Both ancient and modern mythology have various ideas, lessons, beliefs and values important to the culture or society described within them; however, these concepts may be difficult to pinpoint and understand. We are able to understand a bit more what the culture believes by shining a light on the weird, the long, the spoken and the repeated portions of each myth. Looking at it in a comparative light, myths from similar and different cultures can also allow us to develop an understanding on what a specific culture might believe and identify commonalities and differences between cultures and their respective myths. By applying the cultural and comparative approaches to ancient myths as well as identifying when it is appropriate to do so in modern myths, we can develop a deeper understanding of myths as a whole and their symbolic meanings.

Enuma Elish involves the myth surrounding the Mesopotamian creation and tells the story of a powerful god, Marduk, and their triumph over Tiamat and the following creation of order encasing the world creation. The main concept expressed within this narrative is the idea that Babylonians believes that violence would bring order to the chaos that surrounded them. This was based off Apsu and Tiamet deciding to kill their children but Ea finding out before the plan is enacted, killing Apsu first. Following this, Tiamet becomes enraged, and the children ask Marduk to fight Tiamet, ultimately leading to Marduk creating the world. Comparatively, the narrative creation in Genesis, ultimately led to religions such as Judaism and Christianity. In contrast to the violence shown in the Babylonian myth, the Genesis myth encapsulates the idea that love can bring order to chaos - see the saying: love trumps all. Those living in Ancient Greece remained fascinated with their position on Earth and their ultimate place within it. Fundamental to the Ancient Greek's beliefs, Theogony of Hesiod was a prominent myth that described the relationship with the world and gods. The Greeks used Hesiod's myths to understand the word surrounding them and explain the phenomena they experienced. Based from Hesiod's myths, it becomes rather easy to infer that the Greeks believed if they had behaved better and been more respectful to the gods, things within the world would ultimately be better as well. We see this concept become relevant in the myths of Prometheus and Pandora, where Prometheus tricked Zeus and in response, Zeus created Pandora who ultimately let loose evils within the world and only left hope alive. Within these myths, it allowed the idea that the evil in the world is at the fault of humans and the gods within the world were justified in their punishments against humans.

When comparing Genesis 1-3 and Enuma Elish, there are a few relative similarities among them, the most prominent being the existence and presence of chaos and the need to find peace. Within both myths, they give structure and ultimately the creation of the world by ending the chaos. While both myths have different concepts to solve the chaos (Genesis choosing love and Enuma Elish choosing violence), they do ultimately end in the similar fashion. Another commonality between them is the number 7, with the creation of Genesis being completed in 7 days and Enuma Elish being written on 7 different tablets. Both myths also have their variety of differences from one another, which a main one focusing on the fact that Genesis is monotheistic and Enuma Elish is polytheistic. Despite that, both myths also hold a different value of human and what their purpose is in the world. In Enuma Elish, humans are created as the servants of the gods compared to in Genesis where humans are created to rule over his creation.  In both Greek myths and in Enuma Elish, one similarity that seems prominent is that younger gods often defeat older/elder gods. For instance, in Greek myths, heaven is defeated by Cronos and Cronos is then defeated by Zeus; in Enuma Elish, Ea defeats Apsu and Marduk defeats Tiamet. Hesiod's theogony is the Greek creation of what is human kind and Earth, and since The Book of Genesis is from a different culture, it gives reasoning to explain how Genesis is also a creation myth of human kind and the Earth. Modern myths act similarly and in turn, can be investigated similarly to ancient myths.

For instance, taking the movies Big Hero Six (2014), the movie portrays the idea that family and those who have passed on from us never truly leave our hearts or minds, thus carrying them with us for eternity. In the beginning of the movie, Tadashi Hamada passes away in a fire, leaving behind his brother Hiro, the main character, and his creation called Baymax. Through the  keeping of Baymax, Tadashi's friends continually talking to and essentially becoming superheroes with Hiro as well as clips Baymax projects of Tadashi, it becoming evident that while Tadashi may have left physically, he hadn't left all of them - thus bringing the idea that our loved ones never truly leave. There is also another more modern conceptual idea of how friends can be our family. This is explained by Tadashi's friends sticking by Hiro and creating inventions as well as becoming superheroes that go on to defeat Yokai (the villain). Tadashi's friends ultimately become a family to him by helping him through his moral conflictions and by allowing him to see things in a new way and bringing light to situations that become troubling to Hiro. Big Hero 6 also encapsulates both the myths of Enuma Elish and Genesis; Hiro's story relates more to Genesis in that he is fighting to avenge his brother’s wrongful death through love and compassion and through the memory of Tadashi reminding him that revenge is not the answer, whereas the villain, Yokai relates closer to the Enuma Elish myth in that he is fighting for revenge in his daughter 's death by wreaking havoc and chaos across the city and with violence against Hiro and his team. Big Hero 6 offers viewers the lessons we see prominent in culture today and allows for the understanding of modern narrative ideas depicted in society. Using this approach with modern narratives can also bring up ideas that are believed within the realm of the film and not necessarily in the real world, so the ability to be distinctive between the two is important.

Commonalities seen between modern and ancient myths include the fact that in most, there is always the fight between good and evil or order and chaos. While in ancient myths this was more relevant with the presence of gods, in modern myths this is represented in heroes - both of which are aimed to fight against the negativity and evil within the world.

Using both the cultural and comparative approaches to view modern mythology and ancient mythology we are able to gain a deeper understanding of the ideas expressed within these narratives and how they influence daily life. It is easy to view these stories, both modern and ancient, as mere entertainment rather than viewing it within a light of life lessons and what we can learn from these lessons. For instance, if you were to view Big Hero 6 without the knowledge of a life or moral lesson, you might simply see it as an entertaining movie with action and a few sad scenes of a boy losing his brother and how he overcame those feelings. However, when we introduce these approaches we learn that within the movie, there are important ideas of the value of friendship, never truly losing someone, looking at things from a different perspective and the importance of memories made without seeking revenge. Using both cultural approach and comparative approach in modern and ancient myths, we are able to understand the beliefs and values held by various cultures and artistic choices made by those within each culture and societal group.