The Reader to the Story Teller
I enjoy studying myths and mythology, especially from different cultures and communities. It is interesting to see the world through their eyes and the values that they uphold in their communities. I think they are also very entertaining. They have meanings behind them but on the surface they are stories and most of them reflect situations that we found ourselves in. Therefore, I did not think that creating a myth would be as difficult as I thought it would be. I thought that it would be as simple as coming up with a silly story but there was much more behind it. Part of my struggle was avoiding echoing myths that already exist. I would try to take inspiration from other myths but I found myself relying too heavily upon them. I was using the stories of other myths to try and create my own that I ended up confusing myself. I decided to change my myth completely and finally settled on something I was happy with. I think my myth is decent and entertaining, but I do not know if it holds a candle to the ones that have been studied for years.
Unfortunately, my students are not doing a mythology unit this year but think that it would be really fun to do something like this with them or a future class. I think it is important that they are exposed to literature from other cultures and places but it also important that they learn how to tell their own stories. I think some students today are stunted when it comes to being creative. They do not know how to think for themselves or come up with their own ideas so doing an exercise like this is something they would have fun with but also get them to expand their skills. I think besides creating their myth, I would have them do a presentation or create images from their myth with the way their characters look. I am not opposed to them using technology for that part because there are some tools online that help them get in touch with their creative side, but I would like them to do a physical project with it.
Hey Natalia!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post! I too had some difficulty creating my own myth. I say it in my post, but myth building seems like a collaborative process to me. Coming up with something meaningful and entertaining was a challenge. I understand your struggle of trying to avoid echoing myths that are already existing, but I don’t really think that its possible. There is the theory that there are really only 30 something stories in existence and everything we write will fall under those categories. Also, the world is a huge place with many different sets of Gods and myths. It is inevitable that similarities arise. We, as participants in culture, are filled with the media we ingest and we take all that in and recombine it into our own stories. Do you think it is bad that we participate in conversations with other myths as we create our own? Somehow, it makes me feel more like a true mythmaker. Great post!
Hi Natalia!
ReplyDeleteI totally identify with how you underestimated how hard it would be to come up with a story. I had such a tough time figuring out what phenomenon I wanted to explain, and had difficulty figuring out how I wanted to explain that phenomenon once I had figured out what to write about. I found the inclusion of already existing mythical characters made it a bit easier, as I used Hermes and Hephaestus and the existing Greek gods, and was able to focus on my mythical explanation rather than getting stuck in the typical Grecian myth format. Still, I understand how it can be difficult to not copy another format or story when it's something so ingrained into our culture.
Hey Natalia!
ReplyDeleteI definitely feel you on the struggle with potentially echoing other myths we studied. Looking back on it, even though I was happy with my end product, I think I fell into the pitfall of relying on preexisting story structures. Most of the myths I’ve studied personally involved gods and goddesses that preside over aspects of the world, and I instantly went to writing one of these stories for my own myth. I also agree that this activity would be good for students to practice their creative writing skills, and to get them to take it seriously, making it a project would help.