Modern Mythology Analysis

Science fiction is the new mythology in our culture. Modern storytellers are no longer able to comment on the old mysteries of nature in classic mythology because many can now be solved with through science and reason; however, science fiction allows those same themes of classic mythology can be retold and reinvented through the addition of modern technology. The forward looking, always changing nature of technology gives modern storyteller infinite possibilities to bring the reader into new worlds in need of explanations then adapt the explanations of classic mythology into these new settings.

The universe within The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series exemplifies modern mythology. Douglas Adams takes many of the universal themes of classic mythology, concepts like the nature of time, the creation and destruction of the earth, and the meaning of life . Moreover, The Hitchhiker's guide is essentially a hero's story.

The Hitchhiker's Guide series poses both an alternate explanation for the creation of the world, and proposes a scenario for its future destruction. Every culture has creation mythology many of which share several common threads: Supreme beings create the world systematically and intelligently and man's fall from innocence and paradise. Modern mythology takes those universal themes, and adds a modern perspective to repackage them into. In The Hitchhiker's Guide, the world was crafted with care and precision by its creators - a race of alien professional world builders on the planet Megarethea. In Adams's universe though, the earth was created with such care not out of a god's love or boredom but to meet the specifications of wealthy scientists planning to use the planet as a supercomputer. Keeping with the classic form, Adams introduces the idea of a second set of "sinful", materialistic humans that displaces the first set, who were rightfully created to live on earth. These intruding humans are the reason for the troubles in the world. In this creation myth, like the creation stories of ancient mythology, man loses his innocence.

While many end of the world stories like Revelations speak of a climactic apocalyptic clash among the supernatural, Adams with his wit and sense of irony, contends that the earth is destroyed simply to make way for an interstellar highway. Long ago, people needed stories like Revelation because they were fearful that the world really could end without warning at the whim of the gods. As a modern storyteller, Adam's acknowledges society has lost that fear so he must find a new way of telling an old story. Both classic and modern myth are parallel in theme, but the two differ in its execution.

Among the most universal mythological them that The Hitchhiker's Guide tackles is the meaning of life. The nature and purpose of life has been contemplated in mythology since it was able to be contemplated. Religion has philosophize one true meaning for the meaning of life for millennial. A diminished spiritual dimension in the culture has led to less of a search for a one true meaning in life. As a modern mythologist, Adams' responses with his own "meaning" of life. A computer called Deep Thought pondered the question for thousands of years, and it's only final readout was the number 42.
Arthur Dent fits the model of an archetypal hero. Although the books say nothing about Dent's childhood, he is effectively "reborn" into a new reality when he is the only human saved after the destruction of the Earth. When Dent is rescued he leaves his old customs, home traditions, and society forever into a world of experiences as new to Dent as they are the reader. Dent's ambiguous goal throughout the series is to find a place where he can live peacefully.

His mentor is his friend Ford Prefect who is quite experienced with the new universe Dent is thrust into. After several minor conflicts, and Dent acclimating to his new surroundings, his quest comes full circle when its realized that he must confront the Vogons, the race who had purposely destroyed the earth.

Deus Ex machina, characteristic of classic mythology in the form of magic spells or superhuman powers, exists in The Hitchhiker's Guide in the form of Dent's spaceship: The Heart of Gold. The ship is equipped with an engine called the "Infinite Improbability Drive". This device allows the crew and the ship to go anywhere and anytime in the universe, thus allowing every action required for the story that defies science, logic, or common sense is attributed to this engine.

Adams, Douglas. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. .