1 a: a usually traditional story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon b: parable , allegory 2 a: a popular belief or tradition that has grown up around something or someone; especially one embodying the ideals and institutions of a society or segment of societyb: an unfounded or false notion 3: a person or thing having only an imaginary or unverifiable existence 4: the whole body of myths
And then we can go to Joseph Campbell, who is probably the pre-eminent American thinker/scholar on the role of myth in the human experience. Here's what he had to say about it: "Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths."
Also here's what he (Campbell) has to say about Star Wars:
What would Murray think? What do YOU think?"Man should not be in the service of society, society should be in the service of man. When man is in the service of society, you have a monster state, and that's what is threatening the world at this minute. ...Certainly Star Wars has a valid mythological perspective. It shows the state as a machine and asks, "Is the machine going to crush humanity or serve humanity?" Humanity comes not from the machine but from the heart. What I see in Star Wars is the same problem that Faust gives us: Mephistopheles, the machine man, can provide us with all the means, and is thus likely to determine the aims of life as well. But of course the characteristic of Faust, which makes him eligible to be saved, is that he seeks aims that are not those of the machine. Now, when Luke Skywalker unmasks his father, he is taking off the machine role that the father has played. The father was the uniform. That is power, the state role....
"Darth Vader has not developed his own humanity. He's a robot. He's a bureaucrat, living not in terms of himself but in terms of an imposed system. This is the threat to our lives that we all face today. Is the system going to flatten you out and deny you your humanity, or are you going to be able to make use of the system to the attainment of human purposes? How do you relate to the system so that you are not compulsively serving it? It doesn't help to try to change it to accord with your system of thought. The momentum of history behind it is too great for anything really significant to evolve from that kind of action. The thing to do is learn to live in your period of history as a human being. That's something else, and it can be done."
Okay, I'll cop to it: this portion* of the Campbell quote is, perhaps, the essence of my own cultural value system, especially as it relates to media culture.
ReplyDeleteThe little squawk boxes we stare at (and, increasingly, carry around with us) may or may not best be seen as our version of Mt. Olympus (Oprah = Hera?; Tom Cruise = Dionysus?; Jon Stewart = Mercury?; etc...).
But they (the squawk boxes) are a central fact of life on Planet Earth for many of us. A deep understanding of the human experience is impossible without a deep consideration of them as sources of...something. Something important.
___
*"How do you relate to the system so that you are not compulsively serving it? It doesn't help to try to change it to accord with your system of thought. The momentum of history behind it is too great for anything really significant to evolve from that kind of action. The thing to do is learn to live in your period of history as a human being. That's something else, and it can be done."
I am not entirely sure what Murray would think, but I think Jack might embrace what Campbell is saying. He has afterall not changed the rules of society, just adapted. But has he done so in a way that maintains his humanity? I don't know. In order to fit into his role as the number one expert on Hitler he created a whole other persona. He changed his name, holds himsef differently, and wears different clothing all to fit this idea of what a Hilter Studies expert should be. In that way I can see Jack almost being Darth Vader. Vader changed his name and wears a very identifiable garb. So is Jack becoming Vader?
ReplyDeleteI am not a TV watcher. (Like Murray's students, I watch movies.) And yet I am still fully aware of television culture. A large part of the power of myth is that it shapes culture and is inseperable from it. When we study ancient civilizations, their mythology is often the first thing discussed. Nowadays, when a conversation loses momentum, people ask if I've seen such-an-such TV show, or which shows I watch regularly.
ReplyDeleteWill we be remembered for television? And how much of our humanity do we surrender to that heritage? All history is a simulacrum of what used to be. If TV is a simulacrum of life as it is now, are we alienating furture generations by leaving them only a copy of a copy of our lives? Or are we leaving them more than ever before, with records of our heightened realities and lowered brain function?
TV, like all myth, must be measured by how much they create versus what they destroy. Myths are beautiful works of the human imagination, but when they block true understanding, they become dangerous (for example, the myth of Helios pulling the sun across the sky is detrimental to discovering truth if it is taken seriously). If TV is a myth, and I'm believing more and more that it is, we need to know it as that. It is beautiful, it is art. But art is only a copy of reality, and we cannot let it replace the truth of our existence.
TV is great. I don't watch it because I don't have access, not because I think it's of the devil. But, like all myth, it must be taken with a grain of salt.
Like your comment, Kelsey. Esp the part about Helios. Hadn't thought of it that way. There's definitely a connection there, something about taking a myth that is meant to be figurative and trying to turn it into an objective reality. I do think there is great value in myth, more than a grain of salt. But I also think that reading them too literally can, as you say, be dangerous.
ReplyDeleteSadie, the Jack = Darth Vader is a great point. Wish I'd thought of that. I think you're exactly right to make that connection. Both characters are borrowing their "power" from another persona even larger than themselves (Hitler/the Dark Lord, or whatever he's called) and both are most certainly wearing masks that conceal their true identities.
ReplyDelete