Monsters. They're Us, Man: Crash Course World Mythology #36

Video Statistics and Information

Video
Captions Word Cloud
Reddit Comments

It's at 2:29 for those who are wondering.

šŸ‘ļøŽ︎ 7 šŸ‘¤ļøŽ︎ u/jj11d7t šŸ“…ļøŽ︎ Dec 07 2017 šŸ—«︎ replies
Captions
Hi there, Iā€™m Mike Rugnetta, this is Crashcourse Mythology and today is the first of a few episodes focused on one of the greatest aspects of myths-in-general: Mythical cvreatures. More specifically: monsters. And today: one, terrible, international monster in particular. But donā€™t worry Thoth, Iā€™ll protect you. Uuhhā€¦ as long as you also promise to protect me. HEY! WHERE YOU GOING? NO WE DEFINITELY SHOULD NOT ā€˜SPLIT UP TO COVER MORE GROUNDā€™ INTRO What do we mean by the word ā€œmonsterā€? Well, quite a lot! In English we use ā€œmonsterā€ to describe something or someone outside the bounds of acceptable form or behavior. Monster comes from the Latin word that means ā€œto show,ā€ and we see its root in words like demonstrate. But, monsters donā€™t just act monstrously, their monstrosity is usually pretty visible without much action. Almost any mythical creature could technically qualify as a monster, but from our studies you probably get a sense itā€™s trickier than that. Unicorns, for instance, are way outside normal appearance and behavior... but no one calls them monsters. The sphinx provides another way to think through this. There are actually a number of sphinxes ā€“ but most applicable here are the Egyptian Androsphinxes, with a male head... like the Great Sphinx at Giza, and the Greek Sphinx, with a female head. The Egyptian Sphinx was mighty, and powerful - but mostly considered benevolent, guarding entrances to temples and pyramids. While the Greek Sphinx was considered FEROCIOUS ā€¦ and would mercilessly eat those who were not able to answer her riddle. So we might ask - in that duo - which is the creature? and whichā€¦ is the monst er? Beyond some naturalistic boundary, to get labeled a ā€œmonster,ā€ a mythical creature usually has to transgress some kind of social boundary, as well. If you consider it from a psychological perspective, particular brands of monstrosity often embody particular human fears. Shapeshifters arenā€™t automatically ā€œmonstrousā€ simply because they change formsā€“think of Professor McGonagall, or even The Doctorā€“but because often that ability can be used to DECEIVEā€“think Mystiqueā€“or lead to UNCONTROLLABLE URGES, like with werewolves. Vampires are another example: they may be a human-bat comboā€¦ but thatā€™s not REALLY why theyā€™re monstrous. Vampires are bad because of their thirst for human blood - which is a pretty serious transgression of social norms. Often some naturalistic transgression is simply an outward sign of what makes monsters TRULY evil: what anthropology professor David Gilmore calls, an ā€œunmotivated wickedness towards humans.ā€ This can take ... different forms. The most common version is: monsters eat people. But sometimes that wickedness is more complicated, and has more to do with the person who is afraid than the thing doing the scaring. But why do monsters even exist? Well, lots of reasons! Monsters are often sent by gods to punish humans for some transgression. One of the most common images of a monster in western art for example, is the sea monster sent by Poseidon to devour Andromeda. Why? Because her mother Cassiopeia had bragged that she was more beautiful than the Nereids. Humans, just... donā€™t brag when gods are around. It never goes well. Luckily, Andromeda was saved by Perseus. And hey, thatā€™s another reason to have some monsters around: you gotta give heroes something to fight! Our friend Joseph Campbell, among otshers, has identified the basic pattern of hero vs monster stories. Itā€™s a three-part, repetitive cycle where the monster mysteriously appears from a dark shadow world to menace some previously-peaceful locale. After the monster brings death and destruction, the besieged community calls upon a hero who saves them. The community rejoices, only to have the monster, or one of the monsterā€™s kin, return and re-start the cycle. A classic example of this is Beowulf. Grendel shows up, Beowulf defeats him, and just when he thinks heā€™s all done, Grendelā€™s MOM shows up, and Beowulf has to get all heroic all over again. Today, however, we have a monster even more terrifying than Grendelā€™s super mad momma. This incredibly frightening monster comes fromā€¦ Canada. Sorry, Thoughtbubble: this oneā€™s for you, eh. Once upon a time in the late 19th century, a first nations group is living in a camp on the Berens River. One day, a hunter is driven by hunger and leaves camp to go trapping. A few days later, people in the camp hear the trapper screaming and howling in the woods. Everyone knows whatā€™s happening. The trapper has become a Wendigo, a terrifying, man-eating ogre. But wait. It gets worse. A brave group goes to look for the trapper and find his family, all dead. And hey, worse still, half eaten. They return and tell their story, and panic runs through the camp. The people know that soon the Wendigo will come for them, and they donā€™t feel like being eaten. So they call a council. At the council an intrepid young warrior named Rotten Log stands up and volunteers to fight the Wendigo. That night they go to the forest and build a fire. Sure enough, a huge monster arrives, Thisā€¦ is almost certainly the Wendigo. The Wendigo attacks Rotten Log, trying to slash his throat and eat him, but Rotten Log has a guardian spirit he calls on to save him. The spirit gives Rotten Log supernatural strength, and after a long battle, he finally defeats the Wendigo. The hunters bring the creature back to the camp and the people rejoice. But the Wendigo isnā€™t dead. Not yet. The only way to kill a Wendigo is to melt its icy heart. So the peoplethrow him on a raging fire. The flames heat the beast, his heart defrosts, and the Wendigo finally dies. Thank you Thoughtbubble. Yeah, as far as ogres go, I think I prefer Shrek. As I mentioned that this story was from Canada, but there are countless others. According to Gilmore, the Wendigo has the distinction of being the monster whose mythology has the greatest geographical reach in the world. Wendigo stories, and the hysteria that accompanies them, have been reported all across Canada and as far south as...North Dakota. They are common among most of the Algonquian-speaking native tribes, but especially the Ojibwa and Salteaux Manitoba. The Wendigo is, in many ways, the quintessential monster. Itā€™s big, it has superhuman strength, and itā€™s really mean to people. Wendigos are humanoid in appearance, with two legs, but almost everything else about them is misshapen and grotesque. Their hands are paws with twelve inch long claws, and their feet, each a yard long, have a single toe with one long, sharp nail. Wendigos have huge yellow eyes, like an owl, and a giant mouth and no lips, because their cannibalistic hunger causes them to devour THEIR own flesh. Their breath is so powerful and loud that it seems like a windstorm, and their howling sends those who hear it into a panic. Think you can hide from a Wendigo? Maybe in the river? Nope. They can walk on water or swim beneath it like a seal. They can subsist on mushrooms, rotting wood, moss... basically anything you find on the forest floor. But their favorite food is people, and THATā€¦ really, is what makes them MONSTERS. There are both male and female Wendigos and when a male and female meet, they fight until one of them dies. But ā€¦ if male and female Wendigos would rather fight than breed, then where do new Wendigos come from? A monster stork maybe? As the story makes clear, they come from us, the ranks of the desperate and hungry. Ordinary humans, often driven by hunger, can become possessed by the spirit of the Wendigo and turn to cannibalism. These metamorphoses are often brought on by the starvation that can occur in cold winter months. In many of the stories, this Wendigo possession is accompanied by incredible physical changes. A person who has ā€œgone Wendigoā€ will grow in size and their appearance will become coarse and wild. As the Wendigoā€™s heart freezes, the urge to eat human flesh grows, eventually becoming irresistible. This idea that anyone can transform into a Wendigo is found in the most typical Wendigo origin story. That very first, ancient Wendigo was a Native North American who was transformed into a monster by overpowering hunger. This story is so real to many who hear it that it has caused actual Wendigo panics in Canada up through the twentieth century. How do we understand the endurance of the Wendigo legend? Well, I think just about all of us can agree that cannibalism is a pretty terrifying and taboo thing. The Wendigo represents a fear of cannibalism and a fear that we might lose control of ourselves and violate, perhaps violently, some set of social norms, likeā€¦ not eating your neighbor. People usually donā€™t grow three-foot monster toes, but they do sometimes lose their grip. Which is to say, the ā€œmonster legendā€ is alive and well... although maybe more as a metaphor than as a real yellow-eyed creature. All humans have the capacity to become monstrous. Even me... and maybe even... Thoth. Thanks for watching. Weā€™ll see you next weekā€¦ unless this guy sees you first.
Info
Channel: CrashCourse
Views: 702,690
Rating: 4.936625 out of 5
Keywords: John Green, Hank Green, vlogbrothers, Crash Course, crashcourse, education, myth, mythology, mythical, story, stories, tales, monster, monsters, Mike Rugnetta, creature, unicorn, behavior, cannibal, animal, werewolf, vampire, sphinx, greece, Egypt, Giza, Egyptian, temple, pyramid, Oedipus, social boundary, shapeshifter, changeling, god, Mystique, Wolverine, transgression, evil, wickedness, fear, scare, scary, punish, joseph campbell, Beowulf
Id: r0T3gpfH_-w
Channel Id: undefined
Length: 10min 29sec (629 seconds)
Published: Fri Dec 01 2017
Related Videos
Note
Please note that this website is currently a work in progress! Lots of interesting data and statistics to come.