Posted on 01/17/2014 12:36:26 PM PST by SoFloFreeper
Ahead of the new Lifetime movie adaptation of V.C. Andrews 1979 cult classic, we explore why incest plotlines are so enduring in popular culture
Lifetimes Flowers in the Attic, the movie adaptation of V.C. Andrews sordid and soapy tale of family dysfunction, will air tomorrow night, and for millions of American women in their 30s and 40s, its sure to be mandatory viewing....
A survey of incest plotlines in popular culture over the past few years alone includes Game of Thrones (sister and brother, Cersei and Jaime); Boardwalk Empire (mother and son, Gillian and Jimmy); Dexter (adopted sister and brother, Deb and Dexter); Bored to Death (half-sister and brother, Jonathan and Rose); Bates Motel (mother and son, Norma and Norman); and Top of the Lake (half-sister and brother, Robin and Johnno, though was only a scare)not to mention, Brothers and Sisters, Supernatural, Nip/Tuck, Lost, Veronica Mars, Californication, Six Feet Under and the upcoming mini-series The Spoils of Babylon, which stars Toby Maguire and Kristen Wiig as romantically involved adopted siblings.
(Excerpt) Read more at vocativ.com ...
A Midget Imbecile
Kaiser (V)Wilhelm of Germany is there as is his First Cousin (T)Czar Nicholas of Russia WHAT A ENTIRE “FAMILY” OF FREAKS!
I read them when I was 13. Mom had no idea what I was so facinated with. Lol.
TOM LEHRER
Oedipus Rex Lyrics
(Introduction, only on live album An Evening Wasted With Tom Lehrer, spoken:)
And now, may I have the next slide please?
...carried away there.
It seems that most of the songs that you hear these days
on the radio played by the disk jockeys, apart from rock
and roll and other children’s records, tend to be motion
picture title songs. Apparently producers feel that we
will not attend their movies unless we have the titles
well drilled into our heads in advance. Of course, we
don’t go anyway, but at least this way they make back on
the song some of what they’ve lost on the picture. But,
with the rise of the motion picture title song we have
such hits of the past few years as The Ten Commandments Mambo,
Brothers Karamazov Cha-Cha, Incredible Shrinking Man I Love You
...I’m sure you’re all familiar with these.
But, a few years ago, a motion picture version appeared
of Sophocles’ immortal tragedy Oedipus Rex. This picture
played only in the so-called art theaters, and it was not
a financial success. And I maintain that the reason it was
not a financial success... you’re way ahead of me... was
that it did not have a title tune which the people could
hum, and which would make them actually eager to attend
this particular flick. So, I’ve attempted to supply this,
and here then is the prospective title song from Oedipus Rex:
From the Bible to the popular song
There’s one theme that we find right along
Of all ideals they hail as good
The most sublime is motherhood
There was a man though, who it seems
Once carried this ideal to extremes
He loved his mother and she loved him
And yet his story is rather grim
There once lived a man named Oedipus Rex
You may have heard about his odd complex
His name appears in Freud’s index
‘Cause he loved his mother
His rivals used to say quite a bit
That as a monarch he was most unfit
But still in all they had to admit
That he loved his mother
Yes, he loved his mother like no other
His daughter was his sister and his son was his brother
One thing on which you can depend is,
He sure knew who a boy’s best friend is
When he found what he had done
He tore his eyes out, one by one
A tragic end to a loyal son
Who loved his mother
So be sweet and kind to mother
Now and then have a chat
Buy her candy or some flowers
Or a brand new hat
But maybe you had better let it go at that
Or you may find yourself with a quite complex complex
And you may end up like Oedipus
I’d rather marry a duck-billed platypus
Than end up like old Oedipus Rex
In point of fact, after the French Revolution, the Frogs threw out most of the laws, including incest laws. It was just a few years ago that France re-criminalized incest.
Sometimes “Feelin’ Froggy’ can result the Frogs enacting a good law.
As is documented in the article below, incest used to be practiced among some royal families for purely political reasons (to the extent that survival is political), since losing power to outsiders could mean the root and branch extermination of the royal line:
Yes, you are correct. I believe that; my point, I guess, is that it is not yet complete.
I don’t think it’s so much that incest plotlines are popular - it’s that scriptwriters run out of things to talk about, which is why gay plotlines have been such godsends, now that the ick factor is apparently no longer an issue among younger viewers. If polygamy and incest lose their taboo status, expect to see more of those plotlines develop. “Guess who’s coming to dinner” was a big deal for its time, and scriptwriters probably loved that, because it opened up another possibility, once miscegenation began to lose its taboo status. Heck, if space aliens start showing up in large numbers and getting down and dirty with humans, expect Mork and Mindy story lines to become the next big thing.
I remember a picture of a class of kids all photoshopped to look like Obama, but I can’t find it by Googling right now
Rosemary
I don’t think incest is giggled about, it’s a quick way of setting the characters as off. Notice in most of their examples at least one and sometimes both characters are sociopaths or serial killers, not exactly a ringing endorsement for keeping it in the family.
There’s a miniseries coming out based on a 35 year old series of best sellers. Not to mention the long series of stories featuring incest going all the way back to Greek myth. That would seem to have endured.
“... it’s a quick way of setting the characters as off”.
I agree. I remember reading, “The Fall of the House of Usher” (Edgar Allan Poe) and there was incest themes. By themes.. I mean it was suggested. This was definitely a way to set the characters off as not normal.
You’re talking about the series that aired on ABC, I presume? I watched it a few times. I don’t recall seeing anything regarding incest, but I swear the show’s writers never met a libtard cliche they didn’t like.
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