I am in the midst of prepping a course on mythology and folklore (an honors section) that I will be teaching this coming semester. I have pretty much decided on the general themes I want to cover, though the way I frame them for the class will be more narrow and specific than the way I am listing them here:
- The nature of myth itself
- Myths of origination, which I am defining to include three primary categories: origins of the universe, of good and evil and of society/civilization (which, in some cases, also has to do with national origin)
- Myths that deal with heroes
I’ve already picked out a pretty wide-ranging reading list from ancient/classical myths, but I want to supplement that list with contemporary movies or texts that would illustrate how myth functions in our culture now. It’s not so much that I want material that comments explicitly on myth–though that would be fine too. What I’m looking for are stories that mythologize or that retell myths or that make use myth that I can use as a way of getting students to think about how myth function in their own lives. (I’m not sure if that is as clear as it could be; much about the course is still fuzzy in my head.)
Some obvious ideas for movies that have occurred to me, mostly because they would already be familiar and accessible for my students, are Thor, the Transformers movies, and the X-Men movies–each of which plays with myth, or at least mythic elements, and what it means to mythologize in a variety of ways; but I would also love to hear other suggestions–movies, graphic novels, comic books, literary texts. Any ideas you might would be welcome, especially those that include female heroes that I might usefully compare–in terms of origins, character development, the “heroic arc”–with male heroes.
Thanks in advance.
The female heroes that spring to mind instantly for me are Buffy and Xena. Since they both tie into their own mythologies (vampire mythos and Greek mythology respectively) that might be fun to play with and create some interesting parallels.
One thing that strikes me about female heroes (I think I got this from Fighting the Forces, a book of critical essays on Buffy) is that they’re more social and less solitary than their male counterparts. The male hero tends to fight the dragon or the minotaur or whatever alone, while the female hero has more social connections–friends and family members allying with her. (I’m not sure it fully applies to Xena with Gabrielle as more of a sidekick, but I digress.)
Elizabeth Moon’s Pakesnerrion series is another really good female hero’s journey, but probably not suitable for a class that isn’t primarily about it, becasue the story spans three or four books.
Thanks, Kelly. I thought about Buffy–but I’d forgotten about Xena–but I am not familiar enough with the series, book or TV. Are there particular volume(s)/episodes that you might recommend. And I will check out Moon’s series.
If your focus on Buffy is on her development as a hero, rather than on the strongest episodes, I would focus on seasons 1-3 (the high school years), where the themes of maturation and the parallelism between supernatural heroism and the daily struggles faced by normal highschool students were at their strongest (mostly in season 2, but 1 is useful as a starting point, and 3 continues the themes in interesting ways). Series 4-5 have a lot going for them, but I think are less easy to compare to traditional hero mythos, and in series 6 and 7 the thematic coherence suffered a lot.
Well, of course many of the relatively common mythological themes continue to come to mind.
-Person with unusual abilities, favored with luck and (occasionally) special objects or powers? Check. There are a gazillion of these, ranging from the more modern “Bruce Willis finding out here’s a superhero” ones on down.
-Retellings of old legends? Check: O Borther Where Art Thou is the Odyssey, and so on.
-the Matrix series, annoying though they are in many respects, are chock full of various mythological tie-ins, from the Oracle to Neo.
Of course, these days a lot of “favored/cursed/chosen by the gods” myths have been replaced with “favored/cursed/chosen by science and technology” myths, but they’re still similar.
When I was an undergrad we did a whole class on King Arthur. There’s a great anthology tracking the King Arther stories, and we had to read a modern version (Mists of Avalon) and then watch four of the recent Arthur movies. Part of what we talked about was how each generation comes out with it’s own Arthur movie and/or story that focuses on different things that relate to things the society is dealing with at that point.
I second the Matrix trilogy (as terrible as the 2nd and 3rd movies are), as well as Xena: Warrior Princess (all six seasons can be streamed on Netflix!) Sounds like a cool class, I wish I could take it.
Harry Potter, hands down. It’s got The Chosen One, good vs. evil, quests, coming of age, struggles against death (literally and metaphorically) and–unlike, say, Star Wars–multiple strong female characters.
AMERICAN GODS, btw, for male heroes, if you haven’t picked it up. College students resonate to it like, um, insert clever metaphor here.
There’s a bunch of DeLint that’s modern myth-making. I suffer from a terrible DeLint allergy so it’s hard for me to point to a specific, but he has lots of readers, and I’m sure you know a few.
The play IPHIGENIA AT AULIS is told from Clytemnestra’s POV, but I think it requires some knowledge of the source material to fully appreciate.
Sorry if the answer to this should have been obvious — Are you looking for Jungian hero-types or ways people have played with and reinterpreted mythology?
Coraline! Great themes of individuation from her parents, recognizing they are flawed, relying on her own resourcefulness, going into the underworld, making a moral choice, and returning again.
And The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (first Oz book) – “The Annotated Wizard of Oz” traces many themes of myth and argues that the work is terribly neglected because it was 1) popular, 2) not from the UK, and 3) about a girl.
I’m a huge Joseph Campbell fan, so I wish I could take your class! I can’t really think of anything to add, other than maybe looking at advice columns. They tend to act in place of myth now in offering a continuance of culture and guidance for life. I recommend Sugar from The Rumpus.net.
Percy Jackson! My kids read it; can’t believe I forgot it. Old gods in modern times. There are books involving roman, greek, and egyptian pantheons.
Having just finished them, I’d definitely encourage Lord of the Rings. It’s not ideal for national origins, but it’s got a lovely slate of heroes, ripe for internal as well as external comparison–and of course, film versions as well.
Small Gods and Hogfather by Terry Pratchett.
I also came to vote for Xena! KellyK in comment 1 talks about how hero ladies are more social, which is definitely true for the Warrior Princess. I’ve been rewatching the show recently and have discovered that the reason there were so many recurring male characters (Joxer, Autolycus, various warlords, even Hercules) was so that there was a major male in almost every episode. Not that I don’t love the storylines, but it seems like even in a show with two women as lead characters, the writers/producers thought they needed a man on which to hang every plot.
Second Joseph Campbell– the original Star Wars series (the good one ;-/) is based loosely on The Hero With A Thousand Faces.
Thanks, all, for these really wonderful ideas. I don’t have time to look at all the texts you’ve recommended, but since I will probably teach this course again several times over the next couple of years, it’s good to have a list to build on.
Mandolin:
Actually, I’m looking for both. The course is written as a kind of survey of classical mythology, but I want–especially if I am going to be teaching it again–to make it more interesting than that (at least for me to teach).
OK. Mythological retellings w/ female protags:
I’ve dabbled: Marrying the Sun, A Memory of Wind
Off the top of my head, some short stories including mythologies that aren’t Greek:
Delia Sherman’s The Fiddler of Bayou Teche (this is fantastic)
“Fear of Rain” by Robert T. Jeshonek
“On the Banks of the River Lex” by N. K. Jemisin (love this, but protag isn’t female)
“Down in the Flood” by Nisi Shawl
A popular YA novel out this year with a female protag that features Brer Rabbit: The Freedom Maze by Delia Sherman
brain seeping out my ears too quickly for me to identify too many more at the moment (there are many in the antho I edited w/ Prime last year, PEOPLE OF THE BOOK). For short stories w/ female protags that play with mythologies, I can repost this on my LJ and get a zillion responses if you want.
One of the best YA books I’ve read this year was CHIME by Frannie Billingsley which features a female protagonist who has an adventure and includes elements of Celtic mythology.
AKATA WITCH has a team of young people (protag female) who go on a quest. Sub-Saharan African (Nigerian, IIRC?) mythology.
Not quite sure if it’s what you’re looking for but a very good ancient text is Ovid’s Heroides, a collection of fictional letters supposedly written by heroines in Greek myths to the heroes.
It’s interesting because by Ovid’s time these myths, Homer’s stuff and otherwise, were common parlance and he does a kickass irreverent deconstruction of them (usually) from the POV of the abandoned woman in the story, your Didos and Penelopes and whatnot. He uses their voice to challenge the whole epic nature of myth, sometimes quite shockingly; eg. Penelope suggesting that Odysseus should be home by now and all these suitors are looking quite handsome…
Of course, it’s a case of the male poet using female voices from myth and even if he gives them more space and autonomy than they had in the original epic poems (Briseis, the girl captured by Achilles, has maybe two lines in the Iliad? Here she gets a whole poem.) he’s still co-opting them. Definite food for discussion though, it’s a different way of using classical mythology than you’ll find elsewhere.
So it’d be good to look at because it’s an ancient author retelling even more ancient myths from another POV to address contemporary concerns. Seeing as it’s a collection of letters, you can pick and choose appropriate ones to fit whatever primary texts you’re using.
For me, the illustration of myth in one’s own life is in the use of shared stories to demonstrate concepts. (Like that star trek episode, which I can’t remember what it’s called or anything, and you’ll either know what I’m talking about or you won’t, so it is in itself an example of the concept. In the episode, the aliens communicate exclusively through reference to myths and stories. It’s all “so you know that time that xyz did abc? yeah, that”) So, it depends a lot on the social context, because that’s what denotes the shared story.
For example, my husband and I are enthusiastically working our way through the x-files series. Aside from the multitude of references to existing myths and folktales, and the usage and creation of modern myths of aliens, government conspiracies and the like, the x-files has created a myth-based context for me and my husband to communicate with each other. For example, I referred to the way that Scully was exploring Mulder’s world (of alien abductions and so on) from a critical perspective as an example of how one could explore religion without full belief.
I have also drawn on Scully’s lack of squeamishness (whether it’s performing autopsies or digging through trash, she’s all good) to put aside my own squeamishness of insects, etc in various circumstances recently. She has transcended her character to become a representation of certain qualities, and has become an example of character and virtue, like a mythic hero!
I would also say that a lot of religion is a myth-context from the perspective of the outsider, but those on the inside who believe in the truth of the religious stories often find it insulting if you suggest that.
It sounds like a fascinating course.
Standgale – “Darmok”!
(and Jalad, at Tanagra!)
China Mieville does an interesting variation on a similar concept in his latest book, where the alien race cannot lie, but also speaks in very elaborate metaphors, so when they need to represent a concept like “grim resignation” they talk about “the girl who was hurt in darkness and ate what was given to her” but they actually have to take a girl into a dark room, hurt her, and give her unpleasant things to eat, in order to be able to say it in the first place.
Not… so much a modern myth. Unless Derrida and Foucault are your myth-makers. But an awesome read.
(Shaka, when the walls fell…)
Another book on this theme is The Postman by David Brin. (You may be more familiar with the much-derided film adaptation by Kevin Costner.) An excerpt from the sample chapters on David Brin’s web page shows a nice description of myth-creation in action…
On a similar note, Kevin Costner’s movie Field of Dreams might also be worth thinking about…
I would like to recommend a short book by Ursula K. LeGuin, called Lavinia.
Ursula K. Le Guin told the Kirkus interviewer:
And the description of the book, from the same website as before:
Elusis:
Do you have the title handy? A little cursory digging didn’t turn it up.
And, once again, thanks to all for responding. Everything you’ve suggested has gone into a list that I will go through for the next time I teach the class. I’m not yet sure what I will do this semester–and since I will do it at the end of the semester; I have a little time to play with. Someone else I know suggested Alan Moore’s Promethea. Anyone know anything about that?
@24 – It’s called “Embassytown”.
I’m about halfway through it at the minute, actually. It’s a really excellent book, and very well worth reading based on what I’ve read so far. I don’t think you’ll find the main plot in it particularly relevant to your course, but the the fact that the aliens have to stage similies in order to use them has all sorts of interesting implications.
I recently rewatched Black Orpheus and I can’t recommend it enough.
“I’m about halfway through it at the minute, actually. It’s a really excellent book, and very well worth reading based on what I’ve read so far. I don’t think you’ll find the main plot in it particularly relevant to your course, but the the fact that the aliens have to stage similies in order to use them has all sorts of interesting implications.”
That sounds interesting. I have a Mieville allergy (it’s like he skips the parts of the story I want to read in order to deal, in loving detail, with the stuff I find boring), but his ideas are stellar.
Yes, sorry, “Embassytown,” I meant to put the name in and forgot. Loved that book, but it is work in spots as Mieville is a “show not tell” writer when it comes to world building, much like Geoff Ryman (who, by the way, wrote the excellent “Was” which absolutely ought to be taught alongside “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” in a class about myths as it superbly suggests both the “real child” behind Dorothy and the effects of Oz on other devotees of the myth.)
Oh gosh, Promethea.
Fascinating, beautifully-drawn comic that has Alan Moore’s fantastic way with myth… until he comes completely off the rails and turns it into his own obsessive exploration of his spiritualistic navel. Or something.
And I know I’ve already mentioned “Coraline” and someone else has mentioned “American Gods” and “Neverwhere” would also be good and you’re not trying to teach a class on Gaiman (though it would be worth it) but Sandman, particularly some of the story arcs, is spectacular myth. “Preludes and Nocturnes” works well alone. “Season of Mists” is a good “traveling to the underworld, being tempted, etc.” story. “Fables and Reflections” is several stand-alone stories including one about Orpheus, and “Brief Lives” is a classic quest/search story, which also brings in Orpheus as Morpheus’ son. In “The Kindly Ones,” the Furies come after Morpheus for his act in “Brief Lives.”
And there is plenty of critical writing on Sandman, particularly “The Sandman Companion” to suggest ideas for analysis.
Richard, coming in a bit late here, and I hope this doesn’t sound critical, but I would suggest moving away from the Campbell “hero”/quest model of teaching myth – which is not only very limiting but tends to distort the myths where it is taught. Campbell shoved everything into his view of the ‘monomyth’ and it leaves a lot out.
The first Harry Potter book (the movie perhaps not as much) has some pretty classic mythological elements. As for movies familiar to your students, Star Wars and Avatar are pretty good examples of American cultural mythology.
Hmm… I didn’t read every comment (sorry, tl;dr) but have some comments. The first thing that came to mind was the Star Wars/Joseph Campbell connection (Lucas even wrote a fantasy novel based on similar stuff)–though I second the sentiment that Joseph Campbell was a hack.
In terms of mythology, to be honest, everything is mythology these days. Paris Hilton/Lohan/bad girls like them are just a retelling of a contemporary mythologizing. What I would do if I were in your boat (though it sounds like you’ve already got your course structured a certain way) is to 1) reframe mythology in terms of interpretive narratives. This would allow something like Depesh Chakrabarty’s post-colonial work some entry in terms of how to break down the history/myth binary. To my mind, history itself is mythmaking.
With that in mind, I do agree and applaud the whole pop-culture framework you are taking. In your shoes, I would break down some contemporary myths Foucauldian style and for example take Dances with Wolves/Last Samurai/Avatar as the same myth retold: a myth about white males reappropriating neo-colonialism in their attempt to overcome white guilt. You know, start innocently with the structure of these movies, and then bam! hit them with post-colonial analysis. :) Or pick something highly gendered like the Hollywood love story–surely that is in mythical status now? And trace it back to courtly love and all that hullabaloo.
It might be worth a discussion to ask what’s the difference between a myth and a trope, or history and myth? Or, should we distinguish between one kind of story retold, or one influential story retold over and over again (take for example the Ramayana, which has hundreds of different versions throughout India)? How does that work with pop culture? I mean in terms of history and myth, American political culture is totally mythmaking these days…
Anyway, my comments above are just off the top of my head. Hope they are useful.
fuzzytheory: Were I teaching this class to juniors or seniors in a major–or to graduate students–your suggestions would be right on; but I am somewhat constrained first by the course description in the college catalogue, which would make it difficult, without a good deal more prep work than I have time for right now, to take the course in the direction you are suggesting (which I like a lot); and while the class is part of the honors program at the community college where I teach, I know from experience that I cannot assume my students will have the kind of context, because they are not likely to be widely read enough, that would make what you are suggesting truly meaningful–keeping in mind the constraints of the catalogue description. But thank you. I am filing all these suggestions away for when I have time to give the design of this course deeper thought.
I hear you Richard… work with what you can. I always find my biggest plans for courses are waylayed by time constraints and other things. Now that I am on the job market, I am really hoping to get a position at an institution with grad programs so I can do those fun courses I’ve always loved to do, but never had students with enough background to try it out. Good Luck with the course! I hope it goes well.
In your shoes, I would break down some contemporary myths Foucauldian style and for example take Dances with Wolves/Last Samurai/Avatar as the same myth retold: a myth about white males reappropriating neo-colonialism in their attempt to overcome white guilt.
White guilt? It’s the plain old Prester John myth, updated for other planets/cultures/American history and written in a language palatable to viewers.
For a fun book of a Cherokee author giving a very different twist on biblical myths and some well known western novels like Moby Dick: “Green Grass Running Water” by Thomas King. This book is laugh out loud funny in many places.