Movies Are Our Modern Myths

Last updated on: August 24, 2026 at 12:59 pm by Nathan Clarkson

Movies Are Our Modern Myths 2026-08-24T12:59:18-07:00 Nathan Clarkson

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With the recent and highly successful release of Christopher Nolan’s epic film, The Odyssey, conversations have been reignited around not only the importance and value of myth in a modern world, but what they actually are.

I’ve spent my adult life standing at the intersection of the intellectual community and the entertainment industry. Having spent time as an author and podcaster, and an actor and filmmaker, has given me unique insight into how each views the world and goes about understanding and affecting culture, as well as how each views and understands the other. The entertainment industry is largely ambivalent to the world of academics and intellectualism, as it hardly has any real world consequence in or on it. However, I’ve found the reverse is not true. While I have great respect for the deep thoughts from great minds I’ve encountered in the intellectual community, I’ve also noted an undercurrent of condescension flowing from the world of academics to the world of Hollywood.

There’s often a not-so-subtle accusation from intellectuals and their ilk that those who spend their lives creating movies, TV shows, and other forms of entertainment—particularly popular ones—are engaging in lesser artistic pursuits. The belief is that true and worthy narratives are found almost exclusively within the pages of old books, which are almost entirely made up of preapproved and proven classics. Movies, particularly newer and crowd-pleasing ones, are seen as a lower form of art. One that isn’t long enough to fully tell stories of substance and ultimately almost always sinks to the lowest common denominator and shallow demands of current culture. While I understand the value of great literature and long-form storytelling, I think condescending to movies—yes, even popular ones—comes at a steep price for those looking to understand and shape culture. Namely, you remove yourself from the most influential and powerful form of storytelling not only today, but throughout all of time.

In the ancient world, myths weren’t just fun stories to be passed around, but rather they were the vehicle for understanding reality itself. They weren’t just entertainment. They were the metaphors that wove themselves into the people’s mind that gave them a grasp on what was true about the world. Humans have always had myths, one of the cornerstones to every culture through history. Myths are society’s vehicle for understanding humanity, espousing morals, making sense of reality, and even defining God. Throughout history we’ve seen multiple mediums humans have used for disseminating and passing on their myths: paintings on cave walls, orations around a camp fire, songs, stage productions, words on a page, and most recently, stories told on a screen. So we didn’t get rid of myths—we just changed how we told them. And today, in our modern world, the way we share our myths is through TV and movies, the medium that combines all the mediums: written word, performance, musical composition, visual depiction, and more. And we have good data that film and television accomplishes today what it did in ages past—the shaping of minds and souls.

This means that regardless of how we feel about the value of our modern myth vehicle—films—they are influencing and shaping the minds and hearts of the entire world in an undeniably powerful and meaningful way. So while we ought to keep and foster an appreciation for all forms of myth-sharing, if we truly desire to connect with and shape culture, let us not look down upon the way we share myths today, which just so happens to be movies.

Evangelical

General Christian

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