Spirituality: How the belief in God or Gods plays a pivotal role in The Odyssey and The Godfather epics - Essay Example

Spirituality: The Belief in God or Gods as it Relates to The Odyssey and The Godfather The conceptof god is a way of describing a power within a story that is outside of human control. This power can also be ascribed to a human within a story, giving them a control that is beyond what is normally within the frame of human control. In The Odyssey, Odysseus experiences a series of encounters with god or godlike powers that he must overcome to continue on his journey. In the film The Godfather (1972), the Corleone family becomes the embodiment of godlike powers, their spiritual life enhancing the nature of their own power through events of violence. The nature of myth and the way in which it defines powers within the supernatural experience can be seen in the nature of both epics, their respective contemporary cultures reflected through the defined powers that are beyond that of the human world. The Greek mythologies are designed with the expression of god embodying exaggerated human failures of character. The gods of the Greeks were petty, selfish, and full of hubris, even though they looked down on humans and punished them for the same kinds of characteristics. The stories of the gods created a framework in which the nature of mankind was discussed, the challenges that they presented part of the explanation that helped ancient man to understand his world. Both the internal world of men and the external world of nature, its power and imposing destruction, was explained through the mythologies. Myth was the way in which the unknown was approached, mankind needing answers to questions that were often beyond the scope of any technology that could be defined. The nature of The Godfather films is similar in that a larger, mysterious organization was given context and explanation through the vision and myths created by Mario Puzo, the writer of the novel. The novel was then translated into film by Francis Ford Coppola in which not only the myth of the Corleone family was brought into the public consciousness, but the film, itself, gained mythic status. According to Horrocks, The Godfather (1972) “peels away the veneer of civilization, revealing to us a culture steeped in blood and death” (79). The myth of the masculinity of the ‘male corporation’, also found extensively in Western genre films, becomes more organized and brought into the modern context through the ‘mafia’ films as “the shrinking from domesticity and the emphasis on violence and death” creates a resource in which power is shifted to something that is more mythic and grandiose (Horrocks 70). The nature of life is explained in a more visceral plane of existence in which power is placed into a larger than life figure who has the capacity to impose his will as he sees fit. According to Joseph Campbell “It would not be too much to say that myth is the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into the human cultural manifestation” (1). The nature of myth is that it approaches the issues of life through explanations that are defined by the human experience, then expanded to explain that which is beyond explanation into god-like power. The epic mythologies of The Godfather (1972) provides context for explaining the nature of organized crime, spirituality through the Catholic religion giving context to the nature of the violence as it is expressed within the film. The violence of life can seem a wave of climatic terror that creates dangers outside of the home, a world in which a gun or a physical threat lays lurking in the darkness, waiting to shatter the calm of the domestic sphere. In the same way that the Greeks explained tidal waves and storms through the powers of their gods, modern culture explains the terrors of criminality through organized crime with the power of the ’Don’, or the head of the organization seeming to take on godlike limitless control over the organization and those the organization touches. The title of the ’Don’, and the denotation of ’godfather’ suggests an imbued power that is beyond that of the average man. That the Catholic church, with all of its mystery and ritual is part of the discourse of violence suggests that the godlike powers of the ’godfather’ and the syndicated organization are framed by the spirituality of the Church, the human drive to violence for control sanctified by its association with the rituals and atmosphere. Campbell states that “It has always been the prime function of mythology and rite to supply the symbols that carry the human spirit forward, in counteraction to those constant human fantasies that tend to tie it back” (7). Through explanations that provide context for those things in life that seem beyond understanding, human beings can go past obstacles and find ways to navigate through the events that both terrify and intrigue. This can be seen in The Odyssey, carrying this need back to some of the earliest literature known to man, which provides explanations for obstacles in order to allow the hero to travel through his experiences to the end. The goddess Athena provides a resource for advise in the guise of Mentor for Odysseus. She creates a sense of reason in a world that has become undone in chaos through which the trials and challenges of Odysseus must be understood so that his journey has meaning and context. The events are grounded in the limitations of human experience, their nature tinged with the supernatural to make clear the reason for them happening. Dimock states that “all these events have enough human truth behind them to keep the supernatural from stealing the scene” (334). This can also be seen within the film, the epic and larger than life nature grounded in the ’truths’ of the cultural understanding of the time period so that the events that would seem beyond human capacities for reality are reigned back just enough to seem plausible. Twentieth century mythologies of organized crime are steeped in feats of violence that brought power to those who chose to wield it. The nature of the mythologies that are explored in The Godfather (1972) are defined by the belief that the American public held about the power of organized crime and the mythologies of the Mafia. The imposed powers that are godlike are represented as such because the actions require defined abilities that seem to be beyond that of the human capacity. As an example when Odysseus is transformed into an old beggar, he shows how clever he is as he tricks his household and achieves his goals. However, even in being clever, Odysseus does not have the power to change himself into a beggar, this requires the divine powers of the gods to achieve (Clay 208). In the same vein, when violence is committed within The Godfather (1972), it is initiated through the orders of men with more power, their almost god-like status imbuing them with life and death in their control. As the average human stands in awe of events that are out of his or her control, the nature of government, the powers of men who lead men, and the imposition of will upon them that move their lives without their consent, the nature of the other side where power lies within men can seem to be similar to Mount Olympus, gods looking down and manipulating humanity through whim and arrogance. For Odysseus, it is the journey that provides the context for the way in which the gods manipulate and constrain his life. According to Joseph Campbell, the call to adventure, the beginning stage of the hero’s journey signifies “that destiny has summoned the hero and transferred his spiritual center of gravity from within the pale of this society to a zone unknown” (Campbell, Cousineau and Brown 1). As Odysseus enters the sight of the gods, his presence known to them and his future relevant to their desires and agendas, his life is directly affected by them. In The Godfather (1972), Michael Corleone, the son of Vito Corleone who never intended to follow in his father’s footsteps, sees his life taken from him as his center is shifted into the center of the Mafia. The nature of his existence is changed, his life affected by the power of the Mafia as he loses his family and must take the power that he had wanted to avoid his entire life. Through the course of three films, his arc shifts from being manipulated by power to being the power that manipulates. Where Vito Corleone seems to carry a mythic center - after all it was Marlon Brando who as an actor was mythic in himself - Al Pacino as Michael Corleone must build to that place, his power something different, but none the less still lethal. Mythology is a unifying force in literature that allows common experiences that are beyond the understanding of the average person to gain camaraderie through mutual agreement to the framework within which the events are explained. The idea of the “dream of the common language” suggested a connectivity between the spiritual and the mundane, the events of life having continuity throughout the human experience (Campbell, Cousineau and Brown xxii). Myths last through generations, their nature becoming part of the cultural dialogue as life is framed by their constructed realities. The Greek myths still provide some context even in a world that knows the scientific causes for climate. This can be seen in the way in which storms are personified, their nature given motivations and even gender as the discourse creates mythologies around an event. A storm can be referred to as angry and vengeful, reminiscent of the gods who once gave cause for their appearance. The human attraction to violence is also given context through the idea of powerful men who are at the top of a power structure and are in control of the nature of criminal behaviors. The events that happen in real life are given more structure and explanation through believing that someone, somewhere is in control of crime. Even if it is not the police authorities, there is a comfort in believing that it is there is a criminal structure which is preventing chaos. Order is given to crime just as it was given to natural events by the Greeks through believing in organized crime. It is in seeking purpose that mankind finds mythologies useful. Mythologies help to give structure and form to that which seems to have none. Imposed spirituality provides a context within which events can occur so that some idea of control can be experienced. As the Catholicism of the Corleone family is connected to their ’family’ structure of criminal behavior, the nature of how they behave through imposing their will through violence is associated with ritual, thus giving it a sense of legitimacy. Odysseus is shrouded in the mysteries of the spiritual, his journey made long and treacherous through the delays caused by gods, demi-gods, and monsters who impose their will upon his intentions. The spiritual allows legitimacy for the events that occur in both stories, even when not associated with that which is good. The mystery of human existence always seems to provide a reason for the events of life, giving comfort that there is order rather than the random and senseless chaos that otherwise occurs within the human condition. The experiences of Odysseus and Michael Corleone can be summed up in an observation in Peter Beagle’s The Last Unicorn. As advice from the unicorn he writes “You must never run from anything immortal. It attracts their attention” (39). In rushing towards safety, both Odysseus and his crew, and the Corleone family finds their lives in turmoil and violence, manipulated by the power outside of their control, and that which is under the control of humanity. The mythologies that give structure to the events provides a context for explaining what happens. Without these common mythologies, human kind must accept that randomness controls their destiny instead of a carefully structured framework built by an ’otherness’. Without myth, human kind loses the answer to the question ’why’. Works Cited Beagle, Peter S. The Last Unicorn. New York, N.Y., U.S.A: Penguin Books, 1991. Print. Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Novato, Calif: New World Library, 2008. Print. Campbell, Joseph, Phil Cousineau, and Stuart L. Brown. The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work. Novato, Calif: New World Library, 2003. Print. Clay, Jenny S. The Wrath of Athena: Gods and Men in the Odyssey. Lanham, Md: Littlefield Adams Books, 1996. Print. Dimock, George. The Unity of the Odyssey. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1989. Print. Hoppenstand, Gary. In Search of the Paper Tiger: A Sociological Perspective of Myth, Formula, and the Mystery Genre in the Entertainment Print Mass Medium. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1987. Print. Horrocks, Roger. Male Myths and Icons: Masculinity in Popular Culture. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press, 1995. Print. Kittelson, Mary L. The Soul of Popular Culture: Looking at Contemporary Heroes, Myths, and Monsters. Chicago: Open Court, 1998. Print. Read More