Those of you whose preteen and teen years were in the ’90s, like mine were, may remember this:
No? Well, how about this:
- (source: http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/memorable-tv/images/36844291/title/gargoyles-photo)
Yes! It is Gargoyles, which aired from 1994 through 1997, and of which I was a devoted watcher. This, of course, was in the dark days of no DVR, and so I plunked myself down in front of the TV whenever the show was on and groused long and loudly, I am sure, if some hellish after-school activity prevented me from watching it.
The first season of the show aired nearly twenty years ago (sob I’m old sob) and so it seems fitting to present 3 things I learned because of or from Gargoyles.
- The name Desdemona means “ill-fated one.” (And yes, the character was Demona, not Desdemona, but I used that cool new-to-me thing called the Internet to research names and came across Desdemona and thought just HOW ACCURATE and TRUE that name was for poor, poor Demona, so incredibly loyal to the gargoyle race and unable to understand Goliath’s fondness for puny, cruel humans. So I decided that her name was Desdemona and she used “Demona” as a nickname, ’cause she was all like, “I’d rather be a demon than ill-fated, yo.” [And yes, Desdemona seems to originate with Othello but I was 12 and not yet up on my Shakespeare, OK?])
- Trans-species romances make for Romeo-and-Juliet-esque melodrama that preteen and young teenage girls will eat up! Goliath and Elisa 4EVA!*
- Mixing umpteen billion different mythologies into a single story-world is not in the least confusing for young adults on account of their shorter attention spans.†
*I am only now in hindsight realizing that this concept may help account for Twilight‘s popularity. One could certainly delve deeply into the trans-species romance narrative, including Beauty and the Beast.
†Seriously, this bothered me not at all with Gargoyles, but put me off of the later Hercules and Xena storylines, and I cannot. stand. it. in Once Upon a Time. I suppose I have become a story-curmudgeon.