One quote that called my attention in Berkowitz and Liu’s reading was “common mythical narratives are likely to vary somewhat according to the society, its culture, and its values, while some archetypal stories tend to be shared broadly” (p. 307). What are these broadly shared archetypes? How come some narrative archetypes transcend cultural, geographic, and temporal differences? Is it just a matter of cultural diffusion and influence? Do these shared narratives point to broader patterns of understanding the world that humans share, or strive for? And is it really the case that there are “universal’ stories? Are we actually able to prove that or does this assertion come from a place of analyzing the world through eurocentric lenses? I am also left wondering if, or to which extent, Twitter stories may also be one way to manifest some of these (allegedly) universal narratives. I know these questions are not entirely related to our class, but I would love to discuss them!
2 Replies to “Reflection 11/23”
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I’ll be happy to discuss them. I personally don’t really think that we can easily assert any particular story as universal, but there is some merit to analyzing certain patterns as repeating across cultures. And there are some that have been shown to recur through time and space. Some of these are very basic, for example the figure of the trickster who comes up with creative and unexpected ways to solve difficult problems, and who defies natural laws or social expectations. Some of these patterns and figures can be identified in folk tales: versions of the trickster, for example, have been seen across indigenous tales from the Americas, to Africa, Asia, and Europe.
But to take a less anthropological view: what the myths are that a society tells about itself, or what the stories are whose structures recur frequently in a particular society tell us A LOT about the inner psychological life of that society, as well as its ideologies, norms, values, and expectations. It is interesting to ask, for example, what the mythical stories are that Trump is drawing upon, and which ones are successful…