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Rachel Bonynge
Mrs. Rutan
AP Literature and Composition
28 March 2015

Modern Day Fairy Tales


In modern times, the word myth is considered a false story or fable that is unrealistic and
unattainable for people of today; however, that wasnt always the case. The most popular myths
are the Greek mythology stories about the Greek gods and their supernatural powers. Although
today many people dont consider those stories realistic or factual, they were once very real for
the Greeks when they were first being told. These people from the past would even define these
stories as a true explanation of the natural world (Magoulick, 3). Every part of these
mythological stories provided a reality (Eliade, 2) that was shown through supernatural
beings (Eliade, 2) that exemplified a standard of living that all people tried to reach. These
extra-human (Magoulick, 1) beings were described in these mythological stories through the
heroic events that they accomplished and their travels as they accomplished them. These noble
figures serve as the primary allure to the myths because people want to hear about their
unbelievable experiences and compare them to events in their lives. Most Greek myths provide
believers with an explanation for why things are the way that they are and the main character in
the myth is who personifies that explanation for the rest of time.
Myth has been proven to be prevalent in modern day living, just as it was in ancient
Greece; however, the people of today have twisted myths into fantasies rather than a belief
system. It is considered that Star Wars provides mythological elements that make its unrealistic
story line a practical representation of ancient myths. Although that is a stretch for some people

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to agree with, it does provide the basic elements that every myth should have within its
characters and plot.
However, in order to understand the full capacity of myth today, compared to myth in
ancient times, it is best to correlate Star Wars with non-tradition myths, including Sophocles
Antigone. Both Star Wars and Antigone contain common myth components that every Greek
Myth describes; this makes them both sacred in their nature.
As it states earlier, all successful myths enclose a supernatural being (Magoulick, 4)
that serves as the hero of the tale. In Greek mythology, this would be someone like Zeus who is
the father of the gods or Poseidon who is god of the sea. These figures represent something
bigger than themselves which is why they are the main feature of the myth. In Star Wars, the
main character and hero is Luke Skywalker, son of Darth Vader and ultimate savor of the galaxy.
Luke possesses the incredible gift of the force which guides him in his journey to protect the
people by giving him special insight of where Darth Vader is and allows him to move objects and
people with only the use of his mind. This incredible ability is considered a supernatural power
because he can do in-human things with it that ultimately help bring back the order of the galaxy.
Lukes powers are rare among the peoplesince only Jedis can obtain themwhich make
people look up to him and rely on him for protection. He becomes the only person that can save
the galaxy from Darth Vader and that gives him a god-like status.
The main character of the play Antigonethe strong female Antigoneis also looked at
as an important figure in the kingdom of Thebes because she possesses a power that no one else
seems to mask. This power, however, is not supernatural, nor is it unattainable by any means; she
contains the power of strong will and moral security. Although it doesnt exactly fit into the

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definition of myth, it still belongs in the category because those two qualities are looked upon as
rare and are very powerful when it comes to the relentless King Creon. Antigone uses her power
to justify why her brother Polynices should have a proper burial even though he was fighting
against Creons army as an enemy. She goes against Creons decree that Polynices will never be
buried because he doesnt deserve it, by burying him anyway. No one else would have dared go
against the kings orders especially a woman of that time. This proves that she possesses a power
that no one else is able to contain. She serves as the hero of this epic myth because she is a
dream-figure who stands in for the entire culture (Gordon, 1).Her power gives her a position of
grandeur; a position of a goddess.
With all great myths and untouchable stories, there is always a protective figure
(Gordon, 2) that speaks the truth and provides the main characters with insight and advice. Every
hero needs a mentor. In Star Wars, Luke is mentored by the little, green Yoda. Yoda guides Luke
to use his power for good and teaches him to control the force by giving him a view into the
future. Yodas advice helps Luke understand his full potential. Yoda also informs Luke that Darth
Vader is his father which he knows by seeing things that others cant see. Yoda could be
considered a prophet with an ability to guide people by breaking natural laws (Magoulick, 4).
Antigone is also accompanied with a prophet; Tiresias. Tiresias has the in-human ability to see
into the future and voice the outcome of events that havent happened yet. He guides Creon into
letting Antigone bury her brother because Tiresias informed him that hes robbed the gods
below that earth, keeping a dead body here in the bright air, unburied (Sophocles, 115). Creon
knew that interfering with the Gods would alter his destiny, which is the response that all
mythological characters would give, so he changed his decree. Both Yoda and Tiresias are
depicted as visions of the future that relay advice for the good of nature.

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The setting of each myth also involves a proto-world (Magoulick, 4). This means that
the world depicted in the story is somewhat like this one but also different (Magoulick, 4). Star
Wars captures this world with the realistic representation of the moon and space; however, the
creator of Star Wars, George Lucas, invented an entirely different universe by incorporating the
Death Star and Lukes home planet of Tatooine. This made-up world is more unrealistic than the
world of Antigone; however, Antigones world still captures the idea of mixing our world with
unlikely events. Antigone is set in the Greek city of Thebes, which is a real place in Greece. This
setting is transformed into a myth by describing a kingdom that was never there and the ruling
family that was never in power. This imaginative idea dissolves the vision of an actual event that
took place in Thebes and more into a story with the setting of Thebes. These worlds or events
can never be discovered since they do not exist which encloses the essence of a myth.
Throughout time, the definition of myth has changed dramatically. It was once always
considered as a true, usually sacred (Magoulikc, 1) story, but that line has been burred as,
overtime, the definition of myth is recounted as a false tale. Now we have modern-day myths
like Star Wars which are regarded more as a modern fairy tale (Gordon, 1). But it is important
for our culture to recount the ancient myths like Antigone to remember the importance of what
really makes a myth, a myth. All of these examples, ancient and modern, give insight to the
meaning and value of life (Eliade, 1) then and now.
Works Cited
Eliade, Mircea. "In Search of Cupid and Psyche: Chapter Two." In Search of Cupid and Psyche: Chapter Two.
Harper & Row, 1963. Web. 30 Mar. 2015. <http://comminfo.rutgers.edu/~mjoseph/eliade.html>.
Gordon, Andrew. "Star Wars: A Myth for Our Time." Star Wars: A Myth for Our Time. N.p., 1978. Web. 30 Mar.
2015. <http://users.clas.ufl.edu/agordon/starwars.htm>.

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Magoulick, Mary. "Mary Magoulick : What Is Myth?" Mfjrinc. N.p., 30 Jan. 2014. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
<https://mfjrinc.wordpress.com/2014/01/30/mary-magoulick-what-is-myth/>.

Sophocles, Robert Fagles, and Bernard Knox. The Three Theban Plays. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England:
Penguin, 1984. Print.

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