Greek Myths in the Modern Day: How and Why Stories Are Constantly Reused

Do you ever feel like every book you read and movie you watch is telling the same story? —

Boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, something happens to make girl hate boy, boy fixes his mistakes by giving girl flowers or singing her a cringy song, and everyone lives happily ever after. 

Or, a hero is tasked to embark on a dangerous journey, hero meets a wise mentor, hero encounters an enemy, hero battles enemy, hero wins (and usually gets the girl), and everyone lives happily ever after. 

This isn’t a coincidence. Stories like these have been told for centuries. There’s bound to be some overlap, but that begs the question: where do these tropes come from, and why are we so drawn to them?

The answer lies in Greek myths dating back to 3000 BCE. 

While stories have existed since the dawn of time, Greek myths are the oldest, best-documented stories we have access to today. Passed down by generations, the plots of the stories often changed, but the heart of them always remains the same. 

The three major tropes found in Greek myths are ones we see in almost every modern story we tell today: the hero’s journey, love and loss, and pride and hubris. 

These tropes stick because they capture some of the most difficult emotions humans face and morph them into stories that are easy to digest. Stories of this kind are meaningful and have lasted for centuries, because they explain some of the most unexplainable emotions. 

Stories like Hercules show the difficulties of self-acceptance and perseverance. Stories like Orpheus and Eurydice show the inevitability of grief and loss and the power love can have over a person. Stories like Icarus show the dangers of excessive pride and the important line between ambition and arrogance. 

We tell stories not just to be entertained, but to be seen in our emotions. We use the tribulations our favorite characters have gone through to help us shape our lives and discover who we are. 

Greek mythology has rightfully held its place in modern storytelling for these reasons. 

Some of the most popular reuses of Greek myths in today’s pop culture have been the “Percy Jackson and The Olympians” book series by Rick Riordan, “Circe” by Madeline Miller, and “Hadestown” on Broadway. 

While stories like “Circe” and “Hadestown” are retellings of Greek myths that have been told for centuries, with a modern twist in character perspective for Circe and musicality for “Hadestown”, “Percy Jackson” is entirely different. 

“Percy Jackson” takes multiple different Greek stories, and tells them through the 21st-century character of Percy Jackson, who has to undergo his own unique set of obstacles. 

Released in 2005, the “Percy Jackson” series inspired an entire generation of readers to want to understand Greek myths and where they come from. The stories of Medusa, Odysseus, Perseus, Achilles, and so many others are featured in the 5-book series and its spin-offs. 

A world full of gods, monsters, and an unrelenting, unbreakable fate has a way of drawing people in. In combining the classical elements of Greek mythology with a modern spin, Rick Riordan was able to make people more aware of how the stories they consumed every day fell in line with the tropes of Greek mythology. 

The hero’s journey, specifically, is one of the most referenced plot drivers storytellers look to today. The “Percy Jackson” series draws on this, as well as other successful franchises like “Harry Potter” and “Star Wars.” 

Stories that fall into the hero’s journey trope often start with an ordinary character who was forced to encounter something outside their norm. These characters eventually meet a wise mentor who guides them on their trip, where they meet their foe, and eventually defeat them in battle. 

While this trope is “cookie-cutter” and does not fully capture every complexity that the stories that use this template have, it’s been proven to capture an audience time and time again. 

While not every story is directly influenced by a specific story from Greek mythology, it’s not hard to say that most modern romantic comedies, action, and drama stories draw from tropes that have been passed on since the times of Ancient Greece. 

Just because Star Wars isn’t based on “The Odyssey” doesn’t mean Luke Skywalker’s story isn’t similar to Odysseus’.