Rule #8: It’s Greek to Me
November 1, 2016 How To Read Lit 1 comment agilbert17
Myth does not equal untrue
Myth=”a body of story that matters”
Greek and Roman myths are so ingrained into our brains that when something is even the littlest bit similar we assume it must be Greek or Roman.
An example is when Toni Morrison adds human flight into her book Song of Solomon, people automatically go to the myth of the flight of Icarus when in actuality she’s going back to the myth of the flying Africans.
Examples: Leslie Marmon Silko’s “Yellow Woman,” Toni Morrison Song of Solomon, Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.
A movie example is Disney’s Hercules. In the movie Hercules is stripped of his godly status as a baby by a jealous Hades but not of his strength. He grows up thinking he was just some abnormal human but when he discovers the truth about his heritage he tries to get back his status but once he has the chance to he turns it down for love. \
A TV show example is BBC’s Doctor Who. Doctor Who is a show about a Time Lord called the Doctor and his companions. It depicts their crazy adventurers and mishaps of traveling through time and space.
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1 Comment
What I got from the chapter is that many ancient stories or “myths” are simply glorified stories about people doing everyday things necessary for survival. So almost every modern story can be traced back to a similar myth.
Good movie example: The 2000 film “Oh Brother Where Art Thou?” is a modern satirical retelling of of Homer’s “Odyssey”. It’s a great movie go watch it. It has George Clooney.
Bad movie example: 300. Adapted from a graphic novel, 300 illustrates the infamous battle of the Spartans. It is much more directly related to Greek mythology than my other movie example but still shows how ancient stories can be adapted into multiple formats and still live on.