Is mythic storytelling getting better, or worse?

The greatest thing a myth can do, and what makes a myth last longer in a culture, is express cultural truth-values. Through this course we have seen that classical and modern myths are effective in transmitting those values. I feel like I cannot accurately answer this question, as I am not sure to what extent older myths’ values were effectively conveyed and believed by their societies– did Metamorphoses, for example, have as much of an impact as 1984?

Regardless, I believe myths are getting better because time has gone on. Mythic storytelling has never stopped, and truth-values are still present everywhere, and with that I believe those storytellers have more to learn from, more ideas to share, and more ways to see how to effectively share their values.

Additionally, technology and globalization has greatly increased the effectiveness of sharing values and shaping entire cultures. Film and the internet has completely transformed our world– Squid Game, for example, reached the #1 spot on Netflix in 90 countries, was streamed for 1.9 billion hours in 23 days, and was 79x more popular than the average streamed show (link below). Thousands of articles, Tik Toks, memes, Tweets, etc. have been created, and millions of conversations have been had discussing the show and values concerning capitalism, human interaction, the pursuit of happiness, etc. Information sharing has taken the transmission, consumption, and understanding of mythical storytelling to a level never seen before.

https://chantellemarcelle.com/squid-game-statistics-netflix-international-content-strategy/#:~:text=The%20Squid%20Game%20Payoff%3A%20Benefits%20for%20Netflix&text=Netflix%20users%20consumed%20a%20total,content%20title%20in%20the%20world.

2.

As many of my fellow students have argued, mythic storytelling has progressed over the years in my opinion and has gained strength as of late. Of course, the older renditions of some stories hold more nostalgic value, but I think the updated technology and use of character portrayl and emotion has increased the capacity of mythic storytelling to be both more genuine and overall better. I think that often times we see many examples of stories that change or are adapted over time and they are actually improved from the orginal. If we are talking about spoken word poetry and works like the ancient myths that were spread orally, of course now we have them written down and so the stories won’t be completely altered based off of which anicent greek poet is telling the myth. However, we do see this with certain adaptations and different producers or directors having different "stylistic changes" that change the story and can either add to it or take away from it. One example that is a good representation of mythic storytelling improving over the years is the movie Freaky Friday. There is an original one with Jodi Foster that is way less known as it didn’t "sell" the body-swap idea as much as the newer one with Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan did. Additionally, with a movie remake like this it becomes more famous with the newer generation and helps spread the ideas of mythic storytelling. So, in both the 1960s timeline as well as the early 2000s timeline both generations know the idea of the "Freaky Friday" body swap, so the idea of mythic storytelling was strong then and strong now, but I still argue that now it is easier to portray certain themes with better technology, CGI, and editing techniques. 

3.

I think that mythic storytelling definitely progressed over the years due to the advanced technology. People tend to search data and the information on the internet therefore the they have more access to certain things and topics which can definitely help the storytelling to advance to higher level. Because the technology keeps developing every day, it gives us a chance to put our thoughts into life such as our favorite characters or our favorite stories. In the past people were unable to do that but nowadays anything is possible so people take advantage of that. People can also relate more to these stories as they look more realistic.

4.

In my opinion, mythic storytelling has progressed quite a bit over time. I think this is clear to see based on the changes over time between ancient and modern mythology. I think a major reason for this progress being made in mythic story telling is due to tevhnology and the internet. This is because technology is the main source of information for most people in the world today and is simply taking over. Due to this modern mythology has progressed a lot in comparison to ancient mythology and storytelling.