So, I can post this with a really long introduction, or a really short one. I'm going with short today, because it's not about the actual video anyway. I've been playing Mass Effect 3 for most of the free time I have this week (thus eating into my reservoir of unpublished but finished blog posts in the process) and I ran into this lovely parallel between the game and my practice.
In the video (time code 3:40 - 4:30), you see Liara (blue alien) gush about a unique discovery: a living, breathing, species of a Prothean, 50.000 years after they were supposed to go extinct. She paints them as intellectual, as aiding the species that were still in development in the time of the Protheans and a general good guys. It should be noted that Liara is the foremost expert on anything Prothean. When the main protagonist, Shepard, questions if Liara isn't coloring the Prothean with her racial brush, Liara agrees that's probably true, but that the evidence supports her claims. After the Prothean has been recovered, Liara has a chance to talk to him (time code 20:40 - 21:50), and to say he--and Prothean society--is nothing like she expected, would be a huge understatement.
Now, replace 'Prothean' with 'Hellenic' and you see the point for this post. We know a lot about ancient Hellas, and the civilization ended far less than 50.000 years ago, but it is a reminder to keep in mind that what we think we know, is actually knowledge we inferred through writings, pottery, and other discoveries at archeological dig sites. We interpret the information the best we can, but in the end, it didn't come to us from a living, breathing, Hellenic, and that's something we should never forget.
PS: sorry about the dress, the video was not recorded by me, but by youtube user Johnsen1982.
In the video (time code 3:40 - 4:30), you see Liara (blue alien) gush about a unique discovery: a living, breathing, species of a Prothean, 50.000 years after they were supposed to go extinct. She paints them as intellectual, as aiding the species that were still in development in the time of the Protheans and a general good guys. It should be noted that Liara is the foremost expert on anything Prothean. When the main protagonist, Shepard, questions if Liara isn't coloring the Prothean with her racial brush, Liara agrees that's probably true, but that the evidence supports her claims. After the Prothean has been recovered, Liara has a chance to talk to him (time code 20:40 - 21:50), and to say he--and Prothean society--is nothing like she expected, would be a huge understatement.
Now, replace 'Prothean' with 'Hellenic' and you see the point for this post. We know a lot about ancient Hellas, and the civilization ended far less than 50.000 years ago, but it is a reminder to keep in mind that what we think we know, is actually knowledge we inferred through writings, pottery, and other discoveries at archeological dig sites. We interpret the information the best we can, but in the end, it didn't come to us from a living, breathing, Hellenic, and that's something we should never forget.
PS: sorry about the dress, the video was not recorded by me, but by youtube user Johnsen1982.
No comments:
Post a Comment