Incidental Mythology
Mythology has never faded away. It has always been a part of us, lingering in our stories as we continued to tell them throughout time. Our current stories, the popular culture around, are our mythology. Its not mythology through some machinations of corporate capitalists who only want more money from our interest. They’re myths because they just are, incidentally.
At Incidental Mythology we explore our contemporary meaningful stories, and really dig down into what these narratives mean to us and why we care so much to tell them, play them, and watch them. At Incidental Mythology, we explain our contemporary mythology, legends and folklore, all in the world of entertainment, and through it learn a lot more about ourselves.
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Lost in the Forest of Research
I thrive on the thrill of finding, my heart beats to the sound of discovery. Research is not a means to an end. Its a way of being, a definition to the soul, a lens through which to see and experience the world. It’s a call to be curious and to want more, to constantly find more, to always ask questions.
Nostalgia, Knives Out and Rian Johnson | Reflective Nostalgia and Storytelling
Rian Johnson's carefully crafted new detective series, Knives Out, really builds on the notion of nostalgia. His stories play with the dimensions of presentation as being different than reality, working purposefully to take the surface of a narrative and transform it to make a different point in its function. Johnson uses classic detective tropes and ideologies to reflect on the art of yearning, and appeals to the nostalgic modern world by showing how the attempt to restore a mythic past is a falsehood.
Love is Blind and the Myth of Maternity
The story of the inherent mother is a multitude. It’s the story all women are maternal at their heart. It’s the story all women are yearning to bear children, and they are yearning to raise children. And, its the story when a woman isn’t sure about kids, its because she’s being silly. She’ll have the kids and make up her mind.
Purity and Danger in Spirited Away
One of my favourite quotes from one of my favourite anthropologists is "Dirt is Matter Out of Place". I'll be honest, I can probably figure out how to apply this quote to most things, but I think it's wonderfully present in Studio Ghibli's film Spirited Away. Not only is the notion of purity and cleanliness a core part of the setting of the film, but our main character, Chihro, is also considered out of place, and regarded gross because of it. So, I want to deep this wonderful quote - explain it, think about it, and then apply it to Spirited Away.
Anthropology Lessons: Love Island All Stars
I wanted to highlight, today, some of the contemporary issues that have come to light during my most recent watch of Love Island All Stars.
The Haunting of Taylor Swift
As much as we’re going to be talking about ghosts today, we’re going to be talking about Taylor Swift’s ghosts specifically. Monsters are context specific, so let’s look at the context. For Swift, her ghosts are representations of alterations in time. They represent the lingering presence of something that is already dead still clinging to life in the corners of the mind. Ghosts here are demonstrations of the way things can be present and not present simultaneously, alive and dead simultaneously. It’s the crossing of boundaries and categories which typically cannot be at the same time.
So, let’s talk about it.
New Girl's Injured | when shows break the mould and what it means
Season 1, Episode 15 of New Girl is the episode "Injured". This episode breaks the typical structure of the show, despite coming so early in the show. Unlike other examples of these kinds of moments, Injured does not come with massive character development. Nor does it exist in order to break up monotony. Rather, Injured exists to give breath to the characters, to explore them rather than develop them. In this essay, I'm exploring two of the primary themes of New Girl more enerally, as well as how this special episode explores the characters of Jess and Nick.
Anti-Fandom and the Power of Hate
What makes loving to hate so much fun isn’t necessarily the emotive experience (though there is some of that, as we’ll talk about in the next section), but also the communal experience of that. Jonathan Grey describes how this community identification and participation, even when centred around a figure of hate, can make anti-fandom quite pleasurable of an experience. Similar values can also be fostered here, which is why we see such powerful extremes in group mentality and cohesion in comments online which are aggressively racist or sexist in nature.
Frankenstein and the Art of Adaptation
There's a lot of conversation about Adaptation, and the nature of what makes a "good" adaptation. Today, I want to talk about the nature of changing narratives. Adaptation to new media forms require an understanding of these forms, and a necessary alteration of the narratives to fit. Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein provides the perfect case study for us to chat about the nature of narrative transformation, and the question of what makes the most "faithful" adaptation.
Video Games as Story, and So Much More Than Story
Hamilton, History and Mythology
There is a complicated relationship between history and mythology, with things being considered inherent truth on one side and things being considered inherent falsehood on the other. But things are a lot more complicated than that, and I think the best way to explore this dynamic and relationship is in Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical Hamilton. Today, we're digging into Hamilton and discussing how it uses history to reflect mythology, how history is not so clean cut, and how storytelling is at the heart of everything.
100 Survey Responses | Information and Research Recap
After getting over 100 survey responses, I thought I’d take some time to go over a few notes I’ve gathered from these first 100.
Seeing Stories | Mirabel’s Gift in Encanto
Encanto's story is all about a magical family gifted with powers. But Mirabel, who loves her family entirely, is left without one. As the magic of her family begins to waver, Mirable fights to contain and renew the power of it - revealing her true gift. Mirabel's power is in her ability to truly get at the heart of the thoughts and feelings of her family members, of being able to see and hear their stories with complete understanding. In this essay, we're going to be exploring the world of Encanto, and showing how Mirabel's ability to see stories, her ability to simply listen to those around her, healed the generational trauma plaguing her family.
The Taylor Swift Mythos
Taylor Swift thinks about her albums as full pieces of work in themselves, and also think about how her discography all works together. Actively, we have a single song working as a myth, a larger album as a complex making a mythology, and her discography creating a larger complex of these mythologies - a mythos.
The Amphibian Man | Monstrosity in Shape of Water
Monsters are important facets of storytelling. They typically stand on the outside, showing us what a society or culture fears most: what categories do we daren't cross? What separations from these categories do we fear? The Shape of Water takes the monster and romanticises it, altering the concept of the monstrous Other to one which humanises it, cares for it, and loves it. In this video, we examine the nature of the Amphibian Man in Shape of Water, how he represents the Other, and how the combinations of Monster Movie and Romance Movie make for a new perspective on an old creature.
Fandom Love | K-Pop Demon Hunters
Sony's K-Pop Demon Hunters is a massive success, and follows the trials of girl K-pop group Huntr/x who double as demon hunters, using their voices and songs to heal the rift which keep demons at bay. The power Huntr/x draws on is connected to the souls of fans, which are given to the idols their their fandom's love. In this essay, we explore the dynamics of love in fandom - what it means to love a celebrity figure, and how K-Pop Demon Hunter portrays the complex relationship in an interesting and dynamic way
Science Fiction vs Magic vs Religion
I know on the surface these three as being my case studies here may seem a bit strange, especially throwing in that last one of Religion. Obviously, we can think that religion has very little to do with fiction - or, maybe, that’s only what religious people will argue against. Others may be very excited about this category being thrown in. Spoiler alert, neither of you may be expecting which way this is going. But even when we remove religion, we are left with discussions of science fiction and magic, two worlds which are, very much, kept separate.
Kiki’s Creativity and Consumerism
Kiki's Delivery Service from Studio Ghibli is a beautiful coming-of-age tale about a thirteen-year-old witch who goes to develop her skills and find herself in a new city. Kiki learns not only how to live on her own, but also how to deal with different personality dynamics, how to embrace her own anxieties, and learn how to balance creativity with capitalism. Today, I'm exploring the way Kiki struggles to understand herself in relation to her creative powers, and how burn out can be followed by chasing the issues of capitalism. Kiki gets caught up in needing to make money in order to fit in, and she allows capitalist insecurities to guide her creative practices, rather than finding her own social worlds which allow her creativity to thrive.
Food as Storytelling
Food can be a social thing. It tells the stories of family and friends. It ties me to the social engagements and ties of my family, even when I’m an ocean away. It ties me to my new friends, the new life I’ve carved for myself through the exchanging of cake.
Research Reflection: the Taylor Swift Survey
This isn’t the first time I’ve worked on a survey, but is the first time in many years. Surveys are always a little more complicated than people think. You need to be direct, but not so direct that it’s leading. You have to ask a lot, but not demand too much of their time. You need to get numbers, but also specificity when you need. Saying, for example, twenty percent of people think this, that’s great - but why?