Category Archives: Legends

Narratives about belief.

Bigfoot in the Videogame in GTA: San Andreas

Nationality: South Korean
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 2nd, 2018
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean, Mandarin

Story

 

“How can you not know of the Bigfoot myth? I thought GTA: San Andreas was your favorite game growing up? Anyways, the Bigfoot in the game is exactly like the Bigfoot legend in real life. There were rumors that there was Bigfoot in the forest of the game and I remember finding out about it because my friend Jordan told me that he was attacked by one and had to restart a mission.”

 

Context

 

I collected this from my older brother, who has been an avid gamer with me since as long as I can remember. When we went abroad to Vancouver, Canada, to study English, we soon found out that GTA: San Andreas was very popular amongst our peers, despite us all being elementary school children and GTA San Andreas being rated as ‘Mature’ due to blood and gore, intense violence, strong language, strong sexual content and use of drugs.

The bigfoot myth has significant to my brother because he says that GTA: San Andreas was a constant topic amongst his friends and they would conduct their own searches for bigfoot within the game when having sleepovers at each other’s houses.

 

Analysis

 

To this day, despite there being searches conducted by thousands of people on the internet, no one has yet to have proven the existence of bigfoot on GTA: San Andreas, just like how nobody has yet to have presented concrete evidence supporting the existence of bigfoot in real life. Although the origin of the rumor cannot be identified, it is interesting to see how real life urban legends can translate into a video game community.

Although the Bigfoot of GTA: San Andreas is not a myth as it does not ponder the before and after of our world, its truth value seems sacred as the bigfoot myth lead to a formation of a community that searches for myths of GTA: San Andreas and tries to confirm them. The GTA myths wiki is available at http://gta-myths.wikia.com/. Despite the game being released in 2004, the excitement around Bigfoot in the game is still alive, as on Youtube, there are people attempting to find Bigfoot or playing with a modified game, still embracing the gaming legend to this day.

 

 

Catching Mew in Pokémon Red and Blue

Nationality: South Korean
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 2nd 2018
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean Mandarin

Story

 

“Dude this just went viral again yesterday on Twitter. Catching Mew under a tuck in Pokémon Red and Blue was a rumor that was circulating before we were even born. People thought that a Mew was hiding under a truck and they thought they could move it and catch it. Turns out there is no mew under the truck but the game was bugged so you could abuse them to catch mew elsewhere. Anyways, there was a update on Pokémon Go and now you can catch Mew in it but people are finding it in real life under trucks man haha.”

 

Context

 

I acquired this data from my older brother, who is a competitive Pokémon Video Game Championships (VGC) player that avidly travels to local and regional events, as well as qualifying and attending the 2017 Worlds Championships.

My brother heard of this story while chatting over his friends that play VGC on twitter. Twitter is the main social platform these players utilize to communicate with each other. The saw the tweet of the Mew under the truck and they all laughed about how they truly belived it as a child.

Mew is a legendary Pokémon that was not meant to be acquirable in the Pokémon Red and Blue. However, game developers later said that there was a gltich that could be abused in the game that allowed players to catch Mew.

Pokémon Go is a smartphone game that allows users to catch Pokémon in real life. The camera shows the surrounding areas as is, but Pokémon can be found when seen through the screen. As players started to find the legendary Pokémon Mew under trucks, just like the rumor they believed in years ago, they shared their experience on social media, which went viral.

 

Analysis

 

Catching Mew in Pokémon Red and Blue is a gaming legend. This is because of alleged stories that people hear of players catching the supposedly impossible to catch Pokémon in a very real and accessible place within the game.

 

Heung-bu and Nol-bu (흥부와 놀부)

Nationality: South Korean
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Shanghai, CHina
Performance Date: March 29th, 2018
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean, Mandarin

Story

 

“Okay so Heung-bu and Nol-bu are brothers and Nol-bu is the older one and Heung-bu is the younger one. Heung-bu is poor but generous and kind while Nol-bu is greedy even when he is rich. One day, Heung-bu saves a swallow from being attacked by a snake. The swallow falls from its nest during the attack and breaks its leg. Heung-bu, being the kind guy, treats its legs to help it heal. Once its leg healed, the swallow flys away.

Later, when it became spring, the swallow came back and returned with the… y’know… the 박 (bak/ gourd) seeds. Heung-bu planted the seeds and later when the gourds grew, his family split them open only to find it filled to the brim with gold. He sold them for cash and became super rich. He bought himself and his family a house to live in with the money.

Nol-bu heard that Heung-bu got rich and asked him how he got rich. When Heung-bu told the story about the bird, Nol-bu went and broke a swallow’s leg himself. Next spring, the swallow came back with a gourd seed. Nol-bu planted and when he opened the gourds after they grew, muddy water came out flooding his house and debt collectors came and he became broke. They then went to Heung-bu to apologize to him for treating him bad for being poor. Heung-bu forgave them and they lived together that’s it.”

 

Context

 

I collected this from my high school friend who lives in Shanghai, China. Despite living abroad, I was amazed when I went over to his house because his bookshelf was filled with Korean children’s folktales. He stated in the interview that because he moved abroad to Shanghai at a young age of three, his parents feared that he would lose to ability to speak Korean or not be able to identify renowned traditional stories. So his father made sure to always buy books when he traveled back to Korea for business and carry them back in suitcases. Because he is the youngest child from both the maternal and paternal side of the family, he states that he has no younger cousins to give the books to so he plans to make sure his children read the same books as he did.

Heung-bu and Nol-bu is significant to my friend because it was a book that he saw at Korean weekend schools (hosted on Saturdays) that he did not own at his house so he remembers specifically asking his dad to buy it for him on his next trip back to South Korea.

Additional context of the story that was missed out by my informant was a minute story detail of Heung-bu going to Nol-bu’s house in an attempt to get some food to feed for his children. Nol-bu’s wife declines the begging Heung-bu by slapping him with a 주걱 (Joo-guk/ Rice Spatula) that she was using to cook rice. Some of the cooked rice that was on the spatula got stuck onto Heung-bu’s cheek and Heung-bu proceeded to go home and feed those rice grains to his starving wife and children. Heung-bu was obviously humiliated by Nol-bu’s wife’s violence, but he still is trying to provide for his folks.

 

Analysis

 

Heung-bu and Nol-bu has a moral: if you are a kind and giving person, good things will happen. However, if you act greedy and selfish, bad things will happen. Traditional folk tales such as this subconsciously instill moral values to the children reading it to act kind and caring for others. This is more effective than being told to act kinder as the readers see an example, although fictional, of somebody being recognized and rewarded for acts of good.

Chil-seok (칠석)

Nationality: South Korean
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Shanghai, China
Performance Date: March 29th, 2018
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean, Mandarin

Story

 

Chil-seok is seventh day of the seventh month on the Korean lunar calendar.

“There was Jik-nyeo(직녀), a daughter of a god, and she was very good at weaving clothes. Across the milky way, there was Gyeon-wu (견우) who herded cows. Jik-nyeo fell in love and got married with Gyeon-wu. However, they started not doing their jobs of herding sheep and weaving clothes. So the infuriated king separated the two, only allowing them to meet once a year. On the seventh day of the seventh month, they were prepared to meet but had no way of getting over the milky way. So a murder of crows clustered together to form a bridge for the two. They would meet for a day and then have to return after. If it rains during Chil-seok, its because the couple is crying over the fact that they will not be able to see each other for another year. Also, the crows then have bald heads because their heads were stepped on.”

 

Context

 

I collected this from my high school friend who lives in Shanghai, China. Despite living abroad, I was amazed when I went over to his house because his bookshelf was filled with Korean children’s folktales. He stated in the interview that because he moved abroad to Shanghai at a young age of three, his parents feared that he would lose to ability to speak Korean or not be able to identify renowned traditional stories. So his father made sure to always buy books when he traveled back to Korea for business and carry them back in suitcases. Because he is the youngest child from both the maternal and paternal side of the family, he states that he has no younger cousins to give the books to so he plans to make sure his children read the same books as he did.

Chil-seok has significant for my friend and I because on the Chil-seok of 2016, which was August 9th, I had to leave to South Korea and we were mentioning how the situation was like when Jik-nyeo and Gyeon-wu has to split for another year. However, as it did not rain on that day, we decided to think that we would see each other soon enough.

 

Analysis

 

This is a legend as although not on earth, it specifically mentions a real existing place: the milky way.

This story has a moral of punishment for not doing work. Although the king had allowed them to get married together, he decided to split up the couple when they stopped doing their work. Stories like these allow readers to vicariously live through punishments for the crimes that they did not commit, which in this case is for not doing the assigned job. Because readers have lived through the punishment of being split from their loved one, they are more likely to stay focused on their tasks.

 

Annotate

Qixi Festival – China

Tanabata Matsuri – Japan, but July 7th on the solar calendar, unlike other east Asian countries that celebrates this holiday.

Kappa (河童)

Nationality: Japanese
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Massachusetts, Boston
Performance Date: March 29th, 2018
Primary Language: English
Language: Japanese, Mandarin

Story

 

“Kappa means river child in Japanese. Kappa are children sized and are a mix of turtle, monkey and a lizard. They live near lakes and rivers, have a shell on their back and beaks with teeth. Types of Kappa can vary but all Kappas have a bowl on the top of their head that contains a liquid. If you make the Kappa bow and make it spill the liquid, it will lose its strength and you can beat it. Kappa really likes cucumbers so you can try to negotiate a deal for your life in exchange for the cucumber. Otherwise, it is very strong and is known to be dangerous. They rape women and attack people excreting near the river by eating their organs from the anus. Kappas will pull people into the water to kill them and drink the blood from the person dry.”

 

Context

 

I collected this from my Japanese friend that I befriended during my times studying abroad in Shanghai, China. Kappa is significant to her and I because of me constantly saying Kappa, which is an emote available on the video game streaming site known as Twitch. It is a black and white picture of a man’s face, which represents sarcasm on the website. When I talked using the emote Kappa, my friend asked why I was constantly talking about the mythical creature Kappa. At that moment, she helped me become more cultured about Japanese traditions and I helped her become more cultured about internet traditions.

 

Analysis

 

The story of Kappa warns people, especially children, to not wander around lakes and rivers. This is significant as it prevents people from drowning. Rather than telling people that they might drown if they are near the lake or river, by creating a fear towards the lake or river the drowning can be completely prevented by making sure people stay away due to fear.