Blog 2: Genealogy

During the research I conducted to find three different ideas, more and more kept showing themselves. In the end I crystallized three ideas into concrete structures, however of these three only one was an idea from the start. I largely enjoy the Ancient Greek and Roman civilizations so much of my research was found during those time periods.

First comes the beginning unit, the Greek God Ares. Ares was the God of war during ancient Greek civilization. He is one of the twelve olympians and was born to the king of Olympus, Zeus. More specifically he represents war in its violent and physical identities rather than its political side. The second Ares that can be found is the Roman God Mars. More revered by his followers than Ares, Mars represented both war and agriculture. He was liked more and was part of the Archaic Triad which included Jupiter (Zeus) and Quirinus who did not have a Greek counterpart. Ares and Mars then showed up a lot in writing and historical context but never changed from their helmet wearing, spear wielding, warlike selves. Until Rick Riordan Wrote the first of the Percy Jackson series. In The Lightning Thief, Ares is represented as a biker with a leather bullet-proof jacket, which is considered his shield, and glasses. Giving a more modern look to a ancient God created the third counterpart to the well-known olympian.

The second idea rose from one of my favorite songs, "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by green day. I researched and found that the progression was identical to Oasis' earlier song "Wonderwall". Noel Gallagher claims the punk band had ripped him off without giving any credit. Delving deeper into this "Remix" I found an article that showed that the "American Idiot" album was created in 1991 by a store clerk who sued Green Day saying he had composed all the lyrics during high school. I tried to find more of the copy and saw another article stating that The Offsprings song "(Can't Get My) Head Around You" also contains the exact same chords and progression as both the previous songs mentioned. 

The third and final Semiotic Unit is the symbolism of an Owl. The owl represents wisdom, knowledge and is also the Harbinger of death or the prince of darkness. The owl is the animal that represents Athena, the Godess of wisdom and wartime strategies in Greek Mythology. Within T.H. White's The once and Future King, Wart is changed into an owl by Merlin to see the world in a new way because owls see differently than humans and have much wisdom. Throughout history and even in todays society Owls are seen everywhere. Acting as secret symbols there is difficulty finding out the symbolism behind them. The final place I traced this geneology to was every single disney movie. There is always an owl and with them comes a tale saying that the owls in the movies represent wisdom, maturity and deep compassion at heart.