To Save Them All From The Nothing

Mythology just so happens to be a subject I enjoy dearly. And even if one doesn't enjoy reading the tales of Orpheus, or the Mysteries of Eleusis, or Marduk and Tiamat, the Bhagavad Gita, or Poem Edda... none the less many of us are still familiar with these stories. It is something similar to knowing Roman myths, but not knowing Greek myths. Essentially, Roman myths are Greek with the names changed. In fact, Joseph Campbell claims that all myths are the same myth (what James Joyce called "monomyth") with "different costumes". This is much the same idea Jung had in mind with the Collective Unconscious.

Since we live in another time with different social norms, not many people today are familiar with a lot of history's rich mythologies across the globe. I would simply like to give some examples of how ancient myths are still alive today in our movies. In fact, it is a bit difficult to determine if any movies or stories today (characters, places, and plot alike) are not based on some mythological archetype.

One of my favorite examples is the movie Donnie Darko, which is heavily rooted in the tale of Faust (specifically Goethe's Faust). Of course, the story of Faust is based on the Book of Job, where Satan (meaning "Adversary") acts as God's right hand and prosecutes Job, as Mephistopheles does with Faust. Faust ultimately receives special powers from Mephistopheles, wins the heart of a woman he falls in love with, Gretchen, by selling his soul. Faust often blasphemes, as Donnie Darko does. Donnie also receives special powers (superhuman strength, control over water and fire, and telekinesis - see the director's cut), and wins the heart of a girl he falls for named Gretchen. In both cases Gretchen is not her real name. Donnie must follow Frank as Faust followed Mephisto. Both Faust and Donnie's deal with the devil leads to the death of their Gretchens. Both Gretchens eventually are redeemed, while Faust and Donnie are not saved.

Jaws is another fine example, as it parallels Marduk's battle with Tiamat. In the Enuma Elish Marduk battles with the evil creator Tiamat for dominion over the world (which was nothing but an ocean of chaos). Marduk uses the many winds to slay Tiamat by throwing a wind into her mouth, which renders her unable to close her maw. Then throws another wind into her mouth to slay her. Jaws parallels this when the Sheriff puts an oxygen tank in the shark's mouth, causing the shark to not be able to close its mouth. Then he shoots the tank to blow it up. One may consider this to be a stretch, but I can assure you that Stephen Spielberg is a very well read director, and heavily influenced by mythology. I would not doubt the Enuma Elish inspired him.

A more recent example is the TV show Lost, which amongst drawing from myths of Mesopotamia, Ilium, Greece, Japan, and Germania, considerably relies on the Bible, primarily the Old Testament. In my experience Christians don't know their own holy book very well, and yet the same stories appeared on a major television show, which they are not aware of. I'll focus on one part (as there are many archetypes in Lost). In the last season Jacob is revealed as the heir and protector of the Island. Jacob has a younger twin brother, whom he slays and is later turned into a monstrous entity, which takes the form of black smoke. This twin brother of Jacob is never named, but is simply called the Monster. The Biblical Jacob also had a twin brother, named Esau (which is the name I use for the black smoke in Lost). In the Bible Esau was the firstborn, but traded his birthright to Jacob for some red pottage to sell. In doing so Jacob was entitled to the inheritance of the firstborn. Jacob and his mother, Rebekah, plotted to cheat Esau even further. And so there was a lot bitter rivalry between the twins. Esau declared that one day he would kill Jacob. This, of course, parallels considerably with Lost, as Esau claims he will kill Jacob, Jacob and his adopted mother plot to deceive Esau, and such. Furthermore is the characteristics of the Biblical twins to the show. Esau is Hebrew for "hairy" or "rough", as the character in Lost has facial hair, is a bit haggard, and dark haired. Jacob on the other hand is blond and never has facial hair. It may also be important to note that the Island is a kind of earthly paradise where miracles occur. A Promise Land, if you will. Jacob in the Bible is later named Israel once he makes peace with his brother (you can make the inference from here).

Certainly there are many more examples, which I could spend the rest of my life searching for. I have probably already written a post on this subject before. But I would like to illustrate a little something about the Nothing. One of my favorite songs by Blind Guardian is "Imaginations From The Other Side", which is often considered a ballad to all the great myths and fairy tales. I believe it is about The Neverending Story. The plot of The Neverending Story is to save all the fairy tales and myths from The Nothing, because no one is interested in imagination and fantasy anymore. Point in fact, in our day and age all these stories are saved from the Nothing, but in the disguise of another story. This may only be another variation of the Collective Unconscious, or simply the result of educated storytellers who retell Romeo and Juliet in a contemporary setting, or Marduk through a battle with a shark, or the story of Ezekiel through a repo man and the Chariots of Fire as a radioactive flying car, or the tale of Adam and Eve with the Fruit of Knowledge through a bunch of primitive apes and a black monolith.

Times change, people die, but our stories will always remain.