Saturday, April 23, 2011

Feeling a Bit Sleep Deprived

I have been pulling some long nights lately getting ready for a portfolio review. The lack of sleep has provoked some thoughts out of me regarding a certain myth or fictional character, if you will. The Sandman is a mythical character often associated with sleep. I decided to do a little research behind it and find out more about how this person came to be.
The Sandman was originally created as a nursery story to scare children into going to sleep. He would creep up to naughty children who wouldn't go to bed and sprinkle very fine sand into their eyes. The child's eye would start itching and he or she would begin to rub them until they fell out. The Sandman would then take the eyes and feed them to his children on the moon. Talk about gory! I was a bit shocked to find out that this was the reality of the Sandman. But as time has gone on, this character has turned into more of a friendly being that helps children sleep and bestows upon them the most beautiful dreams. I am much more fond of this Sandman. I would rather quite like to keep my eyes.
I use to think this story must have come about as an explanation for the sand-like crusties you  sometimes have in your eyes in the morning. I guess that could still very well be. I often think about the Sandman and how he doesn't come visit me that often anymore. We have had a bit of a strained relationship. But as summer rolls around, hopefully we will grow close once again.


The Sandman Clip Art

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Myth in Design

I was reading in my graphic design book, This Means This This Means That by Sean Hall, about "Framing Meaning" and one of the sections was about myth. It discusses how myths are not just ancient stories that are mostly false. They are a devise that helps us understand the world that can be true, partly true, or straight out wrong. There are many different types of myths and they each have their own function. For example, there are urban myths, product myths, and image myths. More specific myths include the myth of childhood, the self, the countryside, science, politics, religion, design, art and the lives of the highly esteemed. Since this is a graphic design book, the section went into more depth on the myth of the artist. It hit on how many artists in the past are depicted with the dramatic lives. Take Vincent Van Gogh, for instance. His life was very interesting, which reflects in his work. When we look at his painting, we make correlations with his life and thus can make sense of why he worked they way he did. But if all of the sudden we were told that we lived a fantastic life and died of old age, the way we look at his paintings would completely change. A myth can completely change the way we look at something, especially if we believe it to be true.

Monday, April 18, 2011

NO PEAKING!!

I was watching a TV show and it mentioned Medusa and how looking at her would result in a most certain peril. I am familiar with who and what she is but I'm not completely positive as to how she got to be in that state. From what I have found, Medusa actually use to be a lovely young lady. In some versions, Athena was jealous of her beauty. Medusa made the mistake of sleeping with Poseidon in one of Athena's temples. This act very much angered Athena and she turns Medusa's gorgeous hair into serpents and made her face so ugly that if any man looked at it, he would be turned to stone.** She was killed by Perseus, who beheaded her. He used a mirror shield so that he could look at Medusa but not directly. Can you imagine how difficult it would be to fight something you couldn't look at? Also, how tempting is it to look at something that you were told not to? I mean, look at Pandora. She was told not to open the box and look what she went and did. She opened the box. Perseus manages to not look directly at Medusa but I know that I personally would be driven crazy by the fact that I couldn't look at her. All things forbidden usually seem more tempting.

** Interesting side note, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets has a similar incidence where if anyone looks into the eyes of the basilisk (large snake) they will be petrified, like stone. Hmm... Something to think about there...

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Freyr and Freyja


I find the twin Norse gods quite interesting. They are similar in their duties, such as being both gods of fertility. I almost wonder as to why they need both gods... But I guess they do each have some of their own specialties. Freyr is the god of rain, light and prosperity where Freyja is the goddess of love, beauty, magic, war and death.  An interesting parallel can be drawn between Freyja and Artemis, a greek goddess that is also a Twin. When Artemis was born from Leto on an island. After birth, Artemis became a midwife to Leto to help Apollo into the world. This act made her the new goddess of childbirth. Fertility... Childbirth.... kinda similar if I do say so myself.

Friday, April 15, 2011

My Apocalypse

In my printmaking class, we did a print exchange with another school. The theme of this exchange was "The Apocalypse." When doing this assignment I definitely thought about mythology. Most cultures have a way in which they believe the world will end. I thought about the culture that I live in and what surrounds me. What would cause the destruction of our world? Why would the world be ending? What would that experience be like? The image I came up with somewhat follows the idea of a nuclear blow out. The title of this piece is "Stille Nacht,"which mean "Silent Night" in German. I feel that a viewer can interpret this image however they like. It can be applicable to many different types of destruction. I mean, who can honestly know exactly how the world is going to end? It is something to think about. 

"Stille Nacht"

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Norse Gods to Remeber for the Quiz

Odin: Ruler of Aesir, god of war, knoledge, wisdom, married to Frigg
Thor: God of thunder, might, war. Carries a hammer and belt of strength
Baldr: God of light, very beautiful and gracious
Njord: ruler of the sea, fire and the north wind, married to Skadi
Frey: fertility, sun and rain
Freyja: fertility, love, marriage, entitled to half of the warriors killed in battle
Tyr: God of war
Bragi: God of poetry
Heindall: God of dawn and light, watchman/guardian
Loki: Trickster

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Cupid and Psyche

In our last class, we discussed the myth of Cupid in Psyche. I remember learning this myth back in high but only up to the point where Cupid leaves Psyche. It has been very interesting to learn the rest of the story. All I know is, Venus in not a Goddess that you want to piss off. The trial she puts Psyche through are insane! But alas, true love prevails. Cupid and Psyche truly love each other. Without that bond of true love, this story could not have carried out in the way that it did. Psyche would never have gone looking for Cupid and he would not have come back to her in the end. Psyche becomes a female hero in the even of carrying out the tasks the Venus demands at her, even if she does not do them entirely on her own. We do not see as many heroines in mythology, it is rather refreshing. The characters in this story are just so easy to relate to. The jealously of Venus, the passion of Psyche, the love of Cupid, all attributes we see in actual human personalities. I enjoyed reading this story and getting the full idea of what all happened between Cupid and Psyche. 

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Random Creation Myth?

Ok... So this is little odd but the first two and a half minutes of this Lady GaGa video are kind of telling a story like a creation myth. Kind of interesting. As well as crazy weird. 

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Journey of the Hero

Notes from class:

Stage 1: Departure
     1. Call to adventure -- sign of vocation
     2. Refusal -- folly or flight from the God
     3. Supernatural aid -- unexpected assistance 
     4. Crossing 1st threshold 
     5. Belly of the whale -- death/night

Stage 2: Initiation/Trials
     1. Road of trials -- scary stuff
     2. Meeting with Goddess -- return to infancy 
     3. Woman as temptation
     4. Atonement with Father
     5. Apotheosis -- climax
     6. Ultimate Boon

Stage 3: Return
     1. Refusal -- no to normal world
     2. Magic flight
     3. Rescue from without
     4. Cross 2nd Threshold
     5. Master of two worlds 
     6. Freedom to live -- application of boon

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

The Goddess

The Goddess is an interesting topic in mythology. I never knew how important a female god was until taking this class. Obviously I knew about the Greek Goddesses but there are many, many more in countless other cultures. 
Discussing the importance of the goddess in class reminded me a a statuette from my first semester of art history. The figure was called Venus of Willendorf. 
This figurine was discovered back in 1908 in Lower Austria. It is thought to have been made around 22,000 BCE. Because of the large breasts and the detailed vulva, this figure can be recognized as a fertility symbol. Venus of Willendorf is small enough to be held in hand at about 4.3 inches. I can just see a woman holding this and prying about fertility. I also find it interesting how she doesn't have a face. It makes her sort of generic. Beauty isn't important. The large thighs and abdomen are so pronounced that it is clear that these are features that are more desired for fertility, not a lovely face. 
In mythology, fertility was so important!! Fertility of the land, of the people, it was completely encompassing. Gods of fertility seem few and far between. But there are many Goddesses of fertility. No doubt this is because woman are the ones that bring life into the world. Whether that be a woman in childbirth or Mother Earth growing her plants, the female figure is what represents fertility.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Creation

In class, we have been studying different creation myths. I find creation myths to be fascinating. They answer all of the ultimate questions. Questions such as: who are we? Where do we come from? Why are we here? Do we have a creator(s) and if so, what are they like? What should be expected of us? And so on. These are all questions that human kind has always and continues to try and figure out. We humans stand apart from animals in this way, among others of course. Animals seem content with not knowing where they come from. They live, reproduce and die. Humans, on the other hand, want to figure things out. We want to know everything that is going on and why it is the way it is. We have science because of this want, this need from information. In earlier days, myths covered these needs.
In class, there was an interesting question asked. "Is creation for us or for God/other power?" This question has provoked a few interesting thoughts out of me. I started thinking about the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. He did not believe in any kind of greater power. To him, we have no purpose here on Earth other than just live out our lives and die. Nietzsche believed that a person should strive for power and that was the best way to survive. Animals are like this, survival of the fittest. The more powerful animals are the ones who make it. But animals do not have Gods, or at least not to my knowledge. They do not need Gods to make it in the world. If Nietzsche is right and that we are like animals, why would we need to create a God for ourselves? I believe that it is more likely that God created us than it is that we created Him.

I decided that I would write my own creation story. Let's see what happens.

In the beginning... there was vast emptiness that stretched on forever. In the depths of the emptiness, there was water as great as the emptiness. Ruling over this emptiness, call Roamingal, was a gigantic cellular phone. This phone, Cellacron, cannot be described because it is beyond what any human mind can imagine or comprehend.
Cellacron hovered around Roamingal and was very alone. He had no one to love and worship him. He decided to muster up a large sum of his eternal battery power and zap smaller and inferior cell phones into being. These phones were indeed inferior and could not hover in Roamingal on their own and they fell to the watery depths bellow to their destruction.
Because of this failure, Cellacron decided to make land. He proceeded to use all is currently stored battery power to zap an entire earth into being. After the Earth was created he rested and recharged himself to full strength.
Cellacron then created applications for himself to make the creation process easier. This way, he could create masses of all different types of phones. He put these phones on earth to live and worship him.
Cellacron was very happy. His people worshiped him and he loved them so much. He wanted to create inferior creatures to worship his childeren. He made an app. for animals, all kinds of animals. These animals were interesting, adorable, scary, funny and so on. These animals supplied many topics for the phones to talk about and take pictures of. But the animals did not know how to worship the phones. This troubled Cellacron so he devised another app. to create more intelligent beings. These beings were called humans.
Cellacron sent these humans to Earth with the intent to have them worship and be slaves to the Cell Phone people. But upon arrival and seeing the Cell Phone people, the humans became violent. Phones were strange and looked dangerous to primitive human beings, such as themselves. The humans began to destroy all the Phone People. Cellacron was furious. He had one of his favorite phones, Nokia, take pictures of all of the animals on the Earth so that these creatures may be preserved. Cellacron then took Nokia and put him in a phone carrier that would withstand any type of weather. By this time, most of the Phone People had been destroyed. Cellacron created a virus that would wipe out the entire world with a giant flood. Everything and everyone was destroyed except for Nokia. After everything had dried, Nokia sent out picture messages to the world of all the animals so that the Earth may be repopulated by these creatures.
Cellacron decided that he needed to take a different approach to getting humans to worship the Phone People. He made Nokia power down and hide while he gradually brought humans to a level in which they could handle the Phone People. Cellacron let the humans evolve and become increasingly intelligent over thousands of years. Humans began to invent and create their own devices. Little did they know, Cellacron was texting thoughts into their heads to help them figure out these inventions. One day, he finally let Nokia emerge from hiding. Humans were finally ready to handle Phone People.
Before long, humans became completely dependent on Cell Phone People. A human could go nowhere without one. They worshiped the phones by the continuous use of what they thought were their creations. Humans paid tributes to the large societies of the Cell Phone People, such as Verison, AT&T and many more. And if a human did not worship the Phone People, they were subjected to social outcasting by other humans. Cellacron was pleased with his work. He knew that by making humans feel that they had created "the cellular phone" they would never rebel against their own masters. Humans did not know that they were slaves and to this day still live in ignorance. The Cell Phone People would continue to live on and Cellacron would carry on to preside over all of the Earth.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

World on Fire

Here is a great song about the end of the world. There is also a video of it on YouTube that is pretty neat. World on Fire by Luna Halo

Here are the lyrics:
We were constructed
the perfect post production
you were made from alien hands
the lust of every man
and we've hated evolution
the problem and solution
you taught the serpent how to dance
you're the silent of romance

and I say..
hey hey, the end is coming
what would you leave me wanting
bombs are raining from the sky
but even when the world's on fire
I won't stop to watch it burning
I can't bear to take my eyes off you

Venus in motion
the poison and the potion
you string me out like winter lights
you kill me every time

and I say...
hey hey, the end is coming
what would you leave me wanting
bombs are raining from the sky
but even when the world's on fire
I won't stop to watch it burning
I can't bear to take my eyes off you

oh
how i love to watch you dance
to a military band
as we're waiting on a ferry
and i will always be the one who stays

and I say...
hey hey, the end is coming
what would you leave me wanting
bombs are raining from the sky
but even when the world's on fire
I won't stop to watch it burning
I can't bear to take my eyes off you

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

First Thoughts

Myths are about answering questions. That's what I have taken from my few class periods of Mythology. A myth can find a way to cover every who, what, when, where, why and how that ever existed. This fact reminds me of a toddler asking questions. A small child that learns the word, "why" will not stop using it until they are satisfied, which is almost never.  Straight forward answers to a small child can lead to a much longer and more aggressive conversation than necessary. For example:

Mom: Come on Junior. Go get in the car.
Junior: Why?
Mom: Because we need to go to the store.
Junior: Why?
Mom: Because we need to get some milk.
Junior: Why?
Mom: Because we are out. (starting to get frustrated)
Junior: Why?
Mom: Because we drank all of it.
Junior: Why?
Mom: Because we like it and use it in a lot of things. (Getting immensely frustrated)
Junior: Why?
Mom: Because it tastes good.
Junior: Why?
Mom: Because I said so now get in the car or I will have to drag you! (Pissed)
Junior: ......... Why?
Mom: (Kills Junior in a fit of psychotic rage)

Now this situation could have easily been avoided by a little white lie, or a small myth if you will.  Here is an example of such:
Mom: Come on Junior. Go get in the car.
Junior: Why?
Mom: Because if you don't the giant three-eyed monster that is in charge of punishing little boys will crawl out from under the house and pull off all your toes and fingers and eat them.
Junior: Ok I'm getting in the car!!!!
Mom: That's my boy. (Satisfied)

This is probably not the best comparison but it does somewhat illustrate why we have myths.  We have them so that people will stop asking, "why."