Hawksmoor
Amazing Spiderfan
Having done a course on Heroic Age (ancient Norse, Viking and Old English) Poetry recently, I learned a lot about heroics and heroes.
The first documented in this tradition was Saint Christopher, the man who lifted the child Jesus across a stream; he commented that he had never lifted a boy so heavy, and the reason for that was that he had carried, for that brief moment, the collective weight of the world's sins.
The second, as far as we know, was Beowulf, the fictional Geatish warrior, who wielded the strength of thirty men in each palm, and in whom the blood of giants flowed (conjecture, true, but well-founded given his described stature and abilities).
There were, of course, many more before, ranging from the demigod Hercules, rewarded for his valour and might, or Prometheus, the anti-hero who stole fire from the Gods to aid the weak humanity.
Nowadays, the mythology is a little more complex; we have gods; demigods; aliens; humans enhanced by magic, metal or science; we have a plethora of heroes, in all tones of morality, from nearly as black as the evil they fight (Batman, Wolverine), to shining white moral hightowers (Captain America, Superman). We have all manner of shades of power, and ability.
My question is: why? Why have humans always needed the heroes, fictional protectors whose feats go beyond that of mere mortals? Why, as far back as documented civilization goes, have humans tried to create these fictional paragonic beings, whether it be in the physical, intellectual, or moral (but only rarely all three)?
Personally, I like to think it is because humanity, defined as the individual, the group, the mass culture, all simultaneously, lives in stories. We, as a species, invented narrative, and now need to find it within our lives; in the day-to-day, this need manifests in our fascination with coincidence, cliché, even religion (but this isn't the topic to go into that). Perhaps we need the stories, allegorical that they are, on at least some level, to remind ourselves of the divergence of humanity, and what it is to be human.
How about you guys?
The first documented in this tradition was Saint Christopher, the man who lifted the child Jesus across a stream; he commented that he had never lifted a boy so heavy, and the reason for that was that he had carried, for that brief moment, the collective weight of the world's sins.
The second, as far as we know, was Beowulf, the fictional Geatish warrior, who wielded the strength of thirty men in each palm, and in whom the blood of giants flowed (conjecture, true, but well-founded given his described stature and abilities).
There were, of course, many more before, ranging from the demigod Hercules, rewarded for his valour and might, or Prometheus, the anti-hero who stole fire from the Gods to aid the weak humanity.
Nowadays, the mythology is a little more complex; we have gods; demigods; aliens; humans enhanced by magic, metal or science; we have a plethora of heroes, in all tones of morality, from nearly as black as the evil they fight (Batman, Wolverine), to shining white moral hightowers (Captain America, Superman). We have all manner of shades of power, and ability.
My question is: why? Why have humans always needed the heroes, fictional protectors whose feats go beyond that of mere mortals? Why, as far back as documented civilization goes, have humans tried to create these fictional paragonic beings, whether it be in the physical, intellectual, or moral (but only rarely all three)?
Personally, I like to think it is because humanity, defined as the individual, the group, the mass culture, all simultaneously, lives in stories. We, as a species, invented narrative, and now need to find it within our lives; in the day-to-day, this need manifests in our fascination with coincidence, cliché, even religion (but this isn't the topic to go into that). Perhaps we need the stories, allegorical that they are, on at least some level, to remind ourselves of the divergence of humanity, and what it is to be human.
How about you guys?
) But this is actually by one of my all-time favorite authors, Neil Gaiman. The book is called "American Gods" and if follows the tale of a man by the name of Shadow who gets hired by a "Mr. Wednesday" as a sort-of personal assistant..... The key basis of the book is all of the old gods carried over here by our immigrant ancestors are still alive... they are old and not as powerful as they used to be, but they are still around. the old gods are facing a new threat of extenction by the new American Gods (credit card, computer, etc.) The fun part of this book is the vast past knowledge of ancient mythology that Gaiman brings together... he spans out across the anciet wold and take a little bit from each civilization, so he doesn't stay truly African or Roman or Greek or Norse.... there are many fansites to this book out there that like to go over all the people mentioned in the book and they try to figure out the Gods Gaiman mentions that he doesn't exprescelly say who they are. Today in fact, Neil Gaiman has released a sequal to this book called "Anasi Boys" which follows the tale of the African Spider God Anasi's offspring.