The Digital Campfire
There is a magic to the campfire. It saves us from the darkness, but it also makes us feel like we are closer to that darkness at the same time. The stories we share also bring the darkness closer to the fires, but the fire is always there to keep it from being too close. It protects us, in a way, reminding us that the darkness can’t actually touch us - it’s just the stories that make it feel closer.
How the Body Tells Stories
The body, therefore, is the primary model through which we tell stories because it’s the primary form through which we exist. As I sit at my computer, writing this blog post, it is still through my body that I write this. My hands move, my back aches in my chair, but also I feel the rush of my heart when I know exactly how I want to phrase the bit I want. Our bodies are the way we experience our narratives, because we are our bodies.
Shadow Texts and the Ancient Magus’ Bride
This month's essay covers an aspect of pop culture and mythology that we don't talk about as often: the way that myths are sometimes used in popular culture in their storytelling. We talk about how mythology is used as a form of exoticisation in some narratives. But we also talk about how some narratives, like the Ancient Magus's Bride, use mythology as a shadow text which provides focus and legitimisation to the story.
Cosplay: A Research Reflection
Anthropology is supposed to be like Star Trek’s prime directive: observance without interference. But like how it doesn’t work out cleanly in Star Trek, it sure doesn't in anthropology either. We, as people, are like drops in a pool, little ripple effects that hit other ripples, and send new ripples from these shock waves. We influence the people around us even if we don’t speak to them - sometimes maybe expressly because we don’t speak to them.
Cosmic Horror and Religion
Above the fear, Lovecraft’s cosmic horror is also embedded with a nature of awe. When we talk about something being awful for Lovecraft, its in the actual sense of that word - something that is absolutely full of awe. Awe does not necessarily indicate something positive and beautiful, but can also be something so entirely morbid and unnatural that one cannot actually look away.
Pop Culture Knowledge and Anthropology
The most difficulty thing I struggle with, personally, is the complicated struggle between cultural ignorance and cultural knowledge. I’ve mentioned on a different blog post, as well as in a couple more places, that an anthropologist’s job is to be annoying. We ask every question under the sun, and are supposed to act like newborn children, newly encountering the world and never taking anything for granted.
Repetition as Mechanic and Story
In this essay, I'm looking into repetitive game types, particularly rogue-like and rogue-lite games. Using Hades, Cult of the Lamb and Moonlighter as my primary focus, we talk about how these games utilise repetition to tell the story of the game without fatiguing the player with too much of all the same.
Meta-Folklore and Meta-Fandom
There is fandom, but then there’s meta-fandom. Meta-fandoms would be the fandoms within fandoms, or the commentary on fandom from the fandom about the fandom. It’s has it’s own folklore and mythology, stories that are spun and detailed. Speculations, theories, the stories fans spin to each other aside from the canon are all parts of this meta-fandom.
The Question of Sexy Cosplays
One of the most brutal responses in the ant-camp was my participant Sam. I normally have a prepped question for sexy cosplays, but I didn’t even get the chance to ask it. Sam went in about “certain” cosplayers when I asked about what makes a cosplay a good cosplay, complaining directly about people who “just glue things on a bikini”. In almost direct contrast to that, Bailey talked about how the best cosplays are ones that make you feel good - even if you’ve “just glued things on a bikini”.
Wednesday and the Art of the Cliche
Netflix's Wednesday was an immediate success, but received critiques that it was full of clichés. In this essay, I decided to delve into what makes Wednesday successful, nostalgic, and why relying on familiar tropes and clichés is the most important part of Wednesday's backbone.
The Nigella Effect
When we talked about Masters of the Universe, we focused on the idea that humans, even children, are inherently particular about the stories we gravitate to. We don’t pick up only what is put in front of us, but rather we think about it, and only hold onto the toys and objects for stories we love. This week, I want to focus on a different aspect of this capitalism question, one that speaks to the role of replication, cliché and all things money-grab feeling: what I have come to call The Nigella Effect.
Enskilment and Cosplay
But there are other less obvious skills involved as well. Character choice itself is a necessary skill, and one that involves a lot of different facets. Cosplayers discussed how so many different elements go into it: the abilities or finances they have at their disposal in comparison to how complicated the costume is, what costumes suit which environments they intend to wear it, and the personalities of the cosplayer in comparison to the character choice.
Pop Culture as Mythology
It's back to basics today! With the sudden growth of this channel, I wanted to take a step back and explain the basics behind both myself and Incidental Mythology. So today, we're exploring what I mean when I say that popular culture is our contemporary mythology. We go into the various definitions of mythology, and how fiction can be meaningful.
Table Top Role Playing Games and the Magic Circle
There’s a lot that can be said for the dynamics of the structure of the play environment and the way that people create that space. In many ways, we could talk about ritualisation, the concept of ritual space, and how play works with these dynamics. But I think, first, I need to talk about the magic circle, and how, I think, TTRPGs disprove the idea of it.
Cosplay and Communities of Creativity
While cosplay is something that may not be necessarily embedded in the everyday actions of wider society, and it can definitely be a form of resistance and subversion, it is not always like this. The wider cultural group, of course, can also be vastly different in different areas of the world, and yet cosplayers see themselves in cosplayers from a variety of locations, as described to us by Blake who found community in cosplayers even when in a different country - a different wider culture.
Knives Out and the Structure of the Whodunnit
Rian Johnson's Knives Out series, of both Knives Out and Glass Onion, helps to recapture the spirit of the whodunnit. It recalls the nostalgia of previous classic mystery narratives while also presenting them in new and and interesting ways to help present their own spin on the format. In this video, I explore the structure of the whodunnit and the innovative alterations to the structure that Knives Out does.
Food and Corruption in Lord of the Rings
Instead, we’re going to focus on one of the ultimate loves of my life. Not my husband, but my literary husband - J.R.R Tolkien. Tolkien is my problematic fav. So we’re going to do a fun romp into the world of Tolkien and one of my favourite elements from Lord of the Rings: the relationship between food and evil.
Capitalism and Mythology - the Story of He-Man
Can a story that is made up with the sole purpose of making money be considered mythical? I don’t mean stories people love to make that happen to make lots of money - most authors, for example, don’t think they’re going to make millions of dollars off their books, even though some do happen to. By this, I mean stories that are crafted with the millions of dollars in mind. Disney, for example, doesn’t craft narratives purely for the art. The point is to make money. Can narratives like these be considered special and mythical? Or does the intention behind the narratives discount this idea?
Fan Conventions and Places of Imagination
From a myth perspective, the idea of conventions as a place of imagination is actually kinda similar to the idea of legend-tripping, which is when individuals travel to places of urban legends or places in folklore in order to try and experience in some way the collective imagination of the story. The actualisation of the fan’s collective memory also, in some ways, sets up a type of ritual space.
Food and Storytelling: a Reflection
When I shared my food with my in-laws, I did more than simply help take care of one of the meals for them. I gave them a part of my story. And the food that makes up part of my story is not only a history of myself, but also my siblings and their partners and my grandparents. It’s the make up of the various members of the family that join our fold, and the remnants of those we’ve lost.