It is striking how much stories told in modern entertainment today resemble ancient myths. And I don’t just mean Percy Jackson or the Thor movies. In most cases, the resemblance is abstract. But still unmistakeable.
Many character archetypes and motifs in modern stories are incredibly old. We’re all familiar with the chosen one, heroes slaying (sometimes many-headed) beasts and lost foundlings coming back to reclaim their place on the throne – or society. More specific tropes – think red weddings or hunger games – aren’t recent either. But they still hold a tight grasp over us, just as they did with ancient audiences.
Over the centuries, stories were retold again and again, tweaked a little (or a lot) and shared across cultures. But those passing them on knew what not to change. At their heart, ancient stories have remained the same; the tropes they use still feel enticing and relatable to us. Because we’re still the same humans after all.
On this blog, I’ll take a trip across eras and places to talk about such mythical tropes and how we still see them in today’s novels, movies, serials, video games and other art forms. What are the variations of these stories, and what makes their storytelling patterns so fascinating to us that they’ve worked for so long, and for so many (different) people?
More broadly, I will blog on anything and everything touched by ancient myth in our world today. For updates on blog posts and other fun stuff I’m doing, do subscribe to my newsletter. Happy reading!