Original Snake

Here's another lovely image comparison for you, this one courtesy of Soul Eater. The guy with the black hair in the first picture is Death The Kid, and that ridiculous pose he's striking is a little something that he calls Original Sin Stance. Now, the first time I saw that, I thought it looked absolutely ridiculous and then I forgot all about it. Later I was having a conversation with my boyfriend about it and he mentioned that Original Sin Stance looks like it's based on Snake Stance from Kung Fu. That's what the guy in the second picture is doing. I thought that was rather interesting, especially considering that in the biblical account of the fall, one could argue that the serpent is what causes original sin to happen in the first place. I just thought that was an interesting tie-in.

Catching Fire

Some say the world will end in fire;
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

-Robert Frost

I do love this poem. It's probably in my list of top ten favorites somewhere. I think the comparison that he creates with fire and desire versus hate and ice is very intriguing. People's thoughts on how the world will end in general are quite interesting to me.

(Fun fact about the end of the world that's supposed to come in December: the Mayans didn't account for leap years, of which there have been more than 500 since then. If they'd gotten the date right the world would have ended five months ago. But then you probably already knew that.)

Plus lately I haven't been able to get this poem off my mind. I'd actually been thinking about it/read it the weekend before we talked about it in class, and when I went to start my latest design project I got stuck on the idea of fire and ice. Maybe when it's done I'll show you, but it's still taking shape. Or melting. Or what have you.

The Beaver's Knife

So, in an attempt to connect with the profile of the typical female, I spent a bit of time this week watching the Twilight Saga. It was ridiculous and beautifully silly, but when I reached the third book I found something that I didn't expect. Oral myth, and from what I've found in my research since then, surprisingly accurate. A Native American legend, from the Quileute tribe, who are actually real, and surprisingly accurate. Although I had read the books over prior breaks, the difference between the oral myth and the rest of the stories didn't click with me until I saw the oral myth going on in well, oral form. Although I didn't find the actual myth they told in the movie, I did find the Quileute creation myth, and you can read it here.

I'm beginning to realize just how much of some of these legends we're missing when we don't get to hear them from a storyteller. The repetition is a lot less tedious when somebody's telling the story. Surprisingly enough, I find myself less likely to say "Hurry up already!" It's a welcome change, because lately the stuff we've been reading has gotten pretty tedious at times.

But back to the Quileute legend. One of the things that I like about Native American myth is that they always seems to come up with very creative ways to explain why all different sorts of creatures look and behave the way they do. Like the Beaver with the knife in his tail, or how the Deer got his antlers. I was particularly intrigued by the people who walked on their hands instead of their feet. I have to wonder what that is supposed to represent...perhaps people who don't believe in the right way of thinking? It left me curious, at any rate.

There didn't seem to be any appearance of the Four Ages in this particular myth, but then it was a pretty short one. Barely a single page. My guess would be that the part of the story we read is the dawn of the Golden Age, since everyone is learning how to hunt and take care of themselves, and the rules are just getting set up.

Here's a picture of the tattoo that some of the members of the Quileute tribe get in the movie. I thought it was interesting as you didn't get to see a close-up in the movie. Obviously the wolf is very significant in the saga, as many of the Quileutes are capable of taking on the form of a wolf. However, if you read the original myth (or listen to the origin story in the series) you learn that the Quileutes are supposed to be descended from wolves, so even in real life the tattoo makes sense. So that's cool.

Prompt for Week Seven

Tell and analyze the creation myth—including "four ages"—of our nation, a town, or a cultural institution.

Jung's Cookie

So it took me a while to settle on a fairytale that had enough characters while not being incredibly long and convoluted. Eventually I decided that the Gingerbread Man was as good a story as any. We'll see how this goes.

With the Gingerbread Man as the dreamer:

• given life by the old lady, who starts out as a positive anima in bringing gingy into existence.
• old lady quickly becomes a negative anima when she decides that gingy would make a good snack.
• encounters the husband (shadow) in escaping from the old lady, and the old man joins in the pursuit. at this point the gingerbread man still believes in his ability to defeat the shadow rather than embracing them.
• next encounters the cow (shadow) who also desires the end of mr. gingy's life and his being brought completely into the shadow.
• the horse is the next shadow the gingerbread man encounters. once again he denies the shadow's power and thinks himself to be invincible.
• then the gingerbread man runs into a whole party of people (shadows) and invites them to test his mettle. he still doubts that the shadow is stronger than he is.
• next the gingerbread man encounters the fox (shadow), whom he invites to join in the chase. the fox denies his interest, and even promises him safe travel across the river, making himself seem to be the self in the story. maybe he really is. in the end the fox's trickery ends in the gingerbread man's demise, though the question remains whether he's being absorbed into the shadow or transcended into a higher plane. is there really even a difference?

With the Old Lady as the dreamer:

• creates the gingerbread man as an extension of her Self (since a cookie is fairly gender-neutral the differences of sex aren't too big of an issue)
• gingerbread man escapes, expressing her desire for freedom.
• follows after it in order to be more human, to inhibit herself properly.
• husband (negative animus) tries to catch the gingerbread man and inhibit her freedom.
• the cow (shadow of responsibility) begins to chase the gingerbread man in order to draw it back to the kitchen.
• the horse (shadow of diligence) joins in the chase.
• the party of workers (shadows of community, sameness) also join in the chase to bring the old lady back to the familiar.
• the fox (seemingly a self) offers help to the gingerbread man, tantalizing the woman with the taste of freedom and then taking it away just when hope seems brightest. the poor woman is stuck. ouch.

Posted in response to the Week Four prompts

Prompt for Week Five

Week Five: How do you see mythos (mythic thinking) present in the world today? In politics, current events, social attitudes? How might these observations help you form motivating questions for further research and learning about mythology?

Piercing the Heavens

Meet Simon.

He's the main character in an anime series called Gurren Lagann. I thought of him this morning when we talked about autochthony. You see, at the beginning of the series, Simon is just a normal boy living in a small village...several miles under the surface of the earth. He dreams of going to the surface, but it is not until he finds Lagann (a mecha) that he is able to escape and come to the surface to defeat the forces that were keeping humans hidden under ground.

It's kind of a complicated series and it moves very fast - though it's only two seasons, by the end they are throwing galaxies at each other...like I said, complicated. Anyways. I mostly wanted to point this out. First time in a while that I've sat down to post something without hearing the words leaking out of my ears as I did so. Hopefully it sticks.

Prompts for Week Four

Practice a Jungian analysis on a simple fairy tale of your choice. Try more than one approach to the same tale using different characters as the "dreamer."

He's the Goddamn Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh leaves the cave to kill things. He loses a friend, learns about himself, and kicks some bad guy ass. Considering that the story was first recorded more than 3000 years ago and is the oldest known literary work, that gives Gilgamesh a pretty good shot at being the first superhero. After all, all you need is a tragic past and a desire for revenge to make a good superhero. You don't need magical mutant powers or even awesome weaponry.

Gilgamesh proves that in his fight with Humbaba. Of course, he does get a god to help him strike the monster down, but that hardly counts. Everyone in the first thousand years of literature had a god as their sidekick, so that wasn't even a big deal. Gilgamesh has a whole host of buddies, though he does not seem nearly as lucky as our dear friend Mwindo (who is a subject for another time, when I'm running on a bit more sleep).

The homoerotic subtext that exists between Gilgamesh and Enkidu is reminiscent of Batman and Robin. Or Holmes and Watson. Also, I'll talk about Br'er Rabbit at a later time, but I thought I'd spew out some random thoughts about Gilgamesh for a little bit before I headed off to sleep for the first time in god knows how long.

Posted in response to the Week Three prompts

Are You Ready for Friday's Quiz?

1. What is a myth?
A myth is a story which, although it is fictionalized, has its basis in truth. It is a way to teach the values and thoughts of men, as well as social, familial, and ethical structures.

2. Why do we study mythologies?
To learn from the past, to complete the four functions.

3. How do we study mythologies?
By reading and comparing stories to each other, comparing stories to everyday life. We analyze what we read through the filter of the myths our culture is already imbued with, and see what we can find that teaches us something new about the world.

4. Compare & contrast predator/prey anxieties in Gilgamesh & Mwindo.
Gilgamesh does not seem to be so worried about food, while Mwindo steals so much food that all his friends overeat like goldfish and grow ill. One of Gilgamesh's greatest fears seems to be death and mortality, and (at least so far) Mwindo does not seem to fear death at all, as it seems not to stick.

5. Apply Campbell's stages to Mwindo.
Mwindo is a trickster, so this doesn't apply exactly...

6. Discuss the four functions of myth.
Mystical is to experience the awe of the universe, cosmological is to explain the shape of the universe, sociological is to support and validate a social order, and pedagogical is about how to live as a human.