Storybook

I read several stories from the storybook, and I think that the concept in and of itself is interesting. In my head I've been calling them "fanfictions" of myths and lore, but I think that it's more than that. So much is revealed in the way that the authors retold well-known stories, and in the stories that they chose to showcase. The three that I've chosen for this post are: Project Humanity, Desperate Goddesses, and Ancient Chinese Fairy Tales.

In Project Humanity, an alien is tasked with reviewing ancient myths and stories via a supercomputer aboard his ship, in order to learn more about what was important to humanity.

"Project Humanity"
Source: Alliance United Planets

The very first thing that I noticed about this story is that lots of nouns are changed to reflect the story's sci-fi premise. Within the narrative, I wasn't clear if this was done by the supercomputer to accommodate the alien's interpretation of reality, or if was something that had been lost in translation in the years since humanity vacated Earth. Either way, the analogies were creative, and neither too difficult to follow nor too pedantic for the reader. I was quite familiar with the Greek myths that were adapted for the story: Castor and Pollux, Orpheus, and Daedalus and Icarus. The Lion and the Mouse fable took me a moment to recognize, I'll admit. I think that the stories chosen reflect which aspects of humanity the author finds most important, and I like that he focused on that function of myths and legends. They aren't just entertaining, they showcase the best and worst of humanity from the safety of fiction. It was really interesting to see that written from outsider's perspective, even more so because the alien's reactions to the stories revealed a lot about his fictional intergalactic society, without taking attention away from the myths.

The second Storybook that I read was Desperate Goddesses: Life on Mythological Lane. This story is based on goddesses from various pantheons and societies around the world, set in a fictional neighborhood and loosely based on Desperate Housewives.

"Desperate Goddesses"
Source: Vanessa Nova via Desperate Goddesses

The idea of goddesses as "Desperate Housewives" was interesting to me for one major reason. Deities are often thought of as empirically above human impulses, despite much of their lore showing the exact opposite. This story gave them the room to be both powerful and painfully familiar, with such emotions as jealousy, betrayal, and vanity. Some of the stories could've used more depth but I thought overall they showed interesting duality of character. I think this story also was indicative of why we like myths featuring gods and goddesses. They are shown to have the same problems as humanity as well as the power to change things. It's also interesting that the god's actions rarely end well for humanity--and ultimately, we can see these stories in two ways: an explanation for awesome events, or gratefulness that they are only stories.

The finally, I chose Ancient Chinese Fairy Tales. Like many people on this side of the world, as the author addresses in his introduction, I am unfamiliar with Eastern myths and fairytales.

Tin Hau Temple - Hong Kong, China
"Ancient Chinese Fairy Tales"
Source: Mosaic Art Source

I like that the author wrote them as is, because had he added his own changes I would have missed them entirely. It serves as the first telling of lesser-known lore for me, as opposed to a retelling of famous mythological characters. I found the Chinese legends to be elaborate, with their titles giving almost nothing away. I think the most important thing that I took away from these myths was the importance of the intangible. Where western heroes are more important when they are "self-made," the heroes of these stories didn't rely on practical application entirely, but luck, spirits, and good intentions as well as practice. I think that it's an interesting disparity in Western culture vs Eastern culture: denying the importance of luck and circumstance as a necessary element for success, as opposed to acknowledging it.

I think that I have a few ideas for my own project, having read over the works from previous students. I'm not quite what one would call "technologically savvy," so building the site in itself will be a bit of a task for me. Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to my own storybook project, I'm sure that it will be a lot of fun.