Summary: Myths reflect how a people see themselves and their aspirations. Great peoples have great myths. We, early 21st C Americans, see our myths on the big screen, the spectacles of our day. They reveal much about our nature. It’s not a pretty picture. For example, see “Captain America: the Winter Soldier”. See links to other examples at the end.
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“We tell ourselves stories in order to live.”
— Joan Didion, The White Album (1979)
“People need stories, more than bread itself. They teach us how to live, and why. ”
— The master storyteller in the film “Arabian Nights” (2000)
“{M}yth supplies models for human behavior, and gives meaning and value to life.”
— Mircea Eliade in Myth and Reality (1963)
“A third function of mythology is to support the current social order, to integrate the individual organically with his group”
— Joseph Campbell in Masks of God: Occidental Mythology (1968)
“The rise and fall of civilisations in the long, broad course of history can be seen largely to be a function of the integrity and cogency of their supporting canons of myth; for not authority but aspiration is the motivator, builder, and transformer of civilisation. A mythological canon is an organisation of symbols, ineffable in import, by which the energies of aspiration are evoked and gathered toward a focus.
— Joseph Campbell in Masks of God: Creative Mythology (1968)
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Medieval peasants are the epitome of sheeple. They did what their monarchs commanded, deferring to the divine right of kings. Rebellion against the king was rebellion against God (e.g., Romans 13: 1 – 7). Both secular and religious leaders worked to convince the peasants that obedience was their lot in life.The world becomes a better place only in the indefinite future when Jesus comes.
Eventually the peons realized that together they were powerful, and the world changed.
Now we see this process in reverse. We have power, and a political structure allowing us to exercise that power. So our elites work to convince us that organizing is bad. Even the formal groups through which we exercise power are bad: unions are bad for their members, governments are corrupt and seldom effectual.
History shows these beliefs to be obviously false, the result of amnesia about our past. Much of the improvement in workers’ wages and conditions results from generations of union activism from 1880 – 1940. As for government, that’s bizarrely false. Oppressed people, from slaves in 1865 to same-sex couples today, have had achieved rights through government action. And America was built, literally, by government projects (see the classic explanation “The Myth of Rugged American Individualism“, Charles A. Beard, Harper’s, December 1931).
But erasing our knowledge of history is only the first requirement for reversing centuries of political evolution. A powerful citizenry becomes powerless individuals only when they see collective action as futile, or even corrupting. Cue our creative classes.
In our fiction, in all media, organizations are typically described as incompetent or corrupt. Or both. Heroes exist only as rebels, operating outside the system alone or in small groups. They’re exceptional. Usually alone, without family (except their fellow heroes, who compose pseudo-families). They have incredible abilities (all heroic girls were taught firearms by Dad). They run unscathed through gunfire. They’re often exceptionally moral, even under circumstances under which normal people would bend. They suffer.
They’re our hero-Jesus. Sent to save us, since we cannot save ourselves. We’re not like them. We’re the peons running amidst the battles, in which our only role is as collateral casualties.
We see all these elements in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”.
The end is quite mad. SHIELD, the great organization defending us against evil organizations, is proven corrupt. The regular people of SHIELD are, of course, helpless against both the corruption of the their leaders (who sought to dominate the world with its INSIGHT programs computers, satellite surveillance, and super-flying battleships) — and against the infiltrators of the super-baddies of HYRDRA.
And so the heroes-Jesus destroy SHIELD. Leaving us defenseless against the resurgent HYDRA.
At the end Nick Fury, hero extraordinary (but an incompetent and authoritarian Director) — legally dead, without any support — goes off alone to fight HYDRA.
It’s entertainment for sheep. Designed to amuse us, and re-enforce our self-image as helpless sheep (relieving our guilt at our passivity). We cheer.
Hollywood knows us. It’s a requirement of their business. But we can change, should we ever wish to do so.
For More Information
(a) Posts about heroes:
- A philosophical basis for the Batman saga, 23 July 2008
- The problem with America lies in our choice of heroes, 12 November 2010
- Robocop is not a good role model for the youth of Detroit, 12 March 2011
- We want heroes, not leaders. When that changes it will become possible to reform America., 11 January 2013
- Our choice of heroes reveals much about America, 2 June 2013
- The Lone Ranger tells us about America, 6 July 2013
- Are our film heroes leading us to the future, or signaling despair?, 28 October 2013
(b) Posts about myths and movies:
- Symptoms of a fever afflicting America’s culture, 5 November 2008 — Hollywood’s hero deficit
- Sources of inspiration for America’s renewal, 23 April 2009 — The Law of Equivalent Exchange
- Their Martyrs and Our Heroes, an essay by John Feffer, 8 August 2009
- Hollywood’s dream machine gives us the Leader we yearn for, 30 June 2013
- Loki helps us to see our true selves, 15 May 2013
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