"All the great legends are Templates for human behavior. I would define a myth as a story that has survived"
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Legends don’t just entertain; they function like cultural software, quietly installing default settings for how we’re supposed to act under pressure. John Boorman, a director whose films often lean on quest-structures and ritual (Deliverance, Excalibur), is naming the thing filmmakers borrow constantly: the myth isn’t “old,” it’s tested. Calling legends “Templates for human behavior” frames them as reusable patterns rather than sacred relics. A template is practical, almost industrial - something you apply to new material when you need coherence fast. That’s a director’s way of thinking: story as architecture, not confession.
His second line sharpens the idea with a survival-of-the-fittest definition: “a story that has survived.” That phrasing drains myth of mysticism and gives it evolutionary grit. Myths endure because they keep proving useful: they compress complicated moral choices into characters and scenes you can remember, retell, and argue with. The subtext is slightly anti-modernist, too - skeptical of novelty for novelty’s sake. If a story lasts, it’s because it keeps solving human problems (status, betrayal, courage, grief) in a form portable across generations.
Context matters: Boorman comes from a postwar British cinema culture that watched old certainties collapse, then watched mass media rebuild new ones. In that world, myth isn’t escapism; it’s social glue and a behavioral script. He’s also implying a warning: templates can guide, but they can also trap. The stories that “survive” don’t just reflect us - they recruit us.
His second line sharpens the idea with a survival-of-the-fittest definition: “a story that has survived.” That phrasing drains myth of mysticism and gives it evolutionary grit. Myths endure because they keep proving useful: they compress complicated moral choices into characters and scenes you can remember, retell, and argue with. The subtext is slightly anti-modernist, too - skeptical of novelty for novelty’s sake. If a story lasts, it’s because it keeps solving human problems (status, betrayal, courage, grief) in a form portable across generations.
Context matters: Boorman comes from a postwar British cinema culture that watched old certainties collapse, then watched mass media rebuild new ones. In that world, myth isn’t escapism; it’s social glue and a behavioral script. He’s also implying a warning: templates can guide, but they can also trap. The stories that “survive” don’t just reflect us - they recruit us.
Quote Details
| Topic | Wisdom |
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