Many sci-fi monsters are a continuation of mythological monsters

... And many superheroes are like demigods or mythical heroes

Not all—like the 50's movie monsters many were just cobbled together—but there's a core of them that definitely resemble their mythical counterparts.

The demigods were the half-gods—offspring of a god with a mortal. Usually a male god with a mortal woman, but not always. Taken in the context of the Pageau-ian symbolism I've been looking into, it would mean that a full god is pure abstract idea or ideal. For instance the pure idea of strength and courage in battle, like Thor or Hercules. When that idea is mated with the mortal realm, it means you've got a person who almost perfectly embodies it. Maybe a great leader with incredible charisma who seems to never make a bad decision and is universally loved. You know when you're in the presence of a person who embodies one or more of your culture's important values or traits—you feel overwhelmed by it, as if you're in the presence of greatness. You might even feel the desire to bow down and worship. Or, if you're the resentful nasty type you might be filled with derision and envy.

Mythical heroes were not the same as what we call heroes today. Where did I run across this recently, was it in a Jonathan Pageau video? I don't recall. And I don't know how well I can remember it. But it's something like—a hero in ancient times was a powerful, maybe physically strong or large person with immense courage and cleverness who could perform incredible feats and would kill or capture monsters. Heros included people like Theseus, Perseus, and Odysseus. Hmm... did their names always end in 'eus'? Interesting, I don't know. Probably not. Their great feats often did result in the lives of ordinary people becoming better or safer. For instance Perseus killed the Minotaur, which was being fed a tributre of Minoan youths every seven years I think, so that tribute no longer had to be paid. The labors of Heracles removed many monsters from the human world (I know—a demigod, not a hero.)

But heroes in ancient times weren't necessarily nice or decent people. They were sometimes more like anti-heroes, taking more interest in their own needs than those of the helpless or vulnerable. Like what Wolverine keeps starting to slip back into. Today a hero isn't necessarily big or powerful, they're just ordinary people who risk life and limb to protect those in need.

As I understand it many of these feats and tales were based on real events but 'mythologized'. The hero or demigod may have represented some real leader or person who fixed some big problem and made life better in a particular area, like for instance built a much-needed bridge over a treacherous river that had claimed many lives. Perhaps the Perseus story was based on a leader who had ended human sacrifice rituals in a backwards region? I have no idea, just speculating. But I really like the idea that gods and these other mythical beings represent very real things (often abstracted values or ideals).

I also remember reading somewhere (no idea where) that the heroes were often said to be descended from gods or demigods. Many of them could apparently trace their family tree back to Heracles or maybe Apollo or somebody. Symbolically this shows that they (probably the actual people on which the legends were originally based) embodied one or more of those abstract qualities'in the flesh' so to speak.

One of the things I'm learning so far from the Matthieu Pageau book is that Heaven or The Heavens in Genesis means the realm of the abstract, while The Earth refers to the physical world.

I got nothing for that, at least not in terms of what I was discussing above. It doesn't seem to be a mix of different animal parts. But Rob Ager has done some typically amazing videos about it:

• Visual themes of Giger's ALIEN creature design
• H R GIGER - Birth is death

I can't find it now, but I remember seeing one by him about birth trauma themes all throughout the movie, as if the crew are fetuses inside a womb and the alien is an invading predator. I mean, the ship was called Mother after all (well, the ship's computer, implying the ship is a mother to them all). And the padding inside many of the corridors looks flesh-like. I checked his film analysis site and still can't find it—that was the one I really wanted to link to. It might be on a dvd I bought of his some time ago, maybe he doesn't have it posted online.