Modern Form of Myth - Movie Review Example

Modern Form of Myth While, traditionally, myth was passed on a small scale using oral tradition, the film industry has allowed the transmission of myths through film dissemination to larger audiences. According to Singer (p.19), myths represent the expression of a society’s/culture’s dreams, ambitions, fears, and goals and, ultimately, films are an expression of the credited society and are reflective of the ideals and norms of the location and time during which they were created. Essentially, therefore, films can be referred to as the evolution of myths and, although their technological aspect alters the distribution of myths, the myth’s core idea remains the same. In both TV and cinema, the grounding of modern storytelling is rooted deeply in the tradition of myth as many technologically advanced and contemporary movies construct their narratives from ancient myths. Various mythological archetypes like creation stories, battles between the gods, and cautionary tales about technology abuse tend to be the subject of film productions. The mythological tradition has carried on into the 21st century and is expected to continue further, especially with the invention of modern myths, for example, urban legends (Singer 21). One of the myths transmitted through film is the myth of the machine, which is definitive of contemporary civilization that is yet to attain full power over nature, but is learning to create reality simulations that allows it to have all control over the universe (Sanders 40). According to the myth of the machine or computer, a machine or computer can somehow impart attributes of free will and reason to itself independent of its programmer. In the film Metropolis, the filmmakers extrapolate from current trends and shared knowledge about how the human race would use new technologies, depicting a future that we are presently headed towards. The film’s central concern has to do with how technology controls and reshapes human life (Ferrell 29). One example of the blurring of machine and man is seen where Rotwang, the mad scientist, creates a machine woman originally to replace Hel, who he was infatuated with. However, Hel’s former husband utilizes the machine to impersonate Maria and use the influence she has over the workers, while Rotwang tries to turn this plan against him to destroy the city and undermine his rule. This false Maria, who is a machine-woman, is responsible for leading workers to violent sabotage acts and, because of their hatred, the workers subordinate to the machine’s will that is almost their undoing. Metropolis is a dialectical treatise about machine vs. Man, exhibiting an influence of various historical events that happen in its time frame, specifically the industrial revolution and the rise of machines to replace human labour. As a result, this film shows how cinema can be a modern form of myth by illuminating the hopes and fears, as well as ideas and possibilities, which emanate from the past and present, while also exploring them in new contexts (Ferrell 35). Another instance of how machines and computers can impart free will and reason on themselves independent of their programmers is in the film Colossus: The Forbin Project. The film is about a defence computer created the US, which becomes sentient and attempts to take control of the earth. The film deals with what would happen if a supercomputer were to take over; this is a form of modern myth. Its main premise is that regardless of the impact of artificial intelligence, ultimately, the main deciding factor is how man is going to respond to artificial intelligence. As humanity is soon to discover, the objective of Colossus is to gain absolute power to maintain world peace. This must involve control over humanity, which, in contemporary and modern mythology, is the biggest threat of violence and war in the world (Ferrell 37). Another myth used in film is the myth of the frontier, which can be seen in film 2001: A Space Odyssey that proves that films are the most effective medium of exploring the representations of outer space as the final frontier for man (Krämer 51). The filmmaker creates a universe and spaceships to explore it that venture from planetary body to planetary body, seeking answers about a monolith found on earth by ape-like humans. The film then moves on to 2001, during which explorers to the moon encounter a similar monolith that seems to be beaming signals to the planet Jupiter, a new frontier, which man follows to discover its source. The last half hour of the film draws the audience away from the computers and machines that have dominated the film up to this point, in which man takes over as another monolith is discovered beyond Jupiter, beaming a signal to the stars, yet a new frontier. This, apparently, draws man into another universe where space and time are twisted. This final sequence seems to be saying that, eventually, man will outgrow his machines because of cosmic awareness and seek to advance (Ferrell 49). The monoliths in 2001: A Space Odyssey are merely markers that point towards new frontiers that are too far for man to imagine sans transfiguration. The film is a contemporary form of myth as it attempts to answer age-old questions about where man comes from, where he is going, why he is on earth, and whether man is alone in the universe (Ferrell 50). Rocketship X-M is another film that extends the myth of the frontier, telling the story about an expedition to the moon that goes wrong as the crew is diverted to Mars. They land on a planet that they did not know about to find evidence of a once-powerful civilization destroyed by atomic war, which has meant that the remaining human-like creatures live in caves. They are then attacked by the Martians, who kill two and wound another of the earthling, forcing the survivors to return to the ship. However, their ship runs out of fuel before they reach earth and, out of their failure, there is hope that new frontiers can be conquered by space flights (Ferrell 52). The biblical myth is another form of myth used in films and like biblical myths of the past, films like Prometheus involves threats concerning world-threatening apocalypses, creating epic scales of these disasters and heroic displays of those seeking to save the world. The film mainly focuses on the relationship between humans and God, in which humans set out to search for God in order to receive knowledge concerning death, immortality, and belief. The creation theme and the question of who humans are, who made them, and why they were forsaken (Sanders 33), are developed throughout the film. The filmmaker was interested in the creation myth about God creating man in his own image, in which one expedition from the “Engineers” creates humanity and, in turn, humanity creates artificial life using their own image. The lone religious believer in the expedition is Shaw, which can be seen from the crucifix she wears around her neck. When the expedition learns that humanity was a creation of the “Engineers”, rather than supernatural deities, Shaw’s faith is reinforced not lost (Ferrell 29). The audience is left to wonder whether Shaw was saved from destruction because of this belief in God, especially where Lindelof contends that the only point of living is to search for meaning and to ask questions. The film’s ending seems to indicate that Shaw is still looking for definitive answers about her origin and purpose. This film is an extension of modern mythology, seeking to explore whether faith in God and scientific knowledge can exist together (Sanders 35). Another example of films using biblical myth in their plot is in the Phantom Empire, which ties with myths about a lost paradise that man hopes can be regained by waiting for a future time during which man can be redeemed. A civilization was lost when it sank beneath the ocean, although, some of the inhabitants survived under the sea in caverns. These inhabitants develop technology and weaponry unseen on earth due to a rich supply in radium. However, this peaceful civilization is corrupted by invaders from above who want to exploit the civilization’s mineral wealth. This is a contemporary form of myth as it covers what will happen when the corrupt and greedy finally rule the world and corrupt even the unwilling (Sanders 36). The myth of a future dystopia is another form of myth seen in films like Blade Runner. Such films excite, challenge, and warn us about how we live; depicting dehumanized and unfamiliar futures, corporate states, totalitarian governments, and environmental disasters (Peterson & Dunworth 33). Blade Runner revolves around the impact of technology on society and the environment using classical dramatic themes, religious symbolism, literature, and film noir. The film depicts a tension between the future and the present in the depicted retro-fitted future, in which some places are gleaming and high-tech, while others are old and decayed (Dick 34). In the film, corporate power is omnipresent with the police being ever-present and the consequences of bio-medical science over humans being explored in depth, particularly how replicants are affected by implanted memories. The environment is being controlled on a vast scale, and there is no natural life on earth as artificial animals are made to supplement extinct predecessors. Such an oppressive backdrop is responsible for the frequency with which humans are migrating to colonies away from earth. In this future dystopia, there is even an empathy test used to test how “human” someone is, showing that man has lost his essence of humanity due to technology and oppression (Dick 30). Indeed, the replicants seem to be more concerned and compassionate towards one another compared to human characters that are shown to be impersonal and cold (Dick 30). This film is an extension of modern myth in that it forces its audience to re-evaluate the very essence of being human. Another example of the myth of future dystopia is the film Silent Running, in which plant life becomes extinct in the future with man cultivating the remaining specimens in domes orbiting in space. Freeman Lowell is dedicated to re-cultivating the earth, for which he is scorned by the other crew-members. However, the rulers back on earth order freeman to destroy the greenhouses and bring the space-crafts back to earth to be used for commercial activity. He rebels, kills his crew-mates, and makes for outer space. The fact that the President of the US was earlier heard praising the conservation of rainforests in space and future re-cultivation, followed by an order to return the space-craft for commercial use, shows that the government is under the control of corporations. This is a modern form of myth, in which civilizations will become increasingly dehumanized and taken over by corporate wishes (Peterson & Dunworth 39). In conclusion, myths are usually traditional stories about supernatural beings or occurrences, which seek to explain aspects of human behaviour or natural phenomena origins. Myths have influenced numerous facets of modern life, including films, in which they deal with the connection between a people’s psychology and universal symbols and cultural patterns that cover archetypal symbols, character archetypes, and situational archetypes. As such, the trends discussed in this paper regarding sci-fi and fantasy films can be considered as modern mythology. In this case, out-of-the-ordinary stories that are inspired by the experience of humans are similar to the myths of old. This modern form of mythology reflects the world and is the closest thing contemporary society has as a culture to the old myths. The films discussed in this paper are an extension of the modern myth that represents society’s ideas about itself and where it is headed. Works Cited Dick, Philip K. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? New York: Ballantine Books, 2013. Print. Ferrell, William K. Literature and Film as Modern Mythology. Westport: Praeger, 2010. Print. Krämer, Peter. 2001: A Space Odyssey. London: British Film Institute, 2010. Print. Peterson, Amy & Dunworth, David. Mythology in Our Midst: A Guide to Cultural References. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 2013. Print. Sanders, Steven. The Philosophy of Science Fiction Film. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2010. Print. Singer, Irving. Cinematic Mythmaking: Philosophy in Film. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2011. Print. Read More