Date of Award
2015
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
English
First Advisor
Dr. Elisabeth Gruner
Abstract
What is an American myth? “Myth” can have many meanings and can refer to many different types of works. For example, Edwards and Klosa refer to Frankenstein as “an important mythic text” (Edwards and Klosa 34), which provides a middle point between ancient myths (e.g. the Odyssey) and current myths, showing that myths have continued to be produced and establishing myth-making as a continuous process. This process continues into the present, all over the world, so it stands to reason that the United States of America has its own myths. The identity of those myths is less certain. While ideas such as Manifest Destiny and the American Dream are frequently referred to as American myths, there is a difference between ideological concepts and myths that tell a representative story. Those representative stories, and what constitutes such narratives for the United States, are the focus of this paper.
Recommended Citation
Andreadis, Kassandra, "Modern American myth-making in mass media texts" (2015). Honors Theses. 873.
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/honors-theses/873