let dragons just be dragons again

[sophiaserpentia]

Stupid arguments #413:

The subject of the movie Reign of Fire came up. I stated that while the movie was basically empty entertainment, one of the things that I liked about it was the fact that they decided to have dragons just be dragons again. You know, nasty ol' fire-breathing, human-eating beasties.

I was about to go into my tirade about how the modern "dragons are wise, gentle, misunderstood" thing is new-agey revisionism, when a friend (who seems to have very strongly-felt opinions on virtually every subject) objected that the movie Dungeons and Dragons had nearly given her a conniption because, after all, dragons are the repository of wisdom and magic in the world and that human "thanks" has been to kill them off.

My only response (what could I say?) was to suggest she might want to avoid seeing Reign of Fire.

Comments

[alobar.livejournal.com]

Dragons seem to have different legends in diffeent cultures. In Vietnamese, the word for luck is same as word for dragon. In China there are (at least) two varieties. Not sure if it is a male/female thing, or 2 different types altogether. One is wise & a sign of good luck & the other is warlike. Europe seems to be filled with legends of the warlike type. Nor sure is Amerindians dealt with dragons, beyond the feathered serpent of the pre-Mexicans.