The Owl's Legacy Ep 10 - Mythology, or Lies Like Truth

Directed by Chris Marker

26 minutes / Color
French; German; English / English subtitles
Release: 2018
Copyright: 1989

“Myths fuel history.” --Mario Ploratis

A small number of Greek myths—Oedipus, Antigone, the Gorgon who turns people who gaze on her to stone—have fed our understandings of ourselves and each other through literature, religion, philosophy, and psychoanalysis.

In this episode, George Steiner discusses the origins of myth in the psyche, and speculates on the directions European history could have taken if a more Hellenic view of the world had dominated over the more Judaic approach of the apostle Paul. Meanwhile, in Japan, Atsushiko Yoshida points to strong affinities between Japanese religion and ancient Greek myths, and draws parallels between Shinto sites and Delphi.

“We should raze the Sorbonne and put Chris Marker in its place.” —Henri Michaux

The primary pleasure of the series, which is incredibly inspiring, is linked to this great banquet of participants, the sum of knowledge they invoke, but above all to the playful flows the editing establishes between their ideas, constructing a formidable network of meanings, historical and cultural perspectives -  a veritable encyclopedia of development." —Le Monde

“Why did we have to wait so long for this electrifyingly intelligent film?” —Le Point

“Thirteen words to uncover an entire civilization and reestablish its considerable influence on our modern societies.” —Les Inrockuptibles

“With erudition, Chris Marker questions in each episode what remains Greek within us.” —Philosophie Magazine

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A series by Chris Marker

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