Welcome to Folklore and Mythology: The Intro

As I've been pursuing the Internet over the past few weeks, I keep coming back to mythology and folklore. If there's one culturally universal "thing" that all humans seem to enjoy, it's a good story. From fairy tales to ghost stories, religious text and mythology to tall tales, everyone seems to have a story to tell.

Stories that are remembered and retold can say a lot about a culture. They often contain elements that are important to the culture that story was written in. Most of these stories have a lesson that the protagonist and reader learn together. Then again, these stories might not have any point at all and simply show how a culture tells a story.

I especially love the folklore and fairy tales that are about mysterious magical creatures that challenge the protagonist. I loved hearing about Baba Yaga, the Kappa, and the Jersey Devil and how the hero would escape encountering these creatures. They were fantastical and mesmerizing, but also frightening. These stories taught young me how to be brave and that there are different ways to fight an opponent that I'm no match for.

This is a type of Tengu (according to Google)

Ghost stories often encompass a culture's history. I first got into hearing ghost stories by watching Haunted History on the (used-to-be) History Channel. The show would pick a city or state and tell spooky stories about select locations. They'd include an explanation of the culture of the time and why someone would take the actions that they took in the context of the story. Young me enjoyed learning history with a slightly spooky edge. It made things interesting.

Mythology is everywhere in our modern culture. The third Thor movie just came out and there were a lot of (incorrect) references to Norse mythology. One of the top movies of this past summer, Wonder Woman, was (if you squinted) all about Greek and Roman mythology. Several TV shows incorporate mythology into their story lines such as Jackie Chan Adventures (Chinese), Xena Warrior Princess (Greek), Lucifer (Christian), and Supernatural (pretty much everything under the sun).

I couldn't conclude this post without mentioning the books that often introduce kids to these stories. Percy Jackson is probably the best known series right now, but I was introduced to these mythologies and folklore through Fruits Basket, Asterix, The Immortal Diaries of Nickolas Flamel, and Harry Potter.

So over the next few weeks, I'm going to be looking at different folklore and mythologies and how they have influenced, reflected back, and changed with modern culture (particularly American and western culture). I want to see if some stories are truly universal, such as Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast are often claimed to be.

Disney has created a whole franchise dedicated to fairy tales.

I am doing this because we are a people who love stories and how better to learn people than by listening to their stories.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Please let me know in the comments if there is a specific folklore or mythology you'd like me to look at.

Welcome to Movie Magic

It's been a movie marathon weekend for me. I started with treating myself by seeing "Thor" in theaters Friday night. I spent Saturday watching calming children's movies like "Song of the Sea" and "Muppet Treasure Island". Today, my friend, Krystle, and I have been enjoying our Halloween movie marathon part 2 (several weeks after Halloween, but hey I love watching Halloween movies any time of the year).

Picture from "Metropolis"

The movies have a magic all their own. They tell us stories about romance, fantasy, superheroes, historical events, and tragedy. There's action that gets our hearts racing. There's epic music that helps us empathize with the characters' emotions.

If books nourish our imagination, then movies allow us to see the imaginary as reality.

The first movie I remember seeing in theaters was "The Lion King". It was big and epic.  I remember how awesome it felt to see that movie on the big screen. My young mind was blown.  (I also might have fallen asleep right before the end.)

Movies, much like books, can teach us important lessons and influence how we see the world.

I finally understood what death was while watching "Little Women" with my mother when I was three or four years old. My mother loved "Little Women" and would take every opportunity to watch the movie whenever she could. She enjoyed having me watch it with her...until Beth died.  I experienced an epiphany.  I realized how permanent death was and that one day mommy and daddy would die. My poor mother spent the next few hours trying to console me and get me to stop hysterically crying. I remember my dad coming home completely confused.

I've never been able to watch "Little Women" ever since.

There's a great tradition of passing stories down from one generation to the next. Whether the story is told orally, is written down, or is up on the big screen doesn't matter. Parents and guardians love sharing their favorites with their children.

My parents love watching movies with me. 

My dad would watch "Star Wars", "The Goonies", and every Disney movie available with me while he worked on his trains in our basement. I don't know if I would have ever seen half the movies I have without him. Whenever I go to visit him, we watch movies. Our favorites are usually old war movies like "The Dirty Dozen" and "Kelly's Heroes".

My dad was also responsible for me becoming afraid of spiders after talking me into watching "Arachnophobia" when I was five. I had really liked spiders up until that point in my life. The movie pretty much killed my interest in them.

My mom introduced me to a lot of black and white movies like "Some Like it Hot", "The Thin Man", and pretty much every Carry Grant and Betty Davis movie ever made. She got me into fast-talking comedies with strong women characters like in "His Girl Friday" and "A Philadelphia Story". It did take me a lot longer to warm up to these movies (young me thought that only movies in color were worth watching for a long time), but once I did, I fell in love with film noir.

I'm not saying that movies are a better medium than books or audio or stage plays. Just that movies have a special place in my heart and tell entertaining stories. They aren't always good, but then some books aren't good.

While typing up this blog post, Krystle and I have been watching "Psycho". Krystle has never seen "Psycho" and might be one of the few people who had no idea what the twist ending was. I enjoyed listening to her theorize and speculate on what would happen next and who the psycho was. Her reactions to the dramatic moments were priceless and I got a real kick out of her gasping at the sudden changes in music when a murder was occurring.

We're moving on to the 1939 version of "Dracula". This should be fun (insert evil cackle).

The magic movies possess is wondrous and unique. We feel so many emotions while watching the story play out. We root for our favorite characters and sometimes hope the ones we hate die horribly (especially the annoying teenagers in slasher movies). We bond over our favorite movies and laugh at the bad ones.

One of my favorite quotes about movies comes from the Disney Channel Original Movie "Phantom of the Megaplex". Mickey Rooney's character tells the two main children that movies are a magical experience, even after children grow up and learn that there's very little that's truly magical in our world. It's a quote that has always stuck with me and thinking back on it makes me smile.

"When we arrive in this world, magic is all around us. You simply have to see a baby discover a butterfly or a toddler splash in the bath for the first time. Yet, as the years pass, simple pleasures aren't quite so simple to find. Myths and legends fall away. Santa's secrets are revealed. Card tricks lose their fascination. True wonder is hard to come by. But there's always... magic at the movies. Pirate ships, bicycles that fly, angels earn their wings, beautiful women marry handsome men and we all learn there's no place like home. To destroy that magic, to shatter those moments to me is a sin so grave it would almost be incomprehensible! If there truly is a phantom, my friends, I assure you it most definitely is not me"

Until next week!

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Welcome to the Many Different Cultures of the United States

So I wasn’t able to post anything last week. I was kind of in the middle of nowhere Oregon without an Internet connection to be found. It was kind of nice being so disconnected from the rest of the world while I was exploring the Pacific Northwest US. I’d never been there before and it was very different from anywhere else I’d ever been, especially in the United States.

I feel a bit silly admitting this, but I tend to forget that the United States isn’t one uniform cultural identity. When it comes down to it, each state is really it’s own country with its own culture and identity. The federal government is just a glue that holds all 50 states (plus several territories) in place on an international scale.

When I see the US portrayed on TV or in movies, it sometimes feels like the US has one umbrella culture with smaller cultures that branch out. As I’ve traveled in the US more and more, I’m finding this isn’t the case at all.

Sunset on the beach

I was born and raised in Northern Virginia. I will always love my home state and be extremely biased towards it. I love every inch of the state, from the hustle and bustle of DC, to the quiet tranquility of the Shenandoah, from the tidewater basin in Norfolk to the western mountains. Virginia is awesome!

And it’s definitely not New Jersey.

I might have experienced a little culture shock when moving from Maryland to New Jersey. Yeah, Maryland is it’s own state, but it’s not too different from Virginia and they share a lot of similarities (though Baltimore is still one of the most fun cities I have ever been to while DC is decidedly not). New Jersey is its own entity.

There are very few places that feel like the middle of nowhere in New Jersey. Everything feels like it’s on top of everything else. It’s a lot more aggressive than Virginia and there’s hardly any military presence to speak of.

Despite being an American, I have been to woefully few states in the US. I’ve been to almost every state on the eastern seaboard, but hardly any in the middle of the country (unless you count brief layovers in airports). All in all I’ve been to roughly 20 different states that I remember and actually explored. Oregon being the latest.

Oregon was laid back, big, full of nature, and adventure. For the record I wasn’t anywhere near Portland, so I can comment on the city life, but the rural areas felt remote and disconnected from the rest of the country. A lack of Internet access was both challenging and relieving (and it wasn’t because the CIA had set up a dead zone).

In the redwood forest!

I think the oddest thing I saw in Oregon was a sign demanding the return of a stolen cannon. Why the heck would someone steal a cannon? You can own a cannon? How does someone steal a cannon?

I think the only time I’ve seen a cannon is at the Colonial and Civil War re-enactment areas along the east coast.

Hawaii in particular is very different from the lower 48. I felt like I was going to a foreign country, I just didn’t need a passport to get there. I’d like to go back and experience more of Hawaiian culture and see the other islands.

The US is vast and is a mesh of many different cultures. There isn’t just one America. There are many. Parts have a high population density, while in some parts you might not see another human for hundreds of miles.

There are some areas where you need to talk fast and loud to be heard and other areas where people speak slowly, with a lot of thought behind their words. There are states where guns are a way of life and others where people might look at you funny for owning one. The military might be a big part of the economy and in others people might never see a tank going down the highway (yep I’ve seen that on 95).

The US is big and I haven’t seen or experienced nearly enough of it. Each state is unique and so are the people living there. We might present ourselves as one identity, but in reality we are many countries united despite our differences.

It's an amazing place to explore.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you like hearing from me.

Until next week.