On that note, I will not trust any modern adaptation of the Persephone myth that claims to be feminist if it does not depict the famine that occurs to be a deliberate act by Demeter. That famine is the one bargaining chip that Demeter has. It is the manifestation of her power that forces Zeus to take her seriously, that threatens his world order enough to make him question his actions regarding Persephone, as here in the earliest surviving source, the Homeric hymn to Demeter:
νότατον δ᾽ ἐνιαυτὸν ἐπὶ χθόνα πουλυβότειραν
ποίησ᾽ ἀνθρώποις καὶ κύντατον: οὐδέ τι γαῖα
σπέρμ᾽ ἀνίει, κρύπτεν γὰρ ἐυστέφανος Δημήτηρ:
πολλὰ δὲ καμπύλ᾽ ἄροτρα μάτην βόες εἷλκον ἀρούραις:
πολλὸν δὲ κρῖ λευκὸν ἐτώσιον ἔμπεσε γαίῃ:
310καί νύ κε πάμπαν ὄλεσσε γένος μερόπων ἀνθρώπων
λιμοῦ ὑπ᾽ ἀργαλέης, γεράων τ᾽ ἐρικυδέα τιμὴν
καὶ θυσιῶν ἤμερσεν Ὀλύμπια δώματ᾽ ἔχοντας,
εἰ μὴ Ζεὺς ἐνόησεν ἑῷ τ᾽ ἐφράσσατο θυμῷ.
But golden-haired Demeter sat there apart from all the blessed gods and stayed, wasting with yearning for her deep-bosomed daughter. [305] Then she caused a most dreadful and cruel year for mankind over the all-nourishing earth: the ground would not make the seed sprout, for rich-crowned Demeter kept it hid. In the fields the oxen drew many a curved plough in vain, and much white barley was cast upon the land without avail. [310] So she would have destroyed the whole race of man with cruel famine and have robbed them who dwell on Olympus of their glorious right of gifts and sacrifices, had not Zeus perceived and marked this in his heart. (305-314, tr. Evelyn-White)
Demeter causes a dreadful year; she keeps the seeds hidden within the earth, setting in motion a chain of events that even rattles Olympus, as sacrifices to the gods are no longer made. Now, many subsequent adaptations, both ancient and modern, let the famine occur as a manifestation of Demeter's emotions, her grief, rather than a manifestation of her power. Indubitably, the two are connected. However, divorcing Demeter's anger from her subsequent planning, decision-making and power and giving her a passive and ignorant role in the situation that brings Zeus to his knees shifts the dynamics in the story considerably. Any adaptation that shows barrenness occurring as an indirect and incidental consequence of Demeter's grief unabashedly takes away Demeter's agency in the whole myth. Modern adaptions have shown to be focused on Persephone's agency more anyway, because of her availability as a romantic protagonist. But it is a very hard sell for me to present an adaptation as feminist when Demeter's one defining act as goddess and mother is neutralized.
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theartofmadeline
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2087
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