We now want our truth served up in myth and legends

A SHIFT IN THE CULTURE
We now want our truth served up in myth and legends

The world has changed.
I see it in the water.
I feel it in the Earth.
I smell it in the air.
Much that once was is lost,
For none now live who remember it.
--J. R. R. Tolkien

In just 3 weeks Spider Man 2 has grossed over 500 million dollars world wide, holding the number one position for 2 weeks. However, when King Arthur opened it crashed, big time. The big question is: Why?

It was the master story tellers CS Lewis and JRR Tolkin who somehow knew that the best way to present profound truth was through fantasy --and not through "historical facts." These writers tapped into the direction of popular story telling long before it happened. They were the pioneers.

Jerry Bruckheimer’s Pirates of the Caribbean did mega box office business ($653M). The public loved its mystical, magical and mythological approach to story telling. But, when Jerry Bruckheimer released King Arthur it failed. His production stripped King Arthur of all of its legendary mystical and magical elements and attempted to couch it as an historical event.

The trailer for King Arthur proclaimed: “For centuries, countless tales have been told of the legend of King Arthur. But the only story you've never heard ... is the true story that inspired the legend.� And so the movie presents just the “facts� of King Arthur!

Salon.com reviewer Stephanie Zacharek observes, “But it's hard to care about a valiant groping for accuracy when …sometimes legends resonate for good reason.�

Reel Reviews James Berardinelli is right, “The concept of taking the Arthurian legends and deleting all of the fantasy elements makes no sense whatsoever, especially in light of the rousing success of The Lord of the Rings.�

The recent failures of historical dramas such as The Alamo and Gods and Generals, seem to underscore a famous line from John Ford’s classic Western, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.� And while King Arthur may be closer to fact, today’s culture still prefers the legend.

The top twenty grossing movies are mostly fantasy and myth: Spider-Man 2, the Star War episodes, Harry Potter, ET, Lion King, Finding Nemo, Shrek 2, the Lord of the Ring series, etc. Only Titanic and The Passion of the Christ have historical substance.

The mythic Spider-Man 2 is popular because it hits on important life changing truth that is so powerful it could not be told in any other way.