Knowledge skills for Mythology

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

Connoisseur (Literature) as an Easy skill should be a stripped down version of the Literature skill. It just allows you to recognize good literature when you read it and recall the names and events associated with popular mythology.

I don't think that's quite accurate.

C.S. Lewis, who was a professor of literature at Oxford, wrote that he thought the approach of literature classes in secondary schools was largely perverse; they asked the kids to "appreciate" the literary works, rather than to answer questions about their content that showed that they had actually read them. In Lewis's view, you risked inculcating faked "appreciation" of works that meant nothing to young readers, or perhaps actually repelled them; he didn't think you could TEACH appreciation.

Literature seems to be the skill of literary history, on one hand, and of determining the meanings of texts, on the other. Connoisseur (Literature) seems to be a cultivated taste for the qualities of literary works, just as Connoisseur (Wine) is a cultivated taste for wines. I don't think either is a subset of the other.

A typical fan will have Connoisseur (Imaginative Fiction) focused on a few popular media franchises. "Imaginative Fiction" covers all types of Comic Books, SF, Fantasy, and Horror literature, TV shows, and literature. Treat otaku-type knowledge of a given franchise or genre as a Hobby Skill or as higher levels of Connoisseur skill. Really geeky stuff is the Hyperspecialization perk (e.g., Star Trek weapon design). For example, Hobby Skill (Comics) allows you to recall exactly which issue the Silver Surfer first appeared in, and who drew him first, while Connoisseur (Imaginative Fiction) will tell you when the Silver Surfer movie in the MCU is going to drop.

Technically, TV shows are drama rather than fiction. And in well made TV shows, like well made movies, the linguistic content does not remotely convey the full meaning; the visual imagery and syntax are vital---which is which departments of Art/Visual Art/Art History so often have courses in film. (I took such a course back in the eighties from a really brilliant instructor in the art department.)

I don't think knowing the factual stuff is what Connoisseur is for. I think the knowledge of the forthcoming movie falls under Current Events (Popular Culture).