Here there be dragons

[element_wizard]

I was talking with Fin the other day and we ended up talking about children's television programs for the really young. You know; Barney, Teletubbies, Sesame Street those sorts. She mentioned one called Dragontales... or something like that. Naturally I was intrigued. And then I was horrified.

The dragons that they depicted were...happy squishy... things that ate dragonberry muffins and... were very undragon-like. I protested this greatly because well, dragons aren't happy and squishy. They're dangerous. Even if in some worlds they don't exist. It's the symbolism of the thing then. Maps have "here there be dragons" on them for places of danger and unknown. Now they're changing the danger into happy squishy.

Thinking about this, I've noticed it's been done to other things as well, like violence and weapons. Now, I'm grabbing the moral high ground and saying that I never played with weapons when I was a child. I had my toy sword that I went around trying to kill things with. Sure, but when I got old enough and strong enough to use a real sword I was shown how to use it. And how dangerous it could be. I took lessons, I spent hours, days, weeks and years learning how to use it properly. The one time as a child I tried to use one of my father's weapons I got a beating and a lecture. It wasn't a toy.

Now it seems like, at least in the worlds that I've seen... the more technologically advanced ones, this responsiblity towards teaching children what danger is, is gone. They don't show them that weapons are dangerous... that dragons are squishy and safe.

And I guess I want to know is... why?

Comments

[demonic-runes.livejournal.com]

Eh, who knows. They're all afraid of turning kids into rampaging psychopaths these days, and they're going about it all the wrong way, if you ask me.

I guess there are actually worlds where dragons are naturally harmless creatures, but I rather like them how they are in other places. Dangerous and powerful beings, whichever way you slice it, good or evil or neutral.

[elementwizard.livejournal.com]

They are going about it the wrong way, completely. I think they've forgotten how.

I don't think my wife would be half as... no wait... I think one of the best features of dragons are that they are powerful and dangerous.

[agent-talia.livejournal.com]

I'd like to see them make something cute and fluffy out of a dragon after being nearly eaten by one. An obnoxiously stupid one, I might add, though most greens are just that.

[elementwizard.livejournal.com]

Ahkana's green tried to eat you?

[agent-talia.livejournal.com]

No, no. No Pern dragon in their right mind would try that. It was... *pulls out a D&D monster manual, turns it to the page on green dragons and shows it to him* Like that. It wasn't fully grown, but it was damn close.

That was years ago.

[elementwizard.livejournal.com]

I was surprised. That makes more sense, a green D&D dragon.

[agent-talia.livejournal.com]

Yeah. My family has a weird tendency to run into problems with evil dragons.

[elementwizard.livejournal.com]

Were they adventurers?

[agent-talia.livejournal.com]

I suppose you could say that my father was... My mother did that sort of thing until I was born. I was a ranger for a long time, and a while of that was during a period when dragons were showing up again more often than they had in years.

[elementwizard.livejournal.com]

I hear that adventurers atract dragons more often than none.

[agent-talia.livejournal.com]

That depends on when and where they are.

[elementwizard.livejournal.com]

True, true. Dragons are, however, sought after by Adventurer's ... so there is that to factor in, too.

[agent-talia.livejournal.com]

Except we don't go looking for them. I sure as hell didn't.

[elementwizard.livejournal.com]

Ehh.. it was a preemptive strike.