Homework answers / question archive / Myth telling assignment Assignment: The assignment is for you (1) to produce your own version of a classic myth for modern audiences and (2) to write a commentary on your version of the myth that explains your sources and decisions

Myth telling assignment Assignment: The assignment is for you (1) to produce your own version of a classic myth for modern audiences and (2) to write a commentary on your version of the myth that explains your sources and decisions

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Myth telling assignment Assignment: The assignment is for you (1) to produce your own version of a classic myth for modern audiences and (2) to write a commentary on your version of the myth that explains your sources and decisions. This is a creative assignment: you have freedom to choose the form that your version of the myth takes – it could be a poem, an image or images that you create, a game, a treatment for a film, or any other reasonable way of conveying the myth. Your myth should give modern audiences a way to think about our own world and society, as classic myths did for Greeks and Romans. Your commentary must be a formal piece of writing that addresses three questions: what are your ancient sources for the myth? How do you understand the ancient myth (ie. what is the point of the myth for ancient people)? How did you decide to translate this source material and ancient myth for a modern audience? Requirements: Myth telling component: this is an individual creative project. You must tell a myth in your own way for modern audiences (no copies or reperformances of pre-existing versions). A good version of a myth will tell the story in a coherent, comprehensible fashion and will make it speak to scientific or ethical or social or political issues of our time. Think, for example, how Margaret Atwood used Penelope to write about the marginalization of women or how Rick Riordan used Percy Jackson to write about the experience of growing up. Your narrative does not need to be set in the present-day; rather, the important thing is that your narrative is attractive and relevant to a contemporary audience. This is an individual project so must be your own work entirely and should be reasonable in scope (ie. a substantial poem, a single “finished” image or several “sketches”, a treatment for a film; NOT a feature film, a full graphic novel, a performed play). 1 Commentary: this should be a formal piece of writing of 3 to 4 pages that explains the ancient source material for the myth and your creative decisions in using that material to your GSI and to me. You must clearly identify the ancient versions of the myth that you used (textual and visual), briefly analyze that myth – explain why ancient Greeks or Romans told the myth and how that ancient significance of the myth affected your version. You should also show how your creative decisions were grounded in the ancient versions, including elements you changed or adapted. Each component is weighted equally for the purpose of grading. You must have your GSI sign off on the progress of your assignment at the showcase for final projects (during the discussion section in week of April 12th). Rubric: Myth version: Communication Creativity Relevance to modern audiences Commentary on myth telling: Citation/reference to ancient versions of the myth used Outstanding Very Good Acceptable Room for improvement Communicates in clear and vivid way the story of the myth Communicates the myth in an easily comprehensible way Only partly conveys the story of the myth to audience Does not communicate the narrative of the myth clearly The myth is used to explore contemporary issues of concern (can be ethical/ political/social/ scientific issues) The myth is told in a way that is generally relates to topics of contemporary interest The myth is told in a way that might appeal to modern audiences but does not explore pressing issues The myth is not told in a way that speaks to contemporary audiences or topics Clear references to versions of the ancient myth with clarity about how they Clear citation of an ancient version and apparent how that version informed the myth telling Tells the narrative in a novel and exciting form Tells the myth in a way that is appealing to audiences The myth version is told in a way that develops existing versions An ancient version referenced, but unclear how it informed telling of myth The version of the myth is substantially similar to other versions of the same story No ancient version referenced or unclear citation 2 Analysis of meaning of the myth in ancient society Explanation of decisions made in creative version of myth informed the myth telling Critical analysis of the significance of the myth in ancient societies Accurate remarks about the significance of the myth in ancient contexts The commentary demonstrates a compelling reasoning behind creative decisions The commentary explains some major decisions made in the creative component Some factual information about the historical or aesthetic context of ancient versions The commentary only describes the creative decisions made, without compelling explanation No or little detail about ancient context of the myth; no analysis of ancient myth’s significance The commentary only comments on the creative decisions in passing or not at all Guidance: - Think about which ancient myth might allow you to address modern audiences and topics of interest to them. - Find as many ancient versions of your selected myth as you can. Your textbook, the Anthology of Classical Myth provides access to plenty of ancient myths – use the index of the book to find them! You may also find it useful to use online resources like the Oxford Classical Dictionary (search for it in Oskicat) to find more versions. - Use the information provided in lectures, section and in readings to help you analyze the ancient myth and to think about what issues the myth raises that might appeal to modern audiences - For the creative part of the assignment, think about your own skills and abilities when you choose a form for presenting the myth. Do you like to write? Think about writing a poem. Do you like to draw or paint? Think about creating some images of myth. Do you like to code, make internet memes, write songs, generate ideas for movies? All these could be the basis for the creative version of a myth. - Do not be too ambitious or too derivative. You do not have the resources to make a new Percy Jackson movie and you should not copy the work of Rick Riordan (or anyone else). - See the sample assignments from previous years in the folder on our bcourses site. 3 Due: The assignment is due on May 7th before midnight. You should upload both components as a single file on the bcourses site. You will have to bring your work in progress to the discussion section in the week of April 12th (“showcase of final myth telling projects”). If the nature of your version of the myth comes in a form that is not easily conveyed in a computer file, please be in touch with your GSI in plenty of time. If your myth telling project is a performance, you must record it in some permanent fashion so that your GSI can grade it fairly. Time Management: You have several weeks to complete this assignment. Please use this time well and properly schedule time for this task. Do not leave the assignment to the final week before the workshop or final deadline; you will not have enough time left to properly study the myth, produce a high quality version of the myth and write a clear commentary. Assistance: Your GSI should be your first point of contact for assistance with this assignment; they hold regular office hours. You will also find good resources for accessing mythology through the Library. See this site for how librarians can help you: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/help/research-help I am also available by email and in my office hours; in some cases, I may refer you to your GSI for in depth help.