Magnificent Medusa

Medusa! Meduce, deuce! She's a great monster- lovely face with a look that turns mortals to stone. But how did she get that way? Was she born with a head full of snakes? We're finding out! Join us!

Transcript

[00:09] Sarah: Yeah. How are you? Good.

[00:13] Erin: I had a great week in the DIY arena.

[00:17] Sarah: Yes.

[00:19] Erin: Well, I told you that I cleaned the cars with carwax. I had never applied carwax before, and it was a smashing success.

[00:28] Sarah: Nice.

[00:30] Erin: They look so pretty and glossy and just, like, extremely shiny. And I love it.

[00:35] Sarah: Nice.

[00:36] Erin: It was really satisfying to wipe it off and then see, like, clean car.

[00:41] Sarah: I liked it.

[00:42] Erin: And then also we've had a toilet that has been phantom flushing. Like, it will just flush on its own. And I changed I replaced the flapper inside the tank and it worked.

[00:59] Sarah: And there's no more flushing.

[01:02] Erin: I'm basically a plumber now.

[01:04] Sarah: You essentially are. A lot of money for your services and really good living, I hear. Paul.

[01:11] Erin: I was very proud of myself and actually worked.

[01:14] Sarah: That's awesome.

[01:16] Erin: Yeah. And then I changed the smoke detector battery this morning.

[01:22] Sarah: I saw that you tweeted something about that, so doing that.

[01:26] Erin: Well, I woke up and was getting breakfast and everything, and then I thought I heard a chirp, and I thought, oh, ****. And it just kept chirping chirping getting louder and louder. And then I finally got around to changing it, and then it was like silence.

[01:42] Sarah: Thank you, ears. Yeah, that's true.

[01:46] Erin: Also, I made bread this morning.

[01:48] Sarah: You made bread? What kind?

[01:51] Erin: Dill and onion.

[01:53] Sarah: That sounds delish.

[01:56] Erin: It's really good. I ran to the store, like, midway through because we didn't have enough minced onions, so that was fun.

[02:04] Sarah: Yeah. That's a favorite of yours to make, isn't it? I feel like I've already talked about it.

[02:08] Erin: Yeah, my mom loves it. She made it last week. Okay. So normally we make a loaf and it's like, maybe ten inches high. It looks like a loaf. Kind of a loaf of bread. And she made it last week and it rose to about two inches.

[02:26] Sarah: Oh, no.

[02:27] Erin: Yeah, it fell super flat. So this week I did it and it worked out.

[02:33] Sarah: Hey. Oh, my gosh.

[02:35] Erin: So what's going on in your world?

[02:37] Sarah: We've had a busy day here. We had an electrician come today.

[02:43] Erin: Is everything okay?

[02:44] Sarah: Yeah, well, my bathroom lately, every time I run my hair dryer, the room that backs up to my bathroom smells, like, basically a chemical fire.

[02:57] Erin: Like, it smells oh, God, it smells.

[03:00] Sarah: Hot, if that makes sense. You know, like, very simple or electrical kind of smell. And the first time it happened, we actually had the fire department come out and they were like, no, seems fine. And we were like, okay, sure. Anyway, we had an electrician come out, and there were more outlets that were out, like, in my parents room. And so we had them fix it. And I did not realize that they were coming and that we had an appointment with them until late last night. This is just complaining, but they're supposed to call half an hour before they arrive. They did not do that. So they just knocked on the door, and thankfully I had just gotten out of the shower, but so anyway, I was just kind of sequestered in my room for a couple of hours, but I got a lot done. I went through I started paperwork and I changed my sheets. Done.

[03:55] Erin: That's great.

[03:56] Sarah: Yeah. I was supposed to have two phone interviews for freelance stories today. One fell through, but one I still got done. Oh, great. Yeah. Busy day. Oh, this is so, like, random and stupid, but I bought one of those little packets of the Birdspeed eye masks that you put underneath your eyes, and I was like, okay, well, I'll do that while I'm, like, sitting here. And I opened package and there was just one in there.

[04:25] Erin: Oh, no.

[04:26] Sarah: So I just moisturized one eye.

[04:32] Erin: Oh, I see. I thought you meant, like it was just, like, one pair, hoping there were more. There was just, like, one side. Oh, no.

[04:43] Sarah: What happened here?

[04:45] Erin: Yeah, I have wanted to try those ever since I saw Grace and Frankie. Like, she wears them a lot. Yeah, I want to try them, like the undereye. They're like blue or gold or something.

[04:56] Sarah: Oh, yeah, I think those are the fancy ones. I just get like Burt's Bee's, CBS ones. But it's still just like a nice little treat yourself. Just like a face mask. Yeah. You know, treat yourself 2011. Apparently yesterday was treat yourself day, which every day can be treat yourself day if you're doing anything.

[05:15] Erin: I didn't know there was, like, an actual day.

[05:18] Sarah: I didn't either, but, yes, I was enlightened. So that's kind of what I've been up to today.

[05:25] Erin: Oh, I just saw that there were some protesters who threw tomato soup. Do you see that?

[05:33] Sarah: No, where?

[05:35] Erin: On the Van Gogh painting of Sunflowers.

[05:39] Sarah: Oh, my gosh, that's so upsetting.

[05:41] Erin: Yeah. And then they glued themselves to the wall, so that'll be interesting. What happens?

[05:49] Sarah: Not a good day for art. That's terrible.

[05:51] Erin: No, I'm pretty sure they can get that off, though, don't you think?

[05:54] Sarah: I know, but still, that's very upsetting.

[05:57] Erin: Yeah, it is. And they're protesting on the use of oil. It says, just stop. Oil protesters?

[06:08] Sarah: Like oil or T shirts or what?

[06:11] Erin: No, like petroleum. Oh, I'm sorry.

[06:14] Sarah: I was thinking about painting, and I was like, I'm trying to make the connection. Why are you taking it out on art?

[06:25] Erin: They only like charcoal. No. Did you watch Ghosts this week?

[06:32] Sarah: I haven't. What did I watch this week? God, I don't even know. I was working my little tail off. You're going to judge me for this? That's okay. I had at least four, if not five episodes of Bachelor in paradise in my DVR that I hadn't watched. So those were my reward this week. First.

[06:54] Erin: Is it fun?

[06:56] Sarah: Yeah, it's just, like, stupid, and I love it. And some of my favorite guy contestants are on it, and so that makes me happy. And they're kind of getting screwed over by some mean girls, and so that makes me happy. Oh, no. But, like, good dudes. But anyway, are those the ones that.

[07:17] Erin: Have the Twitter that you really like or whatever, that do, like, videos and stuff?

[07:21] Sarah: Yeah, they're these group of guys that all became best friends. Like, none of them won. They all became best friends on whatever season they were on. And now they just, like, travel together and make TikTok videos.

[07:34] Erin: That's hysterical.

[07:35] Sarah: It's really cute. I'm like, there's something so sweet about this.

[07:38] Erin: It is. All right, listeners. Welcome back to Miss in movies. I'm Erin.

[07:44] Sarah: And I'm Sarah.

[07:46] Erin: Thank you for joining us. As we dive into our favorite movies and learn about trolls, monsters, folklore, ghosts, on and on. Today, I thought we would cover a monster that I have been Loki obsessed with, Medusa.

[08:01] Sarah: I just hear Schmidt on New Girls saying, Medusa doose.

[08:05] Erin: Okay, thank you. I was like, Is that a fever dream?

[08:08] Sarah: Because I just I couldn't tell you where it happens. Like, what episode? What context? No, I have no idea. I just can hear it in my head, that is all.

[08:16] Erin: No, I totally agree. And it's been sort of freaking me out. So, anyway, so Medusa medusa is in a ton of movies. Everything from straight mythology movies like Hercules to Clash of the Titans to also the Lego Batman movie.

[08:33] Sarah: Okay. That I do not know about.

[08:36] Erin: You did Google it, because she is actually kind of cute. She is, like, purple with green hair and it's actually kind of cute.

[08:46] Sarah: There's also I forget what company it is. It's like T Mobile or something. Some tech company. And they've been doing characters and historical figures in ads, and one of them was Medusa.

[09:00] Erin: Oh, yeah, that was Amazon.

[09:02] Sarah: Right? Because it's random stuff that you need because she keeps trying to, like, look at her friends and freezing them into stones. So she gets shades.

[09:11] Erin: And then she stuns a creepy guy at the bar with her snakes, which I was into.

[09:17] Sarah: That is deserved.

[09:21] Erin: In Lego Batman. She seems like an odd fit for Lego Batman because it's Batman, I guess. But she escapes from some kind of prison for supernatural beings and then she helps the Joker on his quest to foil Batman. So you're welcome.

[09:38] Sarah: Right?

[09:41] Erin: Although to me, she doesn't really seem like a sidekick. She is a leading lady for sure.

[09:46] Sarah: Yeah, she's got main character energy, as the kids say.

[09:51] Erin: Why is Jenzie so clever? We were never this funny.

[09:56] Sarah: They are very funny, but they also keep making things that are just part of my life trends. And so I don't I'm like, leave me alone. Like, I saw an Instagram post that was like, frazzled English woman is the newest look. And I was like, Stay away from me. And it had, like, a picture of Kate Winslet from the holiday. And I was like, Ginsey, stop. First grandmother, now this. Like, my heart can only handle so much.

[10:25] Erin: Funny. All right.

[10:28] Sarah: I said don't get me started on Cottage Court. Yeah.

[10:34] Erin: So anyway, let's get into our campfire. Tail, are you ready?

[10:37] Sarah: Let's do it. I'm excited.

[10:39] Erin: Hey. Once upon a time, in a land surrounded by turquoise seas, there was a man who went on a journey. He became famous for this journey because he encountered fierce and terrible monsters along his route, like the Gorgons. The Gorgons were three sisters, each beautiful but terrifying. Two sisters had snakes that draped around their waist, while the third sister was immortal. Her name was Medusa, and she was famous for her beauty. The god beside and saw her line on the beach. One day, while her shining black hair streamed behind her, he decided he had to have her. He took her to the temple of Athena and laid with her. Athena was enraged. The betrayal and turned Medusa's beautiful hair into a coil of snakes. Medusa's lovely face turned hard with anger at what Athena and Poseidon had done to her. The sister that had such a lovely face now had a face that no one could look upon without dying. The end.

[11:35] Sarah: That is rough.

[11:37] Erin: Yes.

[11:38] Sarah: You couldn't hear this because I had myself on mute, but I said rare with her dad. I love it. I actually didn't know anything about the storyline of Medusa. I just know what she is, the snake hair and all that.

[11:54] Erin: Yeah. We'll get into her story a little bit more, but first I want to sort of establish I want to paint you a picture, if you will.

[12:01] Sarah: Yes, please.

[12:02] Erin: Yes. So after she gets turned into, like, this angry, like, snake hair lady, she becomes more hideous than both of her sisters. So poets claim that she had great bore like tusks and a tongue lolling between her fanged teeth. Writhing snakes intertwined her head in place of hair. And her face was so hideous and her gaze so piercing that the mare sight of her was sufficient to turn a man to stone.

[12:37] Sarah: Career. I don't know. It's not her fault that your stupid husband wanted to sleep with her. Athena?

[12:47] Erin: No, definitely not. And he impregnated her in a temple. It was not consensual, let's put it that way. No, it's definitely not. And Medusa is in a terrible position. Like, she can't turn Poseidon down because he would kill her. And then if she did be with Poseidon, then another goddess like Athena would be mad at her. So she really couldn't win.

[13:14] Sarah: Yeah. So we lose. Situation it is.

[13:18] Erin: So earlier I said she was a Gorgon, so I didn't really know much about Gorgons. Apparently, there are three sisters and they're born of the sea god Forcerous and Seto. And so they were the parents. Those were also the parents of a kidna. Do you remember when we talked about that snack? When we talked about Taylor? So there's many description of the sisters. One say that they have belts hanging from their waist. Another say they have scaled heads, large tusks and golden wings. I should say that my campfire tail. That's just one of many different stories. There's another one where Neptune rapes her in the temple of Minerva, and then Minerva turns her hair into snakes. And that's the version that Obed writes. Like that's. The Roman version. Got you with the Roman gods. There's another version where the three sisters are just three sisters with scaled heads, but no snakes flowing from their heads. So anyway, Oven has been the one that's been really popularized. Yeah.

[14:25] Sarah: So the avid one is the one with the three sisters.

[14:32] Erin: So I talked about in the campfire tail. So there's a young man who goes on a quest. So I know that sounds like it's Odysseus, but it's not. It's Perseus. He is the son of Zeus, which is not that uncommon in Greek mythology.

[14:50] Sarah: Of kids got around, you know?

[14:53] Erin: Yes. So his mother is Danae, and she is where we get the story of the self fulfilling prophecy.

[15:02] Sarah: Tell her.

[15:03] Erin: So her father is the king of Argos. He asked the oracle of Delphi if he will ever have an heir because he only has one daughter. Delphi is like, oh, yeah, you will, except your daughter will give birth a child, and then he will grow up and kill you.

[15:17] Sarah: I'd rather not know. Sorry.

[15:23] Erin: So the king is like, I reject that. I'm not going to let that go down. So he does the only logical thing. He bricks up his daughter Danae in a bronze chamber.

[15:34] Sarah: Excellent. Yeah, that sounds like a conclusion.

[15:36] Erin: It's kind of like those underground tombs are always excavating in Egypt to look at what the pharaohs are buried with. Like, think of that kind of thing.

[15:44] Sarah: Okay, got it.

[15:47] Erin: So he figures Denae is stuck in there. There's no way she can get pregnant. She is never so far away that Zeus can't get to her. And for whatever reason, probably because he couldn't get to her, he desired her above all else. He turned himself into a golden rain, which streamed in through the roof of the subterranean chamber and into her womb.

[16:16] Sarah: Sorry, that was a candid response there.

[16:20] Erin: Yeah, it is really bad. And she became pregnant and she gave birth to a child. Perseus.

[16:27] Sarah: Creativity coins there, for sure. Yeah.

[16:30] Erin: But like, let's make sure that everything is consensual.

[16:35] Sarah: Let's do that. Yeah.

[16:36] Erin: You can't just rain down on people. Okay, totally. So Argos was furious, and he was also terrified because he thought he would be killed. So he put the mother and child into a wooden box and he cast them into the sea. They washed ashore on a tiny island where the king of that island befriended them. He raised Perseus and then he fell in love with Daenery.

[16:57] Sarah: Okay, all right.

[17:00] Erin: Unfortunately, it is not the love story you think Denae was not into it. She did not want to marry him.

[17:06] Sarah: Oh, no. I'm sorry, Danae.

[17:08] Erin: And the king was like, that's fine, but I want Perseus to bring me the head of the Medusa, the legendary and scariest monster in all of Greece. That's a normal request.

[17:21] Sarah: Yes, it is.

[17:22] Erin: So this is where we get into Perseus tale. He wanted to get off the island and prove himself as a man, so he accepted the quest, and he's helped by various gods. He gets Hermes his wing sandals, Athena's shield, and Hades his helmet of invisibility.

[17:39] Sarah: Nice.

[17:40] Erin: He uses those gifts to sneak up on Medusa. He uses the shield to reflect her shadow so he doesn't actually have to look at her.

[17:48] Sarah: Where was that Disney cartoon getting all the different accessories from all your little godfriends?

[17:56] Erin: Yeah, totally.

[17:57] Sarah: A great exposition song right there.

[18:00] Erin: Totally. Yeah, that would have been great. Anyway, so he chops off her head, and then what happens? Spring out of her head. Do you remember how I said that? Poseidonneptunefindusa? Yes. So the two horses that spring up out of her are her children, and one is Pegasus and the other is Cryosaur.

[18:32] Sarah: Okay.

[18:33] Erin: Isn't that interesting? That like Pegasus. I always hear about Pegasus, and I never knew that that was Medusa's child.

[18:40] Sarah: Yeah, because I think of Pegasus again from the cartoon as Hercules. Course.

[18:47] Erin: Yeah.

[18:49] Sarah: Interesting.

[18:50] Erin: So Medusa is dead because Perseus killed her. And her two sisters are very upset. They try to kill Perseus, but he puts on his little helmet of invisibility and is gone, while on the way home, he meets Andromeda, who was chained to a rock because her mom bragged too much about her beauty. Perseus cuts through the chains and they get married.

[19:13] Sarah: Sure. All right.

[19:24] Erin: So Percy comes home, and then he sees the king, the one who took him in, and he's still hitting on his mom, like, violently.

[19:32] Sarah: Oh, no.

[19:33] Erin: So he uses Medusa's head to kill him, and then he puts his brother on the throne.

[19:38] Sarah: Sure. Yeah. On all tracks.

[19:40] Erin: Yeah. Returns all of his stuff, and then he gives Medusa's head to Athena. Athena puts on Zeus's shield. Okay. Anyway, so when he's all done with his task, he decides to check out the funeral gains for fallen king. He decides to participate. He throws a javelin thing, and the spear sort of misses, and then it hits the king in the head. Yeah. And that king, that was the grandfather who was sure the prophecy would come true. So he tried to kill his daughter and grandson.

[20:12] Sarah: Oh, snap. Yep. Oh, man.

[20:17] Erin: Isn't that funny? That, like, such a roundabout way to kill him.

[20:21] Sarah: It is. It is accidental.

[20:24] Erin: So that's the phenomenon known as a self fulfilling prophecy. He gave that belief so much power that he actually ended up causing his death anyway.

[20:32] Sarah: Got it. That's so interesting.

[20:37] Erin: I would say. I mean, it's hard, though. Like, what are you supposed to do if you know something like that is coming? Do you befriend the kid so he doesn't want to kill you? I don't know.

[20:46] Sarah: Yeah, it's like, do not hit the red button thing, and then it gets in your head, and you're like, I have to hit that red button. You focused on that.

[20:59] Erin: So that's sorry, Perseus. So we'll talk about medusa. Now. She's basically a monster for years. At first, she is a regular hideous monster, like the Gorgon with her sister. If you Google Gorgons, you will see a ton of really weird pottery with monsters with these, like, really weird stretched out. Now.

[21:19] Sarah: Interesting.

[21:20] Erin: Okay, so in the Ovid story, she's supposedly really beautiful, but then other versions, they say, no, she wasn't. So I don't know.

[21:29] Sarah: Interesting.

[21:30] Erin: Did you see the pottery or no, I'm looking.

[21:32] Sarah: Yeah, it's weird. That is weird.

[21:37] Erin: Let's see. Okay, so there are a couple of theories about where the legend comes from. So some say that a Gorgon is really just a gold statue that Percy has stolen from the three sisters.

[21:47] Sarah: Interesting.

[21:48] Erin: Another theory speculates that Medusa was a Libyan queen and that she was defeated by the Greek Perseus, who takes off her head to show how beautiful she is. Well, you know those ancient soldiers? They were seriously brutal.

[22:05] Sarah: Yeah, this is true.

[22:08] Erin: While researching this, I came across this theory why Medusa's gaze turned people to stone. In the legend, we know the Greeks wrote their mythology when they were trying to explain the world around them.

[22:21] Sarah: Right? Right. I also think they might have been eating some weird mushrooms or something.

[22:27] Erin: Maybe. So.

[22:31] Sarah: Explaining the world around you?

[22:32] Erin: Yes, yes. So we do know that ancient Greeks found fossils, and so maybe they needed a way to explain them.

[22:39] Sarah: Right. Okay. Fossils or stone? I'm tracking with you.

[22:44] Erin: Okay, this is a little bit of a detour, but I thought that fossils were just bones and that we would all become fossils one day. Yeah, that's actually not true. So what happens is dirt, volcanic ash or sediment covers bones, and then it preserves it and, like, hardens, and the sediment eventually turns to stone. And then eventually, like, over centuries, the stone is worn away, and it reveals the bones inside.

[23:13] Sarah: Oh, that's interesting.

[23:14] Erin: I was like, that was interesting. Anyway, so the Greeks were uncovering this stuff, and they were seeing bones encased in stone. And so they were probably thinking, well, what the hell? How could bones get turned to stone? That's weird. So maybe they thought there was some sort of monster that turned people to stone.

[23:33] Sarah: It's a creative idea. It's a creative explanation of something that we now can explain for sure.

[23:42] Erin: So I've watched this really interesting TVs show on YouTube where they talked about Medusa, and I want to talk about it.

[23:47] Sarah: Okay, so they were asking the question.

[23:50] Erin: Why is Medusa female?

[23:52] Sarah: Because she isn't that *****. That's why. Why?

[23:58] Erin: So for century, Medusa has been used as a symbol of protection. Her face would be over a doorway or on a shield.

[24:05] Sarah: Oh, all right. Like St. Michael.

[24:08] Erin: Yeah. So except of course, Medusa is a horrifying monster, but the same sort of principle anyway, in these likenesses, like statues or busts or whatever, she's always horrifying. She's got a protruding tongue, things really big eyes, et cetera.

[24:25] Sarah: Yeah, she's like scaring stuff away.

[24:28] Erin: Yeah. But then in the Middle Ages, things start to change. With the emergence of Christianity, medusa is seen a different way. She was viewed as a seductress, a symbol of women's ability to lead men astray.

[24:44] Sarah: I told you that *****. There it is. Yeah.

[24:49] Erin: It's always like some whenever there's a man ******** up, there's always like some reason why it's actually a woman's fault.

[24:57] Sarah: Yeah, always. Thank you.

[24:59] Erin: I went to a weird Christian high school and we were constantly being told that we needed to cover up so we wouldn't cause the guys to sin.

[25:07] Sarah: Yeah, that's very 90s purity culture.

[25:11] Erin: Yeah. One of the kids I went to school with, his mother put like little pamphlets in all the girls locker that was talking about how girls need to cover up to help guys, not sin, blah, blah, blah.

[25:27] Sarah: I hate it.

[25:28] Erin: Terrible.

[25:29] Sarah: Yeah, that's triggering.

[25:33] Erin: Well, luckily I had a mother who was just like, well, that sounds like bullshit to me.

[25:40] Sarah: Way to go, mom.

[25:41] Erin: I know. And she was like, you can tell them I said so. And so I just sort of like, immediately was like, I don't care about this. I'm not going to think about it.

[25:50] Sarah: Yeah, lots of unpack there. Yeah.

[25:54] Erin: But really, I mean, great move, mom. That was great.

[25:58] Sarah: Yes. Great on Mom's part.

[26:01] Erin: So anyway, so now Medusa, she's a symbol of vice and perseus, is recast as a symbol of virtue, and he is the one that conquers sin, which is quite a flip because in OVIT's telling, she's a victim of sexual assault and now she's a predator.

[26:16] Sarah: Yeah, but how often is that line blurred? And.

[26:23] Erin: So Medusa undergoes another transformation in the romantic era, thanks to one Percy Shelley.

[26:33] Sarah: Yes. You mean Mary Shelley's husband, as I like to refer to him.

[26:37] Erin: Yes. And he was an allaround weirdo.

[26:40] Sarah: He was. I love do you remember that? This isn't a side, but we lived above his statue in Oxford.

[26:47] Erin: That's true.

[26:48] Sarah: Staircase that we lived in. That's true. In the staircase was right up in the Percy Shelley statue and washing up on the beach. Anyway.

[26:59] Erin: It'S really great. He was an all around, just really strange guy. He sees a really creepy painting in Medusa and he thinks that DaVinci painted it because I guess he was just like, oh, that looks like DaVinci style, which it definitely DA Vinci definitely didn't paint it, but he thought it was great. So he decides to write a poem and he's in his really frilly shirt and he's like, AHA, I must write a poem. The emotions are too much.

[27:30] Sarah: That's so true.

[27:32] Erin: So I have highlighted a paragraph. Would you like to read it? Yes. Okay. Please.

[27:41] Sarah: Okay. It's horror and its beauty are divine. Upon its lips and eyelids seems to lie loveliness like a shadow from which shrine, fiery and lurid, struggling underneath the agonies of anguish and of death. Yet it is less the horror than the grace, which turns the gazer spirit into stone. Duncan okay.

[28:04] Erin: What did you think about that?

[28:06] Sarah: It's very lusty and it's very like I'm trying to fight against it, but it's too powerful.

[28:14] Erin: So in this poem, she's no longer got that weird stony stare, and instead it becomes a mesmerizing gaze. She's no longer a monster, but a terrifying beauty.

[28:27] Sarah: Yeah. So we talked about sirens not that long ago, which is kind of a similar idea of these mermaids that are, like, beautiful and luring you into your death, you know, like evil device. I don't know. That's really interesting.

[28:41] Erin: Yeah. But then you look up the original and it's like, oh, it was a bird. It looked weird.

[28:46] Sarah: Yeah. That was a bird you did not expect, for sure.

[28:49] Erin: Right. That was shocking to me. So this poem is a big reason why we think of Medusa as beautiful. She's no longer vice incarnate, but the embodiment of the highest form of beauty.

[29:07] Sarah: Interesting. Yeah. You do think of her as the sort of seductorus I would think of Venus or Aphrodite or something. Probably is more the height of beauty. But there's no seductive element going on.

[29:21] Erin: Well, in The Alliance says, yet it is less the horror than the grace, which turns the gazer spirit into stones. Mean that she's so beautiful. Like, that's what turns you into stone. And what's interesting is that in order to kill her, you have to take her whole head. You can't just blind her.

[29:45] Sarah: Yikes. Like a real thing.

[29:48] Erin: According to the good people over at PBS, that demonstrates that we see femininity as a threat.

[29:54] Sarah: Rare this when she did her whatever album that was that she did the snake logo.

[30:02] Erin: Yeah. Reputation.

[30:03] Sarah: Yeah, very reputation.

[30:06] Erin: So basically they're saying that because she has such a beautiful face, we have to get rid of it in order to defeat her. So that's why she said, don't look.

[30:14] Sarah: At it, it's her fault.

[30:17] Erin: Anyway, it's an interesting theory. It's much better than the one that Sigmund Freud came up with.

[30:22] Sarah: Oh, God, what did he do? Yes.

[30:26] Erin: You know that thing where he was always like he was obsessed with the idea that women wanted to be men? Well, it was sort of that thing and that decapitating. Medusa is a form of castration. I didn't get it. And then when I tried to research it, nobody could provide a better explanation. So I'm going to try my best. So Medusa's head represents female genitals, and a boy sees the genitals and he's horrified that she doesn't have a *****. And out of terror, he turns to stone. God in Freud's thinking he's not stone, he's stiff.

[31:10] Sarah: Oh, no.

[31:11] Erin: That reassures him that he still has a *****.

[31:14] Sarah: I hate everything.

[31:20] Erin: So it's unclear why she needs to be decapitated. I don't really?

[31:25] Sarah: The same reason you had to cover up in high school, Aaron. It was always a woman's fault. Learned anything? Oh, man.

[31:35] Erin: That's another edition of ***** talk. Thank you.

[31:41] Sarah: Were you expecting that today, dear? Listen, I bet you were.

[31:44] Erin: Probably not. I don't know. I almost want to look at Freud's ***** because I feel like maybe something was wrong with it because he was just always obsessed with penises.

[31:56] Sarah: There was something going on with him.

[32:00] Erin: Very weird. Where? I don't know.

[32:02] Sarah: It's very weird.

[32:03] Erin: I did hear once that, okay, Sigmund Freud, he psychoanalyzed a lot of young girls and they all told him that they were being sexually abused. And Freud was one of the first people that would actually believe them because usually if a young girl said that, they would be like, oh, you're wrong, or whatever.

[32:27] Sarah: Yeah.

[32:27] Erin: And it was happening so much that it really freaked Freud out. And he was like, well, this can't actually be happening. So he decided that they were imagining it because of like, you know, and then he went into all these weird theories about why they were doing it. So I thought that was interesting. I don't know if that's true, but that's something I read on the Internet one of those days. I've never heard that before. Okay, so that was all about Medusa.

[32:54] Sarah: Wow, we learned a lot today.

[32:56] Erin: We did learn a lot. I like that. She is a terrifying female monster. We need one for a quality.

[33:05] Sarah: Totally.

[33:07] Erin: So that's all I have. Unless you have some comments, questions, concerns.

[33:13] Sarah: All right. Pretty good. No, I really did not know anything about Medica other than like, oh, yeah, the lady with the snakehead. That was all I knew. So I learned a lot today.

[33:24] Erin: Yeah, I thought it was really interesting. Yes.

[33:30] Sarah: Learning is my favorite thing. Yay, it is interesting.

[33:35] Erin: And it's interesting to see her evolution from Greek mythology and then to the romantic era and in between. So that was interesting.

[33:49] Sarah: Yeah, that is very interesting.

[33:52] Erin: So next week, I think we'll do our Halloween. We'll tape our Halloween special. Oh, maybe we won't. We'll do that the next week, right?

[34:02] Sarah: Yeah, we saw another week before. Yeah.

[34:06] Erin: I really like the Disney Channel version of Halloween because it's heavy on ambience and like very and there's not a lot of scares. I like that.

[34:18] Sarah: Yeah, very cool.

[34:22] Erin: All right, listeners, well, I hope you enjoyed our little tale today. You can tweet us over at mythsinmovies or email us at mythsinmovies@gmail.com. If you'd like to request something or tell us an urban legend around your neck of the woods. As always, if you want to support the show, We've got fun stuff over on Patreon, where we always release our episode early. You can follow us on Instagram or Twitter for more updates and my sources and links are in the show notes.

[34:52] Sarah: And most important subscribe button. And give us a five star review because every little bit helps and we will check you later. Bye.