Modern Myth

  Mythology is always an interesting subject for me, primarily how it changes as time moves on. I've been taught by my previous professors that what makes a story a myth is wether or not it stands the testament of time, that a story written decades, hundreds, or even thousands of years ago can still hold interests today. I doubt that stories like Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings will not withstand this challenge and be remembered for centuries to come.  Good examples of longstanding mythology include Beowulf, Mulan, Hercules, Little Red Riding Hood, and plenty of other myths can be remembered today, the most popular reformatted as Disney animated films. This altering is what makes contemporary myth interesting. By studying the changes made to a story, we can see the values that we don't only enjoy but teach to our children and society through media.  "Disneyfication" is often predictable, making the stories less violent and have happy endings, even when completely absent from the original stories.
   Anansi Boys is a good example of the alteration of classical myth turned modern. An easy way to modernize myth is to simply take mythical characters and conflicts and throw them in the present, similar to Anansi Boys. Seeing a West African deity drink himself drunk is an amusing though not entirely modern theme, but an interesting theme of the story is that of inheritance. Traditional inheritance usually falls to the eldest child, the majority of the inheritance, the father's company, and in fantasy and ancient times, the land and title of royalty should your family be fortunate enough to be royalty. The passing of Anansi's powers to one sibling is an interesting metaphor for child favoritism in the real world, though presented in extreme exaggeration. This is why Anansi Boys is a good example of contemporary myth, not for it's modern setting, but for it's modern conflicts and themes.