I have always been interested in Greek Mythology, but I have never really known anything about it. I have kind of been one to think that myths have nothing to do with life today so why care. After doing a little research I was surprised to see some of the history behind it and learned about a few myths. Some of the stories in mythology are way cool and actually have some meaning to them. Mythology was the Greeks religion. It was used in order to explain events in life and its certain situations. A myth is a sacred narrative explaining the world and how mankind came to exist in its current state. All of the different stories in myth (there are many) have something of importance to the Greeks. I learned from my research that many Greek myths are used in today's culture. One such use of myth I came across was integrated into the recently popular film, Inception. In Greek myth there is a story about the daughter of the Cretan king named Ariadne. Ariadne was said to have aided Theseus in killing a creature called the Minotaur. In order to kill the Minotaur, Theseus had to go into the Labyrinth (a complex system of tunnels and paths in which it is easy to get lost in). The myth states that, "Ariadne, fell in love with Theseus and gave him a thread with which he could trace his way back out of the Labyrinth" (Morford 602). Through the aid of Ariadne, Theseus was able to enter the Labyrinth, kill the Minotaur, and return unharmed. I thought this was awesome because this myth can be seen in the movie Inception. The female lead character in the film is named Ariadne. Was this a coincidence? No. The Ariadne in Inception does the same thing for the main character Dom Cobb, as the Ariadne in the Greek myth did for Theseus. Inception's Ariadne accompanies Cobb through the labyrinth of his own subconscious mind while serving as the architect of the dream Cobb is having. Both Ariadne's provide means for getting Cobb and Theseus back safely into the world where they belong.
Morford, Mark P.O., Robert J. Lenardon, and Michael Sham. Classical Mythology. 9th ed. New
York: Oxford UP, 2011. Print.
Whoa!! That is so cool when movies have some historical allusions like that! (Or really deep analogies/symbolism.) I think Aesop's fables are kind of cool too, like Greek mythology, because they are cool stories of how animals got to be the way they are, etcetera.
ReplyDeleteI also am curious about Greek Mythology. I took a Humanities class last semester and loved learning about the Greek Gods and the stories that go along with them.
ReplyDeleteDuring summer semester I am taking a Greek Mythology class and I'm so excited. This was good background for that class. I love how deep the stories get, just like Inception, it takes you a while to figure out what is really going on.
ReplyDeleteThis was a really cool story, and it is cool how it related to something very recent. This post got me wanting to look more at the Greek Mythology and try to relate it to other movies or stories from today.
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