"Your ancestors called it magic and you call it science. Well, I come from a place where they're one and the same thing." –Thor, THOR (Marvel)
For thousands of years, myths have helped us make sense of a nonsensical world. They've explained the origin of the cosmos, the origin of mankind, even the origin of electrical storms. (I'm firmly #TeamThor because, reasons. No offense, #TeamZeus.) Myths serve to glorify the values of the cultures who craft them—the scholarly Greeks heralded Athena, Goddess of Wisdom. The adventurous Vikings heralded Odin the Alfödr. And today, justice-minded citizens the world over admire Wonder Woman, Captain America and Obi-Wan Kenobi—heroes who embody honor and fairness, and who choose to use their gifts for the greater good. Mythology is simply a reflection of the world that shapes it. And in turn, it has tremendous power to shape us.
Mirriam-Webster defines mythology as an allegorical narrative—a story with a hidden meaning that speaks to the values of its creators. Joseph Campbell called myths "clues to the spiritual potentialities of the human life"—a way to see beyond the mortal world, and into the infinite possibility of the unknown. And Carl Jung described mythology as "a projection of the collective unconscious"—the universally accessible part of the mind that taps into ancestral memories. Since the mythical world simultaneously honors the values of the past while harnessing the potential of the future, what better genre could we find to explore the stories that shape our own world . . . and our own imaginations?
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Take, for example, the Norse myth of Thor the Bride—a story of love, adventure, and creative problem solving. Once upon a time in Asgard, Thor's magical hammer, Mjölnir was kidnapped by an evil jotun. The jotun offered Thor what he felt was a fair trade—the return of Mjölnir, in exchange for an eternity with Freya, Asgard's warrior Goddess of Love. Freya took a hard pass on the jotun's offer, which forced Thor to do some bigtime soul searching. The jotun was clear that he wasn't handing over the hammer without an Asgardian bride . . . but since said jotun wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, Thor quickly pieced together a solution. The God of Thunder dressed himself in a wedding gown, and convinced the trickster god Loki to suit up as his bridesmaid. One goat-driven chariot ride later, the duo arrived in Jotunheim, fooled the jotun into handing over Mjölnir, and bolted back to Asgard faster than they could say "runaway bride."
