Monsters. They're Us, Man: Crash Course World Mythology #36
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- Опубликовано: 4 июл 2024
- This week, we're starting our discussion of Mythical Creatures with the WORST creatures. Monsters. What makes a monster monstrous though? Mike Rugnetta will guide you through the fine line between a magical creature and a monster. Spoiler alert: like 60% of the time, the difference is that monsters eat people. We'll talk about sea monsters, Sphinxes, and take an elongated look directly into the Canadian face of horror, the Wendigo.
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Knowledge is knowing that Frankenstein is the name of the doctor and not the monster. Wisdom is knowing that Frankenstein is the monster.
Well, by this definition they are both monsters
Interesting thought, what's the monster's first name? Or does he use the last name of his creator as his first name?
Hmm, that's indeed interesting. I need to reread it, it's been a while. Time to add another book to the stack *sigh*
this is so deep..
Noah Aist The monster's first name was Adam and while he never explicitly says his full name as Adam Frankenstein it can be implied that he thinks of himself as such
I think it's important to also acknowledge why there were Wendigo scares in the 20th century. It wasn't just a fear of food scarcity in winter months but the fact that people's ways of subsistence were completely changed by colonial powers and people were dying of starvation. That's why the myth was so real to them. It's an important part of the history of the Wendigo story.
Your discussion about the distinction between a monster in the cultural sense and in its own definitional sense reminds me of a point I saw a Classics student make on a blog once while discussing angels: that, functionally, they are technically monsters based solely on that etymology, because they are evoked in the Bible at moments when something significant or extraordinary is meant to be *demonstrated*; and that this is why angels in the New Testament, for instance, often open their messages with 'Fear not'--because their shapes possibly aren't even humanoid, and as such they have to introduce themselves as instruments of God in order to get the work done, lest people presume they're destructive.
Great comment.
in the book of apocalipsis they are described as beings with 3 pairs of wings: 1 pair to cover their eyes while being in the presence of God, one pair in the back to fly and one pair in their feet to carry God's messages. As for body shape, they are described to have multiple eyes all over their bodies, like their hands, feet, chest, arms, around their heads, etc. in order to keep vigilance on humans and God's creation. So I would guess that's why they have to say people to not fear them, for they look like a mass of eyes and wings.
O-O
Indeed, when looking at pre-medieval descriptions of angels, they come off less as prettier humans with wings, and more like eldritch abominations.
Bluecho4 maybe they look better in six dimensions
Ah the famous Whendigo but what we really need to know is Wheredigo?
B1 Laxson not to mention Whodigo and Whydigo
damn it ...why am I laughing at this ?????
Digo was here.
And Whatdigo?
WHY AREN'T YOU TOP COMMENT!! C'MOM PEOPLE GIVE HIM MORE LIKES!!
We have met the enemy, and he is us
Wise mr Welles, very wise
so, no women?
yay
It's a quote, and I'm not going to edit it to make it pc. Society has made you sensitive to the simplest of things.
Christin Zhang eh, Bruce Jenner
Chocolatez srsly
Saving People. Hunting things. The Family Business.
Supernatural?
Feynstein 100 indeed :D
Feynstein 100 yes
So I just thought about this, when I clicked play
All I could think about was that episode when I was watching this!
And so Rotten Log defeated the Wendigo saved his people. As a reward he was allowed to pick a cooler name like Brave Bear , Wise Owl or anything but Rotten Log!
Seriously that's got to be one of the worst names to give your kid.
Majesty anyone?
Pipe2DevNull no he used the smash ball, everyone knows the mantra: no items, final destination, Fox only.
his name is now fresh log.
Pipe2DevNull I think it's a perfect antihero name. Rotten log. Reminds me of some sorta cop on the edge or out of control vigilante!
You know that past legends Unicorns wer savage beasts who rage could only be soothed by "purity" of a virgin, right? They weren't nice or fluffy.
"It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone's fault. If it was us, what did that make Me? After all, I'm one of Us. I must be. I've certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We're always one of Us. It's Them that do the bad things."
Is it a quote from a book or a movie?
@@pritalbamnodkar2620 It's Terry Pratchet, Discworld.
@@pritalbamnodkar2620 and you should read Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, it's amazing.
"First Nations people" I like the sound of that :) sounds more respectful.
That's how they are referred to in Canada nowadays. I mean, technically we still have the Indian Affairs department and the Indian Act, but hopefully those things will change soon :)
@@moongirl786 you can change the name from indians to first nation people but still have something like indians affair deparment?? I hope the hindi/canadian people didnt mistake that department for their affair
The real monster lies inside us all...
The use of Marceline was great
Satanic Fawn but she drinks the red of stuff not blood
she becomes bloodthirsty when she gets starved tho
Daddy, why did you eat my fries? I bought them, and they were mine...
We should all share the common dream of not hurting each other, not damaging society and thinking really well before we say something. we should become really, more self-aware and try to help each other.
we should think more empathetically.
Kyoyin Shirui Sadly with the advent of social media and the lack of human to human eye contact or physical reaction, it has made it easier for people to be apathetic.
Heck look at the current climate in America, it's such a hard line on left vs right and the few centrists are even being bombarded.
Unfortunately as long as free will exists so will separating ideals and beliefs and that means there will always be differing ideas (which is not inherently a bad thing, ideas need challenging to evolve) but it's a doubled edge sword.
Kyoyin Shirui
Humans are seemingly incapable of pulling that off for extended periods.
Loved the Wendigo mention! Such underrated lore. For whatever reason, Eastern Europeans and Native Americans have the best/creepiest mythologies.
"If it bleeds, we can kill it." In the end a monster is no different to an animal.
Krait or humans
Wow, Joseph Campbell really had to put on his thinking cap to come up with that analysis, huh?
Stephen Bly Unfortunately the word "myth" has been used mainly to mean a lie. It sometimes takes a scholar to state the obvious and help us take these stories in a more serious way other than silly superstitious thinking.
"When a male and female wendigo meet, they fight until one of them dies."
Sounds exactly like marriage.
straight people are crazy
When two male Wendigos or two females meet then they hangout, tell stories, eat some people and become good friends.
Burn!
SlackerDan Wonder why Marriage is bombarded so much...
Hahahaha
"Monsters are tragic beings. They are born too tall, too strong, too heavy. They are not evil by choice. That is their tragedy. They do not attack people because they want to, but because of their size and strength, mankind has no other choice but to defend themselves. After several stories such as this, people end up having a kind of affection for the monsters. They end up caring about them." - Ishiro Honda
Interesting to hear about the real life myths about Wendigos. I've only heard about it before from the video game Until Dawn. Seems like the game followed the myths quite well.
'Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win.' - Stephen King
Monster? No problem, (pulls put blowfish) Yu mo gui gwai fai di zhao. Yu mo gui gwai fai di zhao.
1. This guy's voice is *really* nice.
2. It's interesting that a hero named rotten log defeats the wendigo when wendigos survive on rotten logs and forest floor stuff when they're not munching humans. xD
3. The wendigo story is kind of sad, tbh. If a human can become a wendigo by going mad from hunger, then what we're really talking about is the evils of food insecurity and the trauma of starvation. I wonder if the mistreatment and displacement of the indigenous (some of which *would* lead to higher incidences of starvation) could account for this myth's staying power?
TreeHairedGingerAle yes! the third point is exactly what the wendigo psychosis is; if the wendigo story is very interesting to you, you should definitely research it! very interesting!
From that description of sphinxes, it seems like ancient Egyptians found a fairly effective defense against Greeks trying to get into temples.
Can you talk about the Japanese yokai
Kappa, hands down.
They're just Jinns!
Release the Kraken!!
And his cousins!
Suggestion: can you guys do a music theory course?
Simon Chidley take the DFTBA census, its free and they're taking suggestions there
I would love to have a music theory course actually.
Simon Chidley
A lot of people would love this
+
12Tone is a great alternative while you wait
I'm happy to see you. I was missing that face.
Also I think you should not discriminate the poor Rotten Log.
Erómeon when does he discriminate Rotten Log?
I'm honestly so grateful for all of these videos (as well as this channel). It's fun learning about the different mythologies out there.
I think what this lesson teaches is that we all have the capacity of great evil as much as we have for great good. While the Wendigo transformation involves possession, we can think of it as a denial of that capacity to be evil, that it is instead caused by an outside force.
In light of recent events, it's when people defend a certain hateful group who seem to have become more emboldened do i find that saying theyre "good, regular, hardworking citizens" and such jazz seems like it has a point, but the intention is off. They're certainly not "good" if they champion a belief founded on hating the other, but they are regular citizens. And that's the most terrifying thing. That any regular hardworking "law abiding" citizen could be so hateful of another human being for an ethnical and sociological reason and proud of it, i.e. a really baseless reason if you widen your perspective. At worst, they believe it is just and righteous to discriminate and exterminate. And that also includes oneself. Each of us has that capacity to be hateful, cruel, murderous, and such. What can stop us from being monsters is the conscious understanding and desire to choose NOT to be like that. That choice to refuse though not deny that capacity for evil is what makes a person human...or rather, humane.
"from Canada" my immediate thought was the wendigo.
I had a Sasquatch in my mind..but whatever...Wendigoes are great!
Is the wendigo story about a bad case of hunger?
Return Of CANIDS the Innovator basically
I love this series so much, thank you folks for making something so wonderful
The thing we tend to forget, when looking at myth's, is that previously people didn't have the internet or books to keep the facts going. People that had encountered a dark but significant fact and survived to tell the tale. Could only proceed to share this learning experience through a story. Because everyone remembers a story as it can live on forever than just cold hearted facts, that won't even be evenly understood by everyone. Every story had a sources of truth's, warning, tips and tricks. Compair it to the way we read our children bed time stories. It almost always represents a way of teaching. So it is not to be taken literally.
This was beyond interesting and perfectly explained, thank you so much!
Until Dawn
I learn about monsters on Supernatural but this is pretty great too
I love monsters and monster myths :D
been running a D&D campaign using stuff like this. I can't wait for the next episode!
I like this WHILE im watching it, can this crashcourse series please last forever
That smash ball soo goood
I love crash course you learn way more with lots of fun thanks crash course.
I'm in Canada, worked in history-related job and never heard about the Wendigo. How did I miss that! It's so much genial as a myth!
Just got back from a holiday in Queensland, Australia - there were all these Ibis's hanging around everywhere - they were like you'd find pidgins in most cities - super friendly too... made me think of Thoth
Wendigo from Canada they are not around now they were wiped out by the beavers
Gabriel Perron Or by mooses
@@hisnotsolonely2961 isn't it meese
@@chanheescheekies728 That too
Kind of makes you wonder if we as a species have made monsters so radically physically different from us as a form of distancing "us" from "them".
Your videos are really cool. Love you)
"Wendigos can subsist on rotting wood, but their favorite food is people"
Tribe- Sends a guy named rotting log to go fight it.
Greatest geographical reach in the world? But... every culture on this planet has some or other forms of dragons (western dragons, eastern dragons, feathered serpents, ...). What about them?
Very true. Same with vampires; almost every corner of the world had some kind of vampire or vampire-like creature in its mythology at some point. Even the Wendigo itself has some parallels with vampires (active at night, preys on humans, used to be human itself, etc). The Wendigo is cool, but dragons and vampires both have a more global geographic range as far as mythical monsters are concerned.
I loved watching this. Please keep it up!!
As a big D&D dork, I'm thinking real hard on why "monster" became a generic term for any creature outside the bounds of "player race".
Because as the video explains, a monster is outside the bounds of normality and society, and thus can be killed with impunity.
From Latin "monstrum", literally "something to show" but in the meaning of "prodigy, something you don't normally see".
In D&D, everything that is meant to be unordinary and to be faced is a monster, a "prodigy" you, the player, don't see in real life, and your character is meant to be challenged by (see the episodes on Hero's Journey).
On the topic of D&D, that's where I learned where I learned about Windego's for the first time as a penalty for a chaotic evil character.
I've always considered "Monster" in D&D as a catch-all term depending on the context. If it didn't show up on the common core list of sentient beings or was otherwise divine in nature, then it was a monster.
Even that’s not a great example since you can play a Half Orc, Dragonborn, or Teifling Which all would certainly attract some sort of panic if they walked into the local supermarket, while other things that’d generally be seen more positively like an Angel or Satyr are monsters.
One must remember that, within the context of a DnD world, the playable races aren't considered monsters because they ARE normal. Humans live beside dwarves and elves and orcs and sometimes even Dragonborn and Tieflings. Granted, a person who looks like a dragon or a devil might be marginalized, but they are established parts of "civilized" society nonetheless. A Tiefling can go into a market and buy fruit, and even those who distrust the Tiefling recognize that they can operate in their society without destroying everything they see. The bigots in that society will only _assume_ the Tiefling is up to no good, which we can chalk up to normal racism.
I knew about the Wendigo from TV and games, but it never scared me until Mike explained it.
YOU ARE AMAZING MIKE!
When Crash Course finally mention Canada, It's about our zombie like monster. AWSOME. THANK YOU CCMythologie
That was a great thought bubble. Not only was there a super smash bros reference but im pretty sure a stranger things one as well.
I had never heard of this book before but have become so interested I just bought a copy on line. Thanks for introducing me to this book and author.
I love these videos so much. Mike puts me at ease.
Awesome episode. The wendigo story reminded me of Sam and Dean though 😂😂
Bring back world history
As soon as you mentioned Canada and Native hunters, I couldn't help but shout out WENDIGO! Such a cool myth for us Canadians
The references in this video are amazing
Man, I was really looking forward to this episode.
...the Sphinx was itself the icon of a riddle-the intellectual putting together of things that don't fit but are deemed funny-and served to embarrass visitors with consternation that, answering riddles was the way of life imposed by Egypt's thriving populus its communion with the gods' knack for puns on all things, i.e. if you don't like riddles, you won't survive...
Little late but I really enjoy these crash course videos
Thanks, enjoyed it immensely 🙏
Am I first to say how happy I am about this episode!!!!
Nope. Wendigo is one of my favorite monsters.
When I first learned about the wendigo, I was terrified because I live in Canada and that was the only monster in the entirety of the country. Also, because it was so well made and described to have few weaknesses.
I really enjoy this channel
There’s an anthropology professor named David freaking Gilmour?? Lucky guy!
Mythical creatures have been a very large inspiration for my own work. Both for their use as metaphor for human behavior, but also just as corruption of animals. And also, they are just plain cool.
I like what Star vs. the Forces of Evil does with the concept of monsters. Throughout the series, fans had been asking, why are some non-humanoid characters monsters, and others magical creatures? Because it seemed like the difference mostly had to do with how appealing the species looked to the humanoid Mewman race. And it turns out that's pretty much it; when the main character, Star, asks her mother about it, her mother's answer is basically that of course their allies aren't considered monsters. I was really impressed, because that's getting into territory about the social construction of race.
how do you do those sick animations in your videos!!??? wth i am so jelous they are sooooo good!! this is defently my favourite education channel of ALL TIME and it helps me so much with my studies
I love that Marsilen at 2:30
Wow yhstgave me shivers judt watching it
The "Unless Thoth sees you first" got me like wahhhht
OMGLOB I love the crash course theme SO much!!!!
I did not know this about the wendigos. Makes a story I enjoy that has them all the more terrifiying for having them as a real threat, and how they are kept away every year match up with wendigo lore in it's own way.
Best video in this series
The Wendigo is that one monster that the mere mention of automatically puts me on edge. Scares the hell out of me.
Man this story is one of the few that gave me actual chills
Reminded me of "How to beat Hannibal Lecter infographic show"
I should definitely be watching this when I'm going camping tomorrow. Yup.
5: 00( around that), super smash bros, rotton log hunts in, endigo hates fire
why is mike the only crash course host/one of the only hosts who doesn't get to sit down?
Can you please make an environmental science crash course
Will there be a Foucault inspired interpretation of the Minotaur?
Being a fan of supernatural and Ojibwa I love this episode
Oh hey, I finally know where the idea for the Wendigo in Charmed came from!
Wendigo...sounds like the Canadian Parliament. This was a good episode.
I'm gonna go rewatch all of supernatural with this in mind
We are the monsters.
Haha that was good acting in the intro
I saw the preview image and the first of many part and then started making that "holy thing descending from heaven" noise
love this topic
Is it possible that the wendigo later inspired Bigfoot?
Time to hit the search button for Wendigo art pics.
The description of the Wendigo kind of reminds me of the South American monster called the Mapinguari. Some people have speculated that the Mapinguari are real and are actually Megatherium or "Giant Ground Sloths"
"all over the world" "from canada to north dakota"
are you sure
He meant that the myth has more geographical reach than any other myth in the world.
deathbypowerpoint Ahh, death from said blood lose? 😏
I think the idea is that the Wendigo is the single most widespread myth historically, excluding variations of it.
SuperNazoBros. What about dragons?!
Christian Changer what if those dragons have castle with a portcullis?
Great underrated horror film about the Wendigo legend: Ravenous
Wendigo was conceived to answer a question "When-Did-I-Go cannibalistic?"
The response "When you tried to eat a Rotten Log."
BTW if you get a chance you should read the chapter in Jared Diamond's book Collapse, where he writes about the early Greenlandic vikings that starved to death surrounded by food. They weren't gnawing on rotten logs but on cow hoofs.
"Demons I get. People are Crazy. "- wise words of Dean Winchester.
Thank you for mentioning the wendigo. it really is... in many, many ways... the true definition of a monster. or monstrous creature. (and is kinda the native american vampire, in some respects..). and it does scare me, and others, very much. so... good on you there. it is a true monster.
my only issue is, again, the fact you didn't delve into... monsters. like naming them, describing them, etc. like i said in the... mythical cities video you guys did. and this one upsets me even more than that because i've researched mythology and folklore, namely the monsters and creatures, all my life. so.. i feel a bit insulted.
however... oddly... i'm not as mad about it or anything. because there are a... massive amount of monsters around the world. of all different kinds. so i understand why you... didn't do that, much. it woulda been monster, in and of itself, to do.
so idk... i think im good with this one for the most part.
only thing i will say then is... maybe label it better. like... "the philosephy of...", basically. philosephy of monsters, mythic cities, etc. cause really thats what its mainly about.
Sorry, but you're overuse of ellipses bothers me...
Dude, it's a 10 minute episode, not a full-length documentary. They mentioned sea monsters, sphinxes, werewolves, vampires, and of course, the Wendigo, as well as explaining the difference between mythical creatures and monsters by mentioning unicorns and some shape-shifters who are not considered monstrous, such as the Doctor. That's a lot of ground covered in 10 minutes. And I get it, I am a monster fan too; can't get enough of them. However, I think you contradicted yourself by saying you felt insulted, but not mad. You seem upset to me, but you don't need to be. You're over-reacting, and taking the title far too literally. In addition, John Bamber is right, cut back on the ellipses. Don't use them in place of commas, and don't write the way you would talk. Not trying to be mean, just some friendly advice :)
Wendigo is cognate to Wihtikaw (wihtigo) in numerous languages of the Cree dialect continuum (from the Innu of Labrador and Montaignais of Quebec to the plains and woods Cree in the Peace River basin of northern BC). An interesting account of the seriousness that Wihtikaw lore was accorded among Cree and Metis can be found in Vanishing Spaces by Louis Goulet.