It has a lot more, that is just the headline. There is behavioral norms, expectations, what punishments look like, do they work or not, etc all of that is telling you where the Overton window was for the people who shared that version of the story. It has morals, warnings, behavior to avoid and behavior to emulate. It shows class function and has the very subversive message that movement between levels of class is possible, even if the upper class don’t want that to be true. It also has the subversive message that the nobility isn’t particularly noble (Cinderell’s family), but some really do live up to the ideals (the Prince). So don’t judge people by their status, look closer.
This is a minefield of a topic however, as people get very touchy over things. Already in this thread there are accusations of misogyny in myth, but is that true or do some cultures value different things? Are the Igbo, the Sami, and the Dine woman haters because they tell stories about the power of motherhood? Are those stories holding women back and creating a patriarchy or are they recording and passing on something meaningful about the difference between men and women and what female power looks like? You will get a big argument whichever side you come down on. Same with the yin/yang myth and all it symbolizes.
Another minefield here are the people who cannot tell the difference between representing a thing and supporting/endorsing it. Thus the bowdlerization of myth over time. Cinderella used to have scenes where the sisters carved up their feet to fit into the slipper. Briar Rose/sleeping beauty was not always woken by a kiss but by giving birth 9 months after the Prince visited her. Acteon wasn’t transformed and murdered for gazing upon a goddess but for attempting to “grape” her. There are, however, some people who assume if you include content in a story, that story is endorsing the content, thus the myths were said to be misogynistic and normalize assault of women when to the Greeks it was a warning to men that bad behavior would not go unpunished. The gods were watching. This is still a very fraught topic and people just don’t want to wade into it.
With all that said, it does appear that almost all myth has value Imbedded in it. Some cultural, some scientific, some no longer relevant. But stories survive only because they are valuable.
I think that people often get overly caught up in the fanciful details. Take Cinderella, you are correct that it is a lot of words for that message, but we remember it because of those words. Just the sentence “non-blood relatives can be dangerous to kids” would be forgotten and would be disbelieved. Cinderella has lasted for almost 2,000 years being traced back to the Greek historian Strabo in the first century. Gilgamesh is over 4,000 years old. The oldest known story is over 100,000 years old and we can trace its movements across continents and through many languages.
Humans tell stories, humans remember stories, humans are motivated by stories. Stories have power. True phrases are as quickly forgotten as spoken.
There is a magnificent YouTube channel, creganford that distills the academic learning on ancient stories and myth. Here is a link to one of his videos on how we know what we know about unwritten stories.
It has a lot more, that is just the headline. There is behavioral norms, expectations, what punishments look like, do they work or not, etc all of that is telling you where the Overton window was for the people who shared that version of the story. It has morals, warnings, behavior to avoid and behavior to emulate. It shows class function and has the very subversive message that movement between levels of class is possible, even if the upper class don’t want that to be true. It also has the subversive message that the nobility isn’t particularly noble (Cinderell’s family), but some really do live up to the ideals (the Prince). So don’t judge people by their status, look closer.
This is a minefield of a topic however, as people get very touchy over things. Already in this thread there are accusations of misogyny in myth, but is that true or do some cultures value different things? Are the Igbo, the Sami, and the Dine woman haters because they tell stories about the power of motherhood? Are those stories holding women back and creating a patriarchy or are they recording and passing on something meaningful about the difference between men and women and what female power looks like? You will get a big argument whichever side you come down on. Same with the yin/yang myth and all it symbolizes.
Another minefield here are the people who cannot tell the difference between representing a thing and supporting/endorsing it. Thus the bowdlerization of myth over time. Cinderella used to have scenes where the sisters carved up their feet to fit into the slipper. Briar Rose/sleeping beauty was not always woken by a kiss but by giving birth 9 months after the Prince visited her. Acteon wasn’t transformed and murdered for gazing upon a goddess but for attempting to “grape” her. There are, however, some people who assume if you include content in a story, that story is endorsing the content, thus the myths were said to be misogynistic and normalize assault of women when to the Greeks it was a warning to men that bad behavior would not go unpunished. The gods were watching. This is still a very fraught topic and people just don’t want to wade into it.
With all that said, it does appear that almost all myth has value Imbedded in it. Some cultural, some scientific, some no longer relevant. But stories survive only because they are valuable.
I think that people often get overly caught up in the fanciful details. Take Cinderella, you are correct that it is a lot of words for that message, but we remember it because of those words. Just the sentence “non-blood relatives can be dangerous to kids” would be forgotten and would be disbelieved. Cinderella has lasted for almost 2,000 years being traced back to the Greek historian Strabo in the first century. Gilgamesh is over 4,000 years old. The oldest known story is over 100,000 years old and we can trace its movements across continents and through many languages.
Humans tell stories, humans remember stories, humans are motivated by stories. Stories have power. True phrases are as quickly forgotten as spoken.
There is a magnificent YouTube channel, creganford that distills the academic learning on ancient stories and myth. Here is a link to one of his videos on how we know what we know about unwritten stories.
Thanks for the explanation.