Story Lab: crash course in mythology

I was going to write another story, but I ended up watching the three videos about mythology.

Video 1

I have never found mythology to be difficult, maybe because I'm book worm I don't know - but I love all the different ways stories can be told and relate to actual events.

Oh wow - I love how they pointed out the line between myth and religion is blurry. Whether my opinion has been made with mistaken information learned or not, I have always said the reason Greek Mythology is Mythology - is because everyone who used to believe in all the "gods" are now dead! Religion is so vast and ever changing, in the concept of time as our existence on earth as sentient beings. However, having made that statement publicly/online I looked it up and apparently that isn't totally the case; around the 1990's ancient greek religious practices were brought back and was declared a religion again in 2017.

Significance is a great point, because we often tell stories to children because it is more engaging to get them interested in a story where they evaluate the theme or morals rather than by telling them point blank. Staying powerful reminds me of one of my first posts, the things that makes us different from all other organisms is our communication - and unlike wales and dolphins or other animals that communicate, we often do so in an abstract way.

I have heard the story of Persephone a million times, but I really enjoyed the use of animation and the animation they chose to tell the story.

I love the idea of myth as primitive science, because that is what it was many times (imo)! I learned in Latin in high school that they had gods for everything back then - as an example my teacher said if they didn't know how pencil sharpeners sharpened pencils, then they would think there is a god inside the sharpener making it happen.

The ideas that myths are useless is like saying reading fiction is useless, and myths are the historical foundation of fiction and pretty much all books! Yes, using myths as scientific explanation is absurd now, but myths have many things to offer. Reading for enjoyment alone could increase survival by 23%! There are many other articles and links supporting this, I just chose the first I had read about it to share.

This narrator was a bit dorky, but I really enjoyed his enthusiasm. So far this video has been very thought provoking and I hope anyone reading this enjoys the two links on related(ish) subjects I found.

Video 2

I love the art they showed in this video, mainly because I took a gods and heroes in art class last year.

I think it is absolutely bonkers that mythology is tied into how the nazi's furthered their agenda!

At the end of the day, most of the theories have something to offer. There is not going to be a one fits all theory for why we tell myths because there are many reasons to; moral guidance, explanations for the unknown, justifying our actions, or just because we are bored. Myths are the pre-books that I believe our ancestors used for all of those reasons and more. I also believe the reason we have so many people today analyzing and arguing about them is that we can't actually find the answer - until we find a time machine, we will never know the true meaning behind myths and since we can't, I don't think we (as a species) will lose interest in them.

Video 3

This video reminds me a lot of, surprise, my gods and heroes class. We spent an entire month learning about Hercules trials and his sub-plot adventures. The seven girl story was interesting, and brutal, and reminded me at the end of my own story about Narcissus/Empathus realizing without knowing the worth of others or worth beyond your appearance you can't know true value (vanquish self). 

End Thoughts

While I like reading and writing stories, it can be overwhelming. After seeing the longish list of topics to browse for story lab I thought writing a story would be easier, but when I saw those videos I was really interested to learn more about mythology as a subject. I'm glad I watched them!

I really had no idea what image to use for this post - so here is a picture of an opossum I found trapped behind my house and grill last year! Angel, my dog, was all excited and acting weird coming in and out of the house repeatedly; eventually I realized she wanted me to meet her new "friend". I moved the grill, and with the friendly nudge of a broom, he left out the same hole in the fence I'm assuming he came in.