Mythology and Video Games. My return from a long Hiatus

     

Hello everyone!! it is a damn pleasure to be back. A lot has happened in my life in between my last post in 2014 and now 2021. So, I am excited to get back into some writing in my spare time and speak on some great topics. I will continue to review games going forward and speak on the intricacies of what they mean to me on a profound level. I am now married and have a child, so my time has been wild it is interesting to reflect on what I was doing then vs now. I would not change it for the world. Oh, wait, a global pandemic, who would have thought? A ton of accredited scientists apparently. No one listened and here we are still not listening as much as we should. Perhaps there is some validity in scientific thought. I digress, no need for me to project my common sense onto others.

Anyway, let us talk about going forward considering that is where we should be heading. I want to lay out my intent with this blog now that I am a "new and improved" person.

I am currently working on a degree in history so that I can teach one day. I have a passionate interest in mythology of all kinds from fables and Legends to true run-of-the-mill mythologies. I am very early in my mythological study, however, so I hope to broaden my horizons in how mythology has affected our overall trajectory as human beings from a historical standpoint. I think viewing video games with a mythological lens along with my own personal opinions through playing them, it will allow me to better understand their profound effect on human beings especially so in how they have affected me.

Historically, we have always relied on storytelling for a variety of reasons ranging from a purely entertainment standpoint to abstract concepts like teaching our children language, cultural origin, morality, or belonging. We often seek to learn lessons about ourselves and the world through the eyes of others told through mythological tales. They are an intricate facet of our existence, one that society often dismisses as pure fantasy. But I argue to the opposite of this and with more gusto than I would commonly muster. Mythology may have embellishments, but it also holds truth peppered across its varied pages. Storytelling originated to educate the generation preceding the storyteller to prepare them for the journey of life that they are about to face. The prescribed idea is that storytelling began with cave paintings and then once language began to develop oral traditions were the method for some time when on to written language from there, we hosted plays, from plays, we came to film, and from film, we came to video games. This of course is a shortened timeline of events in regard to mythology however it at least makes sense in my mind. I am sure there are various mediums of artistic representation in between that I left out but that path can be sought later.

Regardless of what the story attempts to communicate there is an overall pattern amongst mythologies particularly ones that involve individuals and the challenges they face. These stories have been studied often enough by people like Lord Raglan the hero: a study in tradition, myth, and dreams, sir James George Frazer in the golden bough, or my personal favorite Joseph Campbell in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. This pattern is known as the Hero Archetype coined by Joseph Campbell. This archetype follows a prescribed circular path one that can vary by the story but often follows a general path. We use this archetype in our storytelling even today. 

Lisa A. Paltz Spindler makes a wonderful diagram based on Joseph Campbell's theory

    So, after my very brief crash course into the world of mythological theory. Let me explain how this applies to video games. Whenever we write a story that involves a character who struggles with some external or internal pressure and somehow comes out of it a better or worse person. That is this mythological theme that we have been applying to our worldview for thousands of years. When Kratos in God of War learns to be a father after being a merciless god killer for Three games, When Shepherd in Mass Effect 2 dies and is reborn different than he/she was. Or even in a game like Skyrim where one creates a character, and you start as a prisoner about to be executed your past unknown to you and the dragon Alduin destroys the imperial fort and effectively thrusts you into an adventure. My point is this, as we establish narrative throughout my reviews, I challenge you, my readers to start looking at the videogames you play in this different light and you will see that they have a profound effect on our human nature and can certainly enlist us to do better in our lives and ascend beyond adversity. We are powerful, capable, and intelligent beings’ part of a collective narrative that stretches back to our very first ancestors. This lineage of existence is profound and has many layers that require us to look inward as well as outward to grow as human beings and I think video games are a very powerful medium for us to engage with these ancestors. Now to pull me out of the philosophical I also just love to talk about video games and their effect on me as a person and I hope to communicate that to all of you going forward.

I say play games for whatever reason you like be it entertainment, relaxation, or to find profound meaning and self-reflection. Whatever you play games for just remember their narrative, their very existence is in no small part thanks to our ancestors and their mythological tales.