Summary of Tuesday's Class (Week Two)

Just to help jog people's memories, and to provide some raw material for future papers and assignments, here are some of the ideas we discussed in class on Tuesday:

We discussed some of the manifestations of a "myth": a myth is a PROCESS and not a thing. It is continually evolving and being added to, revised and resurrected. It never dies or stays put.

A myth is always a lore (collection of stories), and ideology (a way of reading these stories), and functions as pleasure (a vicarious way of living the myth and processing it in our daily lives--or in our fantasies). 

Any story can become a myth, but not all stories are myths; a myth has to be a COLLECTIVE recollection--something shared by an entire culture and told in one of the dominant modes of storytelling. Stories told in forms that are not in the mainstream rarely become myths. However, stories we find in podcasts, in a Netflix series, or a Broadway show, have a better chance of entering the collective psyche today. 

Myths are also heterogenous, not homogenous; there is not one story but many. A myth is often revised. We saw this with the story of Europa. There were many ways to interpret it, and it is used in many ways--often symbolically, rather than by focusing on the narrative. 

With a modern myth like Star Wars, there can't be just one story or one movie that is the 'real' one. If it's a real myth, it must be told and re-told, and revised, and adapted in different contexts. However, there are always a group of fans who object, who want the lore to remain the same. But a real myth must undergo a metamorphosis. 

As the book states, we also need to look at WHO is telling the myth and WHY they're telling it this way. Myth is often a form of propaganda for the tellers--it reflects who they are and where they're from. Also, myths are often read in context; a myth changes in a specific time and location.

For example, we looked at the movie Troy: it changed The Iliad to suit the needs and interests of a modern audience. It cast Brad Pitt as Achilles, who is not Greek and is an icon of American movies. That changes the meaning and context of the story. So does casting an African-American as Achilles, which has also been done. It doesn't make the story "wrong," but tells a different aspect of the story.

A story has a Beginning, Middle, and an End. A myth can focus on all, or two, or one. Many myths start in the Middle, or just tell the End. As we'll see with Homer, the poems never tell the entire myth--just a single part.