Myth

1
Myth

• Traditional and contemporary approaches

2
Defining myth

• The term myth is defined in widely differing
  ways
• The most narrow definitions treat myths as false
  narratives about the origin of the world and of
  humans
• The widest say that myths are commonly held
  beliefs about pretty much anything that are not
  dependent upon factual proof for people to
  believe them

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• the word mythology is used to refer to stories
  that, while they may or may not be strictly
  factual, reveal fundamental truths and insights
  about human nature, often through the use of
  archetypes. Also, the stories discussed express
  the viewpoints and beliefs of the country, time
  period, culture, and/or religion which gave birth
  to them. One can speak of . . . the mythic
  elements within these faiths without speaking to
  the veracity of the faith's tenets or claims
  about its history.

4

• Although myths are often considered to be
  accounts of events that have not happened, many
  historians consider that myths can also be
  accounts of actual events that have become highly
  imbued with symbolic meaning, or that have been
  transformed, shifted in time or place, or even
  reversed. One way of conceptualizing this process
  is to view 'myths' as lying at the far end of a
  continuum ranging from a 'dispassionate account'
  to 'legendary occurrence' to 'mythical status'.

5

• As an event progresses towards the mythical end
  of this continuum, what people think, feel and
  say about the event takes on progressively
  greater historical significance while the facts
  become less important. By the time one reaches
  the mythical end of the spectrum the story has
  taken on a life of its own and the facts of the
  original event have become almost irrelevant.

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Features of myth

• Stark contrasts among characters
• Mystical/religious qualities
• Focus on heroic/villainous individuals
• Extreme conflict, no compromise or cooperation
  between camps
• Shallow characters
• Often isolated in time and space

7
Mythic narratives

• Well look at grand narratives that can be found
  in pretty much any culture
• Heroes/heroic quests
• Foundation myths/stories

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Mythic narratives

• Predictable
• Limited set of recurrent actions
• Archetypes
• Does not need proof for cultural acceptance

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Propps analysis

• Vladimir Propp reviewed thousands of Russian folk
  tales
• Morphology of the Folk Tale
• Identified 39 common (simple) actions
  (Structuralist theory)
• Many actions found in large portions of the
  stories
• Regular order of actions
• However, not all stories have all acts in the
  prescribed order
• Room for a certain amount of originality

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Propps 8 character types

• The villain (struggles against the hero)
• The donor (prepares the hero or gives the hero
  some magical object)
• The (magical) helper (helps the hero in the
  quest)
• The princess (person the hero marries, often
  sought for during the narrative)
• Her father
• The dispatcher (character who makes the lack
  known and sends the hero off)
• The hero or victim/seeker hero, reacts to the
  donor, weds the princess
• False hero/anti-hero/usurper (takes credit for
  the heros actions/tries to marry the princess)

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Villains

• Darth Vader
• Sauron
• Blofeld
• Evil queen/stepmother
• Dark knight/Mordred
• Kahn

13
Heroes

• King Arthur
• Neo
• Aragorn
• James Bond
• James T. Kirk
• Mulan

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How do we know heroes from villains?
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Donor

• Chronicles of Narnia
• Saint Nicholas
• Lord of the Rings
• Galadriel
• James Bond
• Q
• XXX
• Beauty and the Beast
• Enchantress plays opposing roles (enchantment and
  provision of the mirror)

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Princess and her father

• Beauty/father
• Nala/father missing
• Princess Leia/Darth Vader
• Confusion between heroes at first
• Princess Jasmine/the sultan
• Pocahontas/Powhattan
• Sleeping Beauty/king

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The Dispatcher

• M
• Mission Impossible voice
• Charlie

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False Hero

• Balto

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Functions of dramatic personnel

• Conjunctive elements (ex machina, announcement of
  misfortune, chance disclosure mother calls hero
  loudly, etc.)
• Motivations (reasons and aims of personages)
• Forms of appearance of dramatis personae (the
  flying arrival of dragon, chance meeting with
  donor)
• Attributive elements or accessories (witchs hut
  or her clay leg)

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After the initial situation is depicted, the tale
takes the following sequence

• Somehow a hero is chosen or accidentally enters
  into the scene
• A member of a family leaves home (the hero is
  introduced)
• An interdiction is addressed to the hero ('don't
  go there', 'go to this place')
• Hero may be reluctant or unwitting

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Enter the villain

• The interdiction is violated (villain enters the
  tale)
• The villain makes an attempt at reconnaissance
  (either villain tries to find the children/jewels
  etc or intended victim questions the villain)
• The villain gains information about the victim

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• The villain attempts to deceive the victim to
  take possession of victim or victim's belongings
  (trickery villain disguised, tries to win
  confidence of victim)
• Victim taken in by deception, unwittingly helping
  the enemy
• 24

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The villain acts

• Villain causes harm/injury to family member (by
  abduction, theft of magical agent, spoiling
  crops, plunders in other forms, causes a
  disappearance, expels someone, casts spell on
  someone, substitutes child etc, commits murder,
  imprisons/detains someone, threatens forced
  marriage, provides nightly torments)
  Alternatively, a member of family lacks something
  or desires something (magical potion etc)
• Note In many cases, this is the act that
  precipitates the quest (original disruption)

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• Misfortune or lack is made known, (hero is
  dispatched, hears call for help etc/ alternative
  is that victimized hero is sent away, freed from
  imprisonment)
• Seeker agrees to, or decides upon,
  counter-action
• Hero leaves home

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• Hero is tested, interrogated, attacked etc,
  preparing the way for his/her receiving magical
  agent or helper (donor)

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• Hero reacts to actions of future donor
  (withstands/fails the test, frees captive,
  reconciles disputants, performs service, uses
  adversary's powers against them)
• Frodo and Galadriel at the pool
• Hero acquires use of a magical agent (directly
  transferred, located, purchased, prepared,
  spontaneously appears, eaten/drunk, help offered
  by other characters)

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• Hero is transferred, delivered or led to
  whereabouts of an object of the search
• Holy Grail
• Mount Doom
• Arc of the Covenant
• Lost City of Atlantis

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• Hero and villain join in direct combat
• E.g., final gun battle between Dirty Harry and
  Scorpio
• Hero is branded (wounded/marked, receives ring or
  scarf)

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• Villain is defeated (killed in combat, defeated
  in contest, killed while asleep, banished)
• Rambo destroys Vietnamese prison village
• Frodo and Gollum struggle, Gollum falls into
  Mount Doom
• Gaston and the Beast struggle, Gaston falls to
  his death
• Dr. No drowns in his own reactor core
• Arthur kills Mordred with Excalibur
• Jack shoots Mina

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• Initial misfortune or lack is resolved (object of
  search distributed, spell broken, slain person
  revived, captive freed)
• e.g. spring comes to Narnia Buttercup is
  released from the evil prince the men from the
  nuclear sub are released the nuclear warhead is
  disarmed
• Hero returns
• E.g., Bond returns from his fight with the
  villain Frodo and Samwise return from Mount
  Doom Galahad returns

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• Hero is pursued (pursuer tries to kill, eat,
  undermine the hero)
• e.g., the evil queen tries to kill the prince

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• Hero is rescued from pursuit (obstacles delay
  pursuer, hero hides or is hidden, hero transforms
  unrecognizably, hero saved from attempt on
  his/her life)
• E.g., the good fairies cast spells to protect the
  prince fish attempt to prevent Ursula from
  killing Ariel and the prince Simba escapes
  through the briar patch
• Jaws is delayed by Russian agent so Bond can
  escape
• New Yorkers on bridge throw objects at Green
  Goblin allowing Spidey to save Mary Jane and
  resume battle

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• Hero unrecognized, arrives home or in another
  country
• Odysseus returns to Ithaca and is not recognized
• Simba leaves to live in jungle, thought dead,
  returns and is mistaken for Mufasa

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• False hero presents unfounded claims
• (Balto)
• Difficult task proposed to the hero (trial by
  ordeal, riddles, test of strength/ endurance,
  other tasks)
• Must pull sword from stone must steal
  information from CIA headquarters twelve tasks
  of Hercules
• Task is resolved
• Hero is recognized (by mark, brand, or thing
  given to him/her)
• Neo is recognized as The One
• Baby is recognized by birthmark/Court Jester

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• False hero or villain is exposed
• Scar is unmasked as murderer of Mufasa, forced to
  confess before pride Steed? found out when Balto
  returns false king revealed when true king
  returns
• Hero is given a new appearance (is made whole,
  handsome, new garments etc)
• Beast is transformed Count of Monte Cristo
• Villain is punished
• Scar is attacked, killed by hyenas

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• Hero marries and ascends the throne (is
  rewarded/promoted)
• Bond has woman (only once married)
• Ariel and prince are married
• Pocahontas and John Smith united
• Prince and Sleeping Beauty betrothed
• Mulan and generals son have dinner
• Aladdin is chosen by Jasmine, sultan changes law
  so he can be prince
• Simba and Nala have cub who is slated to be next
  king
• Pilot and computer programmer return from space
  mission and are greeted by their respective women

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• However, in a number of stories the hero dies or
  sacrifices himself so that others may live
• Spock in Wrath of Khan
• Frodo in Lord of the Rings
• Jesus Christ
• Aslan the Lion in Chronicles of Narnia
• Kirk in Star Trek ?
• Boromir in Fellowship of the Ring
• Anakin Skywalker in Return of the Jedi/redeems
  himself
• Robert E. Lee Pruitt in From Here to Eternity
• Jim Brown in the Dirty Dozen
• Arthur dies in final battle with Mordred

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Joseph Campbell

• The most popular mythologist in recent times has
  been Campbell
• He attempted to develop a theory of a monomytha
  basic story that underlies myths from throughout
  the world
• Controversial
• Not seen as rigorous scholarship
• Validity of monomyth questioned

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Heros journey

• Campbell was especially interested in the
  archetypal character
• Followed teachings of Jung
• The heros quest was a spiritual journey as well
  as a physical one
• Left the seeker forever changedfor the better
• Leaving home symbolic representation of leaving
  childhood, becoming aware/adultgoing through a
  transformation

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Campbell

• Sees the search as mystical/transformative and
  argues that the quest is a crucial part of a
  well-lived life
• If the quest is not truly transformative, not a
  true heroic myth

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Sources of concern

• Teach people to think in terms of either-or
  approach to conflict/competition
• Inability to thoughtfully consider context,
  ambiguity
• Little consideration given to compromise
• Preach violence and brinkmanship as a strategy of
  dealing with conflict/competition
• Demonization of other side leads to escalation
• Strengthens position of extremists
• No actions are mutually beneficial
• Life as a zero-sum game

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Sources for concern

• Portrayal of a world split into warring factions
• Archetypal good and bad groups lead to a
  portrayal of those who are different in extremely
  negative terms
• Archetypes applied in the real world can quickly
  lead to harsh stereotyping or demonization of
  groups or individuals

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Sources for concern

• Can promote a great man vision of the
  appropriate form of social control
• Authoritarian if not monarchic implications
• Lose patience with debaters, lily-livered
  liberals

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Star Wars as a heroic myth

• Star Wars is an influential science fantasy saga
  and fictional universe created by
  writer/producer/director George Lucas in the
  early 1970s. The saga began with the film Star
  Wars, which was released on May 25, 1977. The
  film, later retitled Star Wars Episode IV A New
  Hope, became a pop culture phenomenon, spawning
  five more feature films and an extensive
  collection of licensed books, comics, video
  games, spin-off films, television series, toys,
  et al.

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• Star Wars story employs archetypal motifs common
  to both modern science fiction and ancient
  mythology, as well as the romantic music motifs
  of those genres.
• In 2005, Forbes Magazine estimated the overall
  revenue generated by the entire Star Wars
  franchise (over the course of its 28-year
  history) at nearly US 20 billion, easily making
  it one of the most successful film franchises of
  all time.

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• Star Wars began with a 13-page treatment for a
  space adventure movie that George Lucas drafted
  in 1973, inspired by multiple myths and classic
  stories.

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Influences on Lucas

• Many different influences have been suggested for
  the Star Wars films by fans, critics, and George
  Lucas himself.
• Lucas acknowledges that the plot and characters
  in the 1958 Japanese film The Hidden Fortress,
  directed by Akira Kurosawa, were a major
  inspiration. Lucas has said in an interview,
  which is included on the DVD edition of The
  Hidden Fortress, that the movie influenced him to
  tell the story of Star Wars from the viewpoint of
  the humble droids, rather than a major player. It
  also played a role in the conception of Darth
  Vader whose trademark black helmet intentionally
  resembles a samurai helmet. More particularly,
  the arch-villain in Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai
  wears a black samurai helmet to which Vader's
  helmet bears a remarkable resemblance. The Jedi,
  nearly extinct futuristic knights of the former
  republic also have a high influence from the
  Samurai as spiritual warriors and duelists with a
  strong sense of honor and devotion to their duty.
  Their traditional clothing even resembles kimonos.

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• Prior to writing the script for Star Wars, George
  Lucas originally wanted to make a film of Flash
  Gordon. The rights for Flash Gordon, however,
  were held by Dino De Laurentiis, and Lucas
  decided to work on his own science fiction
  project instead.

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• Another influence in Lucas's creation of Star
  Wars were the writings of Joseph Campbell.
  Campbell's work explored the common meanings,
  structures, and purposes of the world's
  mythologies. Lucas has stated that his intention
  was to create in Star Wars a modern mythology
  based on Campbell's work. The original Star Wars
  film, for example, closely followed the
  archetypal "hero's journey", as described in
  Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces.

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• It is also thought that the setting for the Star
  Wars universe came from Isaac Asimov's Foundation
  Trilogy, published in the early 1950s. This saga
  also involves a galaxy teeming with inhabited
  worlds held together by a collapsing galactic
  empire using hyperdrives (for long-distance
  transportation). It also features the planet
  Trantor, which is entirely covered by the
  galaxy's capital, similar to Coruscant, and the
  protagonist of Foundation and Empire is Lathan
  Devers, a character resembling Han Solo. Even
  lightsabers have precursors in the The Foundation
  Trilogy as force field penknives.

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• It is also often argued that Star Wars was
  greatly influenced by Frank Herbert's classic
  science fiction book Dune. Many elements of Star
  Wars are often also evident in Dune. There are so
  many similarities, in fact, some Dune devotees
  consider Star Wars little more than a campy film
  adaptation of Herbert's work. While this is
  likely an exaggeration, many of the similarities
  are striking. For example, both Dune and Star
  Wars are set on desert planets. Both stories
  feature a mystical knighthood of sorts--the Jedi
  in Star Wars and the Bene Gesserit of Dune. In
  both stories the hero uses mystical powers,
  exhibits mind control (Jedi mind trick/the
  Voice), and duels opponents with sword-like
  weapons. Finally, both stories describe a corrupt
  empire and the hero's efforts to overcome it.
• An excellent comparison of the most often cited
  similarities between Star Wars and Dune can be
  found at the official Dune website
  http//www.jitterbug.com/origins/dune.html.

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• Some comic book fans have also drawn parallels
  between Star Wars and Jack Kirbys epic Fourth
  World series, published by DC Comics. The
  cosmos-spanning series of titles was never
  completed DC canceled it, ostensibly due to low
  sales. At the heart of the series was the battle
  between Orion of the New Gods and his villainous
  father, Darkseid (pronounced dark side.) Orion
  called upon the mystical force known as the
  source to aid him in this struggle. The Death
  Star is somewhat reminiscent of Apokolips,
  Darkseids home planet. It is also worth noting
  that Darth Vader shares some visual similarities
  with Kirbys armored uber-villain Dr. Doom,
  co-created with editor/scripter Stan Lee at
  Marvel Comics.

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Why are heroic journeys so appealing?

• Simple, stark contrasts easy to comprehend,
  powerful and compelling
• Simple dialogue
• Personalization/individuation
• Echo deeply-held feelings and beliefs that may
  not be conscious
• Good and evil
• Spirituality
• Exciting action, often violence
• Emotion rather than reason drives the action

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Sources of concern

• Emotional rather than rational goals and
  reasoning
• Words that succeed while policies fail
• Irrational traditionalism
• Conflict based in religion, klan, nation
• Can easily slide into some rather unpleasant
  representations
• Nazi use of Wagners epic heroic opera

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• Teaches to make decisions, etc. based on tribal
  loyalties, heated passions rather than
  dispassionate, rational debate
• Can justify extreme, uncompromising actions
• brutality
• War
• Enslavement
• torture