Mythology
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The word mythology (from the Greek mythología, from Greek mythologein to relate myths, from Greek mythos, meaning a narrative, and Greek logos, meaning speech or argument) literally means the (oral) retelling of myths – stories that a particular culture believes to be true and that use the supernatural to interpret natural events and to explain the nature of the universe and humanity. In modern usage, "mythology" is either the body of myths from a particular culture or religion as in Greek mythology.
Modern mythology
Film and book series like Star Wars and Tarzan have strong mythological aspects that sometimes develop into deep and intricate philosophical systems. These items are not mythology, but contain mythic themes that, for some people, meet the same psychological needs. An example is that developed by J. R. R. Tolkien in The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings.
Fiction, however, does not reach the level of actual mythology until people believe that it really happened. For example, some people believe that fiction author Clive Barker's Candyman was based upon an actual event, and new stories have grown up around the figure. The same can be said for the Blair Witch and many other works of fiction.
Mythology is alive and well in the modern age through urban legends, New Age beliefs, certain aspects of religion and so forth. In the 1950s Roland Barthes published a series of essays examining modern myths and the process of their creation in his book Mythologies. Swiss psychologist Carl Jung (1873-1961) and his followers also tried to understand the psychology behind world myths.
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