Mythology's Rise in Modern Media Explained
- Aidan J
- Jun 26, 2018
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 27, 2018
I like Mimir, the Norse god of wisdom, because his name looks like memer.
In school, we learn about some Greek mythology, and how there was the big guy Zeus in Greece. If you’re younger, like I am, you may have read some stories from Rick Riordan about Percy Jackson. Perhaps you know that Greek mythology is very similar to Roman mythology, and the planets are named after Roman gods. Through entertainment, we generally learn about Arthurian legend as well. Personally, I learned about King Arthur's exploits from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. That rabbit is the strongest god out of any mythology.
If you’re interested in these myths (or if you’re growing up in the age of Marvel movies), you might expand to Norse mythology, which is like Greek, but a little wackier. If you want to go full wack, you might consider Egyptian or South American mythology, which are the source for many mythological structures, but are even more hardcore.
There are even small universes, like the Star Wars universe, where an author can bring the world to life through fantastic description. Learning about Han Solo’s early days in the seedy underbelly of gang life in the early days of the empire’s rule isn’t important to the Skywalkers, who are the main characters of the movie series. However, it creates new characters and helps the fictional characters feel like they live a life, not a story.
All of the gods and all of the monsters seem to live. They do things in an alternate history of the world.
This is an element of mythology that is not present in religion. While in Christianity, God is most certainly above man, he does not seem to live, but rather observe and make. We do not know his unique experience, as it is incomprehensible to us, but that is the underlying detachment from the God that we came from. However, compare that to Greek mythology. Zeus went around as a Don Juan, which made his jealous, jaded wife Hera hunt after him. The brothers Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus got in so many fights that Hades is not even allowed to stay with his brother at Mount Olympus. The superior beings have an experience that shows gods act. They are not characters serving a plot, unlike humans in many Greek tragedies. They are not one-dimensional, and only concern themselves with their one field of expertise. They live.
H. P. Lovecraft, with the help of his student August Derleth, created one of the most interesting mythologies ever. Greece’s emphasis on rational thought as well as a sense of mystery to the true nature of the world created Greek mythology. Existentialist despair and the exponential development of new technologies certainly fostered the creation of the first horror mythos. The Eldritch gods are incomprehensible, much like the Christian God, yet instead of Christianity’s apathetic response to questioning God, the Eldritch gods melt your brain for your innate curiosity about them and create an atmosphere like nothing else.
While it is much more difficult to design a brand-new universe full of wonderful life-forms, political intrigue, and intimate characters, using existing material from mythology works almost just as well. Rick Riordan’s stories with Percy Jackson are very fun to read, and they are also as popular as different series like Harry Potter.
What if we could combine these stories though? What if you combined King Arthur with the god Apollo? Or have Baldr descend from Briedablik to fight Mars and his legions?
Here’s another example. The main character is a hot-headed, impossibly strong, rage machine, whose family is killed by the whims of gods. Like a hot-head, the man swears vengeance, and goes on a rampage to kill the gods. Not only does he somehow not die, but he also succeeds. He kills every Greek god. Well, now what? He just leveled an entire society and killed the seemingly unkillable. Maybe he needs to re-evaluate his decisions. So, the hero leaves Greece for another place, where he can forget about his past. He remarries, and lives rather peacefully, having a son as well. However, his wife falls ill, and he musters up his strength to take his son along on a quest to bury her ashes. His son seems as rash as he was, and while he attempts to fulfill his wife’s last wish and raise his son properly, an invincible Norse god hunts the famous godslayer down. Now, he is an exhausted father trying to fulfill his family’s wishes while dueling an invincible god.
This is impossibly cool, right? Well, you can’t read about the journey, but you can play it. This is the tale of the God of War series, sporting Kratos as its main character. People praise it because of its great combat mechanics and great character development, but honestly, I place the value in the continuation of the character in a different mythology. If the games were only set in Greece, like they were originally, or only set in Scandinavia, then the game would have suffered. Instead, the man faces different challenges between the two mythologies, in that he first usurps the natural order of the myths, and then merely tries to keep his family alive from the domineering fates.
These different mythologies then show how a single character adapts to different social customs, social perspectives, environments, and family life. Yet, mythologies do not need to be combined in a series to make commentary or an enjoyable experience, it can be in a singular package.
That’s the power of interacting with mythology. We have religion, which helps make sense of the world through thoughts and parables instead of experience. Yet these aren't very fun for us, and we don't experience the awe and splendor and horror of the Christian God in the same way as King Midas's power. As a result, fantasy stories help people understand life more through entertainment than a heady, theological creed. Like with the video game example above, the combination of different mythologies expounds on the possibilities of depth in fantasy stories, and creates a meaningful, experience that is simultaneously new yet familiar.
Any story using a mythology is pretty much a sequel to the myths that we've already learned. Yet there's still so much more to explore.
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