Post #4052018
2026-07-24 02:26 UTC
That's a good general term for what "Western" marketing has built, a monomyth or single story, claimed to be universal and cosmic in nature, applying to everyone and including everything. That myth has been built over the many centuries of post-Roman Christianity and the chaotic European civilization that came out of that milieu. The "Western" monomyth is therefore Christian at its core but that has been disguised by many layers of abstraction and many coats of fresh paint.
A great many writers and artists are folded into this monomyth, the "Western canon" as this body of creators and creative works is called.
(cont'd)
Replies (1)
-
@mxchara@seattle.pink 2026-07-24 02:30
A minute amount of non-European (or non-colonial) work gets a nod of representation in the "Western canon" but otherwise it's very exclusive and, needless to say, it's very 'white' and comprises mostly cis straight men, with a predominance of British and American figures. English is the unspoken lingua franca of the "Western canon". A small collection of "Western" creators have the distinction of being regarded as uniquely mythopoeic and influential on shaping the monomyth, such as Sir James Frazer (q.v. The Golden Bough), Robert Graves, #CSLewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, Joseph Campbell, and even J. K. Rowling. (cont'd)