The monomyth and structuralism theories
The orchestral elements and concept of Music from the Elder significantly departed from Kiss’s previous works with ‘Fanfare’ being an instrumental piece. The album recorded poor sales that made the band fail to go to a supporting tour, as was the custom in their 8-year journey then. Commercially, the album failed, and it did not appeal to many people. However, while the album had its issues, some critics have in the past agreed to it being a worthy concept album. This is because the tracks collective meaning is seen in the larger purpose of the album than in the individual tracks as will be illustrated in this paper using the monomyth and structuralism theories.
Monomyth Theory
According to Campbell’s monomyth theory, an adventurous hero emerges victorious in a decisive crisis and returns home transformed or changed. According to Campbell, the hero ventures into a supernatural region from the common world. It is based on the narrative of the encounter, decisive victory of the hero and the fact that he or she comes back empowered to bestow boons upon others (Whomsley 15). The stages used by Campbell were divided into three sections that included departure, initiation, and return, with various stages.
During the departure section of the narrative, the protagonist or hero is called for an adventure while still living in the ordinary world. During this part, there is reluctance on the part of the protagonist to agree to the call, thereby requiring the help of a figure characterized as a mentor (Whomsley 15). According to the albums introductory narrative that marks the start of the Odyssey, The Elder are awaiting the caretaker’s, Morpheus, word to determine if The Boy is ready for accession and to have his scared duty pronounced. From the piece of ‘Just A Boy,’ the boy is reluctant to consider himself as a hero despite some eyes staring at him. He still lives in the ordinary world where he fears failing even as his future unveils.
Furthermore, the album is about the council of elder belonging to the Order of the Rose recruiting and training of ‘The Boy,’ a young hero. The purpose of the Council of Elders was to fight evil. The boy’s elderly caretaker who guides him is known as Morpheus who says that he hears the boy calling him in ‘Odyssey.’ In ‘Only You,’ Morpheus is seen helping the boy find himself by stating that he is the light and the way although The Boy is not yet convinced. Besides, he tells The Boy that he must seek and find his destiny, although he has been found worthy. The lyrics of the album describe the journey, training, and feelings of the boy even as he becomes self-assured and confident, thereby overcoming his earlier doubts. At the end of the first track, there is the use of spoken dialogue. Also, there is a proclamation to the elders by Morpheus that The Boy is ready to begin the odyssey.
During the initiation part, the protagonist is depicted as traversing the threshold to a special or unknown world. In this world, he comes across trials or tasks that they must overcome individually or with the help of other people. After initiation, the hero reaches the adventure’s central crisis or innermost cave where he goes through the ordeal to overcome the enemy or main obstacle, undergo apotheosis, and gain the reward (Whomsley 15). Morpheus in ‘Dark Light’ illustrates the central crisis in the album as he tries to prepare The Boy to see the doom and gloom that the dark light will bring such as through hate and perversion. In ‘The Oath,’ The Boy surrenders to history and depicts that he is prepared for the eventuality that is to come and states that he will not turn back. Also, according to the lyrics, a hero less world has no light. This piece is central to the plot of the album. It depicts the young hero imagining an apathetic future requiring one to fight for something in the future. ‘Mr Blackwell’ brings out the villain theme in which tense shifting, first person to the third person, is used in telling the story to bring out a truly evil presence.
Consequently, he must return to the common world because the special world’s guardians have pursued him. Alternatively, if he shows reluctance to return, an external intervention may force him, or he may be rescued. The return part implies that the threshold between the two worlds is again traversed by the hero and marks his return to the common world (Whomsley 15). He can use the reward he has to benefit others. In the penultimate track of the album, ‘I’, The Boy states that after he was hit in the head by a bolt of lightning, he started believing in himself and although many thought he would not win, he could now do anything. Besides, the adventure transforms the hero, and he acquires spiritual power over the two worlds. For instance, The Boy goes into the council’s world as a boy, and returns as a man as depicted in ‘The Oath.’ ‘Under the rose’ introduces the listener to the council’s world thereby depicting the difference between the world The Boy finds himself in and council’s world.
Structuralism Theory
The theory of structuralism by Levi-Strauss is based on the primary fact that it is the product of the mind. Consequently, the brain as a biological is similar in all human beings meaning there must exercise some remote similarities in cultures (McGee and Warms 321). There are underlying processes that tie different cultures together. They are found in information bits that providing messages about society’s structuring. However, he also believes that adaptation of culture to the world and the historical undercurrents of the culture influence its differences to other cultures. Therefore, the processes have led to the modification, transfiguration, alteration, and combination of the original information bits. This is likely to lead to the culture being jumbled. Consequently, to return to the original culture, one can look at its elemental parts by breaking it down.
Nevertheless, the theory of structuralism has a similarity with the concept phonemes in linguistics because the culture is an arbitrary symbols collection with symbols being unconscious and generally meaningless on their own. Therefore, Levi-Straus was not interested in the individual meaning of each symbol but on how they relate to coming up with the overall system (McGee and Warms 320). Furthermore, his theory borrowed from the proposition of Durkheim and Hertz that collective conscious manifested through distinctions. Levi-Straus proposition was that one of the vital patterns of human thought is the use of binary contracts. One of the binary contrasts used in the album is that of good and evil. Generally, the album is based on the proven ability of good to triumph over evil as is also Shakespearian, Grecian, and Biblical accounts amongst others. It is a story of hope with a hero who does not know it yet. Through such binary contrasts, it is possible to analyze culture just as Levi-Straus used it in the analysis of kinship.
According to Levi-Strauss, the analysis of primitive people’s mythologies helps in the examination human thought universal unconscious patterning in their least diluted form. It was important to understand the primitive people’s mythologies because of their closeness to universal principles to negate cultural interference emanating from the social environment (McGee and Warms 320). The album appears as having used the mythology of the boy to appeal to its listeners. Consequently, the structuralism theory provides a good method of analyzing it as depicted using binary contrasts. The story in the album although was metaphoric is a representation of good and evil.
Furthermore, in looking at religion, folktales, and myths, he expounded on the notion of the binary opposition as the foundation of human cognition. Therefore, the pursuit of a midpoint between oppositions is a desire that characterizes human thought. Consequently, in the album, a hero is born to restore the balance if darkness becomes stronger than light as depicted in the album’s pieces, especially ‘Dark Light.’ Determining a myth’s unconscious meaning requires that it be broken down into the elements that constitute it and understanding the rules governing the relationship of the elements. According to Levi Straus, most anthropologists have wrongly concluded that myths are an automatic refection of culture, but people should look at the extent to which culture passes into myths (McGee and Warms 325). Consequently, one must differentiate between the plot, the myth’s conscious content, and the problem it is attempting to solve the unconscious meaning.
Levi-Straus demonstrated the significance of binary opposition in his ‘Four Winnebago Myths’ work where he looked at the opposition of ordinary life and heroic life in the myth of ‘The Two Friends who Became Reincarnated.’ Based on the above myth, the use of the Hegelian concept of the dialectical nature of human perception is evident. The structural analysis conducted by Levi-Straus emphasizes binary opposition concerning the mediating factor (McGee and Warms 327). In the myth, the mediating factor was reincarnation in the life and death opposition. In the album, the mediating factor is the creation of a balance between good and evil. The benevolence of The Elder as a life form is depicted in their balance of the opposing sides, as illustrated in the introductory narrative. It is the oppositions and their logical relationship that carry the message of the myth.
Conclusion
The originally intended order of the songs was different from what was released in Brazil, Europe, and the US. The different order was meant to emphasize potential singles, ‘A World without Heroes’ and ‘The Oath.’ Due to the alteration in song order, the flow of the story of the album was also disrupted. However, the intended order was followed in the 1997 CD re-release of the album. Based on this order, the two theories can be used to understand the cultural aspects of the story. While the monomyth theory emphasizes a historical explanation of myths, it fails to capture their metaphysics, nature, and cosmology as captured by Levis-Strauss. Therefore, the meaning of the myth and not just its structure concerns Levi-Strauss. Consequently, the emphasis is not placed on a historical explanation.