Christmas is the mythiest of all days. But what does it mean?
Damien Walter writes on technology, culture and scifi for The Guardian, BBC, Wired, Oxford University Press, IO9, Tor.com and elsewhere. He’s a graduate of the Clarion scifi writers workshop, and teaches Advanced Scifi & Fantasy : writing the 21st century myth
Christmas comes but once a year. It’s the day we do one thing above all others…indulge our love of myths.
Christmas itself is a weird hodge-podge of many myths.
The celebration of Yule is a Germanic and Nordic festival, a time for drinking to Odin and remembering the pagan gods.
As Christianity colonised northern Europe it transposed an obscure Christian holiday on the the old animist religions it replaced.
Christ himself is a mash-up or two very different stories.
Jesus the man is the historical account of a Middle Eastern political revolutionary who was likely executed by the Romans for acts of terrorism. (Things – it seems – never change)
Christ the son of god is an archetypal figure across storytelling in the early Roman era. Think of The Christos as a kind of superhero, whose mythic story was mashed together with a real political figure.
In the confusion of the Dark Ages, Christ was turned into a supernatural hero. The miracles of Christ, and his origin story as the “son of god”, which early Christians would have understood as metaphor, became literal beliefs.
The Victorians loved Christmas because they turned it into a nationalist myth of Britain. Then in the last century we added a layer of commercialism to the holiday. Like Valentine’s Day, Father’s Day and Mother’s Day, Christmas was invented as a festival of the myths of consumerism.
Christmas is the most god-almighty mess of old myths and new. And then what do most of us do on Christmas Day?
We watch our favourite modern myths on the telly. When I was a kid the highlight of Christmas was when a recent cinema blockbuster would get a rare screening for free on tv. Today it’s BluRay’s of Avengers Endgame or the complete HBO box set of Game of Thrones that will occupy most people’s attention
And of course, STAR WARS.
What a Day of Myths our festival of Christmas truly is.
But what do all these myths mean?
I suspect that for most of us who no longer follow the Christian faith the old myths of Christmas have lost all meaning. And the only meaning the new myths we stream from Netflix have is as a passing entertainment.
Isn’t it strange, then, that we give these myths so much time and attention?
My major teaching project for this year has been Advanced Scifi & Fantasy : Writing the 21st Century Myth. This new course is my journey to try and understand what myths are doing in our lives today. I’m happy that almost five thousand students have so far enrolled on the course to join that journey.
A highlight of the course – and of my year – was interviewing John Vervaeke, Professor of Cognitive Psychology at the University of Toronto (where he teaches alongside Jordan Peterson) on the meaning of myth. And of Star Wars.
A member of John’s community created a brief edited video from out 90 minute conversation. In just a few minutes, it captures the whole meaning of our discussion.
You can follow the full course for 90% off by enrolling today using course code DAYOFMYTH – https://www.udemy.com/course/advanced-science-fiction-fantasy/?couponCode=DAYOFMYTH
Follow free talks from the course by subscribing to the podcast.
Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/science-fiction-with-damien-walter/id1530666687
Or Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9kYW1pZW5nd2FsdGVyLmNvbS9jYXRlZ29yeS9wb2RjYXN0L2ZlZWQv?hl=en-ID
Advanced SciFi & Fantasy
Writing the 21st century myth
Damien Walter, writer on sci-fi and geek culture for The Guardian, BBC, WIRED and graduate of the Clarion writers workshop, leads a journey into scifi and fantasy storytelling.
The cognitive science of scifi with John Vervaeke
This podcast is republished from earlier in the year.
Follow the full course in Scifi and Fantasy : https://damiengwalter.com
Write better sci-fi stories with this simple idea
When high-falutin people talk about sci-fi you’ll often hear them use words like novum and the like. Critic and academic Darko Suvin came up with novum to describe the…thing…at the heart of every sci-fi story that makes it sci-fi. Androids hiding as humans! A world populated by talking apes! A portal that leads to everyContinue reading “Write better sci-fi stories with this simple idea”
Science fiction sold out. Let’s take it back.
Corporations love to take cool things and turn them to trash to make money. In the early 80s black artists took DJ music loops, rapped radical political lyrics over them, and invented hip-hop. Corporations took hip-hop and degraded it into “gangsta rap”, perpetuating stereotypes of black male violence to sell hip-hop to the masses. CorporationsContinue reading “Science fiction sold out. Let’s take it back.”
Genre fiction is the worst thing that ever happened to science fiction
When did the science fiction community start using “genre” as a proper noun? “It’s a common thing in Genre.” As though “Genre” is a city you can visit. Or a distinct community unified by being “Genre”. It’s one of those linguistic ticks that arise on the internet. But for science fiction it’s also symbolic ofContinue reading “Genre fiction is the worst thing that ever happened to science fiction”
How does M John Harrison enter a story?
M John Harrison is one of the all time greats, a “science fiction writer’s science fiction writer”, a creator of weird tales in the horror tradition, and a powerful weaver of fantasy. The Viriconium stories defined political fantasy in the 80’s, as the Light trilogy redefined literary SF in the 00s. As editor of NewContinue reading “How does M John Harrison enter a story?”
Neuromancer…still the best science fiction novel ever written
When life takes an unexpected left turn I do four things – tidy my room, go running, take 72 hours away from anything stressful…and read a good book. This time around I landed on Neuromancer by William Gibson. I first read this book when I was 14, I suspect I read it at least sevenContinue reading “Neuromancer…still the best science fiction novel ever written”
How Philip K Dick’s 1960’s masterpiece nailed politics in the 2020’s
Is Europe welcoming desperate refugees, or being invaded by economic migrants? Is Donald Trump a serious President, or a clownish attention seeker? The Man In The High Castle reveals the most basic truths about our era of competing narratives. * In 1947 the forces of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan swept to victory over Europe andContinue reading “How Philip K Dick’s 1960’s masterpiece nailed politics in the 2020’s”
The remarkable Neal Stephenson interview
Neal Stephenson – legendary author of speculative fiction – on Elon Musk and geek culture, the NSA revelations of Edward Snowden, how negative cultural narratives are killing big science – and the upbringing that made him the writer he is. IN LATE 2013 I had the opportunity to interview the author Neal Stephenson. Some Remarks,Continue reading “The remarkable Neal Stephenson interview”
7 literary Sci-Fi and Fantasy novels you must read
Sci-fi & Fantasy are best known as genre fiction. But truth be told, they have their roots in works of literature. For fans, and especially creators, of today’s modern mythology, it’s a good idea to get familiar with the literary novels that made SF&F what it is. The Glass Bead Game by Herman Hesse isContinue reading “7 literary Sci-Fi and Fantasy novels you must read”
