Embedded Files
Standard: Analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on themes, patterns of events, or character types from myths, traditional stories or religious works, including describing how the material is rendered new.
Objective: 8.R.RL.09: The Highly Proficient Student can evaluate how a modern work of fiction draws on themes, patterns of events, or character types from myths, traditional stories, or religious works; evaluate the impact of the newly rendered material.
Essential Questions
What are universal themes? How do they apply to stories from different cultures, time periods, and religions?
What are character, plot, and setting archetypes? How can these archetypes be used in modern stories?
How does an author use elements from myths, traditional stories, and religious works to create a new story?
Modern fiction draws from myths, traditional stories, and religious works by adapting familiar themes, plot structures, and character archetypes, reinventing them in new contexts. This technique makes new stories more resonant and allows authors to offer fresh perspectives on timeless ideas, using shared cultural touchstones to provide a foundation for complex new narratives. The impact is a multilayered meaning where the modern story comments on the present while simultaneously echoing the past, providing readers with deeper connections to the characters and their struggles.
Modern fiction draws from myths, traditional stories, and religious works by adapting familiar themes, plot structures, and character archetypes, reinventing them in new contexts. This technique makes new stories more resonant and allows authors to offer fresh perspectives on timeless ideas, using shared cultural touchstones to provide a foundation for complex new narratives. The impact is a multilayered meaning where the modern story comments on the present while simultaneously echoing the past, providing readers with deeper connections to the characters and their struggles.
How modern fiction uses traditional sources
Themes: Authors transplant universal themes like the "hero's journey" or the struggle between good and evil into new settings and stories. For example, the theme of a quest is present in ancient myths and also in modern fantasy series like Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings.
Patterns of events: Creators adapt classic narrative structures. A common example is the "quest narrative" with its pattern of departure, trial, and return, which is a framework used in many myths and retold in contemporary works.
Character types: Modern stories frequently use familiar archetypes, such as the wise old mentor, the trickster, or the tragic hero, but place them in new social and technological environments. This allows for a re-examination of these roles through a modern lens.
Impact of re-rendering material
Recontextualization: By placing old stories into new settings, authors can explore how ancient conflicts and ideas apply to modern life. A myth about hubris, for example, can be rendered through a story about a tech mogul whose ambition leads to their downfall, directly commenting on the present day.
Fresh perspectives: Reimagining a traditional story provides a new lens through which to view it. By changing a character's background or the story's outcome, authors can challenge readers' assumptions and offer fresh insights into both the original source and the modern world.
Increased resonance: Using familiar structures and characters can make a modern story feel both new and timeless. This draws readers in with a sense of recognition, while the new context encourages them to think more deeply about the material.
Bridging past and present: This technique creates a dialogue between historical narratives and contemporary issues, showing that fundamental human experiences and moral dilemmas persist across different eras. (AI Google Search)
Lotti M Character Archetypes.pptx
What is an archetype
The Hero’s Journey Presentation.pdfThe Hero's Journey Guided Notes.pdfReport abuse