Browse > Home / MC Blog / New Mythologies

New Mythologies

November 23, 2009

By Kyle Cupp

My wife and I took a break this weekend from packing and cleaning to watch Up and Star Trek, two films we would have liked to have seen in the theater. Both were quite good.

I wasn’t sure how the whole time travel motif, common in the Star Trek universe, would play. I expected that Leonard Nimoy’s presence in the movie might annoy me, but it worked, and it actually proved a cunning way for the filmmakers to rewrite the Star Trek mythology, and even change its history, while remaining true, and even historically true, to the old mythology. Star Trek fans have reason to interpret the mythology with both a hermeneutic of continuity and a hermeneutic of discontinuity. Not being a convention-frequenting Trekkie, I wouldn’t have taken to the streets in geeky protest if Abrams and company had just started from scratch and written a whole new origin story for Kirk and company, but I was pretty much pleased with their choices.

Mythologies deserve rethinking and re-mythologizing. Doing so can enrich them and enrich us. I toast to the fact that Homer and Shakespeare didn’t frown upon composing their unique versions of twice told tales. I don’t share the disdain for sequels and prequels and creating new versions of old stories. Bring on the Batmans and the James Bonds and the Hamlets. Let the heroes and villains be given new life and new voice. Heck, let’s turn them topsy-turvy and see what happens. Would it take much to turn the soulless killer James Bond into a villain?

Personally, I’d like to see The Lord of the Rings get treatment by a filmmaker who actually understands holiness and magnanimity. Let’s have another round of Star Wars films while we’re at it, perhaps even new takes on Lucas’ imaginative but at times poorly crafted stories. I’d like to see the six episodes reduced three films depicting the rise, fall, and redemption of Anakin Skywalker. Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson or Joss Whedon.

What can I say about Up that hasn’t been said already? And is asking that question inconsistent with what I said above? I will say that Pixar has yet to make a bad movie, and if more companies had Pixar’s dedication to quality, our economy would be in much better shape. Up is first-rate movie magic, a comedy gravely serious about its emotional drama. Squirrel!

Kyle Cupp is an independent contributor to MetroCatholic publications. Kyle publishes the blog Journeys in Alterity, which features his thoughts on culture, hermeneutics, language, literature, moral dilemmas, personal life, philosophy, politics, postmodernism, and religion.

Posted by Kyle Cupp · Filed Under MC Blog 

Comments

Got something to say?





Home | About | Archives | Advertising | Contact | Privacy Policy

MetroCatholic, Inc · 5604 Belton Ln. · Suite 400 · McKinney, TX 75070
Ph. (972) 400-2423 · Fax (888) 248-7696

The sites and respective links above offer additional information on the Catholic faith. Please note that DFW Catholic is not officially associated with any of these sites and is unable to effectively monitor all information contained therein. Please use your own judgement when visiting these or any websites. If you find information that is objectionable, contact us.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish an article without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "MetroCatholic". Any Internet re-publishing of original MetroCatholic articles MUST additionally include a live link to http://www.dfwcatholic.org. Republishing of articles on DFWCatholic.org that have come from other news sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources. MetroCatholic may at times publish content that is taken from the internet and thus considered to be in the public domain. Anyone contrary to the publication of said content need only to contact the editorial office which will immediately proceed to remove the content.