Intro to Myth, Drama, and Modern Translation

Intro Quiz and Course Overview

  • Intro quiz on the syllabus at the start of the course; five questions, multiple choice.
  • Deadline: Sunday night.
  • Worth about 5%5\% of the grade (roughly a half letter grade).
  • Purpose: ensure familiarity with the syllabus and what the course will cover.
  • This week: a short intro to myth and drama; overview of how to approach math? Not exactly; the goal is to outline myth, drama, and analytical thinking as the foundation for later work.
  • Next week: deeper look at how the Greeks approached myth and drama; then how we approach drama today.
  • Core reading focus: how to think about myth and how to translate ancient drama into modern drama, with an eye toward creative writing projects.
  • Overall objective: provide a framework for analyzing myth, drama (ancient and modern), and film, and then translate those ideas into contemporary contexts.
  • Course flow: overview of myth and drama, then moving toward analytic methods for understanding films and translating myths into modern storytelling.
  • Any questions? Use Canvas for materials; anticipate the intro course/quiz due in the first couple of weeks.

What is Myth? How We Approach It in This Course

  • Myth is not assumed to be literally true or fully verifiable; it often contains portions that are traditional beliefs as well as flexible meanings.
  • There are multiple kinds of myths beyond “myth” in a modern sense: legends, fairy tales, and folktales. We will differentiate these and discuss how they relate.
  • In ancient cultures, myths often functioned not only as entertainment but as vehicles for values and social norms. They can be "value myths" that illustrate acceptable behavior or cautionary behavior.
  • The distance in time and lack of written records (or decipherable texts) can make interpretation difficult, especially for Mesopotamian or older myths without a strong surviving literature corpus.
  • For images and scenes from antiquity (e.g., papyrus with scales in the afterlife, or Mesopotamian/Mesopotamian goddesses with headdresses), we rely on available writing to interpret, but with the understanding that some interpretations are speculative when text is missing.
  • The modern reception of myths (in film and theatre) raises interpretive questions: Are filmmakers extracting core values, or merely using myth for entertainment?
  • In reading myths, we push beyond questions of authorship or literal truth; we ask what the myths were doing for their societies and what they might reveal about the values and needs of those cultures.
  • The Greeks often treated myth as a blend of legend and storytelling rather than a strict system of belief; the same story could be seen as entertainment, historical memory, or moral exemplar depending on context.
  • The course will emphasize not just what happened in myths, but why myths endured, how they were preserved, and how later artists reinterpret them for new audiences.

Ancient Scriptural and Cultural Contexts

  • Egypt: The weighing of the heart scene (Anubis weighing the heart against a feather) determines the afterlife outcome; a heavy heart leads to being eaten by a crocodile god; a lighter heart allows entry to the afterlife.
  • The speaking figure (the scribe of the gods) appears in the same scene; other gods and depictions accompany the underworld journey.
  • Mesopotamia: A goddess with a horned headdress and wings appears in a complex scene; the goddess is not fully human and holds a rod in both hands; the scene sits in a mythic context without accompanying writing, complicating interpretation.
  • The lack of a robust textual corpus for some Mesopotamian/myth figures means we work with iconography and comparative frameworks rather than full narratives.
  • Key interpretive hurdle: for early myth, especially when writing is sparse or absent, it’s often speculative to determine what the myth meant to people at the time.
  • As we move forward in time (Egypt -> Greece -> Rome), we gain more textual material to analyze myths more confidently, though questions about interpretation and belief persist.
  • In the ancient world, myths were not required to be 100% true or false; audiences could accept multiple layers of meaning and truth-value, which has implications for how we study myth today.

Major Theoretical Frameworks for Myth

  • Early/ancient critical view (David Maris in the 3rd century BCE): Zeus and the gods may be legends of kings and queens who later became deified myths; myth as a fossil of old legends rather than original divine truth.
  • Renaissance to Enlightenment: myths become allegorical stories that convey moral lessons (e.g., fables like the Boy Who Cried Wolf); myths can be treated as exemplary tales with educational value.
  • 19th–20th century psychological and anthropological approaches:
    • Freud’s Oedipus complex: myths express subconscious dynamics; Oedipus embodies hidden familial tensions; myths can stand in for subconscious processes rather than literal events.
  • Anthropological/structural approaches:
    • Nature-based explanations of ritual practice and myth (e.g., Prometheus and human sacrifice rituals) to explain why certain practices exist.
    • Structuralism and binary oppositions: myths reinforce social structures and cultural binaries (good vs. bad, hero vs. villain, etc.). These approaches help explain why hero/heroine myths are appealing across cultures and time.
  • Charter myths and hero myths (Joseph Campbell and related scholars):
    • Campbell’s monomyth (the Hero’s Journey): a cross-cultural pattern in which heroes are often born with mixed divine/mortal parentage, leave their familiar world, undergo ordeals, gain new knowledge, and return to benefit their society; sometimes they are deified or memorialized.
    • Campbell’s elements (core concepts):
    • Birth and mixed parentage (god/goddess + mortal)
    • Childhood trauma or isolation from the familiar
    • Call to adventure and crossing into the unknown
    • Allies and mentors (e.g., Obi-Wan, Yoda; Achilles’ Patroclus; Gilgamesh’s companion Inkyu)
    • Ordeals/temptations and failures (e.g., losing allies or battles)
    • Return with knowledge or boon; reintegration into society; societal improvement or transformation
    • Possible deification or memorialization of the hero
    • Lucas’s Star Wars: a modern popular instance of Campbell’s narrative core, illustrating how mythic structure informs contemporary cinema.
  • The purpose of myth, according to Campbell and like-minded scholars: myths provide templates for living, especially for younger generations, by modeling risk-taking, courage, and exploration of the unknown; myths also serve as vicarious experiences and existential templates in premodern societies that depend on heroism for societal resilience.
  • The modern uptake of Campbell’s framework: filmmakers and writers may follow the monomyth at a high level or adapt it for narrative purposes while embedding unique cultural messages.

Myth vs Legend: Distinguishing Terms and History of Transmission

  • Myth: stories involving gods, demi-gods, and sometimes heroes that explain natural or social phenomena; not necessarily fully anchored in literal truth but rich in symbolic meaning.
  • Legend: narratives about real people (or believed-to-be real) that accumulate mythic qualities over time; often embedded in cultural memory and identity; can be closer to “historical memory” than pure myth.
  • Fairy tale/folktale: stories with magical elements and moral lessons; usually not anchored in divine beings but in human-scaled magical events.
  • Greek context on myth and legend: heroes can be semi-divine, mortal, or fully divine; lineage and ancestry (e.g., tracing genealogies to Achilles, Agamemnon, Diomedes) were used to establish Greek identity and legitimacy.
  • In archaic and classical Greek periods, magic is present but tends to recede in later mythological storytelling, with more emphasis on legendary heroism and human-scale, exemplary action.
  • Transmission timeline: Hesiod and Homer (roughly around 700 BCE) retell and shape stories about events dating back to 2,000 BCE and earlier; centuries of oral retelling and later written preservation in Byzantium influence how we encounter these myths today.
  • The distance between the original events and later retellings means readers should be mindful of multiple layers of storytelling, borrowing, and transformation rather than assuming a single, fixed origin.

Why Myths Endure: Functions, Meanings, and Filmmaking

  • Entertainment value through engaging plots, exciting feats, and memorable characters (e.g., Perseus as an entertainment centerpiece; popular in cinema like Clash of the Titans).
  • Moral and social instruction: myths codify behaviors to be emulated or avoided; they illustrate cultural values and norms.
  • Educational and identity-building functions: myths help societies articulate who they are by connecting to revered ancestors, heroes, and foundational narratives.
  • Modes of meaning include: literal beliefs, allegorical understandings, and symbolic interpretations that can coexist within a culture.
  • The modern question: are films and modern adaptations simply extracting surface-level elements (scenes, actions, archetypes) or are they engaging with deeper meanings (values, social critiques, human psychology) drawn from the original myths?
  • Theoretical implications for analysis:
    • Do filmmakers preserve the core values and lessons of a myth, or do they repurpose myths to fit contemporary concerns?
    • How do different audiences respond to myth in film? Is the response determined by the audience’s cultural context?
    • What role does myth play in shaping collective memory and popular culture?

Reading, Time, and Translation: From Ancient Texts to Modern Films

  • Timeframe and authorship considerations:
    • Greek myths often described events from a time long before written records; writing emerges around 700 BCE, depicting earlier events from about 2,000 BCE.
    • The Classical period (roughly 400 BCE and later) saw more stabilized texts and storytelling that passed through the Byzantine era to modern readers.
  • Time-distance and interpretation: due to centuries of transmission and editorial additions/subtractions, modern readers should be aware that myths contain layers and are not a single monolithic source.
  • The role of textual vs. visual sources:
    • When texts exist (Hesiod, Homer), more concrete interpretive possibilities exist; when they do not, as with some Mesopotamian images, interpretation relies on iconography and cross-cultural comparison.
  • Reading strategy for the course:
    • Focus on what myths did for their societies and how those purposes translate to modern media.
    • Consider how directors and screenwriters interpret and translate mythic messages into cinematic language.
  • Key takeaway about myth, legend, and film: myths are flexible and multi-layered; a good analysis examines both surface narratives and deeper functional meanings, including how a story helps audiences understand personal and social behavior.

Practical Takeaways for Studying and Analysis

  • When approaching a myth in film or text:
    • Identify the core values or messages the story communicates.
    • Note how the narrative structure aligns with or diverges from Campbell’s monomyth (birth, departure, trials, return).
    • Examine how modern filmmakers translate ancient motifs (hero archetypes, trials, mentors) into contemporary contexts.
    • Consider the role of an audience’s cultural background in interpreting mythic messages.
    • Distinguish between entertainment value and ethical/psychological insights the myth may offer.
  • Time and transmission considerations should guide reading strategies: know when the source material was created, how it was preserved, and how later retellings may have altered meanings.
  • For the course assignments and discussions:
    • Expect readings from Thompson and other sources that discuss myth theory, structuralism, and hero myths.
    • Be prepared to discuss how myth translates across media (print, cinema, theatre) and what a modern filmmaker aims to convey through mythic adaptation.

Quick Reference: Key Terms and Names Mentioned

  • Myth vs Legend vs Fairy Tale vs Folktale
  • Hesiod, Homer – classical Greek authors who shaped myth; writing around 700 BCE about earlier events
  • Dark Age (Greek context) – period of cultural disruption before the classical revival
  • Zeus, Helios, Selene – Greek gods referenced in discussions of mythic explanation for natural phenomena
  • Anubis – jackal-headed figure associated with the weighing of hearts in the afterlife scene
  • The weighing of the heart against a feather – heart heavy leads to punishment; light heart allows entry to the afterlife
  • Prometheus – myth used to illustrate rituals and human cunning
  • Gilgamesh, Achilles, Odysseus, Aeneas – classic heroes often cited in discussions of hero myths
  • Inkyu – Gilgamesh’s companion (correct spelling varies in texts)
  • Joseph Campbell – scholar of comparative myth; author of The Hero with a Thousand Faces; concept of the monomyth
  • The Hero’s Journey/Monomyth – a generalized template of hero myths across cultures
  • Alfred Lord (Alfred North Whitehead? Not exactly; referenced as contributor to comparative myth approaches) – context indicates discussion of comparative approaches
  • Levi-Strauss – structuralist anthropologist linking myths through shared mental structures
  • Carl Jung– not explicitly mentioned, but often associated with myth interpretation in this tradition (note: not in transcript; mentioned for context of structuralism and myth analysis)
  • Star Wars – modern example used to illustrate Campbell’s monomyth in popular culture
  • No Country for Old Men – modern work mentioned as a potential example of myth-influenced storytelling in contemporary cinema

Next Steps for Students

  • Read Thompson and related course readings to deepen understanding of myth theory, especially the ideas about drama, myth interpretation, and the relationship between ancient narratives and modern storytelling.
  • Prepare for a discussion on how to analyze film in terms of myth and drama: what counts as evidence of mythic translation, what to look for in characterization, arc, and symbolic meaning.
  • Reflect on how your own writing could translate ancient myths into modern contexts, using the discussed frameworks as tools for analysis and creation.
  • Monitor Canvas for slide notes and supplementary articles that expand on the theories introduced above.