Steven Chen, Period 2, 02/01/2023

 Steven Chen 

Period 2

02/01/23

Modern Mythology 2023

Literacy & Learning

Norse mythology, the unit that I was the most excited about in this course, has finally come upon us. Prior to the myth class, all the information I had about Norse mythology was based on Marvel films (Odin, Thor, and Loki movies). And since they are some of my favorite characters of mine in the Marvel series I was ecstatic to learn more about it in myth class and let me tell you something we definitely did. During this unit, I’ve learned about things that I didn’t know previously about the Norse gods, such as that they lived to fight and they glorified those who did and died honorably. In fact, they even had a place for those who died honorably, which is known as Vallhala, yet there is also a place for those that die not on the battlefield but of other causes that go to the place known as Hel. Hel is a place of cold where no fire can be lit and those that go there because of their dishonorable death have to suffer eternally. I personally really liked the story of The Last Days of Loki. Loki considered almost an antagonist or villain throughout the whole Norse mythology lore was always a character that I’m interested in. Loki is the god of mischief, so whether his deeds are evil can be further discussed, as I personally think that he’s just fulfilling his part of being the god of mischief. In the story, he was being chased because of his actions leading to Balder's death, and his being finally captured and tied down with his own son's entrail. I think the story is kind of ironic as Loki was always the one playing tricks on others, yet this time he is the one being tied by his own offspring’s intestine. 

In Norse mythologies, they also touched upon ideas that apply to the world around me such as teaching us lessons or ideals through the feminist lens and the Marxist lens. In the story of The Story of Gerd and Frey, we see Gerd basically being forced to marry a man she doesn’t love because of the threats of Skrinir killing her/turning her into an old hag. In this, we can basically see how the Norse saw the role of women as always being subordinate to men and how they don’t really have a say in things. A Marxist lens can also be applied to The Children of Loki where a class difference is shown because of the appearance of Loki’s offspring. Even though they are too the offspring of a respected being Loki’s children are crucified because they looked monstrous. And the idea of them being a monster made it so that their social standings were low, and even caused Odin the supreme god of Norse mythology to order other gods to capture them/restrain them. 

In order to show our mastery of the Norse mythologies understanding our class was assigned a project, which is to make a transformative twist on the mythologies we were given. For my group, we decided on The Story of Gerd and Frey as the mythology to transform into a play of our own. This was a challenging yet fun process. I remember me and my group mates talking on discord laughing and exchanging our ideas till 11 pm. During writing our play we talked about including a feminist lens and included many outrageous ideas that made the play more engaging. In the week of the presentation I enjoyed every presentation, and everyone went over the top in making their transformative play. Everyone brought props and was very passionate when presenting, showing that they took time and effort into making their play the best possible/in teaching us in a more engaging way than I can ever imagine. Through this unit, I improve my creative writing and overall ability to converse with others/exchange ideas. In addition, by completing the feedback sheet after each presentation I am now able to think more critically, which allows me to reflect upon myself.  And I couldn’t be thankful enough to be able to experience the Norse Mythology lessons.