Tick, Tick...Greek!
A reminder that stories are never as new as we think
Welcome to From the Teacher’s Desk, where we take turns further reflecting on our episodes and applications to the classroom.
One of the reasons I was so excited to start Lit Think with Sarah is because my brain has been doing this for a decade – Lit Thinking, that is. Sarah and I have talked throughout our friendship about how we just can’t turn our English teacher brains off. And some of this is because the longer any person studies the art of story, the more they can’t help but notice patterns. Across time and culture and power, humans have a pretty predictable rhythm of how we share our experiences and values with each other.
I watch an HGTV show on Saturday mornings with my partner, and I’m reminded of a poem by Maggie Smith. I turn on the radio, and the latest hit alludes to a character from a Shakespearean tragedy. Everything ties back to something that we’ve seen or heard before, if you pay close attention. It’s how the classics can remain relevant in a world that feels completely foreign from Elizabethan England or Ancient Greece.
It’s why we started our podcast – the book club for pop culture outside of our classrooms. It’s the space where we give our Lit Think brains permission to flex in response to our daily media intake.
The Retold Hero
Today I want to reflect back on a piece we covered in season 2 of our podcast, Jonathan Larson’s Tick, Tick…Boom! It’s easiest to see this musical as the rough draft for Larson’s eventual Broadway hit Rent, and this is what initially drew Sarah and me to analyze it. But my Lit Think brain sees a greater character archetype in Larson’s character in the musical, especially through Andrew Garfield’s portrayal of him in the Netflix movie adaptation. Whether intentional or not, the protagonist of the show is a personified Greek hero in the tradition of Odysseus and Jason and Achilles.
Let me unpack that for a minute. When I teach my students about the Greek hero structure, I focus on three main characteristics: hubris, emotions, and immortality. Odysseus, for example, lets his pride get in his own way too many times to count. He isn’t afraid to have a good cry. And he’s constantly looking for the coolest way to die so people will talk about him after he’s gone. Believe it or not, I would argue Jonathan Larson has a lot of the same conflicts in his own story.
The Memory Complex
Tick, Tick…Boom! revolves around Larson’s deep fear of turning 30 and living a meaningless life. He works by day at a New York City diner and lives the starving artist lifestyle by night. The musical’s main conflict derives from Larson’s self-importance and emotional struggle in the face of corporate America in 1990. He constantly puts his music before his romantic life and friends. And he is only truly left speechless by the AIDS crisis, especially when his best friend tells him he’s HIV positive. It may feel like a far cry from Scylla and Charybdis, but Larson himself is constantly stuck between metaphorical rocks and hard places.
Oh, and his story doesn’t show any potential for resolution until his mentor Stephen Sondheim shows up at his musical showcase. Kinda sounds like Athena shows up for Odysseus time and again on his journey home!
What about you? Where do you see examples of the Greek hero archetype in the media you love? And if you haven’t yet, check out our episode on Tick, Tick…Boom! (linked here).
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