Myth Appropriation

Giving Mythic Scale to your Stories



Dexter and the Trinity Killer - this may not look like an epic confrontation…but it sure as heck was!


The classic Star Wars trilogy was a phenomenon and a triumph on multiple levels. One of the things it's famous for is it's Mythic structure. George Lucas made a study of Joseph Campbell's analysis of The Hero's Journey (in fact, Campbell called Lucas the best student he'd ever had).


With scrappy, underdog heroes and powerful, sinister villains, and the Galaxy at stake, gives the trilogy a timelessness and grandiosity that are the envy of almost all cinema…including, I'd say, present day Star Wars. But I digress.


Comics have long been able to tap into this - certainly the superhero comics that captured my imagination as a kid and teen back in the day. The X-Men and other titles managed to give their stories this same feeling of of being grand Mythological tales.


Again, it helps when the Universe is being saved…


But even the smaller stories were many times able to tap into those deep feelings…into that ocean of…some kind of Universal Story. The good writers…and I give special props to Chris Claremont here…could really make it happen.


Was it the colorful, larger than life characters?
Powerful themes that weren't anviliciously trying to 'teach' us, but were done in the right way, so that we FELT it?
A grandiosity to the dialogue and narrative descriptions?
A sense that this story MATTERED, even the smaller-scale ones?
The use of timpani drums?


Well, yeah, probably all that and more!


The original Halloween movie had Dr. Loomis expounding in grandiose language about the horrendous evil of Michael Myers. It gave Michael…and the movie…this flavor of Mythic evil.


The show Dexter (in its good years, seasons 1-4) had this at times, too; never moreso than in season 4, when secret serial-killer-of-other-serial-killers Dexter came face to face with The Trinity Killer, who tracked Dexter to the place where he lived and worked, and invaded his home, so to speak.


How do you think stories can achieve a Mythic level? Have you ever seen it work? Seen it fail? Ever tried it yourself?


Have a fine day!

Banes