This was a kind of interesting debate that came up in the nexus chat the other day. Some were discussing mythology and the values they find in it. I conjectured that modern media in some sense is our source to 'modern mythology'. I know nothing about specifics cultures and tribes so I won't attempt to go into any details about such but here are some interesting parallels I can think of. Would love to hear what others have to say.
So in days long gone by at least to the majority of western society. Many would gather around a fire, or a camp-site and tell stories about the gods and other members of the tribe/society. People would create stories such as the say Ahura Mazdah of the zoroastrian(spelling?) belief. Or talk of the goddess Durga and how she rode a lion and her with an army defeated Mahishasur which none of the other gods could. These stories would be enjoyed and passed down through out the ages, in fact we still have many of them preserved. The myths and stories would give people morals, and direct them for which goddesses and gods to put faith in or at least what their stories were, and provide entertainment.
Today we have access to televisions, and movie theaters/home entertainment systems, and we could implement the internet as well(loosely under this comparison). It is commonly expressed that television, which like it or not, does play a role in a lot of children's lives(reference: http://rnbphilly.com/2233962/is-tv-raising-our-kids/ ). A television series involves characters with usually set personalities, scenarios these people run into, morals which can be observed, and over-all humour and entertainment. I find it hard to think of a movie without any message in it. Both modern visual art and spoken word myths in my eyes bare a lot of semblance to one another. In fact alot of our movies and t.v. shows are incredibly comparable to ancient myths themselves. We seem to even borrow story-lines(interesting reference: Ancient Myths in Modern Movies ).
We see a lot of similar themes. From violence, the struggle for power, how meekness is valuable, sexuality, etc. The way some people discuss television shows in a lot of ways in my opinion at least is of high reverence. They discuss the characters, what they think the characters should do, how emotionally affected they are by the stories, etc. Many people tune into the same series and those people tend to stick together to talk about it. For example I like the series "Trailer park boys" and have connected with many people about it, not only on a humourous level. Infact there are hundreds of web-forums based on different anime, science-fiction, soap operas, etc, where people discuss these shows and express which characters they feel closest too. Though there are some differences.
One divergence may be argued that there are commercials during and after shows. Though I wonder if the story tellers in tribes got special privileges such as being the person who lit the peace pipe first, who the ladies or men respected, rather then monetary reward. Who doesn't like a good story teller? Even on DMT nexus, many of the "quality trip report" writers are held with a high reverence (not to imply there is a social hierarchy here but... yea) . I suppose the comparison lays solely in the art themselves and not in the medium. Of course a television is not the same as someone speaking to another. One is incredibly visual and the other is more imagination driven, not to say imagination is not inside of television. There are thousands of artists who make their own comics, write their own story-lines, and movies of television series online after-all(see "fanfiction" ) .
I'd be interested to hear if anyone has anything to chip in either for or against this(television/movies being modern mythology). The next comparison I'm going to make might seem a bit far of a stretch so hopefully someone can counter it tactfully hehehe.
Let's talk cave-paintings and the internet. For example say Chauvet Cave (Chauvet Cave - Wikipedia ). In my eyes cave paintings served as a means to express information, stories, and perhaps other things. If I recall correctly in the documentary "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" there were also paintings of naked women, and the possible but stretching idea that the cave itself was used as an instrument and other musical implements were found in them.
To me it sounds like a mini-internet. Naked women, music, stories, access to information about whats going on around you, etc. Perhaps these are just the microcosm of human interests though. Or maybe its just part of the birth of communication: cave-paintings and early language lead to written language, lead clay tablets, lead to scrolls, lead to books, lead to the internet.
Not really sure what else to say, these are just some ideas that I thought were interesting and wanted to see what others might think about them.
So in days long gone by at least to the majority of western society. Many would gather around a fire, or a camp-site and tell stories about the gods and other members of the tribe/society. People would create stories such as the say Ahura Mazdah of the zoroastrian(spelling?) belief. Or talk of the goddess Durga and how she rode a lion and her with an army defeated Mahishasur which none of the other gods could. These stories would be enjoyed and passed down through out the ages, in fact we still have many of them preserved. The myths and stories would give people morals, and direct them for which goddesses and gods to put faith in or at least what their stories were, and provide entertainment.
Today we have access to televisions, and movie theaters/home entertainment systems, and we could implement the internet as well(loosely under this comparison). It is commonly expressed that television, which like it or not, does play a role in a lot of children's lives(reference: http://rnbphilly.com/2233962/is-tv-raising-our-kids/ ). A television series involves characters with usually set personalities, scenarios these people run into, morals which can be observed, and over-all humour and entertainment. I find it hard to think of a movie without any message in it. Both modern visual art and spoken word myths in my eyes bare a lot of semblance to one another. In fact alot of our movies and t.v. shows are incredibly comparable to ancient myths themselves. We seem to even borrow story-lines(interesting reference: Ancient Myths in Modern Movies ).
We see a lot of similar themes. From violence, the struggle for power, how meekness is valuable, sexuality, etc. The way some people discuss television shows in a lot of ways in my opinion at least is of high reverence. They discuss the characters, what they think the characters should do, how emotionally affected they are by the stories, etc. Many people tune into the same series and those people tend to stick together to talk about it. For example I like the series "Trailer park boys" and have connected with many people about it, not only on a humourous level. Infact there are hundreds of web-forums based on different anime, science-fiction, soap operas, etc, where people discuss these shows and express which characters they feel closest too. Though there are some differences.
One divergence may be argued that there are commercials during and after shows. Though I wonder if the story tellers in tribes got special privileges such as being the person who lit the peace pipe first, who the ladies or men respected, rather then monetary reward. Who doesn't like a good story teller? Even on DMT nexus, many of the "quality trip report" writers are held with a high reverence (not to imply there is a social hierarchy here but... yea) . I suppose the comparison lays solely in the art themselves and not in the medium. Of course a television is not the same as someone speaking to another. One is incredibly visual and the other is more imagination driven, not to say imagination is not inside of television. There are thousands of artists who make their own comics, write their own story-lines, and movies of television series online after-all(see "fanfiction" ) .
I'd be interested to hear if anyone has anything to chip in either for or against this(television/movies being modern mythology). The next comparison I'm going to make might seem a bit far of a stretch so hopefully someone can counter it tactfully hehehe.
Let's talk cave-paintings and the internet. For example say Chauvet Cave (Chauvet Cave - Wikipedia ). In my eyes cave paintings served as a means to express information, stories, and perhaps other things. If I recall correctly in the documentary "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" there were also paintings of naked women, and the possible but stretching idea that the cave itself was used as an instrument and other musical implements were found in them.
To me it sounds like a mini-internet. Naked women, music, stories, access to information about whats going on around you, etc. Perhaps these are just the microcosm of human interests though. Or maybe its just part of the birth of communication: cave-paintings and early language lead to written language, lead clay tablets, lead to scrolls, lead to books, lead to the internet.
Not really sure what else to say, these are just some ideas that I thought were interesting and wanted to see what others might think about them.
