StoryLab Week 12

What is Myth? Crash Course World Mythology #1

Presenter: Mike Rugnetta
Mythology touches on the subjects of: science, religion, history, literature, anthropology, psychology,                and sociology
Myths can be very old and there can be many versions
Myths are open to interpretation
Myth and religion has a blurry line
Most myths don't have nameable authors
Significance and staying power are two important factors to myths
"All real myths are religious or at least semi-religious"
Mythic is due to staying power
Kore = "girl" (daughter of Demeter and Zeus)
Talks about Kore/Persephone, which explains the seasons
Mythography

Themes: Creation myths
               Pantheons
               End of days


Theories of Myth: Crash Course World Mythology #12

Mythology - systematic study of myths
How are myths studied?
         Starts in Ancient Greece
Euhemerism - time-distorted historical events
"Myth is falsehood"
Mythos and Logos
18th and 19th century is when mythology took off
Sir James Frazer (Scottish anthropologist)
            The Golden Bough
            Myths = primitive science
Bronislaw Malinowski (Trobrian Islands)
            Living people
            Myth is a direct expression
Freud and Jung says that the human unconscious is the basis of myth
Joseph Campbell 
            The Power of Myth
            Mythology allows for identity and placement within the world
Claude Levi-Strauss
            Used structure
            Binaries (man-woman; raw-cooked; hero-enemy)
Mircea Eliade
            Binaries
            Preferred archaic

The Hero's Journey and the Monomyth: Crash Course World Mythology #25

Everyone has heroes
Observing Joseph Campbell
             The Hero's Journey/Monomyth
             Heroes tell us about ourselves
Jung        
  "Myths are manifestations of universal cosmic forces that shape the human subconsciousness"

Campbell Monomyth
            Part 1: hero retreats to realm of unconscious
                          Call  - Refusal of Call - Supernatural Guide - Crossing 1st threshold - Belly of Whale
            Part 2: contains trials and victories of initiation
                          Trials - Meeting Goddess - Woman as Temptress - Confrontation w/ Father/""figure
                          Apotheosis - Ultimate Boon
            Part 3: return and reintegration into society
                          Refusal to Return - Magic Flight - Rescue from Without - Crossing the Return                                       Threshold - Master of Two Worlds - Freedom to Live

Australian mythology
              Seven aboriginal sisters
              Wish to conquer hunger, pain, and fear
              Pleiades

Self-reflection within Campbell's framework and mythology

(Image Information: Pleiades; Source: Wiki)




Comments