A Little Mythology: Sherman Alexie
A morning with mythology:
This morning please take a look at the following videos. As you view, consider how all stories use mythology as their primal basis--can you think of tv shows/characters, movies, stories, books, or plays that echo some of the character types found in these myth cycles? For example:
Earth Mothers & Rebellious Sons: #4
Coyote and Raven, American Tricksters: Crash Course Mythology #22
Choose at least one of these bulleted topics and write a comment/answer to these questions on this blog post for participation credit.
In the event you finish early, feel free to work on your portfolio. Portfolios are due next week.
Period 2:
Lakota Creation Myth (short video) & Spokane Tribe (Children of the Sun)
Take 5-10 minutes to discuss the short stories you read (or read silently, aiming to complete your homework from last class...) Discuss:
HOMEWORK: Continue reading the short stories: Amusements (pg. 54-The Trial of Thomas Builds-the-Fire, pg. 103).
Watch this episode of African Pantheons (Crash Course #11)--write your own legend, poem, myth or update an aspect of African Pantheons. If you can create something (creation ex nihilo) place your work in your portfolio.
This morning please take a look at the following videos. As you view, consider how all stories use mythology as their primal basis--can you think of tv shows/characters, movies, stories, books, or plays that echo some of the character types found in these myth cycles? For example:
- many stories we tell to each other as humans have to do with men creating, influencing, or shaping their world--and the problems that arise because of their use of power.
- Alternatively, many myths set up a conflict between opposite forces: male/female, gay/straight, fat/thin, short/tall, young/old, day/night, good/evil, father/mother, parent/child, etc. How might we interpret our dual nature as humans? How is this dualism found in our culture/traditions/identity?
- How are women and men drawn into conflict in these myths? What assumptions about gender do we notice in these myths? How does the myth cycle support the status quo or challenge our thinking about how we, as humans, ought to behave?
- Tricksters are an archetypical character. What contemporary or media characters are you aware of that fill the role of the trickster? What purpose do tricksters play in our culture/society?
Earth Mothers & Rebellious Sons: #4
Coyote and Raven, American Tricksters: Crash Course Mythology #22
Choose at least one of these bulleted topics and write a comment/answer to these questions on this blog post for participation credit.
In the event you finish early, feel free to work on your portfolio. Portfolios are due next week.
Period 2:
Lakota Creation Myth (short video) & Spokane Tribe (Children of the Sun)
Take 5-10 minutes to discuss the short stories you read (or read silently, aiming to complete your homework from last class...) Discuss:
- Interesting scenes/characters
- Themes
- Conflict
- Setting
- Writing style
- Beginnings, endings (of the stories and characters situations)
HOMEWORK: Continue reading the short stories: Amusements (pg. 54-The Trial of Thomas Builds-the-Fire, pg. 103).
Watch this episode of African Pantheons (Crash Course #11)--write your own legend, poem, myth or update an aspect of African Pantheons. If you can create something (creation ex nihilo) place your work in your portfolio.
Comments
A contemporary or media character that is a prevalent trickster is Bart Simpson from The Simpsons. Throughout the series Bart is seen playing tricks on many of the townspeople and his own family. In one of the earlier episodes, Bart plays a series of jokes on Homer after Homer does the same (however, Bart’s pranks land Homer in the hospital in a coma). Bart’s also been seen playing multiple pranks on his teacher and principal and there’s a running gag where Bart prank calls Moe the bartender. Tricksters are an interesting character in our culture/society, in that they are neither good, nor. They mainly play their tricks to amuse themselves, as well as us. It doesn’t come from a mean spirited place or from the trickster trying to intentionally be evil. They keep the audience on their toes, as we await the consequences of their trick and what’ll they’ll do next.
Growing up ive always been taught that god created man and etc. Men are portrayed as the dominant force that can handle anything that comes our way. even though women have been given power and rights men are still seen as the superior at all aspects
Our dual nature as humans can be influenced by fighting forces both outside and inside of us— many people face the internal struggles like deciding to work or play, to cheat in school or not, to be nice to someone we dislike or not. In general, humans are more complex than just one personality trait or driving force. This is combined with outside struggles, like battles against people or against stereotypes. For example, women are often looked at as weak, and unable to do as much as men. Men, on the other side, feel as if they can’t show emotion or anything that would make them “less of a man.” However, these stereotypes only hurt people, as no one will fit into one specific box. This, while existing on a global level, is especially prevalent in American culture.
The conflicts found in myths actually display the rampant dynamic between these forces, and how they illustrate these conflicts through the idea that these two opposing forces are too different to empathize. These dualism in these conflicts also represents certain prejudices and discrimination found within our society, rooted deeply in our own subconscious. For example, sexism is rampant in present society because of this idea that men are the more stronger, logical pair of the two, and thus this has oppressed women into "lesser" chores or jobs within our society. Dualism in society is found in the way our family structures work, and how we divide ourselves into subsections ourselves, allowing ourselves to be generalized into simple titles like race as a means to find identify for ourselves, and in exchange find our allies (people like us) and who would cause conflict for us (people who are fundamentally different).