Mythology as Exoticized Plot
When we talk about the intersections of mythology and popular culture, there are two ways we can approach it. The first is looking at how mythology is represented in popular culture, and the second the way popular culture is mythology. On this website - on this blog - we talk a lot about the second. The entire name of Incidental Mythology is based on this understanding of popular culture - our popular culture is our mythology incidentally. Pop culture narratives that draw on mythology directly is purposeful. We have, of course, covered some elements of this. I talked previously about the Wild Hunt in both folklore and the Witcher, and we also explored the different presentation of the Wendigo in popular culture in comparison to how it’s understood in Native American folklore.
Today, I want to return briefly to the first approach rather than the second. I don’t spend a lot of time here, but I think it’s important to return to every so often. One of the things I see the most when it comes to the representation of mythology in popular culture is a kind of exoticisation - a romanticised form of the original. So let’s talk about mythology as an exoticized plot device.
Particularly, I’m thinking of a few mythologies here. Norse mythology has more recently had it’s role as a central focus on the plot in contemporary popular culture narratives, including video games like God of War. Individual characters from Native American mythology, like the Wendigo, are brought out in pieces, often disconnected from their original contexts, and brought to white Western audiences as something exotic and scary.
God of War’s Norse Mythology
In his book Orientalism, Edward Said talked about the exoticisation of the East, and particularly of Arab cultures which he dubbed as ‘Orientalism’. Orientalism is the exaggeration of difference between cultures, and is based on the presumption of a Western superiority. While Said’s specific references and discussions are using representations of Eastern cultures, and particularly Arab cultures, it’s not limited to these representations.
An important part of Said’s argument is the way culture is communicated and understood by the culture doing the exoticisation. Said points out that often the sources people would draw on when picturing these other cultures would be literature or sources that were written by Westerns, and continuing to draw on these sources rather than those from the culture themselves helps to paint the exoticized culture as one which is unable to defend itself or paint their own narrative.
From a mythological perspective, this is fairly true for some of the myths we see being talked about or experienced on popular culture. Let’s use Norse mythology as an example. Our contemporary knowledge of Norse mythology is primarily drawn from the Prose Edda and the Poetic Edda, which was written by Snorri Sturluson, a Christian missionary. In other words, the stories of a religion and culture was being written down by someone who was not an adherent. One of the things that I always pressed on students when teaching mythology was that the background of the myth was when the source we are reading is from, not anytime before or after that point. Snorri’s own views and background are deeply affecting the presentation of the pieces.
The difference in the way these mythological characters were - or I should stress are - understood is seen as inherently different and antithetical to contemporary Western, and typically Christian, views. The narratives, then, are highly dependent on these more biased accounts, as well as becoming romanticised and altered in order to be presented in the piece of popular culture.
The Fawn, and fairy representation in Pan’s Labyrinth.
Mythology, particularly older mythology like Norse, are often seen as unproblematic to borrow from, especially in comparison to indigenous cultures and their narratives. Mostly, this is because it’s assumed that no one is left to potentially offend. Even though this has not necessarily always stopped people from using indigenous narratives, there have at least been some people coming forward to try and stop. Norse mythology, or Egyptian, or Greek mythology are all assumed to be long dead and old stories which are up for grabs. This, however, ignores contemporary adherents of pagan traditions. These people do exist, and they still adhere to these religions, however they are typically ignored or looked over.
The other important aspect here is also the fact that these mythologies are presented with the over reliance on difference that Said describes in Orientalism. The stories of old gods are presented as old, different, and strange - something special and unique that cannot be present in our world. Essentially, it paints the Christian or Atheistic West as the true conception of the world, and these stories and the cultures that they came from as not fitting into our current world. They are too different, too special, too other-worldly.
Mythological narratives are often romanticised and exoticized for the purposes of furthering popular culture narratives. Perhaps, through time, I will try to dissect these as we go, as I did with the antlered wendigo. But for now, I wanted to take some time to talk about the role of mythology and the way the mythology is used in popular culture narratives.
This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.