Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with myth

Orpheus/Eurydice Trope

stray — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 23:01:18 -0800

Are there other examples of stories in which a lover travels to the underworld/heaven/hell to rescue their dead love? I'm idly working on a play based on Orpheus and Eurydice, and would like to collect more versions of that storyline.

Women who runs with the Wolf Lecture

Ambrosia Voyeur — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:34:02 -0800

What have you heard about werewolves? I need to know everything there is to know about the mythology of werewolves, from media, from folklore and especially from batshit cryptozoology circles, for a surprise (as in, surprise to ME) lecture I'll be delivering next week. I'll be doing academic research on the topic on my own, but I thought this would be a good place to get a broad pop-cultural base of different facets of this concept in a hurry.

Some sample ponderings I'm beginning with:

- What are the "rules" of werewolves? Are they strictly involuntary shape-shifters?
- What other kinds of were-animals have there been in myth? (Cat People comes to mind.)
- What are some weird werewolf anomalies from werewolf stories you know of?
- Werewolves: sexy? hungry? what's their motivation?
- Are there werewolf myths from foreign lands?
- What's the moon significance? Is that a jacked-the-hell-up gender thing or what?

I've seen: Teen Wolf and its sequel, Wolf, An American Werewolf in London, and am familiar with Remus Lupin in book and film. I think that's about the entirety of my werewolf exposure. Any movies I MUST see ASAP? The class will be screening Ginger Snaps.

Since the class I'm lecturing for thematically treats issues of wildness vs. domesticity, any anecdotes or examples of werewolves interacting with wolf-wolves or with pet dogs would be good to come up with.

Obviously lots of kinds of info or pointers are welcome.

Pan and the what?

tylerfulltilt — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:17:33 -0800

What is the name of this fantasy book that I only vaugely remember? I'm looking for the name of a fantasy book that I came across on someone's list of fantasy books they've read. But I don't remember where that page was or the exact google keywords that I used to find that list.

I remember that it's out of print now. It was the story of a little roman boy who was cast out of his family, possibly, something along those lines.

At the start of the story he's crying under a bridge and the demi-god pan comes along and inspires him to go on a journey to find his dad. That's all I remember.

It's not The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen.

The title is something like Pan and the boy or the god pan and the child or something like that.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Bonus internets to anyone who can find the list that I heard it from originally.

"I can't believe I got the whole thing!"

GJSchaller — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 08:00:32 -0800

Graffiti Filter: Looking for a photo or confirmation of a myth of an epic and humorous piece of graffiti. A friend recounted the tale of someone unlocking a train yard one morning, only to find a (previously) clean multi-car train tagged with "I can't believe I got the whole thing!" sprayed the entire length of the train.

Google-Fu has failed me, images comes up with the ever popular "ate the whole thing," and text comes back with a large amount of NSFW fiction involving things fitting places they shouldn't...

Book-footed vampire?

brownbat — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 21:39:18 -0800

Where did I read about a book footed vampire? When I was very young, I often read short horror anthologies for children, and about vampire legends from around the world. I distinctly remember one account of a vampire with books for feet that sucked blood out of people's toes.

Googling "book-footed" doesn't seem to help very much, nor do the other searches I can think of. Maybe this was just a crazy dream I've carried over as a real memory? It's certainly an absurd image to base a legend around...

Creation Myth

francesca too — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 13:03:24 -0800

Pequeninos, Thranx, Fithp, Psychlos, Aalaag, Hani, Mahendo'sat, Kif, etc. Do you recall if any of these science fiction aliens (or any other sf aliens) have their own creation myth? At first glance it seemed a easy research assignment. I have no trouble in coming up with creation myths for real cultures, but I'm coming up with 0 in imaginary cultures.

Screenwriting: cinema and myth?

sumo — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 11:58:27 -0800

Academic papers and books on the topic of myth in screenwriting? Screenwriting and myth, either academic papers, studies or books specifically on this topic.

Mythical archetypes, monomyth, critiscism of the monomyth theory. At this point I think academic papers on it would help, I don´t have any practice reasearching north-american academia.

I am building a presentation and a paper on it for my graduation here in Brazil, but material in portuguese is very scarce, so I am looking for english sources.

Also, any tips on a case study of a classic movie?

Witches, Wizards, and the American Civil War

robocop is bleeding — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 08:38:59 -0800

What was going on with the occult and belief in the supernatural in Civil War-era America? I'm aware of Spiritualism, but in researching the background for a story idea I have, I seem to be drawing a blank for anything outside of the talking to the dead movement.

What's a good source for the folk beliefs of the 1860s?
Did "Louisiana Voodoo" exist in a recognizable form then?
Were there myths and legends that were well known then that have since fallen out of favor?

Any sources, anecdotes, or ideas you have pertaining to the mysterious and the occult of the 1860s is welcome. Lots of the stuff I've seen that covers that vague period veers into steampunk territory which I'd rather avoid.

FroggyBack

kittens for breakfast — Thu, 08 May 2008 13:02:29 -0800

Is anyone familiar with ancient Native American legends of giant frogs riding people? Well. That's about it. This is yet another one of those books I remember reading as a little kid. Giant, malevolent frogs that got on people's backs and forced them (the people) to carry them (the frogs) around piggyback. This wasn't a work of fiction -- well, I mean, it was, in the obvious sense that giant frogs probably never enslaved humanity, but the book itself was about folklore. ...Anybody?

Wendigo myth in the Northwest

Artw — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 22:36:03 -0800

Is the Wendigo purely a Northeast American (and Canadian) myth? If so is there a Northwest equivalent?

Vegetarian needs "respectable" article about protein in all foods

AllieTessKipp — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 11:49:16 -0800

My new doctor is one of those older doctors who believe that vegetarian diets lack protein unless you eat the "right" things. I would like to find an article to give her about how there is protein in everything. The doctor asked about my "protein source" foods and I didn't have an answer for her. She is not up to date on vegetarian protein information and I suspect I must be her only vegetarian patient, or else her other vegetarian patients also are not up to date on this issue.

I need an article that would be from a respectable source so that she does not think I just "got it off the internet." Something short and simple would be best (she is, like all doctors, very busy), and I prefer something that does not lean on soy products, because I don't eat many of those.

I plan to include my diet for a typical week, along with amounts of protein in each item/amount I've eaten so she can see I don't have just one or two protein sources, but that everything I eat has protein in it and that I'm fine.

public swimming pool myth

dydecker — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 12:34:44 -0800

When I was a kid there was this idea that if you pissed in a public swimming pool the water around you will turn blue and follow you around. Today I asked a few friends and everyone got told the same thing. Is this just a myth invented to stop kids from doing this or is it real? Inquiring minds need to know.

Help me find a word for this obscure kind of situation!

Lockeownzj00 — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 15:22:33 -0800

Obsessivewordenthusiastfilter: I'm writing a paper and I'm trying to portray a certain situation which I feel would be best conveyed with the use of an allusion, preferably to a Greek or Roman myth. More inside! So basically I'm talking about the dynamic struggle of one stakeholder who has an interest in improving this situation, but by doing so it also realizes in the long run that by improving this situation and thereby helping those on the very bottom, it may make their position less luxurious and comfortable.

So what I'm trying to find is some kind of phrase that evokes a myth (ie sword of damocles, buridan's ass) that can portray this idea: having difficulty giving something up once you've had a taste of how comfortable/good/beneficial/etc it is to you, even if it involves something to the detriment of another person(s).

I've found something that isn't quite what I'm looking for (shirt of Nessus) but I'm hoping for a phrase that'll nail it. It doesn't have to be Greek or Roman, either. I just figure that's where I'd find it. I found a really nice glossary of words with mythological etymologies, but it's nowhere to be seen.

Thanks in advance!

Examples of 'The Infinite' in Myth and Their Effect on Conditions of Truth

0bvious — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 09:32:00 -0800

I am searching for examples of The Infinite, or the immeasurably large, in our mythologies and archetypes. I am also interested in the categories of Truth which came out of the emergence of Western, ontological thought. Does the trust in a rationally conceivable reality deny us the infinity of the mythological realm? By rooting ourselves in the present, and denying atemporal mythologies, do we also deny the infinite origins from where we came? Mythologically rooted cultures do not usually posit a beginning of time. Humans exist as part of a holistic cycle which spans back and forward into the infinite realm of mythology. There can really be no 'truth' in this perennial world of myth, where the spiritual and 'unseen' realm is just as 'real' as our present state of being.

Western 'truth' (ontologically defined rationality) denies the holism of all things (as do the Monotheistic religions), actively attributing identity to patterns perceived in the world we can see (or to God). This taxonomy or identification of patterns creates a false belief in a fully formed reality - a 'truth'. This taxonomic understanding is to simulacrum what philosophical enquiry was to Plato's shadows in the cave. In consequence, our distinction from The Infinite, from the realm of myth, qualifies us as distinct from reality - we live the simulation, not the absolute.

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I am just going off on one here, to outline vaguely what the forms of infinity, myth and ontology have had on our development (/evolution?).

Please feel free to agree, disagree or add to my examples.

Thanks for reading. I look forward to your responses.

Is there a doctor in the House?

tellurian — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 06:58:23 -0800

I know that House is a TV construct but I'm wondering, are there doctors that perform this role in real life? For example, if I was to turn up in an emergency ward with some weird and unexplainable condition, do hospitals employ a Gregory House that would take on my case?

Book identifying mythical archetypes?

Andrhia — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 09:24:21 -0800

BookFilter: Looking for a book a friend once found containing every myth, fable, and legend the author could find from multiple cultures, with analysis breaking them down into (I believe) a hundred or so archetypes. Other information: The book is on the older side, and doesn't appear to be any of the books suggested in this thread.

Were the NOD mice really stolen from the Japanese?

kisch mokusch — Fri, 25 May 2007 19:36:18 -0800

I was told a story once, about an American stealing Non-obese Diabetic (NOD) mice from a Japanese lab, and smuggling them back to the States. But I can't find the story anywhere on the web. So the story is as follows:

In the 70s, Shionogi Research Laboratories in Japan developed the NOD strain of mice. But the Japanese didn't want anybody else to have them. So an American scientist actually stole a breeding pair and smuggled them into the US (in the early 80s, I think). The mice apparently spent the journey in his top pocket. Once in the States, the mice made there way to Jackson Laboratories, and the rest of the world finally had access to the strain. The Japanese tried to get Jackson to return the mice (or destroy the line), but were told there was no chance that would happen.

I want to believe this story (how could I not? it's a cool story), and I remember it being told with some authority (by a reputable guy who did his Post-doc in Jackson Laboratories). It's just that I can't find it anywhere on the web.

Has anybody heard this story before? Is it somewhere on the web, or in a book or journal?

How do women know how to be women in America?

bilabial — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 20:47:47 -0800

Is there academic research that claims that viewing of advertising material a ritual of genderization? I'm writing a paper for anthropology class and am stating that it is. I've got enough material to support my saying it is, but I haven't come across anyone else saying it is. A large chunk of my writing focuses on content analysis of 7 ads I found in current American magazines that disembody and infantilize women. So what I'm arguing is that this print medium tells women what they can and can't be.

What gives? Has anyone else seen anything along these lines, or might I actually be breaking some ground here?

My university has access to online journal archives, so if you just tell me who and when, or perhaps an article title, I can find the works, if they're around, because maybe I could study this more thoroughly.

And the winner is... Miss XXXX?

Jezztek — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 09:44:45 -0800

If Medusa was in a beauty pageant, what location would be on her sash? Yeah, this is probably one of the dumber questions I've seen here, but I'm just brainstorming for new designs and I can't seem to find a satisfactory answer to this question.

My understanding of the Medusa story is such:

Hottie McHotHott Mortal girl gets herself in trouble and is turned into a gorgon. Medusa raises hell somewhere but then ends up fleeing to some small island, where she is ganked by Perseus.

I suppose the proper names of either A.) where the mortal girl came from, B.) Where Medusa raised hell before fleeing to the small island or C.) The name of the small island would help me out, but my Google-fu seems to be feeding me incomplete or contradictory information.

One source seems to claim the island was Seriphos, but then about a billion other sources claim Seriphos played a different part in the Perseus myth. Others just call it Gorgon Island, or "A Small Island", but I'm hoping it hap a proper name that would look better on a sash. Was the small island in Hades, or just near it, because then maybe I could use that as a wishy washy half cop out.

Thanks much!

How can I find more information about this Seneca Indian legend?

magodesky — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 18:48:53 -0800

How can I find more information about this Seneca Indian legend? So I was reading the book Weird Pennsylvania from the Weird U.S. series. One of the local legends in it, titled "The Lost Hills of Eternal Youth," is about a Seneca brave who wins a bet with the deity known as Flying Head and is shown a view of two mountaintops that grant eternal youth to anyone who looks at them. According to the book, this is supposedly somewhere around what is now Mercer county.

Anyway, now we get to my question. I wanted to read more about the details of this legend, but I can't seem to find anything other than the few paragraphs in the book. Does anyone know about this story or at least where I might start looking? Is it possible that the authors just made this up for the book?

History being used to justify present events

friendlyfire — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 19:21:10 -0800

What are some ways that history or myths have been used to justify events happening in the present (or in the recent past)?

Hindu Folklore / Mythology Needed

Medieval Maven — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 19:26:32 -0800

Can anyone help me find Indian / Hindi folklore? ESPECIALLY illustrated or with photos of festivals and traditional costume related to those festivals. My limited understanding of the topic tells me that it's sort of regionally fractured, and that's fine. If there is a "major" set of myths/folklore, I'd love to know it. I've tried Googling for this, but I realized pretty quickly that I sort of don't know what I'm looking for or at, and therefore my ability to determine which resources are actually good is pretty limited.

I'm also up for book suggestions.

Does the cable modem really need to be unplugged for 30 seconds? (Urban Myth or Truth?)

postergeist — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 23:26:34 -0800

Does the cable modem really need to be unplugged for 30 seconds? (Urban Myth or Truth?) I need help researching the validity of what I suspect is just an urban myth. Basically it has to do with when you have a cable modem that isnt connecting to the internet and the cable company tech support instructs you to reset the modem by unplugging the power and leaving it unplugged for 30 (sometimes longer) seconds.

I think common sense would dictate that a fraction of a second after you pull the power plug form the device, it would turn off completley. There would be absolutely no difference between a split second later vs 30 seconds vs 2 years! The device will totally reset as soon as you plug it in again. Some people I spoke to argue that it takes time for power to drain out of all the circuits but that doesnt really make sense to me since electricity moves at superfast speeds...close to the speed of light.

What I think happened is that during the course of fixing a cable modem one day, someone ended up fixing it for some completley other reason which happened to coincide with it having been unplugged for 30 seconds and then ended up attributing that to the success of whatever they did.

Is there any creedence to this idea of leaving it unplugged for a set amount of time?

Perfect souls? Huhwha?

Windigo — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 12:40:49 -0800

I once heard a belief, a tale, a myth (not sure which it falls under) that there are a certain fixed number of "pure" or "perfect" souls roaming the earth, and that the existance of these people is the one thing keeping God from throwing the towel in. Where did I hear this? Have any of you heard a tale like this? Can anyone tell me more? The closest I have been able to find is from Genesis 18 with Abraham's questioning God about Sodom and Gomorrah, but I am sure that's not at all the story I heard.

Help! It's driving me nuts! What IS this idea from??

The Protagonist: An Overview

0bvious — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 22:16:33 -0800

The Protagonist: What can you tell me? I am fascinated by the concept of 'The Protagonist'. Whether this be in fiction, mythology or used as a metaphor for how one perceives oneself (your 'life' being the narrative within which you exist) I desire a few new angles on this ancient human construct.

- Do you know of any theories / research / writings on the protagonist?
- What books / movies / myths etc. have you come across from which a protagonist is COMPLETELY absent?
- Or any such fiction/mythology with an interesting spin on the traditional protagonist?

Basically anything which comes to mind would be fascinating, thanks a lot...