Week 12 Story Lab: Crash Course Myth Videos

Crash Course Myth videos. Watch these videos and record your thoughts in a blog post: Overview of Mythology (3 videos, 40 minutes total). These are most useful for the Myth-Folklore class, but I think they can be useful for the Indian Epics class too.

What Is Myth? Crash Course World Mythology #1

This video talked about how due to the age of myths, there is a lot of interpretation. Beyond the multiple versions of myths found, we do not know exactly how a myth was created. Does a myth originate from a twist of truth, are they made up fictional stories for entertainment or to teach a lesson, or were they simply a way to explain natural phenomena? I thought the part of the video that started on the theory of myth was fascinating, and I better understood why our Mythology and Folklore class contains story-telling, as myth from "mythos" means "story." In this class, we are making up our own interpretations of myths as many have done for thousands of years. And myths aren't only old, they are integrated into our societies, such as the "Rags and Riches" example the video provided. The way we use myths in society further explains how we think and how we experience life.

Theories of Myth: Crash Course World Mythology #12

This video talked about how myths have been and are studied. Myths are powerful because of their ability to survive centuries by people believing that their stories are worth passing down. However, not everyone was in agreement. One example this video used was how the criticism of myths has happened for thousands of years, even back in 500 B.C.E. Before I saw this video, I thought everyone in ancient Greece worshipped the Greek pantheon, so I was very surprised to hear that figures such as Plato and Euhemerous disregarded the myths as having any factual truth. Plato called myths another type of lie, which is a connotation that still exists today. Strangely enough, people pretend that they are the most evolved being and that humans in the past were lesser, such as Euhemerous who said people made up myths because they did not have science. However, I thought the field studies (as problematic as its view of a 'primitive' society) told the most about how myths function in society. They teach morals, rules, and beliefs for people to live by. It is really in the context of where the myths are told that tell us more about how they influence us. I thought this was fairly obvious but it didn't occur to me how mythology was affecting history. The connections found between languages created modern mythology of the Aryan people, who, despite having no evidence of existence, created a gateway for superiority thought that fueled Nazi propaganda. This made me think of the modern mythologies we take for granted in our own lives. The internet is a tool that doesn't discriminate with information allowed on it. Such as the following:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34568674

The above is a link to a story of a model who did work for a plastic surgery advertisement. However, people made up a false story behind the photos the model was a part of, and soon the model, Ms. Yeh, had a lot of trouble finding work because of the rumors surrounding her. The moral of the story: Think carefully and critically about what you read before you hit "Post."

The Hero's Journey and the Monomyth: Crash Course World Mythology #25

The main idea this video focused on was that a hero is someone that answers the call to journey from home and undergoes many deadly trials. During this process, the hero surpasses their mentor or gains the approval of their mentor. Once all their challenges are complete, the hero returns home or continues to ascend from humanity. In either case, the hero gained hard-earned peace. Throughout this description of "The Hero's Journey," the hero is put in parallel to ourselves. We all want to find our place in the world, and the hero's trials can act as analogies to the struggles in our everyday lives.

Then "The Hero's Journey" continued past just going home because they need to be accepted again into the community. It reminded me of"The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien. One of the lines was about how people who go on adventures may not come back and if they do they will not be the same. This was seen in Bilbo Baggins as he became a social outcast of the shire because of his adventure. I thought about how my own adventure was going, and I remembered coming home for the first time as a college student. Everything was both familiar and strange because I had grown as a person and the people back home had done some growing without me.

That's it for my Story Lab. Here is a personal photo of a sunrise.

Week 12 Reading Notes: Beowulf Part B

Original Story: "The Story of Beowulf" by Strafford Riggs. Source.

Beowulf resolved to stay awake, but Grendel's strange magic causes him to drift halfway into unconsciousness. However, as the other warriors completely fell asleep, Beowulf broke free of the spell

Grendel has trunk legs and milk-colored eyes. Shaped like a man but somehow disfigured that you can never describe him as human.

Grendel succeeds in killing and eating one soldier and takes the metaphor of grind your bone to dust much too seriously.

Meanwhile, Beowulf was struck with fear and could not move at the sight of Grendel. However, the sight of Grendel eating Honscio forces him to action. Grendel and Beowulf wrestle and by the end, Beowulf has torn Grendel's arm off. Grendel flees and the lords in the drinking hall wake up. The people rejoice and Grendel's arm is shown in front of everyone. However, Grendel's mother steals the arm back. Unferth, who insulted Beowulf and did not believe he could kill Grendel now gives Beowulf Hrunting, a magic sword. Beowulf assembles a company and sends off but he decides to go into the monster cave of Grendel's mother alone. On the way down, Beowulf battles jellyfish and a one-hundred-armed monster.

Grendel's Mother has hissing snakes for hair. Beowulf tries to use Hrunting but Grendel's mother has magic of her own that overpowers it. Beowulf ends up killing Grendel's mother with an old blade. Beowulf burns Grendel and his mother in a fire. Grendel was in the scene the whole time, but seemingly dead. Beowulf returns to the surface but most of the men gave up on his survival and left. Only his close company remained and when they saw the water at the entrance to the cave turned red, they feared it was Beowulf's blood. However, Beowulf comes and everyone is happy.

Retelling Ideas:

What if Unferth did not defend his people because he was secretly working with Grendel all along. He pretends to support Beowulf and give him a so-called magic sword that he knew would be ineffective against Grendel's mother.

Grendel's Mother is Medusa from Greek mythology.

Grendel is an old murderer who was cursed to be as monstrous outside as he was inside.

What if Beowulf did not freeze when he saw Grendel eating a person. What id Beowulf killed Grendel with his bare hands as he wanted to?

Illustration of Grendel by J. R. Skelton Found in Stories of Beowulf (1908) by H. E. Marshall. Source.

Week 12 Reading Notes: Beowulf, Part A

Original Story: "The Story of Beowulf" by Strafford Riggs. Source.

Illustration of Grendel by J. R. Skelton Found in Stories of Beowulf (1908) by H. E. Marshall. Source.

Hygelac is the King of Geatsland and his Queen is Hygd, the Wise and Fair.

Clans fought wars, and monsters roamed the land. Somehow, minstrels who traveled avoided the monsters. Overall, the monsters stuck to their own lairs. When the fearsome warlords of the land gathered in their home, they behaved as any other people with family, friends, and dogs. They would tell stories and dream or boast of their adventures.

Beowulf is Hydelac's nephew who learned how to do war and set sail. Beowulf became incredibly strong, so much that he could not control his strength. The other boys laughed at his inability to handle a weapon but were actually very jealous of him.

After some time, Beowulf sits near the King and some people complain. One "ancient warrior" says that Beowulf is destined for greatness. Meanwhile, Beowulf is upset because he is too old to kill young dragons and his Uncle doesn't rage a war.

A Wanderer Minstral appears and sings many songs, one of which about the monster Gretel who stole into the drinking hall, Heorot, which belongs to Hrothgar, the King of the Danes. Grendel has attacked for twelve years so far and must be stopped. Beowulf is eager to prove himself and so volunteers to kill Grendel with his bare hands. The people who once scorned Beowulf now cheer for him.

Retelling Ideas:

Beowulf was isolated from others because of his very strength. You would think that this strength would cause admiration but it did not. What if Beowulf was isolated for another reason?

Grendel has defeated many warriors over the years. What if someone other than a warrior were to defeat Grendel?

Minstrels can go through monster-ridden lands. What if they had special techniques to slay monsters. Except no one accepted their advice because their career is not that of a warrior, so how would they be an expert in killing? Or assasination methods of minstrels are not honorable. Think minstrels as assassins, spies, able to spread information in a spy network.

Beowulf was weak and tried hard to become a warrior. He meets a minstrel and this becomes his inspiration to become one himself. Beowulf then knows techniques on how to kill monsters-via assasination methods and not direct combat.

Except, Beowulf only lives with his uncle because of his strength. Change this to Beowulf's parents were killed by monsters and Hygelan took Beowulf in as his nearest kin.