Love and Power

Before I thought that in the Myth's the women were just seen as weak and distractions to the men.

Recently I have read the story of "The Quest of the Golden Fleece". The hero, Jason was trying to retrieve the fleece and he tries to make the daughter of the King, Medea, who has the fleece fall for him and Hera gets Cupid to make her fall in love with him too. They wanted her on Jason's side because she had black magic powers and she was the only one to help him complete his challenges. After she helped him with the challenges and completing many other deeds she was exiled, forgotten and betrayed by Jason while he married and moved on. Jason used her and disposed of her after he was done using her powers. She had revenge and killed his new wife and tried to make his life miserable even though she loved him. "I conquered them.I made you victor. I held the light and saved you.... Now you forsake me." p.g. 134

Medea is a good change for the status of women in Myth's for me. She is a strong woman who is tricked by love for Jason and does anything to help him succeed. When she was exiled she does do what I thought she would do, mope around and be sad, she did something and stood up for herself. Even if what she did was wrong (killing Jason's wife).

It seems to me that love is always used to bring the downfall of a hero or ruining a person. Now-a-days we think that Cupid is wonderful and brings true love and is good but from reading these Myth's it seems that his power wasn't used for that. People force Cupid to use his arrows, not for the good of the person, but to ruin them. I don't think in some instances Cupids power is good it is a wicked curse especially making people fall in love (which is a powerful thing).

Different Kinds of Heroes

The two myths I have read and started to read were the stories of Theseus and the beginning of Hercules. Theseus was a great hero who was selfless, smart and thoughtful, while on the other hand Hercules was more full of himself, thick and all brawn. Both of them were admired and praised, mostly Hercules in all of Greece and Theseus in only Athens. I think the contrast betweent the two and their differences show that not all "heros" or gods are from the same cookie cutter they can have different personalities and strengths. This goes for us too, we can all have different personalities and strengths and still be good people. Who knew that myths would teach us life lessons?

Myth Characters in Romeo and Juliet

While reading through Romeo and Juliet I noticed that Shakespeare used references to Mythological characters. There was one act that the two lovers were telling each other how deeply they loved each other and they were comparing to the goddess of love Venus and her son Cupid. Shakespeare used these references so the readers could easily make the connection by using just one word instead of a big explanation.

Families in Myths

After reading the story of Cupid and Phyche and a little bit of the background behind how titans and gods were born I had one question. Why aren't families in mythology compassionate towards one and other? In Cupid and Phyche's story, Venus the mother of cupid, did not want her son to be in love especially with a girl she wants dead. She should have just been happy for him. Finally in the other story, Zeus the son of the titans overthrew them and emoted them. I thought they were "godly", this isn't. Do they not care much for their family because they think they are a threat to them or someone to overthrow them just as they had done before.

Women in Mythology

It seems to me that the men and women are put into roles just as they were in The House on Mango Street. The men always seem to be strong, heroic; like the men from HOMS the men go out and get jobs and do whatever "manly" men do. On the other hand the women are distractions, damsels in distress, and beautiful but weak, this is exactly how the men in HOMS saw their daughters and wives.
Why can't there be more strong women in these myths. We need more women like Sarah Connors from Terminator, Mulan, Electra, Lara Croft, Charlies Angels, and Marion from Indiana Jones.

Today I went to see the movie "Clash of the Titans". It was a great movie with great action and heroics, and since we have started this project i couldn't stop thinking about all of the components and characters that we have been talking about.

Mostly we have been talking about archetypes being used in other stories and movies, but I noticed that they use beasts and characters too. For example there was the kraken which Perseus had to defeat and it dawned on me that it was the same beast that was in the Pirates of the Caribbean. Also they mentioned Centaurs which are also the animals living in the Forbidden Forest in Harry Potter.

Not only do other movies use their beasts but the match-up between the hero and what monster stands between them and the enemy. One big one that stands out is in "Sleeping Beauty" where Prince Phillip has to defeat the dragon/Maleficent. Another example is in the new Tim Burton movie "Alice in Wonderland" where Alice had to kill the Jabberwocky.

Another idea I was pondering was why the Gods would have children with humans and have demi-god children that have the weaknesses of humans? Why wouldn't they have children with other gods to have even stronger and more powerful kids? I think that they did because they wanted them to fit in with humans so they can rise up only when they need their heroics. Also I think that they wanted them to have emotions like humans and have a conscious and emotion for them to fight for. Why do you think they created demi-gods?

Archetypes

Even though I haven't read much into mythology yet, the Archetypes are definitely reminding me of movies. Most action movies definitely have many similarities with the bad guy, the hero, a quest, a love story. All of these components make a good action movie.
Thinking even deeper even some chick flicks have archetypes from mythology; one example is "Pretty in Pink". Andie is the hero, she and her friend are the outcasts, the evil figure is the "popular" clique. Star crossed lovers is Andie and Blane who's love is interrupted by his friends ridiculing him and "killing" his love for her. Her father is the old wise man, the fall when her love and best friend won't talk to her and the journey ends when she shows up at the dance without Blane and shows her strength. Of course there is a happy ending and she overcomes her shame of how she isn't as priviledged as other kids. Even better is that the hero is a woman!
That might be stretching the ideas of the Archetypes but this is the closest example the high school kids could to relate to.