Modern Myths: Case Study ANZAC DAY
There are many definitions for the word “myth”. Many would want to define “myth” very narrowly, being only concerned with gods or supernatural beings, or unscientific explanations of how the natural world came to be, only applicable to a pre-modern society where faith and spiritualty was unchallenged. In our modern culture it seems many have lost contact with older mythologies and the religious beliefs that informed them, so much so that in common parlance the word myth is substituted for lie. (Doniger, 1999, p.1; Campbell and Kennedy, 2001, p. 2)
Many perceive myths as quaint and removed from our ordinary lives. It is true that many people would reject the older myths associated with earlier religions as misrepresentations, seeing them merely as pretty stories, so in that sense much of our society is demythologised. Creation tales from around the world, whether from India or Australia, no longer find large numbers of true believers. The gods and goddesses of Greece and Rome no longer have many devotees. These myths, once part of religious sacred texts that informed daily ritual no longer serve that purpose for us. So, many would say that the modern world is demythologised, with no myths to guide us. Many people especially in the Western world reject all religion as a lie or at the very least are agnostic. They would say that these stories have no power.
However, it is a misconception that the members of Greek or Roman society (or probably any society) accepted the myths at face value. ”Neo-Platonists, and Stoics as well as Epicureans agreed that myths were not to be taken literally...tough minded reformers explained them away as fictions designed to mislead the credulous , superstitious multitude” (Bidney,1965, p4) So right from so-called mythological times demythologising had begun.
“in the course o time fewer and fewer members of society may believe in a myth and especially in a period of rapid cultural change an entire belief system and its mythology can be discredited . Even in cultural isolation there may be some sceptics who do not accept the traditional system of belief” (Bascan, 1984, p.13)
If we are to follow the belief that myth is only to do with religious ritual then it might seem that many in our modern world have little to do with the belief systems that bear up that kind of myth. However, there are still followers of many religions throughout the world and the adherents of these believe the myths associated with these. There are over 4,200 religions according to Adherents.com (Hunter, 2002, home page)
“I would say that roughly 83 to 90% of the world's population professes a belief in God or a similarly understood higher power(s).” (Hunter, 2002 FAQ)
In our own backyard:
The ACS (Australian Community Survey) reveals that most Australians believe in God or a spirit, higher power or life-force (74%) and around 40% accept conventional Christian beliefs such as life after death, the resurrection and divinity of Jesus. Two-thirds of Australians claim that a spiritual life is important to them and 33% pray or meditate at least weekly. (NCLS, 2002, p.1)
Joseph Campbell puts it this way “half the people in the world think that the metaphors of their religious traditions, for example, are facts. And the other half contends that they are not facts at all.”(Campbell and Kennedy, 2001, p. 2)
If we also we use a wider definition to define myth as any stories told by the “folk” or people that resonate with groups of people then our present society is still very much involved in using, promulgating and believing in myths.
The power of the stories or ancient myths, though no longer necessarily linked to a belief in the associated religion, is still apparent. Myths and sacred stories like legends, fairy tales, folktales and folklore and are told and re-told and find echo throughout the world. Psychologists like Jung point to these stories and say they reflect archetypes of our collective unconscious. (Jung, 1936, par 87 – 110) that find echo in our psyche so that whenever we think we escape them they re-appear I another form
John Carroll in his book The Western Dreaming: the western world is dying for want of a story (2001) contends that the myths western society is finding for itself echo the stories of old, and that some are finding not only the stories but the religious truths behind those stories. In his chapter on “God is Dead”, after pointing out the influence of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche he states:
God is indeed gone, but the force of the sacred continued to drive through the human condition. A religious imperative seems to be innate, a sort of third instinct, apart from the eros and aggression, reaching for the beyond (2001, p27)
He then traces the stories we see reflected again and again in the stories society keeps telling. There is “Magdalene” (Carroll, 2001, Chapter 2), the reformed sinner: Princess Diana as the successful; Marilyn Munroe the failed. “Magdalene is the archetype of human metamorphosis, of every truly changed life” (p 46) Carroll makes the point that it is the contrast of past mistakes and future goodness that captures the imagination. ”Mother Teresa’s death was met by public indifference in the West, as if to say: You are not our ideal. We do not want to be you. The world denying self on its own is not right. It’s Diana we love” (p.61)
I think the success of the story of Paul’s transformation and the hundreds of similar testimonies in churches and mission are a reflection of the strength of this hunger for a story or myth of possible reformation. The dramatic change from drug addict to pastor or preacher is very common.
Then there is “The Hero” (Carroll, Chapter 3): the Western hero from the films; the “honest cop” of police and detective shows on television and the football stars of our favourite team. Carroll traces our hero stories from The Iliad and the Odyssey: central tales of the western tradition.
Many of the myths we create and believe in today are in the tradition of the story of the hero so common in traditional myths. We idealise a few people, finding in their lives the magic and grandeur once allocated to Ulysses or Arthur. Ordinary people finding in themselves extra-ordinary heroism is incredibly attractive. The fire fighters and police and other emergency workers of the September 11 tragedy are the stories most often told, re-told and remembered.
Of course, alongside the adulation is the concurrent iconoclastic fervour, and finding the tragic flaw in the hero. JFK once was regarded as a hero by millions, so much so that a generation (even outside the United States) marked his passing by remembering where they were when they heard the news of his death. His status was brought low by a frenzy of media stories that relate his sexual histories and other human failings. But his flaws emphasise his heroic status.
Sport stars and film stars who excel and have the requisite charisma or looks claim our attention. For a time we idealise them, follow their careers and admire them, see them as people apart who are somehow special and beyond the petty tyrannies of everyday life. Sometimes, their worship can survive scandal and crimes we would not forgive those around us. Then, at least for some, the inevitable fall of the hero comes and the myth is over, ordinary people no longer able to match our conception of the hero.
Few of our contemporaries can bear the weight of undivided adulation. Some can bear the halo longer. Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela are a few who have lasted better than most. Sometimes a story transcends the ordinary adulation to weather the scandals and cold light of reality. But, if there appears to be no tragic flaw then the myth lacks power to engage.
“Soul-mate Love” (Carroll, 2001, Chapter 4) is another story that westerners tell. In Plato’s Symposium we have the germ of this myth but it came to fruition in mediaeval tales. Shakespeare and the novelists throughout the western tradition continued the myth. Popular songs and romantic movies reflect these tales today.
The inspiration of the stories of courtly love is said to influence society and the conceptions of love and marriage to this day. (Johnson, 1983) Young girls (and maybe boys) still look for that one perfect lover who above all fulfils all their needs. Romance novels (Mills and Boon variety) and romantic comedies on television and movies reflect the myth. The cold light of everyday life often does not bear the weight of such expectation.
“The Mother” (Carroll, 2001, Chapter 5) comes rather late in western tradition, beginning mostly from the stories of Mary and finding expression in the unrealisable myth of supermum who can (or should) do everything.
This myth ranges from the mawkish and sentimental of greeting cards to the earth mother of new age witches to the all powerful, all demanding, problem solver of television comedies.
Vocation (Carroll, 2001, Chapter 6) is the story that defines our lives: where the job a person does is their reason for being. Calvin and the Second Reformation helped imbed this into our society. The tax collector Matthew and Moses are the archetypes here.
And it is the failure of being able to achieve this myth that has power. I think this myth is the reason that instead of reaching the golden predictions of the seventies we are not a leisured society where everyone works only a few hours a day. Instead we have a situation where some people work incredibly long hours for little thanks with much detriment to the family and others in society can not obtain work at all. Also, those who are not in paid employment face disdain, ridicule and contempt whether this situation is from choice to care for children, elderly or disabled; or retirement, or volunteer work or inability to obtain employment.
Then there is “Fate” (Carroll, 2001, Chapter 7), a belief that we have no control over our destiny, that everything is pre-determined. Oedipus the King is the story that was told again by Freud who thought “this legend to be archetypal of family drama” (Carroll, 2001, p. 151); revived again by Nietzsche’s theory of tragedy (Carroll, 2001, p. 152) and a belief in Necessity somehow rules our modern lives.
A related myth to this is a modern belief in astrology where somehow the positions of the stars and planets can predict our lives. Many religiously read the horoscope in the newspaper everyday, even though they might say “I don’t really believe in it.” A similar revival also of Tarot cards, ouija boards, Celtic runes argues a belief that people have no control over their lives, that blind fate or external force is in charge. Even some Christians argue that God has pre-destined their faith, so no action or in-action, belief or non-belief actually changes their position as “saved” or not.
“The Genesis of Evil” (Carroll, 2001, Chapter 8) reaches from the story of Genesis, the search for knowledge “the means for metamorphosis out of brute existence” (Carroll, 2001, p.175), not at first good and evil but boredom. “Is this all? sows the seed of evil” (Carroll, 2001, p.177) And alongside Eve is Judas, the betrayer who fails because of his lust for power.
These myths of evil echo again and again through the stories of western people. The weight of evil placed on women in the story of the Fall reverberates throughout western history, and is seen .as the beginning of many evils of it’s own: as an excuse for sexism by men, and a cause of low self-esteem by women.
“Theologically, Ruether analyses the Fall, the alienation between humanity and God, in terms of sexism, which she sees as beginning in self-alienation, expressed as estrangement between the self and the body”(Tulip,1990, p. 239)
And the calumny of the worst punishment goes to the Betrayer. In the ninth circle of hell the very worst punishment is kept for the betrayers, and the very harshest of all for Judas.
"That one," said my guide,
"Who suffers the greatest punishment,
Is Judas Iscariot” (Dante, 2000 trans Zimmerman, Canto 34)
These myths are in some cases the means of demythologising. One of the most powerful myths of today is that of the supremacy of science. The “story” that science has all the answers, can solve all problems, knows the secrets of the universe has meant that the other stories of explanation have been ousted. The contention is that once we understand more about the world we no longer need myths. “mythology began to lose one of its more crucial powers — the ability to explain.” (Appelcline, 2002, p.1)
With the advent of ‘science’, the language of story to explain life was put aside, as being somewhat childish, certainly not modern, and possibly primitive. As modern peoples, we had been freed by science and no longer needed to story our lives... (Myths among us, 2002, p.1)
But scientists with their new theories each decade, are merely substituting their myths for the old ones, no surer of the truth than primitive societies.
But, we are incurable story tellers. And the stories that have power are ones that try to explain our very being. The story of evolution means creation stories of other cultures have been deposed. Believers in the story of evolution reject the “myths” of religion; believers in creation deny the “lie” of evolution: each advocate convinced of their own territory of truth.
We commonly believe the hype about technology so much that we see it as the saviour to humankind; it has acquired the status that magic once had, where the initiated are the only ones able to dispense the solutions. ”the citizen, confronted by bewildering bigness and complexity, finds it necessary to defer on all matters to those who know better.” (Roszak, 1973, p. 203) But this myth is only that a story we tell ourselves to give power to the magician...in this case the holder of the power of technology.
Film makers retell the old stories over and over to willing audiences. “Many of the myths of our time come from Hollywood, for Hollywood is as much a myth factory as it is a dream factory” (Doniger, 1999, p.1).
We can see in our movies all of the traditional myths. We see heroes in almost all Westerns, Lord of the Rings, Excalibur; Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone; the quest as in Star Wars, Lord of the Rings; the journey in Easy Rider, Thelma and Louise, Lord of the Rings.
Many film makers mine the treasure trove of traditional myths, partly because they are out of copyright but also because the stories work!
“The entire Star Wars universe was created out of his seminal reading of Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces.”(Arya, 2002, p.1)
There is also truth in Doniger’s contention, “A myth is, above all, a story that is believed to be true, that people continue to believe even in the face of massive evidence to the contrary”. (1999, p.1) And if we examine this definition from Keene and Fox (1989, p. xi):
“[Myth refers to] an intricate set of interlocking stories, rituals, rites, and customs that inform and give the pivotal sense of meaning and direction to a person, family, community, or culture", we can see that even beyond these myths that reflect stories told from the past there are other stories too that have the weight of myth that we are creating today. I would assert that the word “myth” carries a wider meaning and includes in its ambit any folk stories that are transmitted by a community, which have influence on their attitudes, values and way of life.
I would like to offer one example from contemporary Australia: the story of ANZAC. For modern Australians, one would say the ANZAC story should have no resonance. After all, all the Australian protagonists are dead. The former myths of fine warriors and the glory of war have faded. The “real” stories of Gallipoli have been told and we know about the sheer stupidity, mistakes and foolishness of the bungled battles. However, there is a very real myth that has developed around ANZAC. The realities of history pale into insignificance alongside the power of the story. Australians, whether they “really” believe the history or not, find meaning and power in the tales of Gallipoli. They tell again and again how the Australia spirit was forged at Anzac Cove. Concepts of sacrificial mateship, of friendly egalitarianism, of laconic humour, of “she’ll be right” optimism , of the inventive “making do”, of heroism under fire, of eventual victory out of defeat, of casual defiance of authority, of “pommy” betrayal are reiterated.
Young people whose great or great-great grandfathers died in the mud of Gallipoli trek to Turkey and cry for the tragedy of needless lives lost. (I received a sms message from Gallipoli from a young acquaintance:”what a stupid waste!”) Dawn services throng with families taking part in a ritual for heroes. A myth is born. To remember a muddy bloody battle fought so long ago, the folk of today have made a sacred memory of those heroes who died. The reality may be different than the myth: not all soldiers were brave or nor was the battlefield necessarily an egalitarian place except in the equality of death (Blair, 2000, p.1). Nevertheless the myth has power and like all myths it does have an effect on people’s lives.
The very fact that the story is not historically true may be it’s influence. “they [myths] have a power that transcends inaccuracy , even depends on it” (Dowden, 1992, P.3)
Blair’s attempt to demythologise is for now ineffectual. When it or other attempts are made it will only succeed when a more another myth takes it place. As Sproul says when speaking of challenges to Genesis stories:
What is essential to understand is that they have been challenged not by new facts but by new attitudes towards facts; they have been challenged by new myths”((1979, p.1)
In the same way our society has many myths that are told and re-told, that echo and influence, inform and are underlie the beliefs and attitudes of everyday life. We demythologise it seems in order that we have space to create new myths.
References
1) Appelcline, Shannon (2002) Modern Myths, Part Two: An Overview from Citizen Kane to Spider-Man [online] Available WWW: http://www.skotos.net/articles/TTnT_71.shtml (Accessed 2002, 30 May)
2) Arya, Rohit (2002) The Matrix as Mythological Construct [online] Available WWW:http://www.indiayogi.com/website/phase3/mythology/matrix.asp (Accessed 2002,2 June)
3) Bascom William (1984) “The Forms of Folklore: Prose Narratives” In Dundas, Alan Sacred Narratives: Readings in the Theory of Myth (pp. 5-29)Berkeley: University of California
4) Bidney, David (1965) “Myth, Symbolism and Truth” In Seboek, Thomas (Ed.) Myth: A Symposium (pp.3-24) Bloomington: Indiana University Press
5) Blair, Dale 2000 Challenging the Anzac Legend: The Sixteenth Roger Joyce Memorial Lecture [online] Available WWW: http://home.vicnet.net.au/~histinst/anzac_legend.htm (Accessed 2002,2 June)
6) Campbell, Joseph, Eugene C. Kennedy (Ed.) (2001) Thou Art That: Transforming Religious Metaphor Novato, CA: New World Library.
7) Carroll, John (2001) The Western Dreaming: the western world is dying for want of a story Sydney: Harper Collins
8) Dante Alighieri, Rhymed Translation by Seth Zimmerman “Canto XXXIV” The Inferno of Dante Alighieri [online] Available WWW:http://home.earthlink.net/~zimls/HELLXXXIV.html (Accessed 2002, 2 June)
9) Doniger, Wendy (Spring 1999) “In the World: Myths from the Dream Factory” Radcliffe Quarterly [online] Available WWW: http://www.radcliffe.edu/quarterly/199901/world-myt_fro.html (Accessed 2002,30 May)
10) Dowden, K (1992) Myth and Mythology: The Uses of Greek Mythology London:Routledge.
11) Hunter, Preston (2002) Welcome to adherents.com [online] Available WWW: http://www.adherents.com/ (Accessed 2002,30 May)
12) Hunter, Preston (2002) FAQ [online] Available WWW: http://www.adherents.com/ (Accessed 2002,30 May)
13) Johnson, R.A. (1983)”Approaching the Wine” The Psychology of Courtly Love London: Arkana
14) Jung, Carl Edited and translated by Gerhard Adler and R.F.C. Hull (1936) “The Archetypes and the collective unconscious; Definition” Collected Works Vol 9.1, pars.87-110 Princeton: Princeton University Press
15) Keene, Sam and Valley-Fox, Anne. (1989)"Your Mythic Journey Finding Meaning in Your Life Through Writing and Storytelling," Los Angeles,: Jeremy P. Tarcher
16) Myths among us (May 2002) Issue No.19 [online] Available WWW: http://www.mythsamongus.com/ (Accessed 2002,30 May)
17) National Church Life Survey (2002) How Christian are Australians? [online] Available WWW: http://www.ncls.org.au//pages.asp?page=929&sao=1 (Accessed 2002,2 June)
18) Roszak, Theodor E (1973) An extract from “Technocracy’s Children” from The making of a counter culture In Dixon, Bernard (ed) (1989) From Creation to Chaos: Classic Writings in Science (pp. 202-203) London: Cardinal
19) Sproul, Barbara. C Primal Myths: Creating the World London: Rider
20) Tulip, Marie (1990) “Religion” in Gunew, Sneja (Ed.) Feminist Knowledge: Critique and Construct (pp.229- 270) London: Routledge
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