Jason Batt, PhD

Profile

Join date: Nov 1, 2023

About

Jason D. Batt, Ph.D., is a technological philosopher, mythologist, futurist, artist, and writer specializing in mythologies of space exploration. He co-founded Deep Space Predictive Research Group, Project Lodestar, and the International Society of Mythology. He has authored three novels, edited four fiction anthologies, and his short fiction and scholarly work have appeared in numerous publications. Jason currently serves as Senior Editor for the forthcoming Journal of Mythological Studies, Co-Managing Editor of the Beyond Earth Institute Space Policy Review, and Associate Editor of the Journal of Space Philosophy.

Posts (5)

Jul 5, 2026 ∙ 6 min

King Kunta's Crown: Identity and Initiation in To Pimp a Butterfly

Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly delivers a distinct resolution to initiation. The album embodies Joseph Campbell's reading of Jung's individuation, told as a modern myth built on the oldest structure we know: the rite of passage. Separation, the liminal crossing, the return. The album fords that liminal space, track by track, until the caterpillar who begins the journey recognizes the butterfly it was carrying all along.

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May 3, 2026 ∙ 7 min

At-One-Ment with the Demon: How KPop Demon Hunters Completes the Heroine's Journey

Last year's KPop Demon Hunters on Netflix was an industry-shaking surprise: a high-energy animated film that mixed K-pop with Korean mythology and generated a soundtrack that spent two weeks at number one on the Billboard 200. That soundtrack also became the first ever to have four simultaneous songs in the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.

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Apr 5, 2026 ∙ 6 min

Noodle in Charon’s Boat: Separation as Beginning and End in Gorillaz’ The Mountain

The Hero’s Journey is often represented as a wheel, with the protagonist moving clockwise through the points. The imagery forces a presumption of motion and order, each point as constant as the clock, always in sequence. Yet, in an era where the Hero’s Journey is being explored from other perspectives, criticized, and reimagined, I offer that it should be deconstructed—and the first aspect worth deconstructing is its scaffolding.

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