Combat Myth Research Articles

A Whirling Tempest

Abstract In comparison to research on the Psalms, Isaiah, and other prophetic books, the mythic portrayal of YHWH’s combat of chaotic opposition has received little attention in the study of Jeremiah. By drawing up a holistic profile of Jeremiah’s Chaoskampf, my article demonstrates that this theme is more central to this prophetic book than the scholarly landscape might suggest. Divine mastery of various manifestations of chaos plays a key role in how the book presents YHWH’s work in creation (past), YHWH’s judgment on Israel (present), and YHWH’s defeat of Israel’s enemies and the people’s restoration (future). In conversation with myth and trauma theory, I will argue that the tension between YHWH’s unleashing and quenching of chaotic forces is rooted in the flexible character of the combat myth and that it contributes to the book’s efforts of explaining the crisis of 587 BCE.

Why is John’s Apocalypse so Bloody? John’s Use and Subversion of Combat Myths in Revelation 19:11–20:10

The question of violence in John’s Apocalypse is a perennial issue producing numerous treatments with a variety of solutions. Nevertheless, very few of the many treatments seriously engage the combat myths of the ANE and how they may relate to the issue of violence in the Apocalypse. This lack of engagement is surprising given that the Apocalypse seems to draw from the plot elements, characters, and overarching concerns common to combat myths. This essay aims to rectify this by situating the Apocalypse within the combat myth tradition. When one does this, I argue that John’s use of the mythic pattern furnished by combat myths renders the violence of the Apocalypse intelligible while at the same time undermining the violent imagery with strategic departures and alterations.

Text emotion analysis in aquaculture communication via Twitter: The case of Spain

Public acceptance arises as one of the main defiance in aquaculture. This situation is especially relevant in regions of the global north such as Europe or North America, where social acceptability is conditioning the expansion of this industry production capacity and the development of markets for aquaculture products. Understanding not only consumer perceptions, but also other collectives’ insights is the first step to build sectoral strategies that focus and communicate benefits and combat myths, leading to greater social acceptability. Information disseminated through social networks represents a great opportunity to analyze large amounts of information disclosed by involved stakeholders. Unlike most studies focused on consumer perception, this study conducts a sentiment analysis of the communication released on Twitter by different stakeholders related to aquaculture in Spain: producers, specialized media, associations and research centers. The analysis is carried out using the TwitteR package of the R software, which provides direct communication through an Application Programming Interface (API), and its nrc lexicon. Results show significant differences among stakeholders’ profiles, showing that trust, negative and positive words are prevalent in the tweets of all stakeholders. This study shows an underutilization of the potential of the social network, and a more effective communication by specialized media profiles. The use that these profiles give to social networks is an example that shows producers and policy makers the benefits that can be derived from a professionalized communication of aquaculture through social networks, not only to consumers but also to society as a whole.

The role of the nurse in measles prevention

During the implementation of the measles elimination program in the Russian Federation, active detection of all cases of measles is of great importance. With the help of government and international programs, in which WHO participates, and others in which the World Red Cross is involved, the efforts of nurses and other health workers are helping to increase measles vaccination rates and prevent the spread of this dangerous infection. Some countries also face problems of negative public attitudes towards vaccination, which can lead to low coverage and spread of diseases. Nurses must convince the population of the need for vaccination and combat myths and misinformation about vaccines. Nurses play an important role in the fight against measles and other infectious diseases through the organization and administration of vaccinations, community education and disease data collection.

제사장 문서에 ‘혼돈과의 전쟁’ 모티프가 있는가? — 창세기 1:2; 8:1; 출애굽기 14:21을 중심으로 —

This study argues that it is hard to read the Combat Myth in the creation, the flood, and the Re(e)d Sea stories in the Priestly source (especially, Gen 1:2; 8:1; Exo 14:21). Yahweh is never particularly a storm-god in the Priestly source. The waters are never demonized and are not even personified. The Priestly author does not draw an analogy between Yahweh and Marduk in Enuma Elish or Baal in the Baal Cycle who are both warrior-like deities. Many previous studies regarded the differences in the Priestly narrative from Mesopotamian and Canaanite myths, especially the ones in Enuma Elish and the Baal Cycle, as the former’s response to the latter. Yet there is no clear evidence that the allegedly reinterpreted or revised motif of the ancient Near Eastern literature is present in the Priestly source, nor that the Priestly source responds to the foreign religions, institutions, or literature even if the motif is really present. It is unfair to read an entire mythic episode or plot into the Priestly text because of any tenuous correspondence, as if the biblical author could not compose a narrative without making use of an existing mythical structure. Some old traditional motifs could be there and knowing them may help decode incomprehensible literary conventions that now escape us. But the mythological motifs, if any, were developed and transformed within the larger context of the Priestly style and plot. The Priestly story cannot be defined merely as a historicized myth. The Priestly historical narrative is a different genre, whose complexity and uniqueness deserve an independent analysis from the alleged mythical paradigm.

Combating Ageism through Adult Education and Learning

The demographic data and projections show that the world is ageing at a high pace and that this has transversal consequences to society. The available data on ageism show that it constitutes the most prevalent form of discrimination in Europe. Whilst this seems logical because ageism, potentially, affects everybody (unlike sexism or racism), public debates on the phenomenon are rare. The awareness of people of its importance is minimal, the resources and investigation devoted to understanding it are relatively small and the initiatives towards combating ageism are not enough. There is a mismatch between the dimension of the phenomenon and the attention that we have given it. Ageism has various negative consequences for the older adults themselves; for the institutions at large (but especially for the working world institutions) and for countries. In a fast-ageing world that will witness structural changes in age groups, ageism is a complex phenomenon that needs to be counteracted. So far, in Europe, combating ageism through law and public policy seems to have produced poor results. However, the literature shows that adult education and learning can provide very effective means to improve the mutual knowledge between generations, combat myths and prejudice and deconstruct age-based stereotypes.

Prophetic Rivalry, Gender, and Economics

Olivia Stewart Lester has produced an important study on Prophetic Rivalry, Gender, and Economics through a comparative analysis of Revelation and Sibylline Oracles 4 and 5. The positioning of these texts is guided by a series of clever impulses. First, Stewart Lester argues that “a shared rhetorical tendency” exists that can be “obscured by later religious and canonical boundaries.” Second, read in concert, the texts of her inquiry offer a counter-current to narratives of “declining prophecy” in Second Temple Judaism, early Christianity, and wider ancient Mediterranean contexts of the first and second centuries AD. Third, each text, far from staking claims on this or that explication of cultic difference, employs distinct registers of a shared literary function, namely, the construction of what she refers to as “true prophecy.”Writing with enviable clarity and economy, Stewart Lester presses these concerns through three focuses—rival interpretation, gender construction, and affective, economic systems—over the course of six well-conceived chapters. The first chapter considers the figures of Balaam and Jezebel within the complex narrative world of Revelation. Her readings of Jezebel in conversation with Eliza Rosenberg’s recent work are particularly insightful. Chapter two considers Balaam’s represented prophetic illegitimacy in Philo and Josephus. In the rather suggestive ch. three, John’s combat myth is placed alongside the well-worn fatigue throughout the Mediterranean with Delphic profitability. Mainly in conversation with Lucan’s Civil War, Stewart Lester positions these two texts as operating within an “Anti-Neronian” prophetic economy and their entanglements with gender violence. Chapter four engages issues of pseudepigrapha with respect to the Sibyline Oracles. As opposed to thin designations of “forgery,” Stewart Lester positions the Jewish stylistic operationalizing of the Sibyl as “ideological subterfuge.” That is, imperial property and Apollo’s whims are turned against themselves through the rival prophetic function of Jewish tradition. Chapter five provides an important (and convincing) demonstration of one of the author’s main theses, namely, the repetition of gender violence within prophetic texts. This is a powerful finding. Alongside the rhetorical function of the Sibyl’s “political resistance,” the construction of prophetic rivalry in the Jewish Sibylists 4–5 instrumentalizes the Sibyl through the force of the lashing whip of the masculine divine. The chapter sits powerfully within Stewart Lester’s flowering argument on gender violence within prophetic rivalry. Chapter six suggests an “affective” economy of reversal and repayment within prophetic discourse in Sib. Or. 4–5 as well as their approving receptions in Clement of Alexandria and the author of the prologue.Prophetic Rivalry, Gender, and Economics is a powerful reflection on and study of its considered themes. Several insights stand out. As an impressive demonstration of comparison, Stewart Lester reads a canonical text within a deep forestry of vibrant prophetic patterns. Wittgenstein stated that a “good comparison refreshes understanding.” Stewart Lester has marshaled an impressive comparison between complex textual histories that will prove fruitful and refreshing for any reader of prophecy of this period.One of the many insights that stood out to this lowly reviewer (who is gathering notes on violence and apocalyptic) is how even within the reordered worlds of Revelation and Sib. Or. 4–5—texts often celebrated for their politically subversive potential—the human stain of gender violence, economic absorption, and flagrant rivalry recur. Much more could be said here, but such findings should give our theologians and exegetes much to think about.This is the first of what will surely prove to be a series of excellent studies on these important themes from the pen of Stewart Lester.

From Kings to Monsters: Jewish Perspectives on the Hellenistic and Roman Empires in Sibylline Oracles 3 and 5

Abstract Both the third and fifth books of the Sibylline Oracles engage with the threat and challenges of the political powers of their day, the Hellenistic and Roman respectively (Sib. Or. 3:657-714; 5:28-34, 155-161, 342-359). Both books also construe these powers as part of the reason for the arrival of God as Divine Warrior to execute judgement. In contrast to Alexandria Frisch, who argued that the Hellenistic Empire was the cause of greater Jewish critique, this article demonstrates that within the Sibylline tradition, the development in use of Jewish combat myth of the Divine Warrior across the two books actually shows the reverse. The texts from Sibylline Oracles 5 escalate the threat of the political enemy, not only depicting the Roman Empire and emperor within the cosmic drama, but as a force of chaos and agent of evil.

Chaoskampf Myth in the Biblical Tradition


 
 
 Three monographs published between 2012 and 2015 are considered here, in particular concerning their treatment of the so-called Chaoskampf myth in the Hebrew Bible and in the ancient Near East. The first two, by Gregory Mobley and Bernard Batto, still hold to the traditional Gunkelian approach to this subject and think that the Chaoskampf motif of Enūma elish is behind Gen. 1 and hence that creation is the result of conflict. While Mobley’s view is more ideological and theological, Batto focuses more on the literary and religious aspects of this myth, referring to it as a “Combat Myth.” However, as the title of the third monograph shows, Debra Ballentine limits herself to discussing only the conflict myth, mainly that in Ugaritic and Hebrew texts, and avoids the use of the term “chaos.” She follows David Tsumura and Rebecca Watson in accepting that there is no connection between these storm images and the creation motif, either in the ancient Near East—except for Enūma elish—or in the Bible. Focusing on the Chaoskampf mythology and its relationship with the biblical traditions, one can observe sharp differences among the three authors.
 
 

Jewish Cultural Encounters in the Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern World ed. by Mladen Popović, Myles Schoonover and Marijn Vandenberghe

Reviewed by: Jewish Cultural Encounters in the Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern World ed. by Mladen Popović, Myles Schoonover and Marijn Vandenberghe Scott Charlesworth mladen popović, myles schoonover, and marijn vandenberghe (eds.), Jewish Cultural Encounters in the Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern World (JSJSup 178; Leiden: Brill, 2017). Pp. vi + 317. Paper €125/$138. The sixteen essays in this edited volume, which developed out of the Third Qumran Institute Symposium of 2013, examine the ways in which cultural encounters in the ancient Mediterranean and Near East shaped the literary traditions, religious and political systems, and historical development of people from Israel, Judea, and Palestine. In the introduction to the book ("Ancient Jewish Cultural Encounters and a Case Study on Ezekiel"), Popović discusses "cultural encounter" in relation to methodology, a prominent theme throughout the book. As regards "real or perceived transfers from a given literary corpus to another," if the only evidence for a cultural encounter is literary, "any hypothesis should be confronted with what we do know about the presumed context on the basis of other [i.e. archaeological and documentary] evidence" (p. 11). Similarly, he asserts that the inferences that might be drawn from archaeological remains may be limited by the absence of accompanying documentary sources. Thus, he rejects the argument that in the sixth century b.c.e. an elite Judean like Ezekiel would have had access to the Babylonian cuneiform learned tradition and borrowed from it in his description of the heavenly throne room. The next essay, "Taming Egypt: The Impact of Persian Imperial Ideology and Politics on the Biblical Exodus Account," by Konrad Schmid, illustrates the nature of the problem quite well. Schmid argues on purely literary-critical grounds that the Persian pax influenced [End Page 348] the Priestly account of the exodus from Egypt. Further, P probably comes from the early Persian period because it "does not yet presuppose Egypt's inclusion in the Persian Empire" (p. 26). In his last footnote, Schmid then takes issue with those who reject this commonly used method of speculatively dating a text by matching its ideas with a particular historical period. As might be expected, the majority of studies in the book deal with literary texts. Jonathan Stökl ("Netting Marduk? The Concept of Hidden Transcripts and the Transfer of Cultural Knowledge from Mesopotamian to Judean Texts") urges caution in noting that less evidence is usually required for shared streams of traditions as against contact between specific texts. Thus, he argues that a wider combat myth tradition influenced Yhwh's use of a net against Egypt (Ezek 32:3) rather than the text of the Enūma eliš. Caroline Waerzeggers ("The Prayer of Nabonidus in the Light of Hellenistic Babylonian Literature") strikes a similar note in using a range of evidence to locate the Prayer of Nabonidus, often invoked as a sixth-century parallel to the prayer of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4, in the late Persian and Hellenistic periods (two hundred to four hundred years later). In contrast, in arguing that there is a philological and methodological connection between the two exegetical traditions, Uri Gabbay ("Levels of Meaning and Textual Polysemy in Akkadian and Hebrew Exegetical Texts") asserts that Akkadian commentaries influenced early tannaitic midrash. In the absence of any other evidence for contact, he offers three "entirely hypothetical" historical scenarios in which the two exegetical traditions might have come into contact with each other. Other discussions of the literary evidence include Benjamin G. Wright, "What Does India Have to Do with Jerusalem? Ben Sira, Language, and Colonialism"; Judith H. Newman, "Hybridity, Hydrology, and Hidden Transcript: Sirach 24 and the Judean Encounter with Ptolemaic Isis Worship"; Hindy Najman, "Philo's Greek Scriptures and Cultural Symbiosis"; and J. Cornelius de Vos, "'I Wish Those Who Unsettle You Would Mutilate Themselves!' (Gal 5:12): Circumcision and Emasculation in the Letter to the Galatians." Lastly, in a discussion of both literary and documentary (funerary inscriptions) evidence, Sacha Stern ("Subversion and Subculture: Jewish Time-Keeping in the Roman Empire") elaborates on the unofficial subculture and/or political subversion evident in Jewish use of a lunar calendar in cultic contexts and the Julian solar calendar in everyday life. On the documentary side, Bob...

How Song of Songs Became a Divine Love Song

Abstract The origin of the interpretation of Song of Songs as a description of God’s relationship with God’s beloved community has been a persistent question in the work’s history of interpretation. Earlier scholarship has provided a number of possible solutions to this problem, none of them conclusive. This article offers another possible answer: the language and imagery of the Northwest Semitic combat myth in Song 8:6-7, which identifies love with Yhwh as the victorious divine warrior, triggers the work’s interpretation as a divine love song. This argument receives support from some of the earliest allusions to Song of Songs in Revelation, which interpret Song of Songs in the context of apocalyptic discourse that likewise draws heavily on the combat myth.

Wireless Mesh Networks as Community Hubs: Analysis of Small-Scale Wireless Mesh Networks and Community-Centered Technology Training

Abstract This paper addresses two policy questions. Firstly, how might evolving technologies associated with broadband networks enhance or hinder marginalized or underserved population groups' effective use and access to information resources? Secondly, how can we foster public hybrid broadband, situating broadband networks within existing communities, as a means to promote digital self-determination? This study finds that wireless mesh technology initiatives can create and foster community engagement through infrastructure deployment, maintenance and use; combat myths regarding marginalized demographics and technology, and provide marginalized communities with an opportunity to become decision-makers regarding communications technology infrastructure development.

Wireless Mesh Networks as Community Hubs: Analysis of Small-Scale Wireless Mesh Networks and Community-Centered Technology Training

Abstract This paper addresses two policy questions. Firstly, how might evolving technologies associated with broadband networks enhance or hinder marginalized or underserved population groups' effective use and access to information resources? Secondly, how can we foster public hybrid broadband, situating broadband networks within existing communities, as a means to promote digital self-determination? This study finds that wireless mesh technology initiatives can create and foster community engagement through infrastructure deployment, maintenance and use; combat myths regarding marginalized demographics and technology, and provide marginalized communities with an opportunity to become decision-makers regarding communications technology infrastructure development.

Decentralizing provision of mental health care in Sri Lanka.

In the past, mental health services in Sri Lanka were limited to tertiary-care institutions, resulting in a large treatment gap. Starting in 2000, significant efforts have been made to reconfigure service provision and to integrate mental health services with primary health care. This approach was supported by significant political commitment to establishing island-wide decentralized mental health care in the wake of the 2004 tsunami. Various initiatives were consolidated in The mental health policy of Sri Lanka 2005-2015, which called for implementation of a comprehensive community-based, decentralized service structure. The main objectives of the policy were to provide mental health services of good quality at primary, secondary and tertiary levels; to ensure the active involvement of communities, families and service users; to make mental health services culturally appropriate and evidence based; and to protect the human rights and dignity of all people with mental health disorders. Significant improvements have been made and new cadres of mental health workers have been introduced. Trained medical officers (mental health) now provide outpatient care, domiciliary care, mental health promotion in schools, and community mental health education. Community psychiatric nurses have also been trained and deployed to supervise treatment adherence in the home and provide mental health education to patients, their family members and the wider community. A total of 4367 mental health volunteers are supporting care and raising mental health literacy in the community. Despite these important achievements, more improvements are needed to provide more timely intervention, combat myths and stigma, and further decentralize care provision. These, and other challenges, will be targeted in the new mental health policy for 2017-2026.

L'image de l'Autre dans la conception néo-assyrienne – la représentation de l'ennemi comme symbole du chaos et du mal

In the Assyrian Empire war is perceived as a factor of civilization and the Assyrians always define themselves in opposition with other populations. The geographic disposition of the Empire, inside the space called Mesopotamia, privileged the development of an antagonism towards the foreigner, due to the idea that the interior of the Empire is cultivated, well-structured, whereas the foreigners are uncultivated, savages, and chaotic.Myths, epics, royal inscriptions, and iconography are all important media that enable the diffusion of this ideology. The combat myths and their iconography present, in a symbolic way, the royal idea that the strangers are bad, that they represent a grave danger, therefore they have to be exterminated by the Assyrian king, the human correspondent of the gods. The way the monsters are described in all these mythological compositions parallels the one that describe the strangers and enemies. The Assyrian palatial reliefs, and also the minor arts use this motif in a recurrent way. The image of the tortured and decapitated enemy becomes the symbol of his defeat, of the Otherness, but most importantly, the symbol of the victorious Assyrians.

Love Conquers All: Song of Songs 8:6b–7a as a Reflex of the Northwest Semitic Combat Myth

Scholars have often noted YHWH's apparent absence from Song of Songs. At best, he appears under name Yah in difficult and morphologically frozen term ... in Song 8:6. In this article, I go beyond ... to suggest that plays role of YHWH in Song. Using Calvert Watkins's work on inherited formulae, I argue that Song 8:6b-7a draws on Northwest Semitic to identify with YHWH, victorious divine warrior. As part of this argument, I identify three inherited formulae in Hebrew Bible, Baal Cycle, and later Christian and Jewish literature: Leviathan, fleeing twisting serpent, rebuke Sea, and as Death. Within Song, phrase as Death connects this passage with Baal Cycle, while references to ... and ... evoke scenes of mythic from rest of Hebrew Bible. This interpretation, I argue, also has mythic resonances in adjuration refrain in Song 2:7, 3:5, and 8:4 and phrase sick with love in Song 2:5 and 5:8.(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)...For is as strong as Death, jealousy harsh as Sheol.Its flashes are flashes of fire, flame of Yah.Many waters cannot quench love, neither can rivers drown it.1 (Song 8:6b-7a)The Song of Songs does not explicitly refer to God of Israel under name YHWH or any other epithet. The noun ... in Song 8:6 may contain shortened form of Tetragrammaton, but scholars debate interpretation of this difficult term.2 In this article, I go beyond ... to suggest that YHWH is present in Song in form of love. Drawing on Calvert Watkins's work on inherited formulae, I argue that Song 8:6b-7a utilizes language and imagery from Northwest Semitic to identify with YHWH as victorious divine warrior. As part of this argument, I identify three inherited formulae in Hebrew Bible, Baal Cycle, and later Christian and Jewish literature: Leviathan, fleeing twisting serpent, rebuke Sea, and as Death. Within Song, phrase as Death connects this passage with Baal Cycle, while references to ... and ... evoke scenes of mythic from rest of Hebrew Bible. By way of conclusion, I demonstrate importance of this reading for interpreting adjuration refrain in Song 2:7, 3:5, and 8:4 and phrase sick with love in Song 2:5 and 5:8.I. THE NORTHWEST SEMITIC COMBAT MYTHAs many commentators have noted, Song 8:6b-7a employs rich array of cosmic language to highlight power of (...). In these verses, is set against death (...), Sheol (...), mighty waters (...), and rivers (...), and likened to fire (...) and flame (...). Most commentators, however, downplay mythic significance of these verses, preferring to treat them as theological or philosophical statement about nature of love. Othmar Keel, for example, claims that the statement about being as strong as death cannot have mythical sense in context of Song, but to large degree it owes its strength and intensity to several myths about struggle between powers of life or and those of death. Meanwhile, J. Cheryl Exum calls these verses a succinct credo on subject of love.3 Yet all of these terms and concepts are part of crosscultural tradition of myths, as will be shown now.Many of myths from ancient Near East focus on divine combat. In Enuma Elish, Marduk defeats Ti'amat (the Deep) and her serpentine allies; in Baal Cycle, Baal challenges Yamm (Sea) and Mot (Death) for kingship of gods; and in several passages in Hebrew Bible, YHWH battles variety of aqueous foes, including Yam (Sea), Tehom (the Deep), and Leviathan.4 Traditionally, scholars have explained similarities between these myths in terms of narrative typology and cultural contact. The Enuma Elish, Baal Cycle, and passages from Hebrew Bible are all versions of single combat myth archetype. …

Love Conquers All: Song of Songs 8:6b–7a as a Reflex of the Northwest Semitic Combat Myth

Love Conquers All: Song of Songs 8:6b–7a as a Reflex of the Northwest Semitic Combat Myth

The Combat Myth and the Gospel’s Apocalypse in the Harry Potter Series: Subversion of a Supposed Existential Given

Abstract: There appear to be strong parallels between the Christian Gospels and Joanne Rowling’s Harry Potter series that have gone largely unnoticed in the literature to date surrounding the Potter phenomenon. Identification of these correspondences likely indicates that Rowling performed a fantastical representation of the Gospel in one of the most popular novel series ever written. René Girard’s anthropology of violence and religion is employed here to illuminate the shared content of battling ideologies. The similarities between these writings appear in the use of equivalent literary techniques by the respective writers: combat myth plot and imagery, subversive Hebrew-style parallelism known as the “reflection narrative,” and metaphors of consumption creating an abstract understanding of the psychosocial pursuit of life, all of which engage to form a polemic between two types of logic: violence and love.

The Combat Myth and the Gospel's Apocalypse in the Harry Potter Series: Subversion of a Supposed Existential Given

There appear to be strong parallels between the Christian Gospels and Joanne Rowling's Harry Potter series that have gone largely unnoticed in the literature to date surrounding the Potter phenomenon. Identification of these correspondences likely indicates that Rowling performed a fantastical representation of the Gospel in one of the most popular novel series ever written. René Girard's anthropology of violence and religion is employed here to illuminate the shared content of battling ideologies. The similarities between these writings appear in the use of equivalent literary techniques by the respective writers: combat myth plot and imagery, subversive Hebrew-style parallelism known as the "reflection narrative," and metaphors of consumption creating an abstract understanding of the psychosocial pursuit of life, all of which engage to form a polemic between two types of logic: violence and love.

“I Think You and I Are Destined to Do This Forever”: A Reading of the Batman/Joker Comic and Film Tradition through the Combat Myth

Abstract: This paper compares comic and film representations of the characters Batman and the Joker to the structure and characterization of religious narratives known as “combat myths,” which generally portray a figure of order defending society against a chaos monster. The paper also demonstrates how the Batman film of 2008, The Dark Knight, updates the mythic theme by casting the opposing characters as representatives of democratic society and terrorism, respectively. Ultimately, I argue that by investigating how the rivalry of Batman and the Joker reinvigorates this ancient, cross-cultural mythic theme, we gain insight into the enduring popularity and significance of these characters.