Talk:Cultural depictions of Medusa and Gorgons
Creation of this article
I've created this article as a prose rewrite of other Medusa/gorgon popular culture lists that includes what I believe is notable information and excludes the excessive trivial references and minutae of other versions. Medusa and the gorgons are iconic figures, and some of their uses in fiction are notable, in particular because they are ancient figures that persist in our culture.
Do not add every minor reference to Medusa or gorgons here; the information in this article should provide notable and new information about the use and dramatization of these mythological figures. In particular, the use of the word "Medusa" in the title of a song or album, or the mere inclusion of the character in a video game, is not in itself notable and is therefore inappropriately listed here. References like these will be deleted to keep this article free of the excessive trivia and fancruft that has made previous versions eligible for deletion. TAnthony 02:06, 9 July 2007 (UTC)
Hang on/Deletion
This new article is a new presentation of information and should be considered as such. As noted above, it includes notable information and excludes the excessive junk that got previous articles deleted (like song titles containing the word "Medusa"). It is not simply a prose version of the previous list! Perhaps there is some information that is unnecessary, but it is not all worthy of deletion.
I actually agree that the prevalence of useless trivia is a problem on Wikipedia, but there is room for information that can realistically be useful to someone. When I am researching something as a reader, I want to know that Livia was dramatized in I, Claudius, what films were made about the RMS Titanic and yes, some places where Medusa has been portrayed and how the name has come to cannote certain things in our culture. TAnthony 04:45, 9 July 2007 (UTC)
- The article does not address the concerns from Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Gorgons and Medusa in popular culture. Some information was removed and the formatting was changed, but if that were all that was needed then the page wouldn't have been deleted. Jay32183 19:39, 9 July 2007 (UTC)
- I wish I had been able to contribute to that deletion discussion, but it seems to me that the bulk of deletion votes involved the excessive, non-notable references ("so-and-so wrote a song called 'Medusa'"), all of which are now gone. I would argue that in its current form the article does not blatantly fail WP:NOT#DIR. The current references are not as "loosely-associated" as you would suggest. We're not talking about "Rachel said 'Medusa' on Friends," we're talking about significant modern representations of this ancient figure, its prevalence in certain media and that fact that the name itself has become synonymous with certain ideas in our language and culture. That is notable. TAnthony 20:22, 9 July 2007 (UTC)
- They are loosely associated because referencing something does not make two works connected. Clash of the Titans is not related to Monsters Inc. Claiming they are because of gorgons is original research. The article also still has no secondary sources. The reason the AFD resulted in delete was not that some of the material was inappropriate, but that all of the content was not suitable for an article. Jay32183 20:36, 9 July 2007 (UTC)
- I wish I had been able to contribute to that deletion discussion, but it seems to me that the bulk of deletion votes involved the excessive, non-notable references ("so-and-so wrote a song called 'Medusa'"), all of which are now gone. I would argue that in its current form the article does not blatantly fail WP:NOT#DIR. The current references are not as "loosely-associated" as you would suggest. We're not talking about "Rachel said 'Medusa' on Friends," we're talking about significant modern representations of this ancient figure, its prevalence in certain media and that fact that the name itself has become synonymous with certain ideas in our language and culture. That is notable. TAnthony 20:22, 9 July 2007 (UTC)