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In my last letter I was telling you about swans, how they represent a sort of original oneness which help us connect with each other. But the flip side of that oneness is that it can also erase differences. Besides the natural urge to be like everyone else, we also have an inborn need to distinguish ourselves and live a unique destiny. This is the theme I'm exploring in this letter, with tales that all touch in some way the subject of identity and social status.
First there's The Goose Girl, a princess who, after her maid has stolen her clothes and married the prince, is given the job of tending the king's geese. Here is a job that pretty much anyone can do, and the princess almost forgets who she is, but fortunately, once a princess, always a princess. Her own specialness eventually gets out as it turns out she can talk to the wind... |
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Identity and social status in my Ingenious Fables project are the ones I call the nobody and the somebody. I'm not sure if birds care about social status, maybe they do? But the nobody is not really a bird, he's actually inspired by a thirty-year old guy in a novel by Murakami. This guy has no social status, just quit his job, and soon finds himself in a deep inner adventure in search of who he is. Meanwhile, his brother in law who he absolutely despises, is the somebody, a TV personality with great popularity in the media but apparently a total fake... |
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Myth of Aquarius
Lastly, there's the myth of Aquarius, with Ganymede, a simple shepherd boy (who's father is a king, actually). One day while he tends his sheep Zeus appears as an eagle and flies him up to Mount Olympus where he is made immortal, and becomes the cup-bearer of the gods. Probably the most glorious destiny one could have in those days. Today the equivalent would be to be made the star of a TV show. That's what happens to Truman in the Truman Show, but unlike Ganymede, Truman fights hard to get out of his bubble...
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