As I work my way back through the mythos of the Gunslinger I am finding how much that greater text has informed my worldview. It is not as a bible for certain, but more as a guidebook, a way of recognizing the secret keys and doorways to a deeper understanding. For instance, King’s seminal work focuses on the idea of cycles. Specifically he talks about the two spoked wheel of magic and technology and how these things turn in sequence, moving us from ages of wonder to understanding and back again. In my sense of things there is a third spoke (and perhaps a fourth as this world seems built upon the idea of binary creations, though I cannot fathom a fourth in my nascent understanding). That third spoke is biology.
Much of the mythology class I teach online has been turning on the idea of Superheroes. This started back when Batman v. Superman was only still a comic book and an idea that Zac Snyder was slowly piecing together. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was starting to form the concept of the 3rd iteration. I kept coming across quotes like this one from Mary Embry (Hancock), “Gods. Angels. Different cultures call us by different names. Now all of a sudden it’s superhero.” That idea called out to me as an evolution of the idea of the higher power and of that thing we struggle to understand but worship and herald and debate nonetheless. Now our media cycle is focused on such things. There are so many Marvel and DC shows on the air that the it seems entirely oversaturated. We’ve reached the point where every station of any worth needs to pull out a hero show just to remain relevant. It is the way we used to experience cop shows.
There is more to this discussion but with ten minutes, I only had time to compose so much.