Current Events > It's funny that the West doesn't have its own Journey to the West.

(+) Yeah! (+)

I know Lord of the Rings was meant to rectify this. It was written for the poor, downtrodden Anglo-Saxon who was deprived a mythology of his or her own. And there's perhaps nothing more Western in philosophy than putting a trademark on that mythology.

But seriously, it's a bit odd that we don't have that go-to story to borrow from. If you're making a video game or anime in Japan and you're at a loss for inspiration, you just have to model your protagonist after Son Goku, your antagonist after the Ox King, or your setting around any found in the story. In the West, we don't really have that direct equivalent. Nobody says, "Oh, I can't think of a protagonist -- Ah, I know! I'll make him King Arthur."

I guess the closest thing would probably be Hercules. You do get a lot of "strength of Hercules" heroes. But that's usually about where the comparisons end.

literally the Odyssey

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Sorry about your topic.

Broseph_Stalin posted...

Sorry about your topic.

Yeah this is pretty rough. CE be rough some days

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i just realized there isn't a a big budget/popular movie about the odyssey which is just weird.

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What western produced media really borrows from the Odyssey?

There's that French-Japanese anime that's set in space. The one with the little blue girl. I guess Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? is kind of a retelling. Nobody goes and makes the final boss of their video game a cyclops because of the Odyssey.

Oregon Trail.

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Ulysses by Joyce

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FortuneCookie posted...

But seriously, it's a bit odd that we don't have that go-to story to borrow from.

I mean the Bible is like 10 of these stories.

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Grapes of Wrath

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The Lion King and the Original Star Wars trilogy are both basically Hamlet.

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FortuneCookie posted...

I know Lord of the Rings was meant to rectify this. It was written for the poor, downtrodden Anglo-Saxon who was deprived a mythology of his or her own. And there's perhaps nothing more Western in philosophy than putting a trademark on that mythology.

But seriously, it's a bit odd that we don't have that go-to story to borrow from. If you're making a video game or anime in Japan and you're at a loss for inspiration, you just have to model your protagonist after Son Goku, your antagonist after the Ox King, or your setting around any found in the story. In the West, we don't really have that direct equivalent. Nobody says, "Oh, I can't think of a protagonist -- Ah, I know! I'll make him King Arthur."

I guess the closest thing would probably be Hercules. You do get a lot of "strength of Hercules" heroes. But that's usually about where the comparisons end.

Beowulf?

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Snakes on a Plane. </topic>

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Letsago posted...

Beowulf?

I was paraphrasing Tolkien's melodramatic spiel. He said that he wrote Lord of the Rings for the poor Anglo-Saxon who had no mythology of their own -- disregarding the fact that white people have tons of myths.

Antifar posted...

I mean the Bible is like 10 of these stories.

I guess that's true.

If you need a name for a protagonist, you just call them John and/or give them the initials JC. Also, if you need a villain, just fall back on devil imagery. A biker can have a pentagram as part of his uniform or a devil tattoo. A corrupt businessman can paraphrase the, "All this will I give you," temptation.

The Bible is probably the most borrowed from material for people looking for inspiration.

"Oh, I can't think of a protagonist -- Ah, I know! I'll make him an author"

This is true.