I'm now watching the sixth episode of WW and enjoying it more and more. I think the storylines are becoming more complex and the themes explored are multiplying--maybe there are too many themes.
One of the interesting themes the show keeps coming back to I think is the role of myth and ritual. I've been thinking about Kellner's observation:
Television today arguably assumes some of the
functions traditionally ascribed to myth and ritual (i.e. integrating
individuals into the social order, celebrating dominant values, offering models
of thought, behavior, and gender for imitation, and so on; see Kellner, 1979
and 1995). In addition, TV myth resolves social contradictions in the way that
Lévi-Strauss described the function of traditional myth and provided mythologies
of the sort described by Barthes that idealize contemporary values and
institutions, and thus exalt the established way of life.
What do you think about Westworld as myth? Can television fulfill the function once ascribed t myth and ritual? Westerns have always served a rather mythic function in American psyche and Westworld has a lot of fun showing us a rather complicated picture of that myth. More interestingly, the Man in Black seems to be on a mythic quest, looking for the deeper meaning behind Westworld. At the same time, though, it seems that there is no deeper meaning. The Man in Black is motivated by the Maze and the search for Wyatt and yet we know that both are elements of stories created by Ford. To what extent is the search for meaning a lost cause? And what does Westworld seem to be saying about the role of myth in our lives? Or about TV's capacity to fulfill the function of myth?
No comments:
Post a Comment