Transcript Divine Machinery in Greek Myth and Star Wars

Divine Machinery
in Mythology and Star Wars
Polytheism and
Anthropomorphism
The Greek gods are EXTRAORDINARY IMMORTALS.
Their identity is not associated with moral goodness.
They are like humans in every way except that they do not die.
Zeus (Juppiter)
King of the Gods
The Sky-god
God of Justice
Xenios (God of Strangers)
God of Suppliants
Sexually Promiscuous
Father of Apollo, Hermes,
Dionysus, Athena,
Perseus, and Heracles,
among others.
Also Bisexual: Ganymede
The Divine Pantheon
Genealogy
Assemblies of the Gods
Gods and Humans in Mythology
GODS:
Extraordinary Immortals
HEROES: Extraordinary Mortals
HUMANS: Ordinary Mortals
Why is C-3PO an Ewok god?
C-3PO: I do believe they think I am some kind of
god.
Han Solo: Well, why don't you use your divine
influence and get us out of this?
C-3PO: I beg your pardon General Solo, but that
just wouldn't be proper.
Han Solo: Proper?
C-3PO: It's against my programming to
impersonate a deity.
Return of the Jedi (VI.24)
“He’s quite clever, you know, for a human being.”
3CPO’s opinion of Luke in “Empire Strikes Back”
V.6 (Closing the Doors)
3CPO’s statement about Luke juxtaposes humans with droids (machines) in
a significant way which suggests important things about the Force and about
Nature, especially when seen in conjunction with the Ewoks’ role in the fall of
the Empire in “Return of the Jedi.”
EWOKS
HUMANS
FORCE
DROIDS
DARK SIDE
EWOKS
HUMANS
DROIDS
simple
complex
nature
technology
FORCE
DARK SIDE
Nature
Technology
How does Yoda’s comment on size fill out this picture?
“Size matters not. Look at me. Judge
me by my size will you. My ally is the
Force. It surrounds us. You must feel
the Force around you.”
Empire Strikes Back (V,31)
Divine Machinery in
Star Wars
JEDI MASTER: Extraordinary Immortals
JEDI KNIGHT: Extraordinary Mortals
HUMANS:
Ordinary Mortals
DROIDS:
Extraordinary Submortals
The Role of Gods in Myth
• Objects of Worship and Reverence
• Active Engagers in Human Life
– Sexual Encounters
– Divine Aid
Divine Machinery in Homer
• Involvement in the Plot
– (Gods take sides in the Trojan War)
• Divine Assistance or Impediment
– Poseidon impedes Odysseus
– Athena helps Odysseus and Telemachus
• Motivation (Athena and Telemachus)
• Inspiration (Muse)
GREEKS
TROJANS
NEUTRAL
ATHENA
HERA
POSEIDON
APHRODITE
APOLLO
ARES
ZEUS
The Role of the Gods in Homer
The gods operate at several different levels:
(1) as characters in the story (de-mythologized);
(2) as true religious forces;
(3) as symbols of a human's abilities or disabilities
Athena the goddess of wisdom
protects Odysseus the cunning hero
The Gods as Human Psychology
The presence and intervention of a god in the story
on behalf of a human is an indication of the
human's own innate talent. Homer's society
ascribed extraordinary powers and skills as gifts of
the gods because their understanding of human
psychology was not so developed as to explain
concepts like differing degrees of intelligence,
creativity, etc.
Thus Poseidon, so long as he is present and hostile
to Odysseus, is a symbol of Odysseus' own inability
to get home. But once Poseidon becomes absent,
Odysseus regains his skills. So, too, Athena's
presence is a symbol of Odysseus' own ability to
cope with threats and dangers.
Athena and Achilles
Achilles' anger appeased by Athena
Drawing by Flaxman (1888)
Minerva Preventing
Achilles from Killing
Agamemnon, from 'The
Iliad' by Homer, 1757
(fresco)
Tiepolo, Giovanni
Battista (Giambattista)
(1696-1770)
God as Mentor
Athena and Telemachus
(See Odyssey I)
Mentors in Star Wars
6.15 A Certain Point of View (Obi Wan Kenobi)
Fate in Greek
Mythology
Moirai (The Fates)
Clotho (the Spinner), Lachesis
(Measurer), Atropos (Cutter)
Achilles: “Doomed to a short
life, you have so little time. /
And not only short, now, but
filled with heartbreak too, /
more than all other men alive
- doomed twice over" (Iliad 1
. 496-98).
Rosso Fiorentino
Italian Mannerist Painter, ca.1495-1540
Pitti Palace, Florence
17th - 18th century engraving-etching
Thetis Dipping the Infant Achilles
Into Water from the Styx
Antonio Balestra
Johann Balthasar Probst
Italian Baroque Era Painter, 1666-1740
For more images: http://www.philipresheph.com/demodokos/achilles/achil.htm
Fate and Destiny
in Star Wars
One’s Ordained Future
• V.7 Luke Must Meet Yoda
• VI.14. Luke Must Meet Vader
Prophets and Prophecies in Greek Mythology
Calchas
in Iliad, see esp
Book I
The Sacrifice of Iphigeneia on a Pompeian wall fresco.
The prophet Calchas is at right.
The Blind Prophet
Tiresias
Odysseus (l.) meets the
prophet Tiresias (r.) in the
Underworld (Odyssey, XI)
Watch for him in the myth of Oedipus
The Inevitable Truth of the Oracle
Oedipus and the Sphinx
Temple of Apollo at Delphi
Apollo Seated on his Prophetic Tripod
Prophecies in Star Wars
Predicting the Future
• Yoda (5.33 The Future You See)
Oracle (The Inevitable Truth)
The Chosen One: Anakin?
•
•
•
•
Is he not the chosen one? (I.28)
Train Him (I.45)
The Chosen One the Boy May Be (1.47)
You were the Chosen One (3.43)
or Luke?
Danger of Offspring to Darth Vader
Gods and
Humor
“Lay of Demodocus”
Odyssey 8.266ff.
Aphrodite and Ares Caught
in the Net of Adultery
by her husband Hephaestus
Heemskerk, Martin Van,
1536
L. Corinth, 1909
“Divine” Humor in Star Wars: 5.31 There is No Try
“Divine” Humor in Star Wars?
5.31 There is No Try
C-3PO: I do believe they think I am some
kind of god.
Return of the Jedi (VI.24)
Divine Machinery in Star Wars
Inspiration
Motivation (Mentor)
Human Psychology
Divine Assistance or Impediment
Involvement in the Plot
Humor