Never Tell Me The Odds

Storyteller Evolved:

The ways we tell stories have been evolving since the first time someone said "once upon a time" or whatever the equivalent of the phrase was at the dawn of our civilization.

New ways to tell stories were created throughout history as part of a desire to communicate on a more immediate emotional level. All storytelling forms that developed followed a similar pattern in their establishment. Each started in the shadow of an existing one, then itself rose to proliferate and dominate as a form, and then it made room for yet another storytelling form. From campfire tales in the cave to charcoal pictures on its walls. From poetry to the theater, and from the novel to comic books... And to movies -- which are now here to stay as the dominant form, for a while...

The evolutionary progress of storytelling seems to be of a cyclic nature. A movement from words to images and back. Words and images are the tools of the storyteller. Both have the same purpose, which is to relay information. But they do so in different ways.

When you hear or read a word, your brain immediately deciphers its meaning (granted it is a familiar one) when it matches it to an image of some sort from your memory. That is what language is: specific signs for specific actions or things that exist in the world. Because we first learn by seeing, we know what a thing or an action is, as we have an image of it in our mind (even if we actually have never seen but only heard about something we will construct our own mental visualization of it), but we don't have a natural way to communicate that image, so we assign a specific word for it. That word is our code for what the thing or action is.

After encountering the word in writing or conversation our brain retranslates it back to its corresponding image and we get the picture, so to speak. Now, this process is automatic for us to such an extent that we don't pay any attention to it. We are so used to it in our fluency as communicators that we can process thousands of words in intricate sequences and never think of the actual work our brains do.

On the other hand, images communicate information in a more direct way. Unlike with words, when we see a familiar image we don't need to translate it in our brains. We already know what the image is as we have a ready match of it in our memory. The process I'm talking about here is so incredibly fast, that it is difficult to comprehend. The time we gain by not having to translate images as we do with words is only a fraction, but the process of image recognition is already a step ahead of the process of word recognition by skipping a whole level of encoding and decoding. It is a more streamlined relay of information, which naturally makes it the faster, easier, simpler and more effective way to communicate... That explains one common quality among great storytellers, which is that they communicate visually. Capable writers and filmmakers use words and images that dwell in the collective consciousness to create and brand unique and iconic visuals in our minds.

Images also possess the quality of being universally recognizable, whereas words of a specific language are confined within the constraints of that particular language and its users only. At this point of human history there is yet to come into an existence a universal language. Images are universal, words are not. Or, as Umberto Eco put it: "For images are the literature of the layman".

Because they carry certain meanings and associations, both words and images trigger within us various emotional responses. For every word and image the brain processes it releases a specific emotional response through the central nervous system. Some words and images trigger strong emotional responses, others almost imperceptible ones. Emotional responses may vary between the extreme positive or extreme negative. So a specific sequence of words or images when processed by our brains will trigger a specific sequence of emotional responses, which may alternate in being strong or weak, and positive or negative.

Storytellers are natural button pushers, the focus of their craft being to manipulate emotional responses in others. A good storyteller has a special vision. He or she is able to see the human emotional “control panel” with all its ware. This "control panel" is visible only to the most perceptive storyteller. In a sense, only the storyteller who is truly aware of the human emotional makeup can reach us on a deeper level.

On a technical level a story is just a sequence of words or images, or both. What makes it involving is the clarity of its internal logic and its ability to connect to us on an emotional level. Gifted storytellers are experts at story logic and at pushing the right emotional buttons. They have a good idea about the kind of emotional responses a sequence of words or images, or both, will produce in our minds.

When broken down to its basics a story will be translated by our brains to a series of various emotional responses. If we record those responses for a particular story the sequence could look something like this: Awe. Surprise! Suspense. Fear. Funny. Suspense. Fear. Fear. Funny. Relief... And so on to the end. Did you recognize this story? No? Why, it’s the opening of the original “Star Wars” movie! A rebel ship is chased and captured by an Imperial star cruiser. Two anxious and comic droids try to save themselves in the ensuing chaos of the battle. The rebels are overcome. The intimidating figure of Darth Vader makes an entrance. Princess Lea is captured. Vader’s might is revealed during an interrogation scene. More comic relief with the two droids on the run follows, as they escape in a pod... Or something like that.

I guess the essential question here could be where is storytelling headed? What will be the next step in its evolutionary process? This is certainly a question that has been open to speculation and it remains so. If we follow the pattern of the storytelling evolutionary process, which has been to streamline its techniques and search for ever more emotionally direct ways of communication, then we might speculate that one day we will experience stories purely on an emotional level.

What if someone invented a storytelling technology with which it would be possible to push our emotional buttons by connecting directly to our central nervous systems? The storyteller would be able to compose an emotional sequence and play the audience like a piano. One composition will make us laugh, another cry, yet another will terrify us, and yet another awe us, and so on. Storytellers would be able to write entire unique sequences of emotional symphonies that would be beamed directly into our central nervous systems. In a sense, the audience has always been an "instrument" in the hands of a capable storyteller. But could we be heading towards a time when we would willingly assume the passive role of being the storyteller's indiscriminate "instruments"?

Or, perhaps the next evolutionary step in storytelling will happen on a more interactive level between storyteller and audience? In such a scenario, would the audience have a say in determining the denouement of the story being told? And if the audience becomes a participant in the story decision making process and transforms into a storyteller, would that happen on a collective or on an individual level? Or, perhaps that could also be an available option? Oh, the possibilities that await the storytellers of the world.

# posted by Luben : 10:00 PM

A Story is Like a Bicycle:

There is a well-documented tradition in the history of our pursuit of knowledge to resort to the safehouse of making profound analogies in explaining the nature of things. Someone said somewhere that it is possible to draw an analogy between any two completely different things. That concept has always intrigued me. In trying to come up with a streamlined explanation of the elements of a story I have decided to resort to this honorable tradition...

Take a bicycle for example, it being a nice metaphor for a ride. Much like a bicycle is put together with a number of basic parts, a story consists of several essential elements... In a bicycle there are the main frame, the front wheel, the rear wheel, the pedals, the seat, the chain and the handlebars. No doubt there are a lot more parts in a design of the latest bike technology, but for the purpose of this analogy we'll concentrate only on the main parts and paint the picture in broad strokes. So, what are the elements that a story needs in order to become a satisfying ride? In a run-along commentary to the analogy outline I will use as an example the popular story of the original "Star Wars" movie to offer ready parallels.

The "main frame" of the story in our analogy will be represented by the protagonist, someone who's at the center of the action and through whose point of view we, the audience, experience the story. This is an easy one. In "Star Wars" it is Luke Skywalker who's our "main frame" for the ride.

The "seat" of the ride can be described as the protagonist's problems (get it, what he or she is sitting on?). This includes external (difficulties and complications in daily life) and internal (character flaws) ones that prevent the achievement of personal goals. In Luke's case, the external problem is that he wants to go study at the Flight Academy and become a pilot but his uncle won't let him do so for another whole year because he needs him to help around the farm. As a result, Luke is frustrated and bored to tears, which makes him complain a lot. On top of that, he's got a couple of new droids (one particularly irritating and the other outrageously feisty and pig-headed in its claims that it is the property of some Obi-Wan Kenobi person) that he is supposed to take care of. Things come to a head when the feisty little droid decides to disappear... Luke's internal problems are numerous. He is rash, insecure, impatient, haunted by the death of his parents and especially that of his father, he dreams big, but lacks the commitment at this point, he feels he's powerless and weak, he victimizes himself and whines about his plight.

The "front wheel" (pointing the current direction) is the protagonist's dilemma which stems from his or her present circumstances... Here, Luke needs to get out of his uncle's farm and make his mark in the galaxy.

The "rear wheel", being the part that most of the bicycle weight falls on which makes it most difficult to turn -- and turn it must -- in order to get things moving forward, is a natural choice to parallel the role of the antagonist or the opposition in the story. This is a character who stands in the hero's way of achieving the needed goals. There may be more than one antagonist in a story, but certainly there is always one that is most important and most dangerous. I can't stress enough the importance of the antagonist in a story. Hitchcock defined the rule of thumb in this respect when he proclaimed "the more successful the villain, the more successful the picture".

Interestingly enough, the opposition is sometimes also represented by the protagonist's romantic interest (especially in romantic comedies or romance adventures) who must be won over or reconciled with. Obviously, in "Star Wars" the general opposition is the Empire and its agents, and the most important antagonist of them all is Darth Vader who is bent on crushing the last hope of the Republic, represented by the Rebellion with which Luke gets himself involved. Luke has to help the rebels to stop the Empire from achieving galactic domination through the power of a new secret weapon -- the Death Star.

The role of the "pedals" here is played by the sidekicks and confidants of the protagonist. They are our hero's little helpers. In Luke's case, the confidant is none other than the wise old jedi knight Ben Kenobi. Han Solo, Lea, Chewbacca, and the two eccentric droids Treepeeo and R2, become the sidekicks or the protagonist's allies.

The "chain" is represented in the story by the conflict of interests or the challenge which snaps the protagonist out of limbo and into action. Nothing can be sprung forward without a main chain of events leading to necessity for action... Luke discovers from Ben Kenobi that Vader killed his father. Then his aunt and uncle are killed by agents of the Empire who are looking for the two droids, presently in Luke's possession, that carry the stolen plans to the Death Star. Through this chain of events Luke is propelled into choosing a side to fight on and into action.

Finally, the "handlebars", used to stir the course of the ride, are tricky to control and as such may cause a less careful rider to crash. Here, they are replaced by the level of danger present in the story. In other words, what's at stake for the protagonist and everything he or she represents. General rule of thumb: the higher the stakes, the better. In "Star Wars" the stakes are as high as they can get -- the freedom of the Galaxy hangs in the balance and must be saved for all from an evil oppression by the Empire.

But before you say: "Hey, where are the brakes? You can't just ride around with no brakes!" -- let me suggest that a story needs most of all to be unstoppable. So, why give it brakes?! That would be defeating its purpose. A story should be a force of sheer momentum and when it has to stop, it has to do so on its own. In other words, a story has to ride itself out in order to bring itself to a stop... Wait. Wait. On second thought, forget everything I said about a story being like a bicycle. A much better analogy just occurred to me. A story should be like a cannon ball. A cannon ball whizzing by through the sky at great speed. A cannon ball we, the audience, must ride like the Baron Munchhausen. A cannon ball closing in on its target... and reaching it. Then we can truly speak of a story in terms of it being a "hit".

# posted by Luben : 10:10 PM

Enduring Power:

What makes a story timeless and relevant for numerous generations? What is exactly the durability factor at play here? Why do some stories survive the test of time and others depart into oblivion?

Perhaps the answers are to be sought in the defining qualities of a story such as theme, characters and entertainment value, and their relevance in time.

Let's talk about theme -- that is, the underlying message in a story derived from the character's problems and the way they deal with them. What is the story saying? And how important is it in the context of general human and social dilemmas? Is it universal enough to transcend the particular time and place the story was created in? Ah, theme... A tricky one to get right. After all, the times they are a changin' and what values seem important today may not necessarily be so tomorrow.

You may say that the majority of stories, including the ones that remain relevant through time, are imbued with the values of their particular period and culture. Yes, in that sense every story is an historical document of specific social values, ideas and manners from a singular cultural timeframe. The relevancy of a theme is defined by its central values. They are to be found at the core of a story, beneath what's on the surface or the constraints of temporary fashionable ideas and trends. If those central values, initially relevant within the context of their cultural period environment, continue to be relevant with time, the theme that embodies them does so too. The universality of the central values of a theme determine the universality of the theme itself.

Then there is the relevance of the characters in the story through time. Characters are the conducting agents of the story. In other words, we the audience experience the story through the actions and points of views of various characters. In essence, characters are the vessels carrying us through the uncharted territory of the story universe.

Archetypal characters transcend current trends by tapping into universal traits that have permanence in the values they represent. They are characters that have staying power and relevance in time. Characters who can be reinvented and rediscovered by future generations. These characters have truth about them, about who we are and about our essential problems as social beings. Some archetypal characters fascinate us to such a degree that they eventually come to be viewed in the collective consciousness of society as iconic.

Now, let's look at the concept of the entertainment value of a story. This is the sugar coating on the pill (the pill sometimes being bitter and hard to swallow therefore in need to be made more agreeably digestible, or as Mary Poppins says "a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down"). The entertainment value is conveyed through the story's style and form. That is the particular way it is communicated in and it's essential nature, shape and structure. Style and form in contemporary context almost always embody trendiness or that which is currently fashionable and in demand.

Trendiness. Now there is a word that carries a load of negative connotations usually when used around artists. To artists it suggests lack of individual creative vision. The logic here is that when one is trendy one is following trends set by others, therefore not being truly original. One has to be careful around words like that... However, trendiness is necessary for a storyteller to be able speak the language of his or her contemporaries. It is the frequency of the storyteller's signal, so to speak. A storyteller's goal is to communicate a story to others. This can only be achieved if the storyteller is on the same frequency with the audience, or in other words, the story is communicated in a way the audience understands.

A trend is a cultural process of ideas that have been developing up to a point in the present, taking shape in this very moment -- right now, it is happening. It is a never-ending, shape-shifting process that is constantly reenergized by people taking it into new directions by setting new trends that follow the old ones. A new trend is always influenced by the trends that were there before it. It is practically impossible to avoid trends. Even the most original storytellers and artists have followed and understood their current cultural trends and used and modified them in ways to better fit their sensibilities and to set new trends in their turn.

But, a solely trendy story, full of entertainment values and lacking in quality in its thematic central values, is just what it is: naked, a passing trend, a sugar pill with no substantial core, a forgettable moment that will be replaced by the next trendy story out there. Ah, entertainment value... A pill needs its coating. But the coating needs the pill too.

Movies like "Casablanca", "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and the original "Star Wars" are timeless because of their persistently relevant defining story qualities. Same with literature classics like "The Odyssey", "The Count of Monte Christo", "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes", "Hamlet" and the tales from "The Arabian Nights" -- all enduring stories of incomparable magnitude. In the above examples theme, characters and entertainment value come together in a universal way that has enduring power through time. These stories are in a state of timelessness.

# posted by Luben : 10:04 PM

Unlimited Power:

What is behind the old impulse to share stories with our fellow human-beings? And what about the impulse to crave, listen to, see or experience a good story? From Neanderthals grunting stories to each other in a state of heightened excitement around a camp fire in a cave to pass the time in the evenings, to the latest Hollywood summer blockbuster movie, storytellers, good ones, have held our attention, nurtured our imaginations, stirred our emotions and in the process entertained and educated us. Stories simply seem to have unlimited power over us. Just imagine life without them. No books. No movies. No TV. No jokes. No rumor mills. No news, etc. It's almost beyond the power of the imagination. Life would be so very different, indeed.

So, the "need for story time" is part of who we are. Stories define us like nothing else. We find life's meaning through stories. We communicate our emotions (fears, anxieties, desires, obsessions, likes, dislikes, hopes, joys and pleasures) and our beliefs (religious or political) through stories, both consciously and subconsciously. Stories tell us who we were, and who we are, and who we're going to be. We are storytellers, all of us, whether we think of it in those terms or not.

Storytelling is the original therapy. We learn everything in "therapy". Our moral, behavioral and social codes. We seek affirmation and hope in tales about people like us. Tales that we can relate to in one way or another. We seek solutions to our problems. We need resolutions. Swift and joyful if possible (read happy endings here). But if that's not available, we'll settle for a lot less like just about anything that brings some relief to or escape from our reality. We are addicted to stories. We need them to keep going. We need that high only a good story has. We're hooked.

Personally, I got hooked on stories (or at least it became the defining experience for me in this respect) as a little boy. My grandmother would try to put me to sleep in bed with a good story which she would invent along usually as she told it. She was the best storyteller. She knew how to hold my attention. Her secret? Her stories were always about me. She made it all very personal. She would tell me stories about "Luben, the Detective", or "Luben, the Jungle Explorer", or "Luben, the Sailor", or "Luben, the Adventurer", or "Luben, the Space Traveler", or "Luben, the Archeologist in Egypt", and countless other highly imaginative adventures, all starring me. The result was probably one of the greatest experiences in my life.

Usually, my grandmother would tire after a while and start to nod off in mid-story, that was the moment when I would bring her back with a single "AND?" Well, let's just say that it took a really satisfying story to put me to sleep. I wouldn't settle for a half tale or something lacking in good resolution... My grandmother soon realized that and did her best, but I kept those "AND?" interjections coming whenever necessary. Eventually, I would hear a good ending (read satisfying enough to me) and release grandma from her storytelling duties. Then I guess I went to sleep feeling like some Hollywood studio executive who has had his story notes succesfully executed by a screenwriter in the latest rewrite of a screenplay. Happy.

The next best thing as far as storytelling experiences came with watching the original "Star Wars". A highlight in movie history that will always be special to me. The experience was such a memorable one that to this day whenever I see and hear the Fox Studios logo with its music I associate it with "Star Wars". I remember the theater where I first saw the movie and who I saw it with. A good story will define a moment in history. It will emotionally brand it in our minds.

# posted by Luben : 10:07 PM

Introduction:

As I write this opening paragraph, I proceed, partly out of curiosity, partly out of cultural peer pressure (it seems like everyone else has a blog these days... now, it's like one has to blog just to blend in...) -- but mostly out of a deep personal necessity to share with the world the innermost reflections that are sure to arise in one when one starts to blog...

As a social phenomenon, blogging is very interesting, it is essentially different from keeping an actual diary, the former being sort of an exhibitionist activity and a one-way (mostly) communication with others whereas the latter has always been more of a private affair. I think it speaks of where we have gone as far as our failure to communicate interpersonally in real life. Blogging is what we have invented now to tell others about who we are or who we think we are, or who we want to be, what other generations used to tell each other in real life or simply sometimes didn't tell.

I guess the most difficult part is coming up with a cool enough blog name. This in itself could be an endless task... I tried not to fall into this trap.

The main focus of this blog will be to explore our intensely obsessive fascination with stories. Here I will share theories and discuss stories from various sources (personal or not) and art-forms, old or new. Movies. Books. Scripts. Music. Pop culture. Personal adventures or misadventures.

# posted by Luben : 7:43 PM