Unfounded myth

[igenlode]

It's so irritating when people promote urban myths ("Did you know that...") without the slightest attempt to check dates, probability or scientific fact.

"Did you know that Jane Eyre is fanfic of Jane Austen's Emma?" (I traced this one back to a fan conspiracy-theory about similar names published circa 2007, but I've seen it repeated several times recently as proof of academic respectability.)

"Did you know that the only reason vampires have no reflection is that mirrors used to be backed with silver?" (Both mirrors and vampires pre-date the silvered-glass process; seventeenth- and eighteenth-century mirrors were backed with tin/mercury.)

I *know*, intellectually speaking, that most people will repeat as gospel truth whatever they read on the Internet, and that the average comprehension age of the great British public is about nine years old. But it's scary to see it in action :-(

Comments

[betweensunandmoon]

"Did you know that Jane Eyre is fanfic of Jane Austen's Emma?"

I'm trying to figure out how anyone could have arrived at that conclusion and drawing a blank.

[igenlode]

It was a complicated theory based on the existence of a character called Jane Fairfax who might potentially have become a governess in "Emma", and the fact that Mr Rochester's middle name is apparently Fairfax (of which I was not aware). And also by the fact that in both books the trees are leafless in a cold winter wind, and a series of other increasingly strained 'coincidences' :p

Here's what seems to be the original article, from an Austen fanzine: Jane Austen, Jane Fairfax and Jane Eyre"

It reminds me rather of the POTO 'Hidden plot' that fans claimed to discern deeply buried in the details of the movie... :p

https://isitfake.tumblr.com/post/77700054808/fake-charlotte-bronte-probably-did-not-base-jane

[erimia]

Pretty much almost all commonly repeated facts about Lovecraft are these...
This also reminds me how someone on Tumblr made up a Greek goddess and many people ended up believing the was a real myth.

[igenlode]

This also reminds me how someone on Tumblr made up a Greek goddess and many people ended up believing the was a real myth.

Really? What goddess?

(Sounds a bit like the writers who submitted deliberately nonsensical articles to fashionable literary journals: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/10/new-sokal-hoax/572212/ )

[erimia]

Mesperyian, the goddess of torture. She was supposedly daughter of Hades and had half of her face burned by Aphrodite.

Here is a bit of history concerning this very Tumblr thing: https://threefeline.tumblr.com/post/183039902707/remember-when-tumblr-just-invented-a-greek-god-oh

"And obviously people mentioned the goddesses Aphrodite and Persephone, and the benefits of answering such goddesses as the most beautiful. But then Tumblr user 28weekslaterhater mentioned to answer the goddess Mesperyian (most beloved daughter of Hades) as the most beautiful. According to them, “jealous ho” Aphrodite burnt half of Mesperyian’s face off in a blind rage for being more beautiful than her.

This post began to spread to the fact-check-less masses of Tumblr, and more mythology sprouted up about this so-called “Mesperyian”, how she was the goddess of torture and punishment (even though a goddess of punishment already existed) and had to wear a cool mask because of the aforementioned face burning.

Everyone took it as gospel for years until various Tumblr users pointed out “hey if you happen to just… look up this goddess, the only thing you’ll find is this Tumblr post”. After that, it had been exposed that Mesperyian never fucking existed and that Tumblr user just completely made them up on the fly.

And that’s how Tumblr invented a Greek goddess"

[igenlode]

Well, it's not all that obviously implausible, given how confused Greek mythology is anyway (explained to me once as the consequence of having multiple little civilisations in neighbouring valleys who all developed their own private versions of the gods and then later tried to rationalise and philosophise them into some kind of consistency). And jealousy and maiming were pretty routine themes ;p

Apparently this is the original story, a piece of fairly typical adolescent fanfiction: https://www.booksie.com/posting/sarahrenee/mesperyian-goddess-of-torture-and-punishment-94519

So Mesperyian walked to the far east for many steps when she came upon the most lovliest comb Mesperyian had ever seen made of gold and pearls with leaves of the most highest quality etched into the gold. Astounded by this discovery she became very excited and decided to try the comb so she used it to pen back her silky strawberry blonde hair not knowing that the comb was part of a devious plan on Aphrodite's part.

But you have to give her credit for being familiar with the tropes of the source material, even if the punctuation and spelling is a bit lacking.

[darlingdeathbird]

I will take any opportunity to vent about this, especially since you mentioned vampires: I've been on tumblr for almost ten years fighting myths about the production of the silent film Nosferatu... even after all of it, blogs with large followings still appear in the tags going "did you know Max Schreck method-acted, and just arrived on set refusing to break character?! And he had hardly any makeup on?!" People just scoff at me when I unload evidence against this fact, I guess because I do it with too much outrage. ffff

[igenlode]

Ah, another silent film fan :-)

I suspect that "Shadow of the Vampire" has a good deal to answer for where Max Schreck is concerned... :-(