Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2023 June 2

= June 2 =

The bride says yes, or else!
I have been watching Spider-Man (1994 TV series), and in one episode Peter Parker is getting married with Mary Jane. Harry Osbourne (former boyfriend of Mary Jane) gets so angry that he takes his late father's Green Goblin villain identity, attack the church and forces everybody out, but keeps Mary Jane and the priest inside. His plan was to get married with Mary Jane, and he would kill them both if they don't go on with the ceremony. Fortunately, things got solved by talking, and he willingly returns to the mental institution he was in.

...but just to be sure, let's say that Spider-Man could not defeat the robots in time and the priest got to the point of "I now pronounce you husband and wife". Such a marriage, made so blatantly under duress, would be completely null and void, right? Both from a legal and a religious perspective?

It should be clear, but just in case: this is set in New York, United States, and there would be dozens of witnesses of the villain's attack if needed be. Cambalachero (talk) 14:08, 2 June 2023 (UTC)
 * In a fictional story, the author makes the rules. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 15:45, 2 June 2023 (UTC)


 * See https://codes.findlaw.com/ny/domestic-relations-law/dom-sect-140.html It is not automatically void, but the bride may request an anulment in this case.  "An action to annul a marriage on the ground that the consent of one of the parties thereto was obtained by force or duress may be maintained at any time by the party whose consent was so obtained."  This is a real-world law, the law in the spider-man universe may be different.  RudolfRed (talk) 16:53, 2 June 2023 (UTC)


 * I was just making clear that I'm not asking for legal advise, I simply saw an episode on TV and that aroused my curiosity over that detail. What about religion? If someone gets married under duress and against her will, is she married under the eyes of God? Cambalachero (talk) 17:24, 2 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Which God? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 19:04, 2 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Presumably the christian one. KaptenPotatismos (talk) 08:26, 7 June 2023 (UTC)
 * The situation regarding civil law has been made clear by RudolfRed. Where God's possible points of view, there do exist Ecclesiastical Laws (or "Canon" laws), in which a notion of appeal is not an alien one (see Rehabilitation trial of Joan of Arc) --Askedonty (talk) 19:47, 2 June 2023 (UTC)
 * I think in this fictional situation, an important point is your mention that ". . . he willingly returns to the mental institution he was in."
 * Did anyone else in the story indicate that they thought such a marriage would be valid? If so, then either the writers were relying on viewers' temporary suspension of disbelief, or they were under a rather foolish misapprehension themselves. Such coerced marriages have been the stock of melodramatic fiction for (probably many) centuries; that doesn't mean they are viable in the real modern world, and one would think not in the Marvel version of 1990s New York or wherever. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.221.195.5 (talk) 02:10, 3 June 2023 (UTC)
 * All of this is ignoring the fact that the Green Goblin is insane. He doesn't care about laws or religion, in his mind this would have made MJ his wife. --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 13:27, 5 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Indeed that would add another ground for annulment - mental incompetence of one of the parties. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 16:32, 9 June 2023 (UTC)
 * If the unwilling bride didn't get killed first. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 16:37, 9 June 2023 (UTC)

Photography stealing souls
Have any cultures actually believed that photography steals the soul of the subject, or is it just another western stereotype of a "primitive native belief"? Thanks, DuncanHill (talk) 14:51, 2 June 2023 (UTC)


 * When browsing Australian media (eg, the SMH) I frequently see a note by the publisher which warns indigenous readers that the content of the subsequent article may be offensive.
 * There are a number of regulars from Down Under on this ref desk who may elaborate on the precise meaning. --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 15:37, 2 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Hence a particular joke on the subject in Crocodile Dundee. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 15:43, 2 June 2023 (UTC)
 * That's to do with names and images of deceased indigenous people. --Shirt58 (talk) 🦘 03:17, 3 June 2023 (UTC)


 * citing authors for Sub-Saharan Africa and Lakota

Also in the least popular city in America. In science, they are dead last. Cambalachero (talk) 15:59, 2 June 2023 (UTC)