Transcript Defining Mythology - Mona Shores Online Learning Center

What is Mythology?
Definitions and
Functions
Have You Ever Heard of …
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Nike
Amazon.com
Midas
The days of the week
The planets
The constellations
The Venus razor
Pegasus
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Lord of the Rings
Harry Potter
Percy Jackson
Star Wars
Max Payne
Fallout: New Vegas
The dollar bill
Quarters (non-state)
What is this Quote
Describing?
• A young person cannot judge what is
allegorical (fake) and what is literal (real);
therefore it is most important that the
[stories] which the young first hear should
be the models of virtuous thoughts.
What about this quote?
• You say there are good examples to be learned [here]. Yes, there
are: if you want to learn exaggeration; if you want to learn
deception; if you want to learn hypocrisy and lying; if you want
to learn to joke and laugh scornfully; if you want to learn about
vices, to swear, tear, and blaspheme both Heaven and Earth; if
you want to learn lasciviousness, premarital sex, and adultery; if
you want to learn to brutally murder, to steal, rob, and brawl; if
you want to learn to rebel against your government, to commit
treasons, to overindulge in material things, to be lazy, to sing
and talk of sex; if you want to learn to deride, scoff, mock, and
flaunt, to flatter and smooth; if you want to learn to be a pimp, a
glutton, a drunkard, or an incestuous person; if you want to learn
to become proud, haughty, and arrogant; and, finally, if you
want to learn to condemn God and all His laws, to care neither
for heaven nor hell, and to commit all kind of sin and mischief,
you need to go to no other school, for all these good examples
are found [here].
Mythology
• Definition:
• Mythology is an accumulation of the
wisdom of a given society it is
humankind’s early attempts at trying to
explain the world and to teach society about
the world. In short . . .
• Myths are stories that explain phenomena,
reveal culture, and express religion.
Mythology (cont.)
• Myths are often explanations of creation  rationalization
for the existence of things.
• Myths are sometimes stories of a quest  depicting what
the society sees as important, of value, or expected of
citizens in that society. Quests may be an individual
fighting a society or a traditional battle of good vs. evil, or
an initiation into adulthood.
• Myths also explain or keep alive the story of certain
historical events of societies that lack written historical
accounts  they are told with a liberal literary license, but
they often focus on events of national significance (i.e. a
war, treaty, discovery).
Mythology vs. Legend, History,
Fairy Tales
• History tells the strict chronology of events
• HISTORY IS FACTS
• Legends and tall tales are exaggerated truths 
Paul Bunyan, Robin Hood, Socrates
• LEGENDS HAVE SOME FACTS
• Fairy Tales, parables, and fables, are pure fiction.
Sometimes they have a moral; sometimes they do
not.
FAIRY TALES CONTAIN NO FACTS
Why Mythology Has Lasted
• “A message from ourselves to ourselves.”
─Erich Fromm
• “Man [sic] longs for some more permanent and
extensive vision of human life made over into the
image of desire. It is this longing that has
produced literature [and film]. It is this vision that
has formed the backbone of mythology.”
─W.T. Jewkes
Significance of Mythology
• Mythology explains and tells about the Western Culture’s
earliest roots. Much of our civilization came from Europe
which was directly influenced by Greek and Roman
societies
• Our tradition of great literature (drama, poetry, and song)
comes from the ancient Greeks.
• The record of humankind’s “great leap” out of darkness
into becoming the center of the universe occurred during
the time of the Greeks and Romans. Humans became
rational, scientific, and broke free from the fear of the
unknown.
• Modern literature, advertising, film, television, song, and
expressions all draw heavily from Mythology. Without a
basic understanding of Mythology, you miss much.
Mythology:
Joseph Campbell’s
Four Functions
Four Functions of Mythology
There are four basic functions of mythology,
according to Campbell.
1) The mystical function – stories that express the
awe and wonder of the universe
2) The cosmological function – stories that attempt
to explain the processes of nature
3) The sociological function – stories that support
and validate a certain social order
4) The pedagogical function – stories that explain
how to live a full, happy life
Mystical Function
• The fact of that matter
is that the universe in
which we live is a
strange, wonderful,
awe-inspiring, and
sometimes terrifying
place.
Mystical Function
• Myths that fulfill the mystical function are
myths that remind us of how strange and
wonderful (and scary and miraculous) the
universe really is.
• Ghost stories are one example of this
function.
• Ripley’s Believe It or Not stories are
another.
Urban Legend
• According to Jan Harold Brunvand, an
urban legend is a story that circulates from
person to person, that is retained in a group
tradition, and that can be found in different
versions through time and space.
• Alligators (or ninja turtles) in New York
sewers are a prime example
Ripley’s Believe It or Not
Tabloid Magazines
• These strange stories are
another example of
Campbell’s mystical
function.
Cosmological Function
• Stories that are told to explain something in
nature fulfill the Cosmological Function,
according to Campbell.
• In addition to many native American myths,
examples can be found in the Old
Testament.
The Tower of Babel
• The story of the Tower
of Babel from Genesis
explains why there are
so many different
languages.
Persephone
• The tale of Persephone
explained the seasons
to the Greeks
Sociological Function
• Stories told to back up, justify, or promote a
certain social order fulfill the sociological
function.
• These stories help bind people to a certain
social group, or help explain to them their
place within society.
Dishing the Family Dirt
• For example, when you
tell a newcomer stories
about your family to
make them feel welcome
or feel like a part of the
family, you are using this
function of storytelling.
Pandora
• Another example
would be the Greek
myth of Pandora.
• Since the Greeks were
a patriarchal society,
they naturally created
a myth to justify this
social order.
Pedagogical Function
• The most important of the four functions,
according to Campbell, is the pedagogical
function.
• These are stories that teach. They tell us
how to live, how to be happy, how to be
good, how to love.
The Parables of Christ
• One example of this can be found in the
New Testament. Throughout his ministry,
Christ often taught by telling a story – the
story of the Good Samaritan or the story of
the Prodigal Son, for example.