Forms of Myth - Blake Bauserman

 Building off the previous post, which asked whether songs could be considered part of the American mythos, I will propose a few more questions. Could television act as myth? Could radio act as myth? Could movies act as a vehicle of myth?

I would say the standard for myth is a creative object becoming ingrained in the popular conscience. A measure of this would perhaps be to take a random sample of 100 people off any street in American. If the majority of them are capable of, say, answering basic questions, it has obtained mythic status. I say this as films of even international origin have obtained great recognition within American culture, such as Monty Python and the Holy Grail. If you ask someone about the airspeed of an unladed swallow, I am willing to bet they will ask if you mean African or European.

Television could still be said with shows like Doctor Who and Supernatural reaching cult status, especially with the advent of the internet. I would say this is much harder to measure as TV is inherently a less predictable means of engaging in media due to the constantly different airing schedules. This is in opposition to movies where a person could get a DVD and watch it at any time.

Radio I am not sure could really qualify, perhaps beyond major broadcasts in the past with radio communication. As a medium, it has become more outdated, and the broadcasts are inherently more local than national as television is. Radio perhaps could only achieve mythic status within American subcultures, say, for example, left-leaning American viewers recognizing NPR programs, or say the antics of a local DJ being known among a town or county.