Mythology

I once took an online class about Mythology, which was interesting but not what I was looking for. I wanted a class talking about specific mythology but this dealt with the concept of mythology in general.

My biggest take away from what the professor was teaching is that often we get in our heads that mythological stories only have one real version but the reality is that even during the time these stories were a big thing there were countless versions — basically, it’s all fiction. This means mythology can be whatever we want it to be.

I must admit this concept was fascinating because I remember being one of those people that set the stories of the Greek or Egyptian gods I learned in school as the only true versions and I would get annoyed when I heard alternate versions. I really had to change my mindset on this.

Funny enough, I see people have issues with different takes on mythology in current fiction. For example I know several people that hate the sparkly vampires from Twilight but here is the thing — vampires are not real. Any of us are able to create vampires however we want or need for a story and it is valid. So as much as you might hate the idea of sparkly vampires from Stephanie Myers they are as valid as the macabre vampires of Anne Rice.

Another thing that has come up was in 2014, Marvel Comics swapped genders of some of their super heroes, including Thor. I remember there was several people commenting online their displeasure over this change. Me personally, I thought it was great. These stories are pure fiction and can change so much from different artist and writer combinations that a gender or race swap doesn’t bother me.

So writers remember it’s all fiction and go nuts. Readers, remember it is all fiction and keep your mind open to changes. Because something has always been done one way doesn’t mean it always needs to be done that way.