Jerry Su, Period 1, 10/24/23

Jerry Su
Pd 1
10/24/23
Modern Mythology 2024

Literacy & Learning

The Cinderella Tales were an interesting feature. The tales themselves, written amongst many diverse authors, of which having many different outside perspectives provide a much higher elevation of insight. These switches between point of view and their effect on theme and morality provide a noticeable difference as compared to fairy tales with simple plot twists.

“Little Red Riding Hood,” for example, has different variations to the story, of which the main character “Red” delivers food to her sick grandmother deep in the woods. Each variation of the story focuses their main points on answering the “What if _x_ happened?” rather than “How does _x_ change the reader’s understanding of the story?”

Instead of changing certain plot lines where Little Red actually knew how to fight or everyone gets straight up offed, by applying Cinderella’s usage of critical lenses it shows how there were outside influences on the story that is represented by each line in the tale.

By shifting from simple morals such as “Don’t trust strangers” or “Listen to your Parents,” to analyzing how Red and the Wolf act and embody human characteristics represents usage of a “psychoanalytical lens” it is easy to realize that a quick change in perspective could flip one’s view and understanding of a story.

Furthering the years pre-fairy tale age, comes the age of Mythology and tales of Creation. Across the vast lands of which different cultural Myths come from, one of which stands particularly higher above the rest. None other are as well known and famous as the Ancient Greek Myths, tales of both splendor, fantasy, stories, and important lessons.

With the amount of Greek Myths expanding since the first few, many stories and perspectives have been changed to appeal to different people. This change could be seen as positive reconstruction, switching up the repetitive tales with intricately thought out newer versions. In the modern day, some of the more famous newer versions could be seen in the “Percy Jackson series” by Rick Riordan, or “Stone Blind” by Natalie Haynes.

The “Percy Jackson Series” fictionalized traditional Greek Mythology by bringing the Ancient Greek Gods, monsters, heroes, and famous places to the modern world. In a way, Riordan humanizes each aspect by depicting their intertwined relationships with the modern world, including the way they interact and exchange with the “mortals.”

In contrast, “Stone Blind” took the old Greek Myths and added more depth and “flavor” to them. By keeping the same traits, characters, and places, but adding more detail and story to them, Haynes is able to extend the long-loved Greek Myths and make them more interesting to read.

An example is seen in Hayne’s version of Medusa, where Medusa wasn’t a monster at first, a kind Gorgon with two loving sisters, but after she got sexually assaulted by Poseidon, got cursed and became a horrific monster, terrifying in legends. In the first original mention of Medusa, there wasn’t anything important written about her, the amount of detail was miniscule.

Greek Mythology is a prime example of how changing the perspective of a story switches up the reader’s understanding of lessons learned, and differences between rights and wrongs. The Myths adjusts focus between characters to alter the lessons a reader could attain from the stories.

This same understanding of perspective and outcomes applies to the real world. In the real world, perspective may not be something as important compared to living life the right way, but perspective does play a huge role amongst many huge aspects of life.

Take Social Media, for example, by viewing a video created by an influencer, you have the single perspective of a scroller, a person who looks at videos with intent to find something new. The same is not true for the content creator, who views their videos as a plausible source of income or fame. When a scroller fails to look at videos through different angles, they have a chance to fall for clickbait or misinformation.

Perspective matters, certainly when accounting for whether valuable information that could change a person’s life is actually false. One single mistake could lead to wrong decisions, failures, and overall added problems a viewer could have avoided by not watching the video.

As seen on the news, everyday arguments, fights, and global situations all have valuable intel from different perspectives. What may seem right for a person could be seen as wrong from another, which causes further heated discussion both online and in reality. A politician could be seen as defensive and strong-willed from a supporter whereas viewed as a fraud and a liar from a rival. A fight/argument could be seen as a sin, aggression, or with no reason from one side, but when additional information is released, it is deemed reasonable and well-deserved.

With a simple change in perspective, multiple outcomes are made rather than one intended one. Without the consideration of perspective in the many aspects of life, the end result would be worse than the initial intention.

Whether the perspective accounts for literacy, movies, or real life, a bias in perspective leads to a lack of understanding the many motives, which then leads to one singular viewpoint. This, in a way, is uncovering the tip of the iceberg and not diving to the root of the core.

Therefore, a shift or change in perspective can significantly influence one’s thought process, leading to a change in intended outcome from the original source.