Taboo

With regard to the previous post about respecting culture, an interesting discovery has brought a question to mind. There is a story in which the hero Maui tries to obtain immortality by passing through the body of the goddess of the underworld. Her body essentially is the underworld, and by passing through it unscathed, he hopes to defeat death permanently. Tradition has it that Maui tried to enter through her vagina (planning to leave through her mouth), but she woke up while he was only part way inside her. She squeezed herself closed, cutting Maui in half, and killing him.

Now, that’s the story – I have read a couple different versions of it now, and that’s the rough consensus. This is interesting because there is a cultural divide about what makes an appropriate story. In western culture, it’s definitely not appropriate to talk about a man who tries to “enter” a woman while she sleeps, and ends up being cut in half by her (obviously formidable) genitalia.

For a game’s storyline it’s really tempting to use the underworld as a story location, and it makes sense to include reference to this story. What will I do? Sanitize the narrative for a modern audience? Ignore the legend entirely? Use it regardless of western taboos?

I don’t know yet.