(no subject)
Aug. 23rd, 2004 04:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
learnedaxCatching up on the olympics, thanks to TiVo, has made me realize how many strong parallels they have with Pennsic. From the athletic core which revives ancient tradition (with champions contesting points ranging from archery to fencing) to the strong cultural representations of diverse homelands, there's a big cognitive similarity. When landscape-transforming temporary construction, ingrained rivalries, and a healthy dose of pomp and circumstance are taken into account, I begin to seriously wonder whether the two events serve similar psychological purposes.
This nicely dovetails into two longstanding discussions that came up again at war: first, is there any significant difference between Pennsic and a large sci-fi convention, and second, is the role of martial activity within the SCA truly a critical element, or merely a historical quirk?
Specifically, if fighting, as the Olympic tradition seems to, serves a higher purpose than being yet another fun thing that people do, it represents a qualitative difference between the SCA and other things that the counterculture does... And if it's just a diversion for a bunch of stick-jocks, then what is Pennsic but a themed con?
Thoughts?
This nicely dovetails into two longstanding discussions that came up again at war: first, is there any significant difference between Pennsic and a large sci-fi convention, and second, is the role of martial activity within the SCA truly a critical element, or merely a historical quirk?
Specifically, if fighting, as the Olympic tradition seems to, serves a higher purpose than being yet another fun thing that people do, it represents a qualitative difference between the SCA and other things that the counterculture does... And if it's just a diversion for a bunch of stick-jocks, then what is Pennsic but a themed con?
Thoughts?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Martial Arts
Date: 2004-08-24 04:35 pm (UTC)The SCA accidentally recreates a society as it intentionally does. When I discuss the SCA, people in and outside society ask if I fight. It is a measure of what we do, AND it's what stands out. When looking back at history we do not carry myths about King Arthur and the Dancemasters of the round table or Beowolf the weaver. Martial activity is a predominant force in human history and cannot be ignored. The class structure and right by arms transposes a sense of medieval class structure on the SCA. Without fighting, we'd be much more like a con.
On the way back home Bess and I visited some homesteader friends and I recounted a statement I was told some 15 years ago before I joined. The SCA is considered by the government to be one of the primary groups that might survive a collapse of society in America because it has craft skills needed for survival, good internal communication/structure and a standing army. Without the last we wouldn't be who we are.