Responsible Creativity and the "Modernity" of Mary Shelley's Prometheus by Harriet Hustis

In this scholarly journal, Harriet Hustis discusses the concept of Responsible Creativity by looking at Mary Shelley's version of Prometheus and how she reforms Prometheus into a modern horror story. Her version of the legend of Prometheus is Frankenstein. It is her own creation. She also discusses how Frankenstein and Zeus in Prometheus are very similar. They both created life. In the case of Frankenstein, he created his monster. Zeus he created all of mankind. They both turned their backs on their creations. Hustis calls this "abuse of creative power."

When using Responsible Creativity, Hustis shows in both the Prometheus legend and Shelley's modern version of it that pity is lacking in both stories. The desire also to put the well being of others before themselves is also lacking in the characters of Zeus and Frankenstein. Hustis concludes the article with that Shelley was indeed a great author and knew what she was doing when she chose to recreate the Prometheus legend. 

To read more about this article click here.

A Wrinkle in Time

So far with my examples of destruction it has been shown in a negative sense. There is one instance that I've come across where this is not the case. This can be seen in A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. It also fits into another theme that we discussed in class. It is called archetype of archetypes. Or to be put in more simple of terms the death/rebirth theme.

A Wrinkle in Time features three main characters Meg Murry, her brother Charles Wallace, and Calvin O'Keefe. They are accompanied by three celestial beings: Mrs. Who, Mrs. Whatsit, and Mrs. Which. These beings can take on any form. With the help of these beings, Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin battle against the Darkness that is threatening to overshadow the world. But I'm going to draw your attention to Mrs. Whatsit.

What I mean by celestial beings is that Mrs. Whatsit was at one time a star. But she sacrificed herself to ward of the darkness from taking over a planet. This is destruction at its best form. Her sacrifice saved many innocent lives just like Jesus's death on the cross saved us from eternal damnation. Mrs. Whatsit comes back in a pure energy form that can shape shift into anything she wants.

Mrs. Whatsit's death and rebirth can also be alluded to Frankenstein's creature's death and eventual rebirth.

Batman: The Dark Knight Rises

 In this third installment in the Batman movies produced by Christopher Nolan, the theme of creation and destruction is most predominate. This theme can be found in one very important character to the plot of the movie. This character's name is Bane. He is played by British actor Tom Hardy.

Bane is a criminal who escaped an infamous pit in the desert where war criminals are placed. He is also considered to be the antihero, which is character that is completely opposite from the hero. Bane, because of his ill treatment and that of a friend, seeks vengeance on the wealthy of Gotham. He is a lot like Victor Frankenstein's monster in the sense of physical appearance. Bane was born like any other human being. He was normal but followed a corrupt path that led him to the pit. But because of an unfortunate event, Bane was attacked by a mob of people resulting in physical abuse. Because the damage to his face was so great, Bane has to wear a contraption to help him breathe. This is how Bane is like Frankenstein's monster. He is treated like a monster. He is treated like an outcast which is explained in Bane's backstory in the movie. Click here to see it.

Atlantis: The Lost Empire

Image Source: Amazon.com

Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire is a cartoon version of the mythical city of Atlantis. The movie starts out with an explosion in the far distance that causes a huge tidal wave. This wave reaches the city destroying everything in its path. This fits into my theme of destruction. To see the video click here

According to legend and recorded in Plato's history of Atlantis, the rulers of Atlantis became greedy. They wanted to conquer the whole world much like Hitler wanted to do during WWII. To prevent this from happening, the great god Poseidon sent a great wave that destroyed the city and forced it to remain at the bottom of the ocean. This can be seen in the Disney movie. To read more, check out this article here.  A quote from Plato is even mentioned in the beginning of the movie. This is when destruction is a bad thing. Because of their greed, it cost the lives of the inhabitants of Atlantis.

Batman Begins

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6qwcjxDosc 

Batman Begins is a perfect modern example of creation and destruction. In Batman Begins, Gotham, after the death of Bruce Wayne's parents, falls into disarray. Cops have become corrupt. The whole justice system has fallen apart with only a few voices that are willing to stand up for the sake of justice. Bruce, who has been gone for a long time, returns home and is disgusted at how bad Gotham has gotten. To try to preserve what his parents had built, Bruce creates a secret identity. He becomes Batman, a superhero who protects the innocent and prevents the destruction of Gotham carried out by the bad guy Ra's al Ghul. It is at this point in the movie where Bruce in his Hero's Journey crosses the threshold. He now enters into a new world--a new territory. It is the world of a hero. I've included a link to a clip in the movie where Bruce decides to become Batman.

The Magician's Nephew

                                                          (Image Source: narnia.wikia)
 

In most sets of the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S.Lewis, the Magician's Nephew is considered to be book one in the series. The reason for this is, this is Lewis' creation story. The book starts out in our world and the main character (protagonist) a young boy named Digory who lives in England with his sick mother. Through the means of magical rings, Digory, his uncle, and a young girl travel to the magical land of Narnia. Here they run into Aslan, a magnificent lion and creator of Narnia. In fact, they witness the creation of Narnia. Here too Lewis uses the power of language and words to bring Narnia into being just like God did.  

The White Witch, also known as Jadis, symbolizes the devil and destruction as well as temptation. She will later in the Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe throw Narnia into an eternal winter. The reason why she symbolizes the devil is she tempts Edmund with Turkish Delight just like Satan tempted Eve with the forbidden fruit. 

The Silmarillion

                                                        (Image source: Amazon.com)

J.R.R. Tolkien is an English author most famous for writing the most loved series Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. But have you ever wondered how Middle Earth came into being? I'm not talking about how Tolkien came up with the story though that can be considered "a creation." But I'm talking about how Middle Earth came into existence. This story can be found in Tolkien's Silmarillion which contains stories pertaining to Middle Earth.

Because Tolkien was a Christian, Christianity played a great part in influencing his writing. For example in his creation of Middle Earth, Eru, who symbolizes God, spoke Middle Earth into existence. These words were used in the form of music. Tolkien used this as a way to relate people back to Genesis 1 where God created the earth through words. John 1:1 states: "In the beginning there was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word was with God."

Creation both for Tolkien and God's creation were good. But then things changed. The theme of destruction can be seen in the destruction of Numenor. Numenor was a city on an island that was given to men by Valar. Mankind lived in peace with one another and with the elves but then sin came into the world. One ruler became greedy with the desire to reach the Undying Lands which was forbidden. Because of this, Numenor was destroyed in a great flood. This is very similar to the Biblical story of Noah and the Flood. This is also Tolkien's version of Atlantis, a mythical place and another one of my examples.