through a mirror or other reflective surface (e.g. "Meddy" in the Land of the Lost series). -- The_Iconoclast ( talk) 05:29, 27 March 2014 (UTC)
I think the Land of the Lost depiction should be included. -- 2600:6C65:747F:CD3F:3C4C:E256:4C6:208C ( talk) 20:52, 4 April 2020 (UTC)
A version of Medusa is also in 'The Sarah Jane Adventures' series 3 episode 3. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A00:23C7:6E0D:A401:A0C7:EFD:4079:B0B7 ( talk) 10:53, 9 April 2022 (UTC)
This new article is a new presentation of information and should be considered as such. As noted above, it includes notable information and excludes the excessive junk that got previous articles deleted (like song titles containing the word "Medusa"). It is not simply a prose version of the previous list! Perhaps there is some information that is unnecessary, but it is not all worthy of deletion.
I actually agree that the prevalence of useless trivia is a problem on Wikipedia, but there is room for information that can realistically be useful to someone. When I am researching something as a reader, I want to know that Livia was dramatized in I, Claudius, what films were made about the RMS Titanic and yes, some places where Medusa has been portrayed and how the name has come to cannote certain things in our culture. TAnthony 04:45, 9 July 2007 (UTC)
I have found a great source and am in the process of rewriting and citing the article sentence by sentence. I'd appreciate a reasonable amount of time to get the article in shape before someone acts on its possible deletion. Once I've implemented this particular source I will also seek others to round out the article (by the way, this first source is "searchable within the book" on Amazon.com if anyone is interested in checking it out). TAnthony 02:18, 10 July 2007 (UTC)
This is a new presentation of the information, which includes sources. I am not finished, but I have sourced much of the article and removed much of the non-notable info. Previous deletions of similar articles should have no bearing on this one. TAnthony 03:27, 13 July 2007 (UTC)
Canuckle 15:17, 14 July 2007 (UTC)
This article was created for a specific purpose, and that was that the cultural impact of the Medusa character has more detail than what can reasonably fit on the main article.
I've removed the tag as firmly against the consensus established in the deletion vote for this article. We've got people voting to KEEP and also people voting to DELETE who do not want this info on the main article. The merge idea goes against the views of one full side and much of another side. It is therefore completely inappropriate and demonstrably against consensus. DreamGuy 21:37, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
I'm not sure if a list is desirable, but I've wanted to try one out for a while. What do you think of this? Looks like the sort by date doesn't like pre-1000 dates. Canuckle 06:01, 17 July 2007 (UTC)
Date | Title | Type | Artist | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
200 BC | Alexander Mosaic | Painting | Medusa on the breastplate of Alexander the Great in Pompeii mural | |
8 | Metamorphoses | Poem | Ovid | ca. 8 AD |
1554 | Perseus with the Head of Medusa | Sculpture | Benvenuto Cellini | Bronze |
1597 | Medusa | Painting | Caravaggio | Oil on canvas |
1600s | Medusa | Painting | Leonardo da Vinci | Oil on canvas, possibly the work of an anonymous Flemish painter, active ca. 1600 |
1617/1618 | Head of Medusa | Painting | Peter Paul Reubens | “perhaps the earliest original treatment for 16th-17th Century European art…the depiction of the severed head of Medusa, ‘entwined by snakes,’ was for artists of that period a very handy way to demonstrate their ability to instill fear in the spectator.” [10] |
1644-1648 [11] | Bust of Medusa | Sculpture | Gian Lorenzo Bernini | White marble [11] |
1801 | Perseus with the Head of Medusa | Sculpture | Antonio Canova | |
1854 | On the Medusa of Leonardo da Vinci in the Florentine Gallery | Poem | Percy Bysshe Shelley | Published after his death |
1878 | Medusa | Painting | Arnold Böcklin | Oil on canvas |
1904 | L’esprit a combattu le mal | Painting | Paul Klee | “portrays a complete reversal of roles -- Perseus is painted full face with a terrible countenance, while Medusa turns aside.” [12] |
1922 | Das Medusenhaupt (Medusa’s Head} | Book | Sigmund Freud | Medusa is presented as “the supreme talisman who provides the image of castration -- associated in the child's mind with the discovery of maternal sexuality -- and its denial. The snakes are multiple phalluses and petrifaction represents the comforting erection.” [12] |
1976 | Perseus | Sculpture | Salvador Dalí | Bronze [13] |
See the Hidden Text warning below (visible if you edit this page) that I saw added to a helicopter page. Could be adapted here and elsewhere. Canuckle 21:04, 26 July 2007 (UTC)
...and drops of it later transform into fearsome giant scorpions;
A little pedantic but I'm fairly sure that the blood dripped through the sack carrying the head onto regular scorpions. These scorpions then grew to a fearsome size rather than the blood transforming into scorpions.-- FruitMonkey 09:29, 27 July 2007 (UTC)
Here's another bust [3] by Gian Lorenzo Bernini that should be on the list. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Canuckle ( talk • contribs) 13:35, August 13, 2007
In some depictions, Medusa has wings on her temples.
Is it on some of the myths?
Does it have some deep meaning?
I thought it was the standard depiction of
Hypnos.
--
84.20.17.84
10:44, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
I have removed a new list of trivial appearances by "other gorgons" in comics, etc. pulled out of other articles. Obviously, this article was created and adapted in the face of AFDs and such to feature only notable and sourced depictions of Medusa/gorgons, not list every single time the character appears on a TV show or in a comic. This article remains incomplete, but this small stuff will put it in danger again. Thanks.— TAnthony Talk 17:12, 28 February 2009 (UTC)
Shouldn't this be merged with the main Medusa article? I was looking for this information on the main article, and didn't find this article until later. IshtarDeity ( talk) 01:33, 29 August 2010 (UTC)
Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified one external link on Cultural depictions of Medusa and Gorgons. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
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(last update: 5 June 2024).
Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot ( Report bug) 10:17, 15 August 2017 (UTC)
The User:Moomblum has made this edit in November 2018. Nearly all of the other editos of this editor have been reverted due to their blantant ignorace to Wikipedia:No original research. I suggest this edit to this article also be reverted. However, I leave that to you, the person reading this who is more familiar with this subject, or keep it if you'd rather. Cheers. — Prhart com♥ 01:58, 15 March 2019 (UTC)
The "Modern use" section is really getting out of control in terms of size - I've cut it down several times and it still feels like a mess.
With an article like this, I think the best policy is to only include appearances which are mentioned in a linked Wikipedia article. This avoids us having an excessive number of entries for video games where Medusa appears as an opponent, or having people add self-published novels or short stories featuring the character into the "literature" section. I would encourage everyone editing the article to only add entries that meet this criterion, and to remove any which fail it.
See also WP:IPCEXAMPLES for further discussion on what should be included in articles of this kind. Gimubrc ( talk) 14:42, 17 May 2019 (UTC)