A new large panel on the secret relationships of Zeus, Miloš Obilić and Captain America called “Historical and epic heroes” organized by Zaprokul raised significant topics that occupy the public from ancient times to the modern world – how motifs from the past spread and enter today’s culture. Belgrade audience in Dom omladine. she listened carefully to the polemics of experts from various fields, and the moderator of the panel was Boris Stojkovski, editor of the topic “Historical and epic heroes”, magazine KULTURA (No. 174-175)
Among the audience and participants, among others, an interesting topic was raised: how is it possible and whether to avoid the question of politics in the discourse about the historical and epic hero, where the moderator Stojkovski pointed out at the very beginning that this is something that cannot be avoided.
Aleksandar Petrović, Aca Celtic, frontman of the group Orthodox Celts pointed out that “the archetype is both a wonderful and dangerous thing, wonderful because it has its own message and if you deal with it with a certain amount of awe, you will get some beneficial result.” If we forcefully change the archetype for the sake of some other goal, it can be very dangerous, so it’s an excellent topic of how much freedom there actually is in all of this.”
Danijela Vasić, a professor from the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade, followed up on this remark, asking the question: “why don’t we go a little further, on even more slippery ground… when I started studying Japanology, I simply admired the Japanese in what way Buddhism entered Japan, as it adapted without any major upheavals. What happened to Christianity, if not exactly that, we do not go beyond the legend about Saint Sava, so in our tradition, he ruled over wolves, carried a staff that opens springs… The attributes of pagan gods were attributed to a saint who is also a historical figure.”
Pavle Zelić, writer and film and comics screenwriter, pointed out that, for example, the promotion of historically and epically important characters, including Nikola Tesla, was launched through the media in Croatia. In this sense, the institutionalization of comics as a powerful medium that can have and political power.
An interesting example was given by Marijana Jelisavcic from the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad, who stated that students of Serbian Studies from the University of Halle, learn about our culture from the comic strip Ćirilo i Metodije and the song No Smoking.
Kristina Đuković, screenwriter of the famous series Vera, shared her experience of creating heroes and anti-heroes during the filming of the series, pointing out that both censorship and self-censorship are always present: “what was about Vera Pešić in the archives is very sketchy, it was an unfinished mosaic , which we romanticized, deviating to a great extent from history.”
The participants agreed that the importance of such public panels is exceptional, because only the exchange of opinions can systematically initiate a dialogue that can illuminate the cultural and political reflections of our historical and epic heroes and anti-heroes.
