History Main / Mythpunk

* Literature/HitherbyDragons features mythpunk takes on GreekMythology, the Buddha's life story, and various 80s kids' cartoons, among other things.

** ''The Pandorica Opens'' and ''The Big Bang'' [[labelnote:Spoiler--click to reveal]]Autons disguised as Romans, a Cyberman in the TempleOfDoom, [[SealedEvilinacan Pandora's Box]], Stonehenge, and a Fez![[/labelnote]]

* ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheDreaming'' and ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost'' can be played this way. Nothing force Storytellers to adopt RealLife fairy tales to his or her game, though.

* ComicBook/{{Hellboy}} has shades of this, combining fictional [[EldritchAbomination cosmic horrors]] with real-world mythological figures like BabaYaga and Hecate.

* AdaptationExpansion: Common in such stores.

* OurMonstersAreDifferent: A staple of Valente's work.

* {{Twice Told Tale}}s: Many mythpunk stories have origins in older tales.

* Americans thought that ''Film/PansLabyrinth'' (El Labertino del Fauno) was a nice little fairy tale. [[NightmareFuel The "R" rating should have clued them in...]]

->''Sei had never been comfortable in the presence of books. Their natural state was to be shut, closed, to grin pagily from shelves, laughing at her, promising so much and delivering such meanness, such thinness. They displayed only men and women with dead eyes and rituals of living she could not understand. When closed, books gave impressions of perfection. They did not need her.''
-->-- Cathrynne M. Valente, ''Literature/{{Palimpsest}}''

->''We raise and raze our city like the strangest house of cards...''

* YukiKajiura tends to evoke this sensibility in her intensely spiritual lyrics filled with abnormal psychology and references to hands, eyes, kisses, forests, circuses, and moons.

* ''DantalianNoShoka'' does it in-universe: storybooks have powers that can be drawn into RealLife, and it's the job of the main characters to stop such effects before they harm people. [[AntiHero Some of them]] are more willing to ShootTheDog than others.
* ''KagihimeMonogatari'' also does it in-universe: the main character is an avid reader and [[FanFic amateur writer]], so he's more than pleased to find out that fairy tales begin to play in real life... initially, anyway.

* Alan Moore's series ''{{Promethea}}'' is mythpunk from end to end.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Faerieland often isn't a nice place to be...

* DarkIsNotEvil: Monsters are often genteel, even heroic, and almost always misunderstood... yet still monsters.

* TheDecemberists' 2009 release ''The Hazards of Love'' - a concept album based around the tale of a woman, her shape-changer lover, and his Forest Queen mother - is the epitome of this genre in action.

* The writer of the webcomic ''Webcomic/{{Digger}}'', Ursula Vernon, obviously knows a lot of comparative mythology, much of it apparently gained from doing research for a degree in anthropology, as shown by the story's mix of a variety of mostly Asian sources, but including influences from around the world,including in one memorable case a modification of a myth told by the children of Cuban refugees in Miami, as well as some Vernon made up on her own.

--> Cathrynne M. Valente, ''Literature/{{Palimpsest}}''

-->S.J. Tucker, "We are Shangri-La"

'''Tropes:'''

* Although the film predates the term, the 1980 film ''[[TheCompanyOfWolves Company of Wolves]]'' displays this genre in all its best and most excessive elements.
* ''MirrorMask''. Totally... although it displays a bit more levity than many stories in this style.
* Americans thought that ''PansLabyrinth'' (El Labertino del Fauno) was a nice little fairy tale. [[NightmareFuel The "R" rating should have clued them in...]]

** ''The Pandorica Opens'' and ''The Big Bang'' [[hottip:Spoiler--click to reveal: Autons disguised as Romans, a Cyberman in the TempleOfDoom, [[SealedEvilinacan Pandora's Box]], Stonehenge, and a Fez!]]

* The writer of the webcomic ''Webcomic/{{Digger}}'', Ursula Vernon, obviously knows a LOT about comparative mythology, much of it apparently gained from doing research for a degree in anthropology, as shown by the story's mix of a variety of mostly Asian sources, but including influences from around the world,including in one memorable case a modification of a myth told by the children of Cuban refugees in Miami, as well as some Vernon made up on her own.

* Blog/{{Mythpunk}} is a blog featuring mytholized stories of historal characters along with dinosaurs, zombies, and the like.

[[folder: Real Life]]
* As a promotional tour for her novel ''Literature/{{Palimpsest}}'', Catherynne M. Valente toured several cities by train (mirroring the locomotive and city themes throughout the book). During that tour, Valente, her fans and various collaborators staged readings, shows and musical performances, often in costume.
** Fans and performers were often painted with "tattoos" that recalled the mystical map-tattoos that appear on people who have been to Palimpsest. Several of them have gone on to make those tattoos permanent.
*** The [[http://orphanstales.com/ajanabh/ Ajanabah]] setting from the ''Orphan's Tales'' series has been spun off into artwork, jewelry, fire-spinning shows, costumes, and several albums.
[[/folder]]

* Tim Burton's 2010 version of ''Alice in Wonderland'' treads this territory with gusto.

[[folder: web Original]]

* ''ChangelingTheDreaming'' and ''ChangelingTheLost'' can be played this way. Nothing force Storytellers to adopt RealLife fairy tales to his or her game, though.

* The Decemberists 2009 release ''The Hazards of Love'' - a concept album based around the tale of a woman, her shape-changer lover, and his Forest Queen mother - is the epitome of this genre in action.
* Indie musician [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.J._Tucker S.J. Tucker S.J. Tucker]] has released, as of 2010, three albums based on Valente's work, toured with her to support ''Literature/{{Palimpsest}}'', and sometimes performs in costume as characters from Valente's work. The first two albums in this series - ''For the Girl in the Garden'' and ''Solace and Sorrow'' are based upon the first two Orphan's Tales novels; the third, ''Quartered'', is based on ''Literature/{{Palimpsest}}''.

--> Cathrynne M. Valente, ''Palimpsest''

** Sei's saga in ''Palimpsest'' features some [[CoolTrain amazing visions of locomotive mythology]].

* Indie musician [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.J._Tucker S.J. Tucker S.J. Tucker]] has released, as of 2010, three albums based on Valente's work, toured with her to support ''Palimpsest,'' and sometimes performs in costume as characters from Valente's work. The first two albums in this series - ''For the Girl in the Garden'' and ''Solace and Sorrow'' are based upon the first two Orphan's Tales novels; the third, ''Quartered'', is based on ''Palimpsest''.

* As a promotional tour for her novel ''Palimpsest'', Catherynne M. Valente toured several cities by train (mirroring the locomotive and city themes throughout the book). During that tour, Valente, her fans and various collaborators staged readings, shows and musical performances, often in costume.

* ArabianNightsDays: Middle-Eastern influences (or outright) hommage is common.

Characterized by [[AwesomeAnachronisticApparel baroque multicultural fashion]], [[EveryoneIsBi alternative/ queer sexuality]], [[AdaptationExpansion bizarre retellings]] of [[TwiceToldTale familiar faerie tales]], [[ImHavingSoulPains pervasive anxiety]], [[BigNo fear of inevitable change]], [[MindScrew elaborate symbolism]] and [[{{Deconstruction}} radical reinterpretation]], mythpunk is a cross-media movement. Although largely defined through literary works like Andrea Jones's ''Hook & Jill'', Francesca Lia Block's WeetzieBat series and Catherynne Valente's ''Literature/TheOrphansTales'', the mythpunk aesthetic occasionally manifests in music (The Decemberists), film (''Pan's Labyrinth''), jewelry and other media forms.

* ''DantalianNoShoka'' does it in-universe: storybooks have powers that can be drawn into RealLife, and it's the job of the main characters to stop such effects before they harm people.

[[]]

[[folder: Webcomics]]
* The writer of the webcomic ''Webcomic/{{Digger}}'', Ursula Vernon, obviously knows a LOT about comparative mythology, much of it apparently gained from doing research for a degree in anthropology, as shown by the story's mix of a variety of mostly Asian sources, but including influences from around the world,including in one memorable case a modification of a myth told by the children of Cuban refugees in Miami, as well as some Vernon made up on her own.

[[folder:Literature]]

* Most of the elements involved in this genre can be found in the writings of Creator/AngelaCarter, most obviously ''Literature/TheBloodyChamber,'' ''Literature/NightsAtTheCircus'', and ''The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman''.
* Andrea Jones's novel ''Hook & Jill'' features a poetically perverse [[ComingOfAgeStory Coming of Age]] tale. In it, Wendy Darling starts growing up and wanting someone a bit more... ''serious''... than an increasingly callous Peter Pan...
** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Brom Gerald Brom's]] novel ''The Child Thief'' is a nightmarish take on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Pan Peter Pan]]. It begins with a kid running from drug dealers and just gets progressively weirder from there. And for extra spice, it adds [[EverythingsDeaderWithZombies zombies]], too!
* Valente's ''Literature/TheOrphansTales'' features most of the tropes above, wrapped in a [[RecursiveReality Recursive Narrative]] drawn heavily from [[Literature/ArabianNights Arabian]], [[Creator/HansChristianAndersen Danish]] and [[http://russian-crafts.com/russian-folk-tales.html Russian]] fairy tales. Plus {{pirate}}s!
** Sei's saga in ''Palimpsest'' features some [[CoolTrain amazing visions of locomotive mythology]].
*** November's saga = ''Brrrrrrr..." or perhaps that should be [[EverythingsWorseWithBees ''Buzzzzzzz...]]''
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesca_Lia_Block Francesca Lia Block's]] novels and short stories practically vibrate with this style, most especially those in her Primavera series and the collection ''The Rose and the Beast''.
* The ''Jabberwocky'' series of anthologies published by Prime Books

[[folder: Western Comics]]
* An apparent progenitor of this subgenre can be found in Neil Gaiman's ''[[ComicBook/TheSandman Sandman]]'' series, especially the "Season of Mists" story arc and the tales "Ramadan" and "Dream of 1000 Cats."
* Alan Moore's series ''{{Promethea}}'' is mythpunk from end to end.
* ComicBook/{{Hellboy}} has shades of this, combining fictional [[EldritchAbomination cosmic horrors]] with real-world mythological figures like BabaYaga and Hecate.

[[folder:Music]]
* The Decemberists 2009 release ''The Hazards of Love'' - a concept album based around the tale of a woman, her shape-changer lover, and his Forest Queen mother - is the epitome of this genre in action.
* Indie musician [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.J._Tucker S.J. Tucker S.J. Tucker]] has released, as of 2010, three albums based on Valente's work, toured with her to support ''Palimpsest,'' and sometimes performs in costume as characters from Valente's work. The first two albums in this series - ''For the Girl in the Garden'' and ''Solace and Sorrow'' are based upon the first two Orphan's Tales novels; the third, ''Quartered'', is based on ''Palimpsest''.
* With the 2009 album '':ankoko butoh:'', the band [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith_and_the_Muse Faith and the Muse]] moved from its original [[{{Goth}} Gothic Rock]] sound to a more mythpunk aesthetic, including elaborate visuals, dancers, Asian cultural elements, and baroque theatrics.
* YukiKajiura tends to evoke this sensibility in her intensely spiritual lyrics filled with abnormal psychology and references to hands, eyes, kisses, forests, circuses, and moons.

[[folder:Film]]
* Tim Burton's 2010 version of ''Alice in Wonderland'' treads this territory with gusto.
** Of course, it can be argued that the original ''Alice in Wonderland'' was mythpunk in creepy training pants...
** It can also be argued that neither one of them are, since they don't use "elements of postmodern fantastic techniques". Although you could consider the 1800's-parts of the story from the perspective of the main character, it still follows traditional fantasy.
* Although the film predates the term, the 1980 film ''[[TheCompanyOfWolves Company of Wolves]]'' displays this genre in all its best and most excessive elements.
* ''MirrorMask''. Totally... although it displays a bit more levity than many stories in this style.
* Americans thought that ''PansLabyrinth'' (El Labertino del Fauno) was a nice little fairy tale. [[NightmareFuel The "R" rating should have clued them in...]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* The writer of the webcomic ''Webcomic/{{Digger}}'', Ursula Vernon, obviously knows a LOT about comparative mythology, much of it apparently gained from doing research for a degree in anthropology, as shown by the story's mix of a variety of mostly Asian sources, but including influences from around the world,including in one memorable case a modification of a myth told by the children of Cuban refugees in Miami, as well as some Vernon made up on her own.

** also humans could be the ''real'' monsters

[[folder: Literature]]

* An apparent progenitor of this subgenre can be found in Neil Gaiman's ''[[TheSandman Sandman]]'' series, especially the "Season of Mists" story arc and the tales "Ramadan" and "Dream of 1000 Cats."

[[folder: Music]]

[[folder: Film]]

** ''The Pandorica Opens'' and ''The Big Bang'' [[hottip:Spoiler--click to reveal: Autons disguised as Romans, a Cyberman in the [[TempleOfDoom Temple of Doom]], [[SealedEvilinacan Pandora's Box]], Stonehenge, and a Fez!]]

[[folder: Webcomics]]