Why There's No New Mythology
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 พ.ค. 2024
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Myth is one of the oldest and most human forms of storytelling. It's been with mankind for as long as stories have been told. So why, then, does it seem to be dying out?
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Its Awoobis in the Thumbnail googleing himself (not sorry)
Do you mean annual SUBscription, or are you selling medical devices?
10:35 I agree. I love listening myths and legends as even if they are merely stories try to explain natural phenomenon they also contain lessons for the story teller as well as the listener/reader of those stories. such as the most over looked element of Icarus while yes he flew too close to the son in more recent tellings of his story I learned about how his father also warned not to fly too low or else the wind would blow off the wax that kept their wings together and attached to the two captive humans
There is a very succinct way to put all those descriptions of myths into just 2 words with a commonly heard acronym: BS. Explanations that are made-up, spoken with complete confidence as if it was 100% true. Because it just involves putting thoughts into speech/text, new made-up explanations can be added any time something needs to be accounted for as evidence either for or against previous made-up explanations. It's creative storytelling labeled as being real.
@@iaminhere6022 I love the name Awoobis.
I wonder if he is holding an ancient Egyptian holy object...or is it a candy cane...or is it a monkey wrench...?
Mythology isn't gone. We just talk about Roco's Basilisk, Mothman, and governments operating for the people instead of Baal, the chimera, and Zeus.
Modern reinterpretations of said myths eg. GOW, Percy Jackson, American Gods?
Or different versions of typical myths in various settings, like Star Wars or even superheroes
That last example is called fantasy- not myth
@@Sol-bane_of_corruption oh mb
@@Sol-bane_of_corruptionmyth is fantasy assumed to be real. And, well, Zeus is more real and possible than a government acting for the people.
That's folklore
I would say even stuff like Sherlock Holmes and Lovecraft could be considered borderline myths. Thanks to how much they have grown beyond their original states.
Especially since they’re treated as if they coexist in fictional works
or batman.
@@marocat4749 Maybe once Batman hits the public domain and people can start writing their own takes on the characters.
(EDIT: I just noticed this might be a reference so I shall follow up with "Like Bruce Lee, or Batman!")
@@ShadowEclipexAren’t fanfics peoples interpretation of characters?
@@mitsutaki1446 Yeah, but the issue that stuff like Batman still has a definitive soul own currently. So they still have the air of "this is official work" that kind of prevents them from becoming more mythical i status.
Trying to look at the sun through a telescope in an attempt to spot Apollo seems like a pretty bad idea.
My EYES!!!!
That's something people who heard about Icarus should know about
There are special lenses for looking at the sun
@@scoutgaming737 You don't need all that fancy stuff just tape some sunnies on there
No. The sun is proof in itself that Apollo exists. Also I'm Orphism, it says that the sun is one of Apollo's eyes
Grant Morrison wrote a book called 'Supergods" about how superheroes are our modern myth The book's description- "Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Iron Man, and the X-Men-is the list of names as familiar as our own. They are on our movie and television screens, in our video games, and in our dreams. But what are they trying to tell us? For Grant Morrison, one of the most acclaimed writers in the world of comics, these heroes are powerful archetypes who reflect and predict the course of human existence: Through them, we tell the story of ourselves. In this exhilarating work of a lifetime, Morrison draws on art, archetypes, and their own astonishing journeys through this shadow universe to provide the first true history of our great modern myth: the superhero. I need to reread it, but I remember loving it the first go.
Absolutely. Incidentally, the T-1000 appeared in my dreams list night. There are so many symbols and architypes represented by the T-1000.
Wouldn't the SCP foundation be a mythology? Its written by many writers. Some stories don't work in the same cannon as others. They tell you literally to just think of your own cannon more often than not. You even have operating as the unexplainable. However it does not hit the beat of being there to explain how things really work but it does re-contextualize the world as being a part of the SCP universe
I definitely think if society collapses and we forget about what it is and it's later rediscoverd someone would make a mythology out of it, it just needs the people believing in it but in all other matters it's basically a mythology and I would follow it, it's such a cool thing to say the same process that formed books like the bible and such coming together to form a world story of just weird things
It's called mythopoeia (constructed mythology).
People know they are fictions. Sure, there are those who will believe in them becz we told them as if they are legit.
Well no. Nobody actually believes the SCP foundation actually exists. Mythology is just yesterdays religious beliefs.
No, anything like the SCP foundation would just be under "fantasy."
Right, and that is what I meant when I said, "Its not a way of actually explaining how things work." However, it does come closest to that idea of mythology in all other categories that identify a myth as well as offering a similar vibe
What about the mythology of children, like Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny or the Boogieman? This is kind of a mythology, but unusual because it's age-specific.
I think those could also be considered stories told to children in order to get a certain response(for example,in Santa Claus,by behaving well in the year,they can get a present).So the kids would behave.
Then again,I suppose they can also be considered myths in a sense,since a lot of kids(and some people) believe in them.
Capitalism is good .. one of the greatest myths of the last centuries.
And U.S. evangelists who spout all kind of B.S.
@@22y3echenyiming9they are mythology though. Most of these figures simply becomes cultural icons meanwhile mythology is more religion or philosophy based.
@@achimdemus-holzhaeuser1233what are you yapping about?
@@bullettime1116 You disagree ?
Honestly, the closest experience I ever had to seeing collaborative work as a core foundation was the Goncharov hallucation the internet had not so long ago. It was so hard to trace who started what, but now you can look back and see the basic premise of a movie that never existed. It was a fun, nonsense trend and sometimes I do miss anonymous people's additions making it to the movie's canon. Even Scorsese acknowledged it and entered the bandwagon lmao
And some people believed it (at least at first) !! Goncharov rly borders on myth status.
3:51 thank you tale foundry for unlocking a childhood memory i didnt know I had. Thankfully i never actually believed any of their videos, little me just liked the stories they told
I feel like I saw that particular art style before, can you tell me what channel it's supposed to reference?
@@CountVine it was one called spirit science or something of the like. Aside from the artstyle i distinctly remember their voice being nice. Shame it was wasted on new age spiritualism
Look Tomar you helped start a cult
apparently they're still making videos
Mythology isn't dead, we just can't see it until several hundred years pass and people write about our mythology, based on folktales and smaller faiths that are forgotten and become an intrinsic part of culture, then we shall see our mythology, thats why it's so good to be an immortal robot
Thats a great way of saying it actually
@@berserkfanyois thanks for agreeing
Yep, a thousand years from now, who knows what people would think of stuff from the 21st century.
@@shcdemolisher _"And here is an ealry Anglo-American example of what roughly translates to 'Funny Cat' as you see the cat seems to be using what ancient musician historians call a 'piano,' it is unknown at this time whether the cat was or wasn't playing the piano or, as some archeologists believe that these "Funny Cats" were used for religious purposes."_ -Museum guide
That’s exactly what I thought
Tale Foundry woke up and chose violence with this one and I'm here for it
"The dead religions, the gods that have nobody left to feel offended for them"
*ANGRY PAGAN NOISES*
@@stephk5797 I felt like Nitzche's single "the old gods are dead" quote is more than enough to resurrect ancestors to slap him
@@stephk5797 Meh, most pagan revivalism is likely to be more of a reinvention versus an accurate revival. Take Norse Paganism as an example; majority of what is known comes from poetry written almost exclusively in Iceland and a few scattered runic inscriptions elsewhere. There are very little resources overall regarding rituals and practice, though there were very likely just as many conflicting stories and ideas surrounding it then just as there are now with Christian denominations. Then there is also the attempt by outside sources, Anglo-saxons, who attempt to "barbarize" the representation of the Norse peoples. As well as the modern tendency to romanticize whatever we get our hands on.
But I get your point. I just dislike how it always gets represented as being "completely accurate" while there is a lot of romanticizing and lack of primary sources.
@@SoloAdvocate Modern paganism is a modern Christianization of ancient pagan beliefs into christianity but without god, and has god(s) instead.
@@GothGlitch93 I would liken it less to Christianity and more to new age Shamanism/Animism. Specifically for what I was referencing there are close to no accurate representations of the Norse peoples in Popular Media and many base their ideas of what Asatru should be on these representations. And these representations use more recent "proxies" (at least what they like to think are proxies) like the Sami, Native Americans and African Shamanism.
However I do agree that the Christian idea of what it is to "worship" and to "serve" your choice of God or Gods has greatly influenced it, as well as the Christian perspective of how "Pagans" are as a generalized group.
We call it FNAF lore.
Law.
Are you kidding me? Lovecraft, slender man, siren head, backroom, SCP, these are all urban myths, they are all very recent,
They will become myths 100 years later... no one remembers they were fiction
@@leonlai8270 why wouldn’t anyone know they are fiction? We know any Egyptian Greek Chinese Japanese etc myths are all just that myths, unless you actually believe there are a few gods sitting on top of mountain Olympus,or a fat guy in red living in the North Pole, or a guy who’s been dead for over 2000 years coming back to life
John Titor, too.
American mythology is alive, if not well. When I was a child, I was taught about the first Thanksgiving and Columbus discovering America, etc. So many of those tales had only a passing resemblance to real history, but they were believed like articles of faith. You see a lot of people who react extremely strongly to the questioning of aspects of our history, as if doing so is attacking something sacred.
That's why scholars called them sacred narratives
This is same for a lot of other countries too.
I mean, you're not wrong. Washington and the Cherry Tree is a myth, but why do you think it resonated? Look at the structure.
>immature person is given a rule regarding a tree
>they transgress the rule and are questioned
>the immature embraces responsibility for it, is forgiven, and is now matured and a moral paragon
Its basically putting Washington in the Garden of Eden and having him not pass the buck on his sin the way Adam and Eve both blamed anyone but themselves, thereby suggesting the highest moral character of Washington. Mythic parallels are a feature of humanity, not a bug.
@@JonCrs10- The incident was created as a moral lesson. Parson Weems wanted to enlighten the children who read his biography of Washington and show them correct behavior. So he made stuff up. And it resonated because we want our Founders to be perfect beings.
We're going back in time to the first thanksgiving to get turkeys off the menu
Here's a modern myth: People who recreationally use Benadryl almost all purport to occasionally see a shadowy figure of a man wearing a hat called "The Hat Man". There is no known origin of the idea and it is spread through chat messages and posts. Some people actually believe he is real in some way.
The Hat Man and Shadow People are fascinating subjects to delve into
In South American religions that religiously consume ayahuasca, a tea with DMT psychedelic, some followers talk about seeing and interacting with a goddess-like entity they call the Forest Lady.
@@AlexanderGieg That's extremely interesting! Is there widely available info on this?
@@lolanola1783 Most of it is in Portuguese, but there's some content available in English. Google "queen of the forest ayahuasca" and you'll find a few sites talking about her.
Technically she's a pagan goddess, but as usual in Christianized countries, to avoid religious persecution her worshipers synchretized her with a Catholic saint, one of the various versions of Mary if I'm not mistaken.
@@lolanola1783 By the way, one of the premises of the video is incorrect. In ancient societies people literally talked with their gods and then told histories about them, much of it derived from their own words. For example, Apollo had a temple in Delphi where people could ask him questions. His priestesses would channel him, and he'd answer them and talk with them. The same applies to current channeling and shamanic religions. Here in Brazil this is very common. Anyone can go to a temple and talk with their deities right there and then, and now and then someone publishes accounts of such conversations.
I imagine the confusion surrounding mythology is because the major Western religions lack this element of having direct face-to-face conversations with deities. They have books that record ancient conversations, but no new ones, much less regular ones. Hence the confusion with fictional narratives, and the tendency to distinguish both by incidental traits.
"Myth is dead, and we kill it"
An random old robot
Urban legends, cryptids, old wives' tales, conspiracy theories, scary stories told in the campfire... we never really outgrew myths.
One of my favorite explanations of myths actually comes from the “Extra Credits” channel
“Myths are not stories that are untrue, rather they are tales that don’t fit neatly into the historical record which serves as a foundation for a culture”
I would take them seriously if they didn't have weird views on orcs and ogres.
@@SergioLeonardoCornejothis was from before their channel went into the dumpster.
Look at their really old stuff-its great.
@@grimkahn3775 yeah. I just said I have a hard time giving them credibility. I'm well aware there was a time when they were rather valuable as a source
@@SergioLeonardoCornejo that rlly isn't why you shouldn't take them seriously.
I do miss them. Used to look forward to every release, when they were still good. To quote one of our modern myths (Batman) "You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain."
Mythology =/= legendarium. The word Myth in anthropology means "sacred narrative", and it doesn't just refer to the legendarium, it has as much or more to do with the way the legendarium gets interpreted as the stories themselves. Think "core philosophy". This is how and why it intersects with religion. Religion, BTW, is defined by patterns of behavior, not specifics of belief, artifice, and edifice. It is the collection of rituals and philosophies by which a group defines and identifies itself. Humans think in narrative and are CONSTANLY mythologizing important figures and events. Mythology isn't dead, it just mutated.
From Q Anon to Presidential Biographies.
Oh wow bravo for this short explanation
not to mention that if ancient greeks, egyptians or vikings had fantasy books, they probably would have lesser demands on religious mythology and focus more on the values of religion, I think..
religion seems to be quite simmilair to modern fantasy stories, but they differ in the reason of why we have them.
both are here for 2 main reasons. 1. is the same for both, they are kinda about going through philosophical themes (however the questions they deal with differ for both)
the second differs for each of them - fantasy is written for entertainment of the reader and religion is about adding values and sets of rules meant for you to become a better person
now I don't say that one is better than the other, it's just that if our ancestors had both, they would probably use both..
@@Wolltazar They kind of did have/use both, at least later in the pieces of history we're a bit sketchy on. What do you think the great plays from City Dionysium were? And the passion plays that were standard fare in medieval Europe were pretty much pure entertainments as well, even where characters and stories overlapped with liturgy.
or the founders, like the founding fathers were frat brios hanging out in pubs, granted not bad archievements, but its clear their image really got deified.
As do a lot historical figures and unsolved cases ot straight up bizarre events.
Hell and given how shocking it is if some people get caught doing bad things, that narrative is alive and well.
You have been singlehandedly sparking curiosity and passion for stories
Why is your voice so calming?? It's almost angelic according to my ears. Keep the up the great work and keep talking how you're talking!
One of my favorite points to talk about when this topic comes up, is one of the most timeless contexts for mythology: campfire stories. The Internet may be a powerful force for storytelling, but there will be people going camping and sitting down around a campfire as long as we have places to go camping. And the campfire is the home of storytelling. Everything from the Russian Sleep experiment to Pecos Bill naturally flows around the crackling of a fire.
I put those on folktales in that they don't try to explain anything, they are just fun stories a lot of people know, but that's just my opinion
@@Solstice261 Pecos Bill made the six-shooter, the iron brand, the Mojave desert and a couple of different breeds of cattle. John Henry is a classic hero, Paul Bunyan is the reason for the great lakes, there's plenty of stories explaining mythical characters making America the way it is. Plus they also highlight correct ways for certain people to act, which is an important category of myth.
@@MathasiaJ yeah, I know they are the American colonial myths, but I meant, people don't pray to pecos bill and all that, so I put it in the realm of folktales which also tend to explain stuff because the tale needs an origin but I feel they are different from myths, but maybe you are right. It's just that by that definition a lot of folktales would be in fact myths, a lot of European folktales also have moral backgrounds or are used to explain anything from weather to a mountain formation, yet they aren't mythology as they aren't religion, they don't form that large cohesive structure about how the world works and all that, I think that only comes through many centuries of development. But again maybe I am getting lost in semantics
@@Solstice261 Myths are stories used to explain how and why something is the way it is. Such explanations don't need a religion built around it or prayer to the people in the story to be a myth. It just requires belief that the explanation is true. If a bunch of people believe that the story is the truth of how something came to be (be that an idea, a tradition ,a landmark, or a natural phenomenon) then it is a myth. Entire societies used to believe that the stories of the Greek and Roman gods explained the reality of the world. That belief solidified those stories into mythology. I'm of the opinion that belief is the basis of myths not religion. Which is why myths are dying out. But dying isn't the same as dead. As long as groups of people hold that the stories they are told truly do explain why the world around them is the way it is are true then myths will still exist.
@@sweetgaia0 By that point then mythology is around everywhere from conspiracies to fake news, which I guess is the point of the video, and I am not saying it's wrong I just don't share that view but good point
First immediate impression, Mythology doesn't die. It evolves. It is the academic definition of memes. To put it in a more humorous way, Memes, the DNA of the soul. It changes form to fit what it needs to survive.
During this video I came to the conclusion that you could technically call memes modern myths. They spread throughout online culture and change and evolve as new people add new variations, people often don't remember who started it, and they tend to also spread information people just believe without fact-checking. It's just that they're missing the supernatural/religious factor of old mythology
Never thought to hear a Metal gear rising quote that actually can be used to define how the mythology narrative won't die. For a goofy game, It touches on some hard stuff such as the political power of the weaponized memes, the control of and sharing information in society that shape how people think. Edit: usually these "memes" are also controlled by an authoritative force that decides on what is "real" or not. They control the narrative, and therefore society who feeds on this narrative positively or negatively, Social Engineering.
Monsoon is that you
@@acupofwhitetea given that the goofy game is still an official spinoff with same timeline from the Metal Gear Solid series, the maker/director of the series has touched hard/philosophical topics on multiple occasions, MGS 2 especially has had one of the most mind blowing dialogue sequence that questions our own sense of logic, judgement and free will.
I love that memetics, the fake-ass pseudoscience that Dawkins came up with, is now considered an "academic" term and is being attributed to the soul, a concept that he, as an atheist, was very strongly against.
Best Intro ever!!! Suspense and beauty dark tones for mystery and colorful enough for wonderment!!! I love it
It has been awhile since I watched one of your videos. I really like your new intro animation. Very well done 😊! You have a great channel and I always walk away smarter!
Two things
1. I believe there are still people who Worship the Gods and Goddesses from Hellenism (The Greek Pantheon) and the other Religions people typically assume are dead
2. This kinda of reminds me of the Cargo Cults that more or less created new religious movements around the American Soldiers that were based in Melanesia during WW2, recreating airplanes and runways out of bamboo and wood as well as preforming military marches in hopes that this will bring the American Soldiers back
I heard peoole still worship a dead arameic speaking preacher based on greek fan fiction about him. They go even so far to make up new variations of the stories.
as a follower of old pagan traditions, i can confirm hellenism (and in my case, nordic paganism) is indeed not dead :)
@@RatKingKitKat Yes, fellow pagan here, we are alive and thriving :)
The term used for modern pagan revival faiths is reconstructionist faith, because they don't have any meaningful continuity in their practice, and are mostly formed from the modern followers perspectives on these religions, those chains are broken and unless we find a lot of texts will be broken forever. Except for the norse, who will unambiguously be broken forever without any doubts because only one person ever wrote that shit down, and the person who wrote it down was actually Christian. Big asatru L imo.
Your first point is a fact! There are many of us, mainly consisting of two groups: those who are becoming interested modernly (foreign polytheists) and the very small minority of Greeks that never stopped. Both groups are valid and are growing in numbers.
There are also current movements to have the religion nationally recognized again in Greece.
Worship of Egyptian gods continued even more strongly than the hellenic ones, but similarly had to be conducted in secret. There's also been (comparably) large movements of African Americans picking up Kemetism over the last 30 years!
what we refer to today as "folklore", "superstition" and "mythology" used to be considered religion back in those days, so as long as religion and most importantly _mysticism_ exists, i don't think mythology is gonna die out any time soon.. it's also important to know that a lot of modern day fiction take inspiration from mythologies as well..
Good comment I feel like everyone else is missing the fact when they refrence superhero stories or internet Fandom is that they're not the same to what's being discussed. Ie fiction stories societies largely belive in. But I do think mythology is dead bc modern attitudes towards mysticism are negative. I doubt scientology or the current trend of star signs will influence stories in the future
@@user-qn4xu4tq7n scientology was invented by a science fiction author so it already influenced stories before the church of scientology even started
@@12DAMDO that's not an example of influencing, that is an example of being influenced.
@@user-qn4xu4tq7n true... but i'm just saying, if there is already scientology sci-fi i'm sure stories influenced by it might exist in obscure corners of the internet as well.. but who knows? best adaptation was South Park anyways lol
@@12DAMDO but you've hit a snag again being influenced is not the same as expanding the mythos. Sure things might be influenced by the cult but it will never be it. In the same way lord of the rings is inspired by Christianity but it is not expanding it. Your South Park example is that.
Then there's the issue of if scientology is instantly made into agreed upon fictional stories right off the bat and can't survive outside it's insuler group, it is a dead mythos. Sure there might be stories inspired and that use it but few people ever will actually believe in it. Norse, greek Egyptian, ect.. all those mythos existed for thousands of years and were iterated on and believed in. Scientology will never replicate that it is a cult people will mock and that will be it's legacy like what south park showed.
Jack the Ripper could easily be considered as a myth since it was never known if it was only one person causing the homicides and the mistery of the case, plus the contradictory testimonies caused that character to be born
One of the most underrated sources of modern mythology now is sports. The retelling of sporting events, even ones that were seen live recently and you can go find footage of easily enough, is filled with mythology.
How it felt at the time. How you knew something was gonna happen. How time stopped. How the protagonist overcame. Etc etc
No joke, my mother used to get in trouble with my grandma for calling the stories in the bible mythology.
My mother used to say the same thing to her mother, and I said it a time or two to my very staunch Catholic great grandmother. It never ends well... 😁
Your mother sounds awesome
Well it technically isn't mythology, but getting upset about it also isn't worth it lol
@@tetsuwasabi2546 All religion is built on mythology and the bible is a collection of christian myths, just because living people believe in the myths doesn't mean it's not a mythology.
@@CathySW She is.
The old gods may be gone from the eyes of the public but they are still worshipped. What people commonly call "pagans" number in the millions in America alone. I should know, I'm one of them. Most of us take the myths of our religions as stories for us to learn from. The gods and places are real, the stories are only there to help us understand them.
Not so different, you and I.
Aren't there several pagan faiths and beliefs? May I ask which do you follow?
@@Solstice261 I am a Norse polytheist reconstructionist, though I also pay tribute to irish celtic gods.
@@cjmurphy7967 really interesting, I might look it up, I wasn't aware some people still follow the norse goods, I guess the Irish gods don't break the mold too much, after all even in the older mythology a lot of common figures appeared in both. Really interesting and thank you for answering, it's always cool to discover some new faiths that are still clinging on. Have a good day
@Solstice261 you as well, and glad I could be of help. Surprisingly there are more of us out there than you think, just most of us don't really wear it on our sleeve for a variety of reasons. You have a good day aswell.
To propose that we aren't making myths anymore is to propose that we have already accurately discovered/explained *everything*, because a story doesn't become a myth until a more accurate explanation/description of the thing is found. Before that it's just the most widely accepted explanation.
We still have mythologies. As someone from North America I will say Canada, USA and Mexico have “American mythology” that includes, skinwalkers, Bigfoot, Chupacabra, mothman etc….
It depends on what you mean by ‘Dead’, there will always be an interest in past cultures,…Also Folklore, is the closest Modern society has to Mythology and that is always evolving.
Absolutely agree, there should always be an interest in past cultures. At the same time, I think some need to put their mythology in the proper perspective.
What if folklore and folktales are the basis for mythology? Who knows what they'll be like in 1000 years. Look at all the stories that have sprung up in American folktales. The stories that have sprung up about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, the aspiring blues musician who sold his soul to the Devil? Even though we know they aren't true, we still share the stories because they're great stories, and I think that's how mythology starts.
There was someone, I don't remember who, that said, "Myths and legends aren't fictions or tales of fancy, they're stories we share that tie us to our ancestors, that tie us to the land, and help us to figure out our place in the cosmos."
Folklore is about as close to mythology as we will get and a lot of the time it is as beautiful if not more than mythology it's just lacking that tie to religion but I don't feel like being a religion was the only thing that made mythology interesting and that is where folktales and urban tales appear that with time through evaluation and misinterpretation will be formed into another mythos, after all a good part of our understanding of past mythology comes from writings about said mythology, for all we know it was the same but change Christianity with the corresponding prime religion and so figures where related to it instead of others but the tales are always there
@@oldeskulcompletely agree
Nice idea, but let clarify a few key elements, while both Myths and Folktales, by extension Folklore are similar, they are different. The foundation of Myths was and is religion. As Folktales, I’m not sure, I guessing, and this just a thought, Folktales grew out of Mythology but evolved to become something different,…It appears that often times folktales exist to teach a lesson,…Which almost makes that’s interchangeable with Faery Tales
Folklore becomes Myth becomes Legend is what I was taught at some point
Folklores can become Myths or Legends the same way that Legends become Myths and Myths become Legends, it all goes around in a circle. Its the scale of the story that determines the difference between them. I like to think of them like this:
Folklore = regional/cultural beliefs passed down by generations
Legends = Involves the creation of a country/kingdom and more often than not is a small part of a larger mythology
Myths = Began with the creation of the world and attempts to explain natural phenomenons and unifies/include regional legends
Like how the Legend of King Arthur started as a folklore chanced upon by a christian researcher that novelized the folklore, continuously expanded and dramatized by several people and became the founding Legend of Camelot.
In the same vein, the story of Echo and Narcissus likely began as folklores but a writer thought it was a good way to teach a lesson on morals to people and used a deity's punishment to teach them, turning a story no one would've remembered in 40-50 years into a legend of how narcissists will be punished
The Wendigo, a native American folklore, stayed a folklore because the nomadic people only passed their tales down orally, insufficient time to cement the story as a legend and not enough people actually believed it.
Myths on the other hand could also be forgotten or merged into a more popular belief and demoted into being a legend. While I can't recall off the top of my head, Celtic Mythology, rooted in Ireland, is practically forgotten in modern day due to the Catholic church absorbing the myths and turning most of the deities in their stories into Saints that were given power by the Catholic God.
Myth and Legend are not interchangeable. Myths are about beings like gods, legends are about mortals.
@@KamenMasked It really depends, the Celtic Mythologies were obviously about gods, but when the Catholic church came into the region, they claimed the Celtic myths as their own to direct the Irish people's faith to God. That's why figures in the Celtic myths became legends about saints that serve God instead and the Celtic myths practically disappeared
You produce some very fine videos on this channel of yours, I've been watching for a while now, might I recommend analyzing in some way the German songs and poems of the first world war and immediate post war. For they are fascinating and I'd love to see a video on songs like, Wo Alle Straßen Enden or Der Tod Drohnt In Den Kurischen. Nevertheless, keep up making these great videos, I love them =)
Lore man there is so much lore for any show or games that I kinda tie into the mythology genre
I think all the stories told about famous people are also comparable. Steve Jobs, for example, may have been a real person, but his image in the public consciousness may as well be that of a mythical hero.
elmusk, too, even though he destroys everything he touches
@mehmeh2255 Musk put in a lot of work to destroy that image, though. Now most of his supporters seem to be there for his right leaning ideology rather than the tech genius ideal he projected earlier.
I don't know if Jobs could have managed to keep his image clean if he had a stronger Internet presence, but I guess he was lucky to live in an earlier time.
Also Walt Disney. Real Walt was a ruthless businessman however he is mostly remembered as his wholesome, family-friendly "Uncle Walt" persona that he and his company actively promoted
Copyright killed it, just as you addressed. An IP can't grow beyond itself, mythos requires an almost unorganized level of collaboration that allows a once IP to take on a life of its own. Whether he did this on purpose or not, i'd argue that is what allowed Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos to grow beyond his IP and into the last real Mythos created to date.
SCP actually is a modern mythos
Copyright hasn't killed it. It has only slowed it down. The parable of McCartney et. al. Is a new myth. Memes are fairly resistant to copyright, but not impervious.
And that is where fanfic comes in; that's the very core of it!
@@nightflame389 I would agree SCP is the closest thing to achieve it again. But I don't think it's there yet. They haven't really grown beyond themselves yet. They aren't in the modern day psyche all on their own the way a "lovecraftian horror" is.
@@TheSleepyowlet The innate separation of fanfic and memes from the IP they are about prevent them from ever actually allowing them to grow the IP. No matter what anyone writes about their favorite Harry Potter character on a fanfic site, it will not affect the characters public perception.
My siblings and I had so many oral stories that expanded the nonexistent lore of a young children's show. None of which are written down, but many remembered
We got a good one recently; Legend of the Five Rings. Details on the actual events are hard to track down but a card game that becomes the story of the actual world was born through this. There were no phones back when it all happened and I believe there weren't broadcasts so little details were hard to find on it. The whole tale was passed down through word of mouth.
I'd argue that fanfiction is a new way of imaging methodology. Because the stories are told again, and again, and again. With each person either sticking to the original story as closely as necessary to get what you are trying to convey. Or they go in a different direction entirely and just want you to enjoy the story.
That's much of myth and literature throughout history.
No
Keep arguing, maybe one day it'll actually come true 🤣
@@10sansari Think about it. In the original tale of Prometheus, Prometheus is chained to a mountain and has his liver eaten every day for all of eternity. In the 12 labors of Hercules, which would have been told by another storyteller after the original tale of Prometheus had already been told, one of Hercules' trials is to free Prometheus from his eternal punishment. I feel like this behavior is similar to someone writing fanfiction of an alternate ending to a story.
@@thunderheadcinema6743 I completely understand where you're coming from and you raise some great points. I'm gonna have to agree with you partially on this one, as I believe a fan fiction just be considered "head canon" or "canon" eventually, in order to be called mythology.
Don’t sell yourselves short! Tale Foundry teaches so much about the art of storytelling that I’m sure someone could use the info to start a cult.
I mean, it's cute that he doesn't realize that TH-cam is a mythos.
Regarding some of those older mythologies, and particularly the Spirited Away reference, there are indeed still people that follow those ways and worship those 'ancient' gods. While such beliefs no longer dominate their respective areas, generally speaking, those traditions do still exist.
As for 'ancient Japanese gods', Shinto has been part of Japan since even before Buddhism first arrived in Japan, and still is. There are tens of thousands of jinja (shrines) in Japan, ranging from small un-staffed countryside shrines kept clean by the community to large complexes fully staffed by miko (shrine maidens) and kannushi (Shinto priests), like Fushimi Inari Taisha, the one with literal thousands of torii gates.
wow, great video as always!
Considering my brief obsession over the mythology the Minecraft community has built around the game, this is a very interesting video to come across
The reason I love mythology is the same reason I love comics. Both have been retold thousands of times. And both have interconnected universes.
I would say fanfiction does the same thing.
@@brendafrancy600yep
I love it too , its really intresting the way they tough in dose times
You may be mythtaken
The Devil going to Georgia to challenge Johnny for a golden fiddle is modern mythology.
Like literally every comment here, mythology isn't dead. It can't die as long as we keep telling the ancient stories. Urban legends and folklore also contribute to keeping it alive. Also, hot take: remember, just as we think the religions of the ancient world are myths now, so too will our current religions (I mean, I'm a Christian, but I fully accept this). So yeah, mythology is immortal.
Also, your videos are awesome, Tale Foundry❤
As a fellow Christian, I don't even take it as an insult to have it called mythology (unless someone means it as an insult lol). Myths reflect the stories that told people who they are, how they got here, what their place on the world was, etc. In that sense, it's true that every modern religion has mythology in it. It's also true that modern atheism has it - stories about Darwin's journeys and evolution and primordial good and ancient, extinct, fantastical beasts all absolutely is the mythology of atheism. Aliens and the like can serve that place too, for many people (like ancient aliens people, starseeds etc). If a group of people has a set of stories by which they define themselves and the world around them, that's myth, and we've got modern myths in spades here.
exactly
Urban legends and folk lore are not actually believed in though everyone knows they are merely stories. And your example with Christianity is a poor one as well because that isn't a new myth system either it's and old one that's persisted. Myths in the sense stories of the fantastical in our world that people believe in, are dead the material conditions that would create them no longer exist. The closest we have are cults like scientology but those still don't really work bc of how negative they are.
That is a great point; we forget that the passage of time will recontextualize our present stories and lifestyles.
We only think of these ancient tales as "myths" because we aren't them. A lot of what we believe about myths may very well be incomplete or skewed due to time.
And surely, if humanity lasts long enough, future humans will have a lot to say about us and our weird ways. They probably wouldn't think of us as being so different from our ancestors
@@user-qn4xu4tq7nThat in itself is a okay example, but arguing with you on how urban legends and folklore. Some people have a couple screws loose and believe in that stuff. Not only that, but come on the Minotaur an infeasible creature. Therefore it’s completely possible our folklore becomes mythology in the latter years way past our time
Mythology is not dead. Look at the work by Rick Riordan. His books talk about Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Norse mythology in the modern world. And then there’s also the Rick Riordan Presents series. There are multiple mythology story still being told.
He just means
''If common belief in God is dead, common belief in mythology may be dead''
Isn't there also "The Song Of Achilles"? Talks about Patroclus and Achilles in the Trojan war
@@Hero_My_Beloved You are correct.
if you listened to the video you wouldn't write this comment. he specifically says not fantasy but honest new myths that people believe
@@aronjanosov9046 that's true i suppose :/
Your videos makes me so dam curious half way on it im still curious engaged just like reading a story
Honestly I hope you become a writer for a game movie or series because of how good you are at those topic you speak of
I find it neat how it all changed with overall theology Likewise regional folklore, conspiracy theories and internet horror taking up spots.
Mythology is not dead, as we still create new myths / folklore and share it with others. And we will continue to do so for a long time to come.
Glad you don't truly think myths are dead. 😊
I’m glad myths aren’t dead ether…it’s just…i don’t really like the idea of modern people creating a myth of a dead religion ya know?…it feels…very wrong…
@@FireFoxGaming_ new myths don't need to come from religion.
There are plenty of modern myths, like local urban stories, SCP stories, The Backrooms, Siren Head, and many more. A few might reinvent religions for our current times, but most don't.
@@carolinelabbott2451 Most of those are just creepypasta. Except the "urban stories", those are just urban legends. Tho, i think wi shouldn't call these "myth".
@@carolinelabbott2451 and sure! But what I mean is the general idea was from old religions is that we call them myths. I feel like creepypastas, SCP-foundation, and ect would just be stories and not actually be myths.
Since i was a kid i wondered exactly this and since then i have actively created new myths and gods and ideas because of the lack of them and the repetitiveness of the known ones.
Big foot, Loch Ness monster, alien abductions, and the list goes on.
I believe most of the Cargo Cults started by WWII airplane runs have come to terms with their stories being based on grounded events. Still it's kind of a close mirror to a War in Heaven, massive titans clashing across the sea with strange metal birds doing marches on our island before vanishing. If it makes them happy and is part of their concrete history, there's not much harm in it.
I find it sad that we no longer have mythology beyond actual stories. The closest we came recently was the "Ghost of Ukraine". The mysterious fighter pilot ace that was bagging Russian fighters left and right. And, of course, that was shot down within the week as disinformation. Personally I thought it was really cool and an example of modern mythmaking, whether it was true or not that's not the point of myths and legends - they're supposed to inspire, warn, or even just entertain.
Yes that was cool.
Another nmight be the narative of public russian figures, and i would call progozin less of a deity, but dang, he is made immortal as weird if very terrible person that will forever known to shout , shoigo, i want my monition" in his last moments, because its a funny meme. If he also should rot in hell.
There are also alike great warsongs like tho buddies and a shovel, and that other songs. ,
god knows bakmuk became a legendary site.
I don’t think myths died I think they just took a new form for the new generations
I consider Star Wars to be a modern mythology because of its immense cultural impact, its magical setting, and its emphasis on teaching morals. It is a cultural touchstone, and thus makes up the bedrock of how we relate to each other on everyday matters. We can relate our mormal struggles to Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, etc, and not just that, but people know exactly what we are talking about when we do so, it is not just internal, it IS our culture.
It also takes place a long time ago, and sorta coulda plausibly happened.
It's not considered to be true, no one believes it happened, but myth wasnt always treated that way. They were essentially parables, metaphors, that COULD be believed literally, but were more seen as POETICALLY or SPIRITUALLY true. As I consider star wars to be.
That is, real Star Wars. The Disney crap has had essentially zero cultural impact outside of making fun of how bad it is. It is JUST fiction. Fan fiction to be precise. Well, not even that, as it seems, and is quite explicit at times, that the new writers of star wars actually hate it.
im in full support of the concept that creepypastas are an example of modern folklore and mithology. It goes to show that the same human behavior isnt ever gone, but the parameters we use to describe what is "cultural enough" cannot be static if its object of study isn't.
Sure there's new mythology: happens all the time. urban myths ("Get out of the house! The person who's been calling you creepily is in the building with you!"), medical myths ("rub this stinky stuff on your scalp and your hair will grow back."), the remaining religious mythology used by politicians to curtail people's rights, stories about what goes bump in the night, and classic superstitions like "Don't say 'Bloody Mary' or she'll kill you in a dark room." Myths morph, they don't die.
It's in a mirror at midnight say the word 3 times. Bloody Mary. Jus watch what happens it may not be good jus so u know
Famous Mexican ones include:
"Once a kid swallowed a seed and a plant grew in his stomach until the leaves came out of his nose".
There's a shocking amount of adults who are still scared of swallowing raw beans or watermelon seeds because they were told that story as kids...
And who could forget... "Did you know this school used to be a graveyard?" 😂
3:50 I SAW THAT YOU CANT TRICK ME. Can't believe I had a Spirit Science reference in my Tale Foundry video lmao
Exactly!!! I came here in the comments to see how many people noticed the reference too!!! Amazing crossover I didn't expect to see
I was shocked to see that same guy from Spirit Science too!
there's still new myths around, things like cryptids and SCPs and The Hat Man, and folktales are also still alive in many ways like the whole Goncharov thing on Tumblr. they're still being created and told, they're just in a very different format now thanks to the internet
i'd also like to classify ancient aliens as a myth, the whole ancient aliens thing is wild man
It took me this long to realise that the robot has bolts on his desk and not some kind of worm.
Yeah I am an idiot
I always love learning about myths Greek, Egyptian, Roman, Noirs, Japanese, you name it I want to read about it it’s so interesting seeing how similar it all is yet just how different and bizarre it is as well.
In Tolkien's world everything is becoming less grand and magical, and I think there's some connection to the real world either through nostalgia to an age we barely remember or just how secular the world is. Greek myths and medieval stories sound fantastic next to American revolutionary mythos, making larger than life stories of real people, or the lore that goes into WWII people pour over because of how intricate and massive it was for the world. I agree there's some definition of myths constantly being written, but it's usually more accurate to the real events, no oral tradition to make it rhyme or sound bigger, fiction is clearly separated from factual records, or we know how human the actors were or just end up getting diluted in New Age parlor tricks (I'm not saying don't do a video of Spirit Science, but he's kind of outside the topic of this channel).
Myths are not stories that are untrue, rather they are details that don't fit neatly into a historical record. Fiction keeps coming out to explain abstract concepts or entertain with enjoyable characters who are larger than life or places that touch on an idea that's hard to just explain.
I love the quote that you tooked from extra history!
Thank you for the video.
The visual jab at spirit science when talking about making a cult was pretty funny.
I love learning about mythology.
Floridaman, Me, Sasquatch, Mothman! We're new myths alright.
I could litterally listen to you talk forever
I mean you could argue Batman is a kind of Batman. Theres a batman mood tone, style
, theme for any kind of story and yet stil specificy rules to a batman story.
Its fun to think that depending on how the future goes all the technology we use today could end up being considered mythological and/or absurd.
I just wanted to say that I found your channel around 850K subscribers and while I'm sorry that I wasn't a part of your journey to one million subscribers earlier, I am here now and I absolutely love your content so much. From the gentle and melodic tone of your voice to the simple but interesting way you describe things in your videos, every single video is a treasure to enjoy and I look forward to more of them in the future!
Notice that this is one of the few comments that the channel responded to? Not the ones calling out the click bait title or anything else interesting?
I feel like this voice is AI generated
7:27 my shock at hearing my own name was immeasurable. St. Brigid and the Goddess Brigid are well known figures to me.
There is new mythology, but we can't call it that because we're not even allowed to vaguely insinuate that it's not real.
I think we have a mythology based on things we see in our modern life
Like the personification of concepts and things, like did we forget about tidepod-chan or the personification of twitter and tumblr?
I personally define "god" as being more about being a personification of a concept than about being powerful, ideal, or other attributes usually associated with gods. Under this definition, "Tidepod-chan" would genuinely fit under this definition of "god".
There's also Earth-chan, who's usually considered a meme, but could also be seen as just a modern form of one of the oldest gods in history.
It was interesting bringing up how war has spawned mythologies. This myth isn't to the extent of an entire pantheon like in Greece, but even in modern times when the conflict between Russia and Ukraine broke out, stories of a legendary Ukrainian pilot: "The Ghost of Kyiv" started to circulate. You could argue that this is a form of a small form "myth" that exists in modern times.
We shouldn't forget about myths that are specific for children. Father christmas, tooth fairy, etc.
There are some that are culturally tied and other that have almost global reach
I see new myths online all the time and I love them ... we have a local myth here in windsor Ontario that I never believed until I felt it... it's the "windsor hum" that you can hear and feel in the west end from time to time. There are a few myths to explain this from factories to aliens... but some people don't even believe the hum exists and others do... I didn't until I felt my room gently vibrate and heard a low steady hum in the middle of the night. It was strange like a plane or train but longer and steady and loud/softer... very hard to explain... I have no clue how to explain it... nor do I care to find out... I don't live in the west end anymore so I kind of forgot about it until now
I forget his name, but there is a guy who did a video of his investigation where he actually recorded the Taos hum.
I chose to watch more before leaving my comment (I'm still watching as I write) but it seems you actually had some of the thoughts I had. Urban legends and creepypasta are like modern day myths with some similar stuff even having unknown/multiple authors with everyone adding to it like the backrooms or SCP.
When I was in college nearly a decade ago now, we had a course geared primarily towards our English & Game Design student's called Contemporary Myth and Media and we looked at the way myth had shifted over the centuries but especially how they've created in modern media. Part of the class focused specifically on the mythos of the game Dark Souls. Paired well with a similar class on Classical Myth taught by the same professor.
Memes are the new myths!! Someone comes up with a new meme format, someone else who likes it takes it, modifies it, and shares it, until the format goes viral and nobody rmbs the og author because it doesn’t matter. The message is much more impt than the source
Honestly, I thought this would be Clickbait, but this was incredible like always
Mythology turned into Game Theory and Creepypastas
Ben Drowned
I had conspiracy's in mind until the video eventually got there, but then I started to think about celebrity culture...You look at how someone like Taylor Swift is regarded by so many people, and not generally as just another human being. There isn't much of an explanatory element, but I think it's the closest thing we have to how people used to elevate the mundane into the fantastical.
Hey TF, I love the content! About the Jeff the killer image, there is potentially a person who is thought is the og, but their fate and situation was/is ambiguous and dark. Lazy masquerade actually made a video about this recently with a follow up in another video!(the last of 3 stories in one video) If anyone is interested in hearing about it head over there
Myths aren't dead we just call them " Urban Legends "
Or old uncle whoever's wild tales
I currently have a course in my collage, that is about the greek Mythology.
And to take part in this discussion I think it’s really interesting that the first things, which were „born“, were basic natural elements. Gaia (earth) and Nyx (night) were there first after the Chaos as well as Erebos (underworld) and only after this the Theogenoie (emergence of the gods) and the Anthropgonie (ermergence of the humans) began. And that shows again, that the Mythology was made in first place to explain the nature and was only meant in seconde place to tell stories to explain the daily life and the behave of humans.
PS: I’m not a native speaker, please excuse errors in Grammar or spelling
You're making the massive assumption that Hesiod's one book is a representative sample of mythology, or even just Greek mythology. This is the same mistake people make when they take the Eddas to stand-in for all of Norse mythology.
the lil spirit science guy when u mentioned cults OMFG 😂
Yo I just found this channel and the intro is fuckinh glorious
So, when i was in my twenties, i was going through a really bad depression. I actually ended up created an entire mythology to sort out how my mind worked. I forged this demonic goddess named Tartarus; she was a bringer of chaos whose only job was to corrupt and devour everything. She ended up becoming the mascot for everything i felt was wrong with me mentally, and i treated her like she was a demon actually possessing me.
I used mythology to sort out my mental health, and now, the framework of that mythology has formed the basis of the story ive been working on for the last two and a half years.
will you update us on the story if it's close to finish?
That intro animation is so beautiful and emotive. Even if the rest of the video happens to be outside my interest or views, just seeing the intro make the whole video worth it anyways.
May I suggest a similar animation as an outro, "closing the book and putting it away" or something as an idea?
Otherwise nice video, thank you for sharing :)
I’d say the closest thing we have to modern mythology, in the sense most people use the term, would be the mythos that evolved around Gen I and II of Twitch Plays Pokémon. It has all the trappings of mythology, including, in an odd way, the element of faith. While I don’t think anyone seriously believed in Lord Helix, that faith was instead projected onto the characters in-universe, but nonetheless feels very organic. The whole thing could probably be an interesting case study in how mythology (and religion) evolves in the first place.
An interesting thing about that is that the god of the TPP mythos-Lord Helix-came first, and was very simple in concept: the random inputs to the game had the main character constantly admiring the Helix Fossil, so players posited that Helix was capital-G God and Red was simply praying to him. That’s it. The entire mythos surrounding him evolved organically out of the path the ensuing gameplay took, colored only by an initial assumption that a god existed and was somehow behind it all.
Because of science. Back in ancient times, science wasnt as well developed. They had no way of knowing that a highly negatively charged cloud could create lightning, so they associated it with something they can wrap their heads around, like an angry spirit or god. Now a days however, there are instruments to measure and to a certain degree predict events like lightning.
that spirit science shade was brutal xD great video!
As a person who keeps altars for some old gods I appreciate the representation. The little Appollo altar design is very cute. ❤
As a modern believer in the ancient Egyptian pantheon, this is more or less how I view things:
The gods do exist and have an active role in their followers’ lives, however I think that the stories of Ra’s daily boat ride carrying the sun was the only way they could somewhat explain the way the world worked. I think when it comes down to it, I tend to look at my faith as faith in the gods, yes, but also the principles of Ma’at themselves and how the code directly affected their daily lives and civilization. In essence, I believe in the code because of the prosperity it brought, and I believe the gods out of respect because I want to.
Hopefully this gave you an interesting read, have a great day! ☺️
Technically, Herobrine is among the first modern myths.
We can trace back his origins to a soecific post, yes, but there's additional background knowledge underneath the original post.
"White Eyes" used to be the original ghost of Minecraft; a pair of disembodied eyes that would stare at the player in dark caves and break torches if left unattended.
It likely originated as a bug in the lighting engine paired with buggy data loading. In the darkness of a cave, it was possible for improperly rendered blocks to let little pixels of the skybox slip through, giving the impression of white eyes. On top of that, issues with early MC's code meant that certain items, like torches, could get deleted.
One of Herobrine's most characteristic features, his empty pure-white eyes, originated from that myth.
As a character, Herobrine will always carry the untold legacy of White Eyes with him.
The fact that White Eyes was often referred to as a "she" also gives a neat little story idea of... what if White Eyes was Herobrine's mother?