Talk:American mythology

Untitled
I started trying to write some stuff, but it was difficult and then I accidentally erased it. I thought maybe that was a sign that people wouldn't like the way I was doing things, and so I thought I'd discuss the outline on the Talk page before adding much detail. Here's my thoughts:

Deleted old plan, see below

It's a great beginning for a list, Tokerboy. I would probably add Indian Captivity Narratives (which played a major role in defining the status of Native Americans and justifying westward expansion), Johnny Appleseed, the Pilgrims and the First Thanksgiving, the Salem Witch Trials, and the writings of Washington Carver and James Fenimore Cooper. What do you think? Danny

After thinking about it last night, I think any chronological order doesn't make much sense. Are we talking about when the mythologized heroes lived or when they became mythologized? It really adds little to the article, so the following is just a straight-up list of items that should be mentioned (even if just a "see also") in alphabetical order.

(I am deleting these as I add them; if anybody else does so, please delete it too)


 * Abraham Lincoln
 * The American Dream
 * Films
 * Blaxploitation
 * Coming of Age Movies (Dazed and Confused, American Graffiti, Rebel w/ out a Cause)
 * Disney and Animated Children's Films
 * James Bond
 * Mafia Movies (Godfather, Scarface, Carlito's Way, Goodfellas)
 * Murder Mysteries (Agatha Christie, Clue, Murder She Wrote)
 * Rocky Horror Picture Show
 * Slasher Movies (Friday 13 etc)
 * Vietnam War Movies
 * Folklore
 * Johnny Appleseed
 * Uncle Remus
 * Founding of the United states
 * Ben Franklin
 * Invention of the US Flag
 * Paul Revere
 * Pocahontas
 * Pilgrims/Thanksgiving
 * Thomas Jefferson
 * Gothic Narratives
 * Early (Poe, Lovecraft)
 * Late (the Cure, Anne Rice)
 * Helen Keller
 * Literature
 * Beat Generation
 * Comic Books
 * Comic Strips
 * Fantasy Novels (Tolkien, Harry Potter, Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, Pern)
 * Harlem Renaissance
 * Horatio Alger
 * Indian Captivity Narratives
 * James Fenimore Cooper
 * Legal Thrillers
 * Mark Twain
 * Multiple Personality Disorder (esp. Sybil, Three Faces of Eve, similar stories)
 * Romance Novels
 * Slave Narratives (Frederick Douglass)
 * Stephen King
 * Westerns (John Wayne, Zane Grey, Louis L'Amour)
 * Music
 * Blues Music
 * Concept Albums (Ziggy Stardust, Pink Floyd, The Who)
 * Early Rock n Roll (Chuck Berry, Elvis, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis)
 * Musicals
 * Outlaw Country
 * P Funk mythology
 * Other Narratives in Music
 * Bruce Springsteen
 * Disco (esp. Saturday Night Fever)
 * Folk Music (Dylan, Guthrie, Van Morrison)
 * Grunge Music ("Jeremy" Pearl Jam)
 * Heavy Metal
 * Jimmy Buffett
 * Psychedelia (Grateful Dead)
 * Punk (The Ramones had a lot of narrative-songs)
 * Surf Rock
 * The Noble Savage
 * Reefer Madness (Connection between racial narratives and the War on Drugs)
 * Rock Stars/Celebrities (the rise and fall, VH1 Behind the Music narrative)
 * Salem Witch Trials
 * Science Fiction
 * Conspiracy Theories (JFK, the X-Files)
 * The Fifties (esp. Stranger in a Strange Land)
 * Star Trek
 * Star Wars
 * Stand Up Comedy
 * TV
 * Animated Satire (South Park, Simpsons, Beavis and Butthead)
 * Jim Henson (Muppets, Fraggle Rock, Sesame Street)
 * Saturday Night Live and Sketch Comedy
 * Sitcoms
 * Soap Operas
 * Washington Carver

NAME ME: Girl groups and songs about loved ones dying in car accidents. Tokerboy 14:40 Oct 28, 2002 (UTC) -- How much of this is accurately described as "mythology"... some of it may well have mythological aspects.... but this runs the risk of equating most of American culture to myth.... I think maybe another term than "myth" would be more common to describe this -- an.


 * American culture is myth. See this from mythology
 * "we use the word "mythology" to refer to stories that, while they may or may not be strictly factual, reveal fundamental truths and insights about human nature, often through the use of archetypes. Also, the stories we discuss express the viewpoints and beliefs of the country, time period, culture, and/or religion which gave birth to them."
 * I'd be open to the possibility of using another word, but I think the above list is a list of stories that express the viewpoint and beliefs of at least a segment of the American population. Of course, before I came aboard on Wikipedia, there was apparently an argument about use of the word "mythology" to describe Christianity (and other extant religions).  I disagree with the consensus that developed in that argument, which may be applicable (to those who agree with it) here.  Tokerboy 18:05 Oct 28, 2002 (UTC)

- I've been tinkering with the American folklore page, which seems to cover a lot of the same ground as the material here. Perhaps the two might be merged? And if so, where? -- IHCOYC 14:16 Apr 24, 2003 (UTC)

- Merging would be good, but also take out Paul Bunyon etc. and move to their own page, and then this page (probably American mythology would be largely an index). dml

Johnny Appleseed was a real person
Johnny Appleseed was a real person - not a myth. Search Google for "John Chapman" for more info. Davodd 11:43, Jan 30, 2004 (UTC)

- This needs to be renamed now, and make sure links to are appropriate vis-a-vis American folklore dml 21:38, 14 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Pop culture vs mythology
I just linked the fearsome critters page to the American mythology page. They should probably be merged and fearsome critters as a subsection of American mythology.

Not sure of what the specific definition of mythology is, but I think we need to be careful to keep pop, culture and literature, separate from myths.

Ancient mythology intersects with religion, but I'm not sure that's appropriate here. You could look at the Mormon church etc as a type of mythology. Pchoate (talk) 02:08, 17 December 2023 (UTC)