Origin myths are the most popular stories ever told and every culture from every period of time has one that is, more or less, unique to them but that is usually clearly related to, or reflects, stories told by people in other parts of the world and/or in other periods of time. I will assume that most of you reading this are at least aware of the Bible and know the basic details that are explained in the Book of Genesis (ie In the beginning there was darkness..., everything was created in 7 days, God decided things should exist and they came into being, etc.). I will also assume that most of you know that the creation myths in the Torah (Jewish Holy book), the Qur'an (Muslim Holy book) and the Old Testament of the Bible are (depending on the translations) basically the same things. That knocks out a large part of the world and a large portion of time, but the fact that they are similar shouldnt be that surprising, as each was likely informed and impacted by the other.
What has always struck me though, was that many of the Native American creation myths clearly paralleled those of the Eurpoeans, yet it would have been nearly impossible for those to have been impacted by the European's creation myths. If you ever have some time to kill and want to enlighten yourself to a wider worldview than the one you have likely grown up with, take a look at some Native American creation myths (or Native American myths in general).
The Modern World has become less concerned with macromythology (a word that I just made up to signify the world creating, race defining kind of myth), though the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings series would staunchly disagree, and more concerned with micromythology (a term I just made up to signify mythology surrounding a particular individual). Think the latest run of Batman movies (the Christian Bale ones, not the upcoming Ben Affleck ones), or the endless run of Spiderman films. Heck, one of the X-Men movies is even called "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" with more supposedly to follow. Superhero movies (and comic books) are at the heart of our modern mythology, but it extends beyond them as well. The increasingly popular (and spectacular in almost every way) Dr. Who is, at its most basic, a series of myths about the only remaining member of a race of time travelers who makes it his personal goal to ensure the survival of the human race in the face of threats from several extraterrestial sources at numerous points in time and space (and trust me, I love me some Dr. Who. If you havent seen it, Uncle Jimmy and I would recommend it. I would start with the first Matt Smith season. The David Tennant ones are great, but the production value is really low because they werent sure anyone was really going to watch it. When Tennant left and Smith stepped in, it took on an almost movie like quality. The jury is still out on this Peter Capaldi fellow, but so far I havent hated him, which is more than I expected for the guy replacing Smith). The show creates its own entire universe that nestles up to ours. Really, the more that I think about it, it really is an almost perfect example of myth building.
With the epic 10-2 beatdown of the Zach Attack, Tom's Lester the Molesters finished a rags to riches, worst to first, Annexation of Puerto Rico-like story, which is the first chapter in the Tater Tot story and obviously destined to become myth. And it definitely deserves more time than I have had to give it today. So the recap of the championship will be coming tomorrow.
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