Why We Love Epics

Whether you know it or not, you too love epics. People have always loved epics and always will. They are exciting. They bring us adventure of the sort we’ll never see in real life. They have suspense. They have drama. They have romance. They have violence, seduction, poetry, magic, and everything else the human heart responds to for the good or the bad.

Epics are, at their core, stories of the adventures of heroes. They have to be larger than life in some way. There has to be something massive at stake in the success or failure of the hero. And the adventures all have to tie together toward a common goal. If it’s got all that plus suspense, excitement, and so forth, it’s an epic.

Mostly we think of things like The Odyssey and Beowulf when we hear epic. Those are the stories everyone reads in school. There’s a reason for that. Those ancient epics like Gilgamesh, The Iliad, and The Aeneid, are where it all started, and what they contributed to the world of literature has remained, throughout all the centuries, the biggest crowd-pleaser of any literary form ever.

Think about some of the epics of our own time. The Ancient World contributed written language to the generations to come, and the 15^th Century gave us the printing press, but the 20^th Century made its mark in film, and that is where we find many, many modern day epics. Remember, the epic is high entertainment as much as it is high art. We don’t get too many parties these days with a hired bard sitting in the corner reciting the history of our people in dactylic hexameter, but we sure do love to gather in big groups to watch the movies.

Case in point, the Star Wars movies represent classic epics of our time. Check it out. Go read the characteristics of the epic and the epic hero and see how many of them sound like Star Wars. That is exactly what George Lucas intended to create, and he said so himself.

Another set of beloved movies, which were actually beloved books long before they made it to the big screen, is the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Epic, epic, epic. Aragorn is the closest thing you’ll find to Odysseus since the days of the Roman Empire. He’s brave, cunning, noble, favored by the gods (or Elves as the case may be), and the fate of the world rests with his success, as it does with Frodo’s.

Then there are the Harry Potter books/movies, proving that epics aren’t just for adults (and Harry Potter isn’t just for children). Not only does HP have all of the characteristics of the epic, the stories are also chop full of allusions to Greek Mythology and to ancient epics. The scar on Harry’s forehead is in the shape of a lightening bolt, the symbol of Zeus’s power. Minerva is the name of one of Harry’s teachers. It’s also the Roman name for Athena who is the Greek goddess of wisdom and justice in war. Athena just happens to be Odysseus’ patron. She looks out for him, and it is no coincidence that she appears as a character in Harry Potter. Then there is Hermes, the owl, who shares his name with Hermes, the messenger of the gods. And Fluffy, the three-headed dog, who bears amazing resemblance to Cerberus, the three-headed dog who guards the gates of Hades and who can also be lulled to sleep with music. Hermione, Harry’s friend, is the namesake of Hermione, the daughter of Helen and Menelaus. There are many, many more of these likenesses. Read The Odyssey. Then read Harry Potter. You’ll be astounded by how alike they are.

Indiana Jones is an epic. Spiderman is an epic. The Wizard of Oz is an epic. The Matrix is an epic. The list goes on and on.

Two recent films that were directly based on The Odyssey are Cold Mountain and Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou? The book Cold Mountain, a Civil War novel, won the National Book Award and made the bestseller list too. That just shows that a good epic, even in our own time, wins both respect and popularity. Oh, Brother is an adaptation of The Odyssey into Depression Era Mississippi. If you haven’t seen either of these movies, I highly recommend both. But with Cold Mountain, you should read the book first.

The point is that epics appeal to the human spirit at all levels. They have something to teach. They have thrills to offer. They play on our emotions. Most importantly, they inspire.

Epics exist because real life isn’t nearly that exciting, and when life does get exciting, often things don’t work out very well. Epics are there to remind us to believe in the extraordinary capacity of the human spirit and the human imagination to overcome. They make us believe in heroes. They make us believe that there is something inside ourselves that can rise to greatness as the situation requires. They cheer us up. They comfort us. They give us something to dream about.

Epics perform several important functions. In ancient days when there was no written language, epics were a primary means of preserving the history and the values of a people. They also bonded nations together with a common pride in culture and heritage. They inspired people to do their duty and to work together in all of the various roles necessary to have a thriving civilization. They made people believe in the heroes inside themselves.

Not much has changed in 3000 years. People laugh, cry, love, and hope in the same ways they always have. And that is why we love epics.