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Argue all you want about what is and isn't for kids and whether that's fine for adults but I cannot stress enough that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is not equivalent to mythology. They may draw upon mythological or folkloric elements but that really just is not the same thing.
They have wildly different cultural and historical contexts and purposes, the ownership and production of these things do actually matter, and "stories that have themes and fantastical elements" by itself =/= mythology or folklore.
Realizing this is just YA legitimacy discourse but for Disney. I have fallen into a trap
Again, what I'm saying is not about quality or worth, but about kind. You can argue that Superman as an idea now belongs to our collective lore in some fashion in the mind share or resonance sense, but Batman Vs Superman Dawn Of Justice is not itself a modern shared myth.
All of this comes down to mythology having a sense of legitimacy and weight and respect that often isn't afforded some specific modern pop culture so some folks (and companies) want to collapse the differences, instead of just arguing for its legitimacy on its own terms.
See also the idea that religious writings through history are all the same thing as modern fanfic. I get it but this reflects a lack of interest in what makes each unique and special and wants to flatten everything in order to make a legitimacy argument. Or just a hot take? Idk.
this thread is getting shared around and i just want to point out that i wrote like 20 more tweets about other aspects and wider ramifications of all of this but then decided to spare twitter. YOU ARE WELCOME
something something modern capitalist modes of cultural production and consumption poison our very notion of collective culture and history of culture itself, as well as our relationship to that culture
