Saturday, April 23, 2011

Interview #9

Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta, which fact alone sets the reader on edge because, hey, no problem with the younger man and older woman stuff, but Jocasta was no mere older woman, as such things go, she was also Oedipus's mother.  A figure from Greek mythology, Anti meaning against, and gone variously translatable as "the stuff of tradition," "motherhood," and "men," as in misanthropic. She was born into character about 440 years Before the Common Era when her creator, Sophocles, saw opportunities to fit his purpose by basing her on a real myth in a play with her name as its title.

Interviewer:  How did it feel, being moved into literature from myth?

Antigone:  A big turn-on, let me tell you.  Made the difference from being talked about as some bratty sorority girl type and listened to as a woman with an edge.


Interviewer:  How old were you when you made your debut?

Antigone:  Was supposed to be sixteen, which, contemporary sexual precocity given its due, was a different sixteen then than now.

Interviewer:  You do see your historical role as a lady with an edge?

Antigone:  Someone fucking had to do it.  You think Scarlet O'Hara had chops?  Antonia?  Hester Prynne?  Oh, sure, I can see it; you're going to throw Nora Helmer at me and that ditz, Starling.

Interviewer:  Clarice.

Antigone:  Whatever.  Most dudes, they don't know what to make of women.  Still see them as status symbols.  I mean fucking Helen.  The Monica Lewinsky of her day.  And to show you how dumb the whole thing was, Paris won her as a prize for judging a beauty contest, which was in a sense rigged to give him the most beautiful woman in the world.  You wouldn't go around calling Paris a schlimazel to his face, but he had to be a chariot without a horse, taking her when he found out she was already married.

Interviewer:  The goddesses did trick him.

Antigone:  Oh, right.  Excuse me.  But think about it:  How many goddesses does it take to trick a schmuck?  Wars were made to sound noble  back then.  Little has changed, right?  You know my creator, old Sophocles, was a general.  You've got to admit, he didn't propagandize war.  He went right to the after effects.

Interviewer:  That's where you came in, wanting to bury your brother who was killed in battle.

Antigone:  Because he was fighting against my uncle, Creon, it was thought he should be left to rot.

Interviewer:  And that would deny him entry into the underworld?

Antigone:  You believe all that crap about the underworld?  Disneyland for the dead.  Forrest Fucking Lawn.  Creon didn't want my brother buried because he wanted people to see what came from fighting against him.

Interviewer:  And you persisted in trying to bury him?

Antigone:  Fuck yes.  Wasn't going to let the old coot propagandize my brother.  Life is about taking a stand for things you care about.  You don't, next thing you know, they'll be after you with more rules and more propaganda.  After that comes uniformity up the wazoo.  Look at it this way, I must have counted for something.  People still remember me.  Who the fuck remembers King Creon?

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