Hi class,
I'm overwhelmed. I just reviewed my notes from Friday as well as looking at the slides. So, yes, I'm a transrevolutionary, good. Good for me. Ever since this class started and I've begun to look for the narratives, the archetypes (even though I don't know many of them by name), the myths pervading culture, I can't turn off the lens. I opened myself up to it and now I see it everywhere.
On Friday I asked about utopias and dystopias because the dystopias are the root of my political thought and activism. 1984 by Orwell affected me more than almost any other book I've read since. Brave New World, Lord of the Flies, and Farenheit 451 all shaped my thought as a young man. I realize though now that the motivation that's pushing me is finding ways to create utopian narratives and that the Earth Charter is, in some ways, a utopian vision, or an attempt at laying the foundations for exactly that. The myth I'm aiming for is science-fiction. This is a very useful realization.
Jumping from this point, however, I also recognize, as I have in past posts, that I am very attracted to stories of destruction, of some sort of come-uppance for bad behavior. I also feel that stories that contain a focus on the destruction, the bad behavior, or the justification of bad actions to correct previous injustices are the stories that our societies thirst for and consume. Who wants a story about a perfect world without the context of the negative aspects whence that world emerged?
This is an aspect of literal activism that generally turns me off. It is negative, polarizingly critical, and self-righteous. There's a finger wagging that really irks me. However, mythic activism attracts me and has a similar or identical goal. I certainly don't feel like I'm begin as heavily patronized by stories with a political bent than I do by political activism that's direct and self-righteous. So, I can definitely stomach a message wrapped in a good story more than I can a message that sounds like an accusation of bad behavior. Am I alone in this? I imagine not, but pipe in here.
As part of the suggestion that we start to look at stories from our childhood, I have been super receptive to all stories since, as well as their implications and mythic messages. In the past 24 hours I have been particularly inundated, since it's the weekend. Yesterday, I went to see a show put on by my theater group here in Costa Rica at the International Book Fair in the Old Customs House, since converted to a cool and modern space. I was perusing the books and saw one that caught my eye. See the attached image 4250.
The top image subtitle means: And the Earth cried, and the trees cried, and the rivers cried...
The bottom image subtitle means: and the town of the people was drowned forever in tears.
The top image is the town on the hill being swallowed by a wave of tears. The image alone compelled me to buy this book. Have we not already mentioned this myth several times in our conversations? The flood? The cleansing of misdeeds through a good rinsing? Diving more into this story, it tells of a being, part tree, part boy, named Memo, who lives in the belly of a tree, who leaves the forest out of sadness. Although warned by a wolf of the dangers of the people in the town, Memo goes to the town where he is thrown in jail, tried for disturbing the peace, and sentenced to execution. He escapes, makes it back to the forest, where he tells his sad story, and then the aforementioned crying begins and the town is drowned forever.
In reflecting on the petroleum myth, I was reminded of the recent Hobbit movie, the Desolation of Smaug, in which the dwarves are destroyed by a fire-breathing monster who is greedier than they are, or perhaps this is just a representation of the destructive power of greed. An all-consuming, vicious dragon.
Last night, hanging out with my 12 and 14 year old friends we watched a very silly film called R.I.P.D., Rest in Peace Department, about police who are dead who then police fugitive dead criminals back among the living. The dead fugitives try to reconstruct an historical talisman that will reverse the flow of dead people from their celestial prison and unleash them among the living. The good dead cops win in the end but not before bits of Boston are messed up and there's a cool looking cloud vortex in the sky.
Today, I kept a promise I made several weeks ago, before this class started, to take the two girls to an Anime festival in the National Stadium. On average I was more than twice the age of the throng, but there were other parents and guardians around. It was very peaceful and fun. In preparation, the girls showed me an Anime episode several weeks ago. In it, a boy and his girl friend, live in a city with a massive wall around it to keep out the Titans. The soldiers who battle the titans are idolized by the boy. At the end of the episode several Titans breach the city walls and start eating the inhabitants, for the first time in 100 years. The festival in the stadium was totally new to me, many people were dressed up in costumes, carrying faux weapons, guns, swords, axes, bazookas, knives, staves, etc. There was much picture taking. The girls were very emotional and excited to take pictures of other kids dressed up as characters they were familiar with. The vibe was very nice and respectful, the age of most people from 12-18. The focus of this event seemed to me to be much more about the archetype or character than the narrative or story. See image 4243, which comprises four posters. The one on the left and then the second to right were esteemed by my 12 year old friend, who is not attracted by the slightly sexualized other two images. She clearly identifies with the little girl images even if they are suggestive of violence and sex, which I don't think she gets yet (good). The thought I had from this festival and the episode they showed me is that these fans and my girls are being inundated with narratives of the hero, battling immense and supernatural forces. This is very attractive to them, and it seems to this entire (sub)culture. Hero worship. Identification with innocent young heroes battling the supernatural evil forces, often inherited from mistakes made by previous generations. This resonates with me too and I'm not even that young anymore. It did make me think that perhaps these stories are laying the necessary groundwork for fostering real activism through this kind of mythic empowerment. Do these stories serve a mythic activist purpose in making these young people identify with young heroes who seem to take the responsibility for cleaning up the mess made by the bad decisions of previous generations? Is that what I was looking at? There is a lot of violent imagery as well as a lot of sexual suggestiveness, but these are attractive to the young mind, are they not? I imagine I'm not the first to make these connections, but I observed them today.
The third image is me having my head cut off or throat slit by an interesting monster man. You can see that I had fun within the fantasy too. It was harmless fun. Somehow, I felt that all of this was good.
Before I finish this incredibly long-winded post, I want to write about the story I thought of the other day from my youth called "The Plant Sitter". In it, a young boy (I think) takes a job taking care of the plants in a house. He falls asleep and the plants grow out of control. There's an image that I recall of the house windows overflowing with plants, nature out of control destroying the built environment. It has stuck with me to this day.
Looking forward to reactions and thanks in advance, as well as apologies for spelling and grammar errors.
Douglas
Replies
ps I'll attach an image I rather like: King Arthur in battle, but kneeling in a river, having put down his sword so one of his enemies can knight him. This act of courage turns the enemy knight into an ally.
Powerful images!
Glad to see you diving into the personal myth work. Lots of interesting stuff there...you might do some searching for the Green Man archetype at some point...
One reason I like mythic activism is that when one tells a story, it leaves the interpretation (most of it) to the listener. An obvious example: the parables of Jesus. Taken literally they make no sense; but as wisdom stories they are timeless and apply to many situations.
No doubt the movies and cartoons are filled with heroic figures these days, but I have concerns even while feeling glad about this constellation of the collective dramas we face. I think it's time to reimagine the hero, away from violence and toward peace, away from guns and toward negotiation. Also, the hero always brings the anti-hero, the monster, and that needs tending as well. American culture hasn't figured this out yet, which is why our "heroic" actions around the world are so often monstrous.
More wise, peaceful hero figures might help with all this. Certainly as female and male role models. As a boy I read and watched a lot of hero-oriented action violence, but the figure who stayed with me was the warrior who will not fight and cannot be defeated. The hero of duty and renunciation and love of the world.
Your point about the hero always bringing the anti-hero is a great reminder. Of course, without the anti-hero, there's no need for a hero in the first place. One thing I think our culture misses is that often the anti-hero is the hero, as well. That is, they are 2 sides of the same coin. The brighter the light, the darker the shadow cast.
I think there's a growing recognition that the shadow side is active in heroes today. Batman, Superman, Spiderman, all of them (particularly the re-boot films) are showing the shadows with much less trepidation. In fact, I'd suggest it makes for a better story - at least greater depth. Harry Potter films have gotten darker over the years, and part of that may be the filmmakers showing us the shadow sides of all the characters - not just the bad guys.
Even the peaceful heroes have a shadow side to them. Martin Luther King Jr. is a great example. While he made enormous strides towards de-segregation, his marriage suffered. He was an expert with extramarital affairs. He had a weakness for women. This shadow side to the hero is rarely talked about.
Yet within that shadow is still gold.
Thanks for the feedback, Craig. I echo your concerns about violence and the consequent necessity of the monster. That's why I prefer the destruction stories that shift focus of the enemy to extreme weather, which is really a metaphor for retribution for bad human behavior, or when the aliens attack, which is similar but generally serves a promotion of global unity in our common humanity, even though the "hero" is frequently the US military and that's ridiculous.
I started looking into the green man. Interesting. Have to explore more for sure. Thanks for the lead. Here's an image that came across my desk today attached. Interesting.
Green lady.jpg