Wednesday, August 17, 2005
The Persuasive Tongue:
It is the storyteller's nature to be a salesman. To persuade, convince, sweet-talk, tall-tale, lie if necessary, that what he or she is selling -- the story -- is just what its intended audience wants and needs.
The very nature of storytelling is to achieve a certain conviction in the minds of others. To relate a definite view of the world, a clear perspective, a concrete philosophy. Or, if we want to be honest, storytelling is propaganda. To be a storyteller is to engage in propagation of information that reflects a specific philosophy, interests, doctrines, moral codes and causes.
There are many degrees of propaganda, some subtle and some not so subtle. What I am referring to here is the quality of the propaganda, whether it is high-grade or low-grade stuff; the former being interesting ideas communicating insightful perspectives and the latter being ideas expressing views that are purely exploitative in nature. The ability to distinguish between the two types of propaganda is what sets great storytellers apart. It is no easy task navigating the treacherous undercurrents of social ideas, causes, codes and beliefs, due to the large gray area occupying the space between high-grade and low-grade propaganda. And therein lies the danger...
How does a storyteller avoid being seduced by the allure of exploitative propaganda, that is, if it is something he or she is actually not aiming to engage in? And why do so many succumb to its instant gratification nature? And what is at stake if one does fall into its trap? Ah, these are the questions...
Storytelling is about sharing perspectives. And perspectives can be dangerous. An audience experiences a story through the eyes of its protagonists or the storyteller's observations and is naturally prone to identify with their views. It is essential that a story allows for rationalizations and identification with those views. Thus the process of identification with a story's perspective is a powerful tool for shaping the minds of audiences. It is an instrument for propagation of ideas some of which may very well be of dubious nature. Of course, that requires us to define what constitutes the notion of "dubious nature", or in essence to open a whole new can of arguable worms...
Low-grade type propaganda can be found in various forms in all storytelling mediums. The most obvious example being the political warmongering or wartime propaganda in literature and movies. Nothing sells better to a group of people than the glorification of that group's beliefs, ideals, actions, the justification of their hatred and aggression, and the dehumanization of their enemies. Everyone who has seen Leni Riefenstahl's masterful "The Triumph of the Will" will know what I mean. "The Triumph of the Will" is a particularly notable example of such propaganda as it is an exceptionally well-made film that works at the top artistic levels of the cinematic medium.
There are numerous other lesser examples of wartime propaganda movies that don't rise above the level of their genre. For example, few of the American WWII anti-Japanese or anti-German movies are remembered today, mostly because they were pretty low-grade stuff propaganda. They served their purpose in rousing the war spirit in the population and then promptly were forgotten... One notable Hollywood WWII propaganda movie though is "Five Graves to
But propaganda doesn't exist only as a pro-war phenomenon. There are just as many examples of it in literature and film propagating the ideas of pacifism. Such books or films are usually of the higher grade type of propaganda as they tend to get their message across by showing the horrible nature of war. Films like Oliver Stone's "Platoon", Francis Coppola's "Apocalypse Now", Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket", Elem Klimov's "Come and See", Steven Spielberg's "Schindler's List", Roman Polanski's "The Pianist" and Wolfgang Petersen's "Das Boot" champion the ideas of the anti-war movement. In literature, Homer's "The Iliad" towers over other books as the quintessential anti-war story.
Propaganda can also be found in stories regarding other battle fields such as those of the world religions. Notable examples are such films as Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ", Martin Scorcese's "The Last Temptation of Christ", the children's animated feature "The Prince of Egypt" and Cecil B. DeMille's "The Ten Commandments". And let's not even get into all the religious propaganda that has accumulated in the history of literature from the bible to "The Da Vinci Code"...
There are many other aspects of propaganda, particularly of the low-grade type, that thrive today. One of them is its application in the commercial industry. Both in commercials and movies, the advertisement of various products has reached such a pervasive level that it is part of our way of life, part of our environment. So common that it is almost invisible. Seamless. So essential to our economic system that it is its driving force. Through the messages of this propaganda we are basically told what we need in our lives. We are told what will make us feel healthier, live easier, be more successful, be cooler, look more attractive, etc. We are constantly told what products we need to improve the quality of our lives. The message is clear and simple: in order to achieve the desired image being projected one must get the products and comply with the way of life that is being peddled in the message itself.
Pressing political and social issues have always found their voice in propaganda. Issues regarding the balance of power among the classes, races, religions and sexes. Issues such as equal rights, political correctness, war on terror, evolutionism and creationism are currently pervading our culture through ideas being propagated in movies, TV shows, books, etc.
Then there is the propaganda found in stories that pass for pure entertainment. Even in stories that are supposed to be escapist in nature such as the average novel or Hollywood movie, the complexity of the mish-mash of various social ideas, issues, product advertisements, attitudes, prejudices, moral codes, beliefs and causes that are being navigated is as present as in the most obvious examples of propaganda.
It would only be fair, since I am on a roll, to remember not to somehow conveniently forget to mention the pervasiveness of personal views propaganda of the new storytelling phenomenon known as blogging currently flourishing globally thanks to the internet. Yes, all of the above has been nothing but the pure propagation of ideas belonging to the author of this writing. As to the exact type of my propaganda, I can only suggest that it exists somewhere within the large gray area that occupies the space between the low-grade and the high-grade stuff. You know, where the danger lies... But beware, that could be just my persuasive tongue trying to sweet-talk you into buying what I'm peddling here.
