Democracy, myths and power

The talk, which was followed by a panel discussion with UTS Emeritus Professor and Special Innovation Advisor, Roy Green AM and acclaimed author and UTS Luminary Anna Funder, drew a packed audience to explore how national myths influence democratic values, power, and public memory.

Not just stories

Guest speaker Professor Churchwell, Chair of Public Humanities at the University of London, began by emphasising how cultural narratives are fundamental to understanding political influence.

“Politics are downstream of culture”, she said, highlighting that “America is a cultural idea” distinct from its geopolitical form. 

These myths, she said, are far from benign: “Myths are not just stories, they are frameworks for distributing and justifying power – they shape memory and political imagination.”

A case study in mythmaking and power

To illustrate how foundational myths embed themselves and justify power structures, Churchwell dissected Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind. 

She described it as “one of the most influential pieces of white supremacist propaganda in American popular history,” arguing it reframes the Civil War as a tragedy “not because it was fought to preserve racialised slavery, but because it disrupted a supposedly noble and innocent way of life.” 

Churchwell detailed how the novel "sanctifies the reimposition of white dominance as a moral redemption,” champions “blood and soil nationalism,” and portrays the Ku Klux Klan “as a moral necessity.”

The book, she said, “captures the origin myth of white grievance in America, the idea that white people are victimised by racial justice.”

From “manocracy” to the “manosphere”

Churchwell traced a lineage of often-overlooked homegrown American authoritarian tendencies, citing a 1933 proposal from Khaki Shirts leader for an armed march on Washington to install an “authoritarian regime he called manocracy, rule by strong men.”

This historical “fantasy of male domination,” Churchwell observed, finds a disturbing modern parallel, it “has returned in the digital age today's manosphere – online influencers, forums, podcasts – echoes the same language: domination without accountability, wealth without responsibility, rule without consent.”

These historical patterns, alongside co-opted slogans like “America First” and a distorted “American Dream,” pave the way for contemporary anti-democratic currents.

These tendencies, Churchwell said, culminate in present-day ideologies such as the “Dark Enlightenment,” which she described as “a reactionary movement rooted in contempt for democracy and open society.” 

Proponents of this view, she explained, believe “Democracy isn’t just flawed, it’s a mistake... illegitimate,” and instead “propose rule by the few CEOs, technocrats, strong men: their ideal society is corporate.”