What is a myth?
Before taking this class, I would have define myths as stories that help a culture to answer its great philosophical questions. I would now modify this definition to "stories that define a culture and help it to answer its great philosophical questions."
What do myths do?
Before taking this class, I would have said that myths exist to answer spiritual, philosophical, and ethical questions, as well as explaining our world and cultures, and how they came to be. To this definition, I would now add that myths help us define or explain ourselves and our culture, and that they record cultural history.
When do we need myth?
Before taking this class, I would have said we need myth when we have questions that science does not provide an adequate or satisfying answer to. After having taken the class, I also think we need myth to help us understand who we are and how to deal with our culture.
Where do myths come from?
Before taking the class, I would have guessed that myths originate when the same people tell the same story over and over again. In addition, I would now say that the creation of the myth is not complete until people internalize it as part of their identity.
How do myths survive?
Before taking the class, I would have said that myths survive in the way they are created, by being retold, and also by being taught and referred to in modern works. Now, I would say that myths also survive by being retold in more modern ways with more modern characters -- this is more than just the "reference" I would have called it before taking the class. Myths can also survive by having their character types carry over into more modern stories, as we can see by the sheer volume of Christ figures in English literature.
How do we know what we know about myth?
Before taking the class, I would have said that our knowledge of myth comes from study by doctors of literature & language, religion, history and anthropology. To this list must be added archaeologists, psychologists, and philosophers. Where mythology is concerned, many of these fields have some overlap.
Why do we study myth?
Before taking the class, I would say we study myth to understand where we came from (that is, the social, cultural, and literary history of humanity) and because it's interesting. Now I think we also study myth to help understand ourselves, and where we're going.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Self-Definition
I think this topic is interesting. In my view, myths in monolithic urban cultures limit self-definition rather than enabling it. In any culture, of course, myths create certain "types" that people are encouraged to model themselves after. However, in a small village or tribal culture, a person has more opportunity to influence or change the culture's mythical foundation, or even invent a new story that will help define the future of the culture.
In a culture like ours, huge and urbanized, there is an enormous "myth-making industry" that tells the same stories over and over, and the social expectation is that we conform to them rather than write our own. (If you don't believe me, I'll come to your next mythology class and tell everyone that the character I most identify with is one I'm writing myself -- tell me I won't get weird looks from most of the class.) In an urbanized culture without a Hollywood industrial complex, they have a privileged priest class, which is essentially still a high-dollar myth creation industry.
I have heard people define themselves by the stories they tell and the songs they sing, and in our society, any stories or songs not sanctioned by the corporate story and song industries have a social stigma attached to them. I know people who are more interested in celebrity gossip than the lives of their own friends, because only one of those stories is on TV. I find that disturbing.
Even more disturbing to me than the myth industry itself is what our current myth industry puts out. You basically get your choice between ridiculous and outdated gender rules, intentional and unrealistic complete reversals of these, and being ridiculously heartbroken or lovelorn. About the only decent and believable role models I can seem to find in modern myth are Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermoine Granger, and that only works if you're a kid.
In a culture like ours, huge and urbanized, there is an enormous "myth-making industry" that tells the same stories over and over, and the social expectation is that we conform to them rather than write our own. (If you don't believe me, I'll come to your next mythology class and tell everyone that the character I most identify with is one I'm writing myself -- tell me I won't get weird looks from most of the class.) In an urbanized culture without a Hollywood industrial complex, they have a privileged priest class, which is essentially still a high-dollar myth creation industry.
I have heard people define themselves by the stories they tell and the songs they sing, and in our society, any stories or songs not sanctioned by the corporate story and song industries have a social stigma attached to them. I know people who are more interested in celebrity gossip than the lives of their own friends, because only one of those stories is on TV. I find that disturbing.
Even more disturbing to me than the myth industry itself is what our current myth industry puts out. You basically get your choice between ridiculous and outdated gender rules, intentional and unrealistic complete reversals of these, and being ridiculously heartbroken or lovelorn. About the only decent and believable role models I can seem to find in modern myth are Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermoine Granger, and that only works if you're a kid.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Even more myth sightings on TV
The TV show Archer draws on the modern myths of the glamorous, adventurous spy and the relative cheapness of equipment and infrastructure in the KGB and Russia in general, but it also refers to more traditional ancient myths. Two of the major players in the show are the International Secret Intelligence Service (ISIS) and the Organization of Democratic Intelligence Networks (ODIN). As far as I can tell, the names don't really correspond to the mythological characteristics of Isis and Odin, but considering there's two of them, it's likely they were intentional references to myth.
Thanksgiving
For as long as I can remember, we've had three Thanksgiving traditions in my family: parades, food and football. How exactly we've fulfilled each of those traditional elements has changed over time.
When I was younger, my brother and I would hold our own "parade" in the halls of our house before the real parade in New York came on TV. My brother would dress up like an Indian and play a toy drum, I would dress up like a pilgrim and play a toy trumpet, and we'd march about the house. It's somewhat embarrassing to write about at this point, but evidently my grade depends on it, and a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.
In any case, we eventually grew out of holding our own parade, but we still watched the one on TV. That was around the same time that my brother and I had more traditional Thanksgiving football than what we watched. Instead of two parades in the morning, we'd watch the parade and play our own game of street football with the neighborhood kids. Sometimes, if the snow in the yard was real deep, we'd play tackle football in the snow instead.
That changed in 2001, when luck threw a giant twist into my traditional Thanksgiving day parade. That day I still saw the MACY*S Thanksgiving Day Parade, but not on TV. I actually got to march in it with the MSU band.. The rest of my family got to watch from the sidewalk. They were in the very front. There was a policewoman right there who wouldn't let anyone sit or stand in front of them. Ten years later, and we all tell stories about that one every time Thanksgiving comes around and the parade goes on TV.
This also threw our tradition of food into some degree of disarray. Until that year, we'd always had a huge Thanksgiving dinner at our house, but that year, we had a big banquet in a hotel conference room instead. My parents never had Thanksgiving dinner at their house again. Instead, we went out to one of the fancy dinners at a hotel. The MACY*S parade also put an end to the tradition of a pickup football game, but I still watched a game that year in a different hotel conference room where the band crashed after a getting up at 1 AM to rehearse and then get to the staging area, and my family watched on in their hotel room. After that, we always just watched the games on TV.
Always until this year, that is, when I flew to Florida to see my brother for Thanksgiving. This year, instead of watching the games, my brother, his roommate and I played Madden for a few hours before dinner. It goes without saying that I also "went out" even further than usual for Thanksgiving dinner. The tradition of watching the parade and telling stories about 2001 remains just as it's been for a decade.
Traditions bring our family together.
When I was younger, my brother and I would hold our own "parade" in the halls of our house before the real parade in New York came on TV. My brother would dress up like an Indian and play a toy drum, I would dress up like a pilgrim and play a toy trumpet, and we'd march about the house. It's somewhat embarrassing to write about at this point, but evidently my grade depends on it, and a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.
In any case, we eventually grew out of holding our own parade, but we still watched the one on TV. That was around the same time that my brother and I had more traditional Thanksgiving football than what we watched. Instead of two parades in the morning, we'd watch the parade and play our own game of street football with the neighborhood kids. Sometimes, if the snow in the yard was real deep, we'd play tackle football in the snow instead.
That changed in 2001, when luck threw a giant twist into my traditional Thanksgiving day parade. That day I still saw the MACY*S Thanksgiving Day Parade, but not on TV. I actually got to march in it with the MSU band.. The rest of my family got to watch from the sidewalk. They were in the very front. There was a policewoman right there who wouldn't let anyone sit or stand in front of them. Ten years later, and we all tell stories about that one every time Thanksgiving comes around and the parade goes on TV.
This also threw our tradition of food into some degree of disarray. Until that year, we'd always had a huge Thanksgiving dinner at our house, but that year, we had a big banquet in a hotel conference room instead. My parents never had Thanksgiving dinner at their house again. Instead, we went out to one of the fancy dinners at a hotel. The MACY*S parade also put an end to the tradition of a pickup football game, but I still watched a game that year in a different hotel conference room where the band crashed after a getting up at 1 AM to rehearse and then get to the staging area, and my family watched on in their hotel room. After that, we always just watched the games on TV.
Always until this year, that is, when I flew to Florida to see my brother for Thanksgiving. This year, instead of watching the games, my brother, his roommate and I played Madden for a few hours before dinner. It goes without saying that I also "went out" even further than usual for Thanksgiving dinner. The tradition of watching the parade and telling stories about 2001 remains just as it's been for a decade.
Traditions bring our family together.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Four (or five?) Ages
The ages of my life go pretty much backwards. I was a little heathen demon child who was hateful and greedy and violent and stole things, so it was at my youngest that I represented the "Iron Age." This lasted for a very long time.
During High School, I underwent serious life changes, and for a short time in and then out of High School, I was actually a kind, caring and courageous human being. This was my Heroic Age. I then suffered some reverses in my life, which made me angry, and started playing football seriously. I was generous with my time and money (not impious), but still warlike and violent. I used football and weight-lifting, and physical labor to contain these violent impulses. This was my Bronze age.
Then I suffered a serious injury at work (undone by my recklessness?) and came back to college to study. This was my Silver age. I was not particularly concerned with my others (was not worshipping the Gods), but I was no longer engaging in violent past-times (was not warlike). Finally, I have continued my education and am beginning to give back to others. Through this, I hope to enter my Golden Age.
During High School, I underwent serious life changes, and for a short time in and then out of High School, I was actually a kind, caring and courageous human being. This was my Heroic Age. I then suffered some reverses in my life, which made me angry, and started playing football seriously. I was generous with my time and money (not impious), but still warlike and violent. I used football and weight-lifting, and physical labor to contain these violent impulses. This was my Bronze age.
Then I suffered a serious injury at work (undone by my recklessness?) and came back to college to study. This was my Silver age. I was not particularly concerned with my others (was not worshipping the Gods), but I was no longer engaging in violent past-times (was not warlike). Finally, I have continued my education and am beginning to give back to others. Through this, I hope to enter my Golden Age.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
More Myth Sightings on TV
The whole X-Files show is built on citing urban myths, but they make plenty of references to "traditional" myth as well. Two that come to mind are an episode entitled "The Post-Modern Prometheus" and a business in the show called Zeus Storage. "The Post-Modern Prometheus" is interesting, because it refers both to the Greek myth of Prometheus and the enlightenment myth of Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Frankenstein meets I, Robot
I've got a pitch for a new movie called Prometheus.
We start out with two brilliant scientists in a state-of-the-art military lab, just as their combat drone has failed another simulator test. One scientist, methodical, with a neatly-cropped beard, goes over the code and calculations, trying to find a mistake. The other, hyperactive and intuitive, mutters to himself, wondering what is wrong, then comes up with an outside-the-box solution: what if they could think for themselves? But the technology is 10 or 15 years away, says the methodical guy...and what of the consequences?
Fast forward 15 years. Methodical man, 15 years older, now the famous mind behind an act of law limiting robot intelligence, autonomy, and influence on the economy, is running for office. Meanwhile, Hyperactive/Intuitive has been working in secret, creating a factory that runs itself, with the ability to think, eliminating human error.
Unfortunately, these thinking robots do not feel. Soon, the sentient factory is building its own robot army, conquering the planet, etc etc, with no regard or sentiment for their creators. The robot senate approves the creation of sub-Robot, biological drones to perform their menial and dangerous work.
These meat-drones are sufficient for the simplest of tasks, but cannot assemble large structures or dispose of dangerous nuclear wastes without incident. The robots begin developing drones that can think.
The robots' strength up to this point, their inability to feel, turns into their weakness, as these uncompassionate conquerors do not fear history repeating itself. The robots are overthrown by their biological, sentient creations.
So I guess this isn't so much Frankenstien meets I, Robot as it is Frankenstein and I, Robot ride the train together for a month, then hook up ten years later on the Missed Connections section of Craigslist, go home together, and decide to watch The Matrix.
Yes, it's a stretch. Yes, the title is ironic. Yes, I enjoy making absurd and labyrinthine cultural references. Why do you ask?
We start out with two brilliant scientists in a state-of-the-art military lab, just as their combat drone has failed another simulator test. One scientist, methodical, with a neatly-cropped beard, goes over the code and calculations, trying to find a mistake. The other, hyperactive and intuitive, mutters to himself, wondering what is wrong, then comes up with an outside-the-box solution: what if they could think for themselves? But the technology is 10 or 15 years away, says the methodical guy...and what of the consequences?
Fast forward 15 years. Methodical man, 15 years older, now the famous mind behind an act of law limiting robot intelligence, autonomy, and influence on the economy, is running for office. Meanwhile, Hyperactive/Intuitive has been working in secret, creating a factory that runs itself, with the ability to think, eliminating human error.
Unfortunately, these thinking robots do not feel. Soon, the sentient factory is building its own robot army, conquering the planet, etc etc, with no regard or sentiment for their creators. The robot senate approves the creation of sub-Robot, biological drones to perform their menial and dangerous work.
These meat-drones are sufficient for the simplest of tasks, but cannot assemble large structures or dispose of dangerous nuclear wastes without incident. The robots begin developing drones that can think.
The robots' strength up to this point, their inability to feel, turns into their weakness, as these uncompassionate conquerors do not fear history repeating itself. The robots are overthrown by their biological, sentient creations.
So I guess this isn't so much Frankenstien meets I, Robot as it is Frankenstein and I, Robot ride the train together for a month, then hook up ten years later on the Missed Connections section of Craigslist, go home together, and decide to watch The Matrix.
Yes, it's a stretch. Yes, the title is ironic. Yes, I enjoy making absurd and labyrinthine cultural references. Why do you ask?
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