Final paper

"We are at the end of our enquiry, but as often happens in the search after truth, if we have answered one question, we have raised many more; if we have followed one track home, we have had to pass by others that opened off it and led, of seemed to lead, to far other goals than the sacred grove at Nemi." The Golden Bough, page 685, James Frazer.

This is the post for my final paper.  The end is the beginning.  I will begin another journey in a month, that branched off of this journey.  But I will go through that journey with new knowledge of the mythology of everything.  Thank you Michael Sexson. And thank all of you, I hope you enjoy my paper.

Batman: A hero with a few faces

            For this paper, I decided to de-mythologize Batman Begins.  I will particularly be focusing on, but not limited to, the hero cycle myth.  Batman Begins is the first batman movie of the trilogy.  All journeys must have a beginning, this is Batman’s.  It shows when Batman is a child and shows as he grows and progresses into Batman.  I will go into the details of the movie and the comics as I go through the mythology of Batman’s journey.  All comic book heroes follow a similar path with the hero cycle.  I chose Batman because he was always my childhood hero.  He follows a set of rules that prevent him from doing certain things.  For example, he has a rule to never kill.  He simply captures the criminal or refuses to save them from certain doom.  He is the caped crusader for good; a vigilante justice that helps the people whether they want it or not.  This is powerfully mythological in many, many ways.  In this paper, those various ways that Batman is mythological will be explored.   

The Cycle

“A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man (Ubelhor).”  This quote is provided by Joseph Campbell in A Hero With a Thousand Faces.  This encompasses the entire hero cycle in one phrase.  There are 3 phases in the hero cycle: departure, initiation, and return.  The departure is when the hero begins his journey to gain his power and understanding to be a hero.  Initiation is when the hero is tested and must pass the trials in order to succeed.  The trials will test Batman’s fears and morals.  The return is when Batman comes back to Gotham City and saves the people from crime with his new found power.  For Batman to become the hero, he must go through the trials in each of the stages and succeed in order to grow into the hero. 

Hero Defined

In The Hero With a Thousand Faces, Campbell goes through the definition of a hero.  He says that usually the hero is male, mostly because women are considered to already have ultimate wisdom.  The second characteristic is where Batman takes an interesting turn.  Batman is really Bruce Wayne, the child of a billionaire that owns Wayne Industries.  Campbell says that the hero comes from a poor family or a family that doesn’t matter much but finds out he has a higher power or family.  Bruce comes from a extremely powerful family already but when his family is murdered, it seems he is brought down to the path that is much poorer.  This brings us to the next characteristic of the hero.  The hero’s parents are usually absent of dead.  Bruce’s parents get killed by a robber who wants his father’s wallet.  This creates an important mythological event for Bruce.  This is the early precursor for Batman’s departure.  I will get more into that in the next part.  The final characteristic is the hero’s actions.  Some actions to judge batman on in the beginning is his choice to want to shoot the mob boss and to pick fights in foreign prisons.  The fights in foreign prisons are what lead to his initiation.

The Call

          Hero’s are called into action; they do not just start randomly.  Batman is called into action when his parents are called.  It’s an indirect call, but it is what motivates Bruce to fight crime and try to clean up the city his father essentially created.  This motivation is what leads him to leave to prisons and learn about criminals and their ways. 

Refusal of the Call

            This refusal of the call is described as when the hero represses his id and his true power.  He hides his true power and purpose and becomes somewhat a victim in the society.  Bruce does this by carrying a gun and planning on first shooting the man who killed his father and then the mob boss.  He seems no better than a hobo or the people he wishes to kill.  It’s after the encounter with the mob boss that Bruce realizes he must do something to change the city, and he can’t do it as he is. 

The Crossing of the First Threshold

            The threshold is the trials in the prison outside of the U.S.  This is the place where he meets his threshold guardian, Ra’s al Ghul.  Campbell says this is where it appears the hero dies.  Many people, including Alfred Batman’s butler, believe that Bruce is dead in the unknown.  Here, with the help of Ra’s al Ghul, Bruce begins the metamorphosis into Batman.  This metamorphosis continues as Bruce goes through the trials to gain his moralities and loses his fears, particularly of bats.

Initiation and Road of Trials

            Ra’s al Ghul puts Bruce through trials to morph him into Batman.  First, Bruce must learn combat.  Ra’s al Ghul teaches Bruce that it is wrong to move from a sure-footing for a killing stroke, which is where Bruce learns that killing has more consequences than benefits.  This creates the first moral of Batman; he will not kill the criminals he catches.  Then Bruce is taught the importance of being invisible, and how to be invisible and see through the invisibility of others.  Bruce is already transforming into Batman. 

Atonement with the Father

            This concept is different for Batman.  His father is dead and he technically has nothing to atone for.  What this means for Bruce is coming to terms with his fears, which weren’t mastered in the trials yet for this reason.  Bruce has several fears to master before he is ready.  The first is with death.  Since his father’s death, Bruce has been afraid of the same fate and in order to become a full hero, he must be able to risk his life.  He passes this by realizing his father had more meaning in death than he did in life and that his father never truly died.  Then Bruce must deal with the most painful fear and his repressed id, his fear of bats.  He hid that fear until Ra’s al Ghul used a drug that transformed the sight of the person into the thing they fear most.  Bruce is able to beat Ra’s al Ghul and triumph over his fear.  He triumphs over his id and begins the final metamorphosis to become batman. 

Rescue from Without

            The hero must see that the outside world still needs him.  Ra’s al Ghul accidently causes this event.  He brings a murderer and a thief into the training dojo.  He tells Bruce that this man is a bad man and must be dealt with for the safety of the people.  Bruce refuses to kill the man.  Ra’s al Ghul is insulted and demands he kills the man to complete his training.  Unknown to Ra’s al Ghul, Bruce refusing to kill the man is what really completes his trials and triggers Bruce’s return to Gotham, as Batman. 

The Crossing of the Return Threshold

            Bruce must assimilate with the real world again.  He returns morphed into a new being and must get things back to normal.  Bruce does this by retaking his father’s company and begins donating to Gotham City.  This puts on the classic and mythical superhero façade.  On the outside, he is a loyal member of society and is just a rich person.  When he is alone, he is the hero he has become and plots on how to spread this boon to the citizens of Gotham City.  Bruce has returned and the hero is ready to change Gotham City. 

Master of the Two Worlds

          Batman is the master of the two worlds.  He is the ideal citizen in the eyes of the people and he is the hero that the city needs.  This is the secret identity that all superheroes have.  They cannot reveal to normal people what they are, so they must hide it and be masters of the two worlds.  Batman, while not overtly supernatural, is a supernatural and mythological being.  He lives in a realm where he has powers that others don’t have. 

The Mythological Batman

            Batman Begins is an appropriate title for this metamorphosis.  Bruce starts off as a little boy with no power.  He takes a grand journey where he must endure trials and survive his fears.  He combated his fears and found the morals a hero should have.  I want to post one of my favorite quotes of all time that was in Batman: the Dark Knight. The quote comes from Police Chief Jeff Gordon at the end of the movie.  He says “Batman is the hero Gotham needs, but not the hero Gotham deserves.”  Heroes like Batman are rare.  Its hard to find a hero that managed to get through the trials and become the hero that is needed.  Gotham did need him as a hero.  Sometimes, however, the hero is the supernatural fix the people need.  They need someone who seems out of reach of the normal society.  They need an entity that can’t be stopped by normal limitations.  They need a caped crusader, a dark knight.

Why do bad things happen?

"In England artificial giants seem to have been a standing feature of the midsummer festival." James Frazier, The Golden Bough, pg 630

Why do bad things happen?  Well there are multiple things to look at.  First there is karma. 

Karma is like Newton's Second law.  For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.  So if you are a jerk to someone, someone else is gonna be a jerk to you.  I believe that there is car karma.  If i leave a good parking spot, then i find another one thats as good or better.  Karma is one of the best things for evil people.  If a person robs you, something just as bad will happen to the robber.

Then there is luck.  Luck has 2 different definitions.  One is the superstitious kind of luck.  If you break a mirror, you will have bad luck for 7 years.  If you find a penny that is heads up, it is good luck.  If you have good luck, good things happen to you like finding money on the ground.  If you have bad luck, things like tripping in mud happen to you.  The other luck is just a description of an event that happens to you.  If you you trip down the stairs, you say you have bad luck.

Next is divine retribution.  Its when you do something bad, so your god disciplines you.  This can also be tied to the superstitious kind of bad luck.  In the metamorphosis of ovid, this is really easy to see.  When Actaen saw Diana, she transforms him into a horny beast to be eaten by his dogs.  This was an act of divine retribution.  This is apparently the most common explanation for why something bad happens to you because if you google "why do bad things happen to you?", a billion websites come up saying that its not God punishing you, its God strengthening you. 

The return of home

"The of Namosi in Fiji always ate a man by way of precaution when he had had his hair cut." James Frazier, The Golden Bough, pg 224

Over this weekend, I did the mythological return home.  Nostos comes to mind, meaning homecoming.  Odysseus yearning to return home to see Penelope.  I hope everyone else's weekend was as lovely as mine.

The Metamorphosis

Call me a procrastinator or a genious but I'm doing my sentences on the Metamorphosis as a helpful study tool.

Chapter 1.

Lycaen- He was turned into a wolf for his ferocity and as punishment from Jove.

Apollo and Daphne- Daphne's father Peneus turns her into a tree in order to escape Apollo's love for her.

Io and Jove- Io gets turned into a white heffer to avoid suspicion from Juno.  She is guarded by Argus, but Argus is killed by Mercury

The Four Ages- The first is the golden age, ruled by Saturn.  Next is the Silver Age ruled by Jove because Saturn was banished to Tartarus.  The next 2 ages would be Bronze and Iron signified by humanity growing worse and worse.

Creation- Man was created by Prometheus by mixing earth with new rainwater.

Chapter 2.
Arcas- He finds his mother, who had been turned into a bear, and before he could kill her, he didn't know it was his mother, Jove took them both and put them in the stars to form the great and little bear constellations.

Raven- Because of his talkativeness, he is changed from being a white bird to a black bird.

Coronis, the raven, the crow, Nyctimene- Nyctimene is turned into an owl.  Apollo kills Coronis for her infidelity but wishes he hadn't and blames the crow.  The Crow is changed from white to black for being the messenger of bad news.

Ocyrhoe- She is turned into a mare by the fates to prevent her from continuing to tell the future.

Battus- He is turned into a stone because he chose to lie to Mercury about cattle.

Chapter 3.
Cadmus- He kills Mars's serpent pet, so Mars turns Cadmus into a snake himself.

Actaeon- He sees Diana naked. She turns him into a stag to be devoured by his own dogs.

Semele- She asks to see Jove in his true form. When she does, she burns to ash.

Narcissus and Echo- Echo is forced to repeat everything she hears for stopping Juno.  Narcissus looks into the pool and loves himself and starves to death looking at himself in the pool.

Pentheus- He is ripped apart by women.

Chapter 4.
Pyramus and Thisbe- Pyramus kills himself thinking Thisbe is dead.  Thisbe finds his body and kills herself and mulberry bushes are created.

Mars, Venus, Vulcan, The Sun- The sun sees Venus and Mars having an affair and tells Vulcan, Venus's husband.  Vulcan sets a net in their bed so that they are trapped and all the gods see the shame that they brought on themselves.

Leucothoe and Clytie- Leucothoe is raped by the Sun and her father kills her and buries her for this dishonor.  Clytie hoped to earn the sun's affection for telling the father Leucothoe's misdeeds, but the Sun shuns her.  She withers away into a plant like a violet.

Salmacis and Hermaphroditus- Hermaphroditus is turned into a half man half woman.

Athamas and Ino- Athamas and Ino are driven insane. Athamas hunts his wife Ino and his child because he thinks they are a lioness and cub.  Venus has Neptune turn Ino and her son into sea deities.

The Memory

"In this part of the world a chief will commonly ring a bell at each draught of beer which he swallows, and at the same moment a lad stationed in front of him brandishes a spear 'to keep at bay the spirits which might try to sneak into the old chief's body by the same road as the beer.'" -James Frazier, The Golden Bough, pg 194.

        My first memory I remember is when i was playing in a sandbox.  I was digging around in it looking for things and carving up the moist sand with one of my mother's gardening tools.  Next door to my house was a daycare.  The kids next door started talking to me and looking at me.  I continued to dig while I looked up and talked to them.  Then they all had a shocked look on their face's.  I didn't know what was going on until a girl younger than me pointed down.  I looked down and saw i had taken the tool deep into my big toenail.  Of course after looking at it, the pain surged up and registered in my brain what I had just done.  I screamed like a cat that had its tail run over.  That is my first memory.

Myths and Realities/ Metamorphosis

"Thus to students of the past the life of the old kings and priests teems with instruction." John Frazier, the Golden Bough, page 250
   Anyone else find it vaguely annoying?  To me, it seems silly that they thought remembering why something happened works as medicine.  If you went to your medicine hut or whatever with your foot chopped off, screaming, you would hear a story about why you can get your foot chopped off and thats your cure.  Rather than, oh i don't know, medicine from herbs.  I'm stupid though but thats what I get out of what I'm reading. 
        Now for metamorphosis.  Everyone remember Perseus?  Yea that one.  He is still a badass.  He rescues a princess from a sea dragon to make her his wife.  He then has to fight off hundreds of warriors because the princess's uncle, who was mad because he was supposed to marry her, kills a man behind a couch and everyone blames Perseus, Phoebus only knows why.  Today we have grenades and missiles and tanks. Well those ain't got nothin on Medusa's face staring at you.  In fact, I would not want to be the guy who was getting ready to throw a grenade when he gets turned into stone. 
        I have discovered a frustrating fact in the metamorphosis, the Goddess's are freaking crazy in the head,  Juno being one of the best examples.  She goes berserk everytime her husband rapes a nymph.  Sounds reasonable, until you realize she doesn't punish him, she punishes the rape victims.  By far one of the mot frustrating and stupid situations though is what happened involving Diana.  So a random dude,  could have been me, wanders into a cave and sees Diana naked except she is shielded by the nymphs.  Before he can blink, Diana has turned him into a deer to be eaten by his own hunting dogs.  Honestly, what the hell.  Accidents happen right? Well I guess god's or at least goddess's don't believe in accidents.

Josh Kilpatrick

"If magic is thus next of kin to science, we have still to enquire how it stands related to religion." -The Golden Bough, James Frazier, pg 49.

Hello everybody :).
        As I begin to read The Metamorphoses of Ovid, I don't understand Juno.  She finds out that Jove is cheating on her, so instead of punishing him she punishes the girl he raped.  It's not like a normal nymph is gonna overpower a god, so the girl has no choice in the matter and was into chastity.  The first on she transforms into a cow which I can understand that transformation a little bit.  It's when she transforms the second nymph into a bear that I don't understand.  How is being turned into a bear a punishment?  I would love to be turned into a bear.  Juno gets pissed when Jove turns them back.  That's a shocker.  She hadn't anticipated the fact he's ALSO a god and can do that kind of magic.
        In the first 2 chapters it seems that at least half the transformations are trees.  So as I'm walking around campus now, I can't help but feel as though I'm being watched by trees.  Also, how do the trees weep?  Does that mean sap starts gushing out from 2 pieces of bark?
        Also, I would like to comment on the sun god, Phoebus.  Is it just me or does phoebus seem a little whiny? If he hates Jove for killing his sun so much, why not do something about it.  Instead, all he does is pout and say, I'm paraphrasing here,"Aww everyone is so mean to me.  Well I'm not going to be the sun anymore so ha!"