Did anyone else notice...
 

Did anyone else notice that a lot of the voodoo (well the serious parts) was REAL VooDoo?? I was a little suprised and a little concerned when I saw that TTG (and presumable LA - not played those games but I asume they're the same) were both invoking real VooDoo...

Did anyone else notice this? Or am I the only one that researches odd and irrelevant forms of magic?

at first i was like 'huh'?

and then i stayed like that.

=|

Yup.

It'd be nice if you could use some examples so I know what you're referring to. The only one I could catch is the possessing of bodies by spirits, but I don't think that as an uncommon thing to be shown in fiction, even if it's real practices of voodoo.

Biggest and most obvious is the Crossroads; where the material and spiritual planes intersect.

I'll dig up some more later, I'm in a hurry right now.

Voodoo has always featured in the series. Voodoo dolls featured prominently in MI2, and a little bit in MI3.

Another one was that fate is almost completely unchageable - that it's predetermined by the spirits.

(which makes me wonder if the VooDoo Lady was _really_ manipulating guybrush, lechuck, etc or if she simple managed a spell to peek at the proverbial script of destany and just coppied it down...)

Yeah, this is what she implied. She mentioned something about that in passing while defending herself (although she seemed quite apathetic about doing so, probably because she knew it was futile, further cementing the idea that she knows the future or has a rough idea of it).

Also, I don't really find it surprising that Voodoo was in the game... it has been in all of them. It's pretty common to see Voodoo in pop-culture, and since Voodoo is a legitimate religion, I can't see why they'd be weary of putting it in the game. It would be hypocritical (and slightly disrespectful) to readily feature several aspects of western life but be nervous about including aspects of Voodoo. having said that, nothing too Voodooish was featured in the game, just generic things that can be applied to a number of religions/belief systems.

What should the Voodo Lady have used instead? Alchemy?

...ok then... *shrug* I've always had the feeling that in pop culture VooDoo was either "evil" or Taboo (depending on the place it was mentioned) mainly because of the bad rap it's gotten as a means of creating Zombies and harming people via VooDoo Dolls (though ironically traditionally the dolls are used to HEAL people or even in some fantasy isntances as a means of transportation)

Maybe it's just the area I've been brought up it, apparently I'm the only one who was suprised/concerned *shrug*

that would awesome, actually :p
but then her name would be just weird.

I guess I do not understand why it made you concerned...

Because he/she was raised to believe it's evil.

Not so much raised, but that's how it's been portrayed in pop culture, as either evil or taboo. (again this might just be that I've been looking in all the wrong places)

I do not believe in Voodoo magic so I guess to be concerned that its in movies/games makes no sense to me.... Its like being concerned that they talk about Greek, or Norse Gods...

Zeus would kick your ass if he saw that

I'm pretty sure voodoo is positive, only most people think of it as negative because they don't know much about it.

I will be more cautious when walking to my car :p

Oh, it's a very "good" religion (though it has it's dark sides just like all religions) media just likes to focus on the minor negative possibilities it creates. In retrospect, I'm glad TTG used voodoo and showed some 'good voodoo' instead of using it as a plot-device soely for a villian!

How often is Voodoo portrayed nowadays, period? I mean, if you think about it, the Voodoo concept that has been the most acclimated to mainstream entertainment is the zombie, and even then the modern "Hollywood" zombie's connection to Voodoo is tenuous at best, if mentioned at all. Heck, modern zombies barely act like traditional zombies; they're more like pre-Bram Stoker vampires on steroids (or pre-Carmilla vampires or whoever is supposed to have invented the modern Vampire genre).

Acctually I've noticed that most hollywood Zombies nowadays are the product of a Virus of some sort, rather than a voodoo ritual... (RE, anyone?)

I used to see a lot more of the "voodoo witchdoctor" being a villian (or atleast an obstacle for the hero, a hireling of the villian, or atleast doing work for hte villian such as making potions, hexes, or voodoo dolls) and of course it used to be very popular if lighter series for voodoo dolls to be used to harass/hurt/control people (usually making them punch themselves, walk somewhere, or stick pins in their... er... behind) When I take the time to think about it, voodoo seems to have lost it's media glamor... It's great to see a hero using voodoo for a change (here in ToMI) and I'd love to see it more often in other games/movies/books/tv/etc