How Myths Represent Society

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How Myths Represent Society and Culture.

Introduction

A myth can be defined as a traditional story that talks about the early history of a particular group of people and explains a social or natural phenomenon. Myths most of the time have to do with events or super natural beings. Myths are associated with beliefs that can be disputed as right of wrong and they play a significant role in helping us make sense of the experiences we go through in our culture. Myths are composed to help us understand and perceive the world better. As Baudrillard put, it mythical thoughts are systems of concepts with images embedded in them (Baudrillard,16) . Myths are systems of communication. A myth is a message that can be passed from a silent and closed existence to an oral state subject to misappropriation by the society. This means that anything can become a myth because as long as people talk about, it can become a myth. However for a myth to qualify as a myth, we have to give meaning to it. As such, the main function of a myth is to normalize culture. In essence, myths make dominant attitudes, historical and cultural values, and beliefs look natural, timeless, self-evident and obvious. Myths are a true reflection of how thing are in the society. Culture is defined as the abstract beliefs, values and perceptions existence in the world. Culture regards all that is learned, human-made, and transmitted through language. Culture is not something that we are born with; we learn it through the process of enculturation. Human beings subscribe to culture as a way of dealing with the basic problems they encounter in their struggle to survival including social, economic, geographical issues. Worth noting, successful cultures are not statics but rather dynamic; they change so as to adapt to the changing influences and circumstances.

All societies and cultures come up with and tell stories and myths since it creativity is an important aspect of human beings. Mythical stories that involve supernatural beings, legends, and folk role provide valuable insight about how think and perceive the world. Worth noting, even when society begins to think that its myths are not true explanations, these stories continue surviving showing how important cultural values are to human beings. As human beings, we are always seeking meaning. Our imagination faculty enables us become creative hence we think deeply think about religion and mythologies. Many works regarding human beings are based on religious and mythological backgrounds. Mythology has played a significant role in the cultural movements and civilization all through history. The purpose of this text is to demonstrate how myths represent society of culture. More specifically, the text uses myths as case studies to study society and culture. The text analyzes how myths demonstrate cultural and societal aspects about their origin. The text begins my talking about the origin and history of myths and proceeds to talk about the impact of culture on society. The text further addresses how myths establish gender by influencing of the Roles of Mens and Women in the Society.

Origin of the term Myth

The term myth dates can be traced back to the time of Ancient Greece. In Greek, muthos is a that takes the form of either a story, statement or plot of a play. The term muthologia was first used by Pluto to refer to the skill of telling stories. Among the Greeks, mythologies and stories including that of Perseus and Medusa, Oedipus and locaste, and Daphne are demonstrations of all the myths that have involve supernatural forces and gods, as is the example of the Oracle of Apollo determining the future of Oedipus (Norton, 75). These stories regarding gods are defined from rituals, a notion that has can be proved wrong if the myths are analyzed. Worth noting, there are other theories used to establish that the original meaning of the word myth is in allegory. As such, in this cases, myths are presented in an allegorical explanation based on natural phenomena as it would be represented using spiritual quantities or representation of Apollo. Spiritual qualities may be exemplified using figures of Aphrodite and Athens which represents desire and wise judgment respectively. Moreover, the origin of myth is explained by using Euhemerus interpretation, a Greek Euhemerus that established that gods were created from biographies of human beings.

The History of Myths

Worth noting, throughout history, myths were created, adopted, established and interiorized for various societies. Myths have always been present throughout history and they have been shaped as history advanced through time and this way, this contributes to the reinforcement and creation of culture. Since ancient Greece to date, myths have existed in countless societies, cultures, and civilizations. In many regions across the five continents, myths are still existent today. In South Sudan, Africa, the mythology of Dinka and Nuer is stiall alive today. The myth demonstrates how the father of these two made a promise that he would give Dink a cow and a calf to Nuer. However Dinka managed to deceive their father; he took the calf to perpetuate and provoke hate with Nuer to date. In this myth, there is clear case of rivalry between these two territories. Further, in the Somali culture, there exist a mythology that dates back to extensive history. Unlike the mythlogy of Dinka and Nuer in South Sudan, the myth has kept on transforming due to the growing Islamic religion.

In North America, mythology was ruled by Iroquois, Muskogean, and Anglongquian. Further, in Southern American regions, although there were many mythologies that existed in the various parts of the territory, the Incan mythology, had a great influence as it defined this region of Andes (Hodkinson, 99). There is a belief that in the myth of Viracocha, and the creation of humanity, a god came from the seas and created living beings. In Asian, culture, there exist a Buddhist mythology who ruled and still rules southern part of Asia. The section is characterized by Yaksha myths, natural spirits and a meditation diety called the Yidam. On the contrayc, Chinese mythologyies are very different from Buddist mythologies. Chinese mythologies are complex. The myths found in China range from wind, lightning, thunder rain, epidemics, medicine, water, and even exorcism. Further Chinese mythologies also have to do with mysteries about creatures like birds, fish, animal and mammalian animals. Furthermore., around Europe, myths also have their roots in Ancient Greece juts like other myths, Classical antiquity sets the stage for mythologies although it strictly has to do with religious beliefs. Roman mythologies took over the Eurpoean geography . The famous myth of Lucretia is said to have overthrown the early monarchy and also set stage for the Roman Republic. This shows that myths were not only used in everyday to demonstrate culture but also within political spaces. Despite Ancient Mythology setting stage for European mythologies in general, other mythologies within the territory outdid and exceeded the Ancient world such as the Sami mythology in the northern part of Finland and the Basque Lamiaks myth. During the medieval times, English mythology went through a great transformation after many paths were established and spread within the society. The rest of the European territory at the time were also transformed and even today, new myths keep persisting as is the case of Slavic Maslenitsa and Catalan Sant Jordi. Since the days of Classical Antiquity till date, mythology have encountered great series of transformation ranging from religious deities to demonstrating the prowess of knights and kings, to modern myths.

Impact of Culture on Society

Culture is Shaped through Myths

According to Abraham Lincoln, myths are discourse to be employed in a manner that suggests ancenstral invocations. As a result, myths are the key to various countless rooms inhibited by its figures, history, societies, politics, and psychological understanding. The myth of Dink and Nuer represents the political relations between two individuals but it also calls for a specific level of social integration (Christensen, etal 66). Culture is perceived to be a whole complex regarding traditional behavior developed by human beings and is transmitted to other generation through learning. Culture is a characteristics of given social groups defined the similar elements such as language, art, and religion. Since the ultimate use of myths id to make culture natural by making the aspects of history that seen dominant natural. Through the process of repeating the same authoritarian story it becomes established in society and maintains it as a regular custom. The notion behind this is that anyone who feels an attachment towards a certain moment could also be attached to others that also encounter the same connection. Notably, a tool is not only employed for telling stories or a s a device to convey information; it is also used as a discursive action employed to evoke sentiments out of which society is constructed actively.

Toys in Understanding the Reality of Adulthood.

The example of toys can be used as an example to show the process of giving meaning to signs to transform them into myths. By reflecting about toys and plastic, realizes they are usually a simplified version of reality. They are used to reflect reduced reality simplified to suit the their needs for understanding. Toys particularly in the French context have a meaning. Toys are a symbol of something that has been socialized and constituted by techniques or myths in modern life. In essence, toys, depict a representation of the everyday lives of adults but in a reduced form to suit the understanding of children. The idea is that toys are representations of life for instance, if a doll urinates, it shows girls and socializes them into becoming housewives who are going to be taking care of children. To some extends it trains children on their gender roles within a given community. Dolls prepare children for future gender roles they are meant to performs in the community. Children will use the French toys to create life and take possession of its representation. The difference between wooden and plastic toys is that the first is characterized by durability and strength while plastic lacks essence or substance. In line with mythical readings, plastics highlight a myth of imitation since it serves to imitate materials and objects. As such, it substitutes bother matter and substance hence eliminating hierarchy of substances.

How Myths Establish Gender

Gender is defined as the socially imposed behaviors and attributes that are assigned to feminine and masculine categories. Gender forms a key element in the establishment of a society despite being characterized by inequalities and power struggles. Worth noting, gender inequalities and hierarchies are maintained using belief systems and beliefs that are in turn reproduced through representation. These representations include images, social practices languages and they possess a symbolic dimension. Representation is vital as it establishes perception of women and men in the society. These representations design media through language and images that stand for someone or something and create meaning just like myths. It is important to note that misrepresentation leads to hegemonic patriarchy where the male gender is dominant and the female is submissive. This pattern still persists today in advanced capitalist democracies where the media plays a significant role maintaining patriarchy by preserving and sustaining gender ideologies. Media institutions are therefore ideological tools used to reproduce capitalist, patriarchal and sexist content used in influencing individuals and shaping society.

Myths have an Influence of the Roles of Mens and Women in the Society.

In various societies, women and men are assigned specific roles to perform with the society. Society is established and maintained using various roles undertaken by men and women that influence social patterns. In most societies, women are socialized to carry out reproductive and domestic roles that are easier to execute while men on the other hand are expected to carry out the more difficult task of working to provide and protect their family. Within capitalist societies, men are the dominant gender and this is as a result of patriarchy, also commonly regarded as male dominance. It is hard to eliminate male dominance as societies have elements that reinforce it. The mythology of ‘Novels and Children’ is an uttermost expression of gender. The magazine ties adventures of literature art to pillars through expressing women as beings used to create art of life. The belief that women can be strong and creative comes with a price. It is unfortunate that the role assigned to the female gender has not always been positive. For many centuries even in the contemporary society, women are subject to male domination. Further, within societies of hegemonic nature, women have limited rights and they have little to say; they cannot vote, or participate in politics (MacKenzie, 102). Furthermore, women are intentionally excluded from activities in the public sphere and lack access to vital institutions such as politics, education, and labor market. Women are prohibiting from partaking in activities that involve men. Myths create a system where women are controlled both collectively and indirectly. The control of women takes place with the structures of the state, cultural institutions heterosexuality, male violence and household production. Femininity is centered on the compliance of women with accommodation and subordination and accommodation of women’s interest. In short, women are subject to men’s service. On the other hand, men are also assigned roles that are reinforced by patriarchy. Myths paint the picture that men are intelligent and adept and rational beings and are strong mentally, socially and physically. Men are viewed as tough, ambitious competitive and assertive when it comes to work. Worth noting, sexual drive is the constant factor in masculinity. The myth regarding women follows that they are supposed to be sexually chaste and innocent and are said to want commitment and love while the myth of men suggest that men are characterized by the strong sexual desire they need to become satisfied. Moreover, the sexual performance of men has been associated with dominance and violence here mostly, women are the ones that fall victim to their aggressive actions as demonstrated in the examples of pornography which is perceived less explicitly in Hollywood.

Myth of the Hero

The culture of dominance by men and women is well grounded in contemporary culture. The myth of a hero is linked with books, television shows, films among others. In romantic novels, the male hero is seen being hostile, cynical and mocking the heroine and the reason behind this that he loves her. The assertion behind the masculinity is that the reader interprets the male dominance o be as result of his growing love for the heroine. As such, this further reinforces female subjection and masculine superiority because his tyrannical actions can be justified as a reaction to a good feeling or action. However, the hero, as opposed to being a hostile figure that despises women, he is a player and a seducer. He is a man of action show saves omen from the dark and fights against evil. Notably, this is also the case in James Bond movies. James bond, by Flemings is a call towards the triumph and male supremacy. The hero in most cases is a man, and is viewed as the elegant male that is clever strong, intelligent and active.

Conclusion

A myth is a message that can be passed from a silent and closed existence to an oral state subject to misappropriation by the society. This means that anything can become a myth because as long as people talk about, it can become a myth. Culture is defined as the abstract beliefs, values and perceptions existence in the world. Culture regards all that is learned, human-made, and transmitted through language. All societies and cultures come up with and tell stories and myths since it creativity is an important aspect of human beings. Mythical stories that involve supernatural beings, legends, and folk role provide valuable insight about how think and perceive the world. Toys particularly in the French context have a meaning. Toys are a symbol of something that has been socialized and constituted by techniques or myths in modern life. Toys, depict a representation of the everyday lives of adults but in a reduced form to suit the understanding of children. Gender inequalities and hierarchies are maintained using belief systems and beliefs that are in turn reproduced through representation. In various societies, women and men are assigned specific roles to perform with the society. Society is established and maintained using various roles undertaken by men and women that influence social patterns.

Bibiligraphy

Baudrillard, Jean. The consumer society: Myths and structures. Sage, 2016.

Christensen, Tom, Per Lægreid, and Kjell Arne Røvik. Organization theory and the public sector: Instrument, culture and myth. Routledge, 2020.

Hodkinson, Paul. Media, culture and society: An introduction. Sage, 2016.

MacKenzie, John M. “Heroic myths of empire.” Popular imperialism and the military 1850–1950. Manchester University Press, 2017.

Norton, Rictor. Myth of the modern homosexual: Queer history and the search for cultural unity. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016.