Hey You,
What’s your story?
Before we get to that: let’s back up a bit. What’s a story?
Well, it’s more or less a sequence or group of events most likely involving some characters. It’s a narrative.
And we seem to need stories.
Now, let me tell you a story from this week.
Grandpa (who came to Kathmandu three weeks ago) is staying with us right now. And he briefly told me (or rather mentioned) a story about a group of people who chased the “legs of the sky”. The idea being that the sky is a large tent we are under. So it has to have some location where it is tethered to the ground. They couldn’t find the place even after walking their whole lives. Grandpa (who doesn’t have any formal education at all) was curious about where the sky ends.
Of course, I did the most logical thing to do: pull up Youtube. With the help of some videos, I tried explaining how the Earth is sort of like a ball and the sky just covers it and so doesn’t have to “touch” it. Then he was curious about stars, if one could reach them in one of those rockets we were looking at on-screen. I explained how the stars are actually immensely far away. Oh and they are, in fact, much larger than Earth. Oh, and the Sun is also a star! He then asked what’s outside the sky.
”Umm… pretty much just emptiness. We are kind of ‘floating’ in emptiness”. Oh, and there is no up or down. Everything just is. At this point it started dawning on me that sitting there in the balcony just staring at a screen, the story of how we got here (all the way from the Big Bang) is pretty much as outlandish as any of the creationist story. Oh, also that I suck at explaining these kinds of stuff.
And, of course, this being Youtube, soon enough we were watching how people relieve themselves on the International Space Station. Obviously, not watching people do it. Just how they do it. Ahem. Back to the story.
It just seems like the creation myths/stories that humanity has conjured up is much more appealing to us than the real story which is simply too hard for us to grasp. Those myths and stories are more interesting, more relatable.
I mean, just read this one in Greek Mythology:
The Ancient Greeks believed that in the beginning, the world was in a state of nothingness, which they called Chaos. Suddenly, from light, came Gaia (mother earth) and from her came Uranus (the sky) along with other old gods … Gaia and Uranus had 12 children, the titans. The most important of the 12 children were Kronos and Rhea.
Gaia gave birth to some monsters called cyclops and the hundred handed ones. Uranus disgusted by the monsters threw them in Tartarus. Gaia, angered by Uranus, sought revenge on Uranus. Gaia used her son Kronos, who chopped off Uranus' genitals. Kronos threw Uranus into the ocean. From the blood of his genitals, came the goddess of love and beauty—Aphrodite.
Kronos married his sister Rhea and gave birth to 6 children, who were called the gods. Kronos, who was afraid of a prophecy delivered to him a while ago(which stated that one day his children will cut him up), swallowed each of his children each time they were born. Rhea did not like this, so she saved Zeus and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. Zeus was raised by a goat named Amaltheia, …
Firstly, what the! Secondly, I take back the “relatable” tag. However, one has to admit—it’s a pretty intriguing story.
We could now easily take this discussion into religion, mythology, etc. But let’s keep those for some other day and get back to the point.
The point is that we are storytelling creatures. We look for, create, and tell stories. That’s what we have been doing for ages. Through myths, folk-lore, parables. That’s what we still do. It’s in the movies, the novels, the neighborhood aunt telling the latest neighborhood gossip. It’s in the newsletter of a guy talking about thoughts engendered by interactions with his Grandpa.
Cool. We tell stories. The next question: are there common things in the stories?
Every Story is the Same
Will Schoder | 15 mins
In this video essay, Will explains Dan Harmon’s distillation of The Hero’s Journey. The idea is that all (or rather, a lot of) stories can be understood through a cyclical framework with the protagonist starting/finishing somewhere (top half) and going through a phase of Growth or Change in between (bottom half).
What I found most interesting was how stories are framed as cycling us through necessary dualities: life-death, conscious-unconscious, order-chaos.
Re: Loops and Loops
The Shape of Stories
Kurt Vonnegut | 18 mins
In this talk, Kurt introduces a way to look at the shape of stories, as progressions on a Good vs Ill-fortune axis. He uses it to outline some of the most common shape of stories: Main-in-Hole, From Bad to Worse, etc.
A great infographic based on the outlines can be found here.
Kurt’s main point aren’t the shape themselves though. It’s that a lot of things in life are neither “good “ nor “bad”. That we cannot discern them to be so. In that sense, by creating a narrative of good and bad, most stories thus lie.
The Lie That Every Story has in Common
Pursuit of Wonder | 8 mins
The “lie” of the common templates of stories is to make us believe they are a decent depiction of reality, of our lives. The reality is different. As Vonnegut says:
“A more honest story shape is a straight line. In a story of this shape, things still happen and characters still change but the story maintains ambiguity around whether or not the events that occur are conclusively good or bad.”
Essentially, in relation to the events in our lives, we cannot tell what is good news, what is bad news.
To me, this was a surprising claim. At first, I objected: Of course I can tell between good and bad news! However, pretty quickly I realized it wasn’t so easy. Apart from some obvious bad news (e.g. a death of someone close, a cancer diagnosis, etc), a lot of other perceived good and bad news could actually go either way. They are, in a way, open to interpretation.
For instance, when a relationship I was in ended (a couple of years ago), I was distraught. If someone had asked me then if it was a bad event, I would have yelled: “Of Course, you twat!” or something to that effect. But now, today? I don’t know. Maybe it was actually a “good” event.
I really don’t know.
Our Life Stories
The above point further hit home when I tried creating a shape of the story of my life so far.
Our lives are also, more or less—a story. And the stories we tell ourselves can become self-fulfilling prophecies. Or things like learned blankness.
However, here in particular, I just wanted to draw my life so far on that “Good Fortune”-”Ill-fortune” axis Kurt introduced. And well, I couldn’t come up with anything decisive. I have had a pretty great life. So maybe it starts more on the “Good-Fortune” side of things. But then, in terms of all the events that have filled my life, it’s not so clear-cut. I think it’s maybe a slow increase in “Good-Fortune” but I cannot really pin it down and chart it with any conviction.
"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards"
~ Søren Kierkegaard
It seems, even in retrospect it’s hard to understand life.
But thankfully, Kurt gave us a possible reconciliation with the ambiguity:
Even though we can't know what the good or bad news is within the bigger picture, Kurt believed we don't need to know to be able to look around and know when things are nice amidst it all, to recognize the happy moments in our life, however big or small and stop and say: "If this isn't nice, I don't know what is".
A beautiful thought.
So then: What is your story? :)
// Other Videos
Jackie Chan - How to Do Action Comedy
Every Frame a Painting | 9 mins
I spent a lot of the day binge-watching the video essays by Every Frame a Painting. I loved them all!
Slightly ironic in that I am not really a big movie watcher. Heck, of my own accord, I watch maybe one movie every two months, much to the chagrin of my friends who recommend me great movies.
But still, seeing all the thought that goes (or could go) into making movies makes me appreciate the medium even more.
Anyway, also definitely watch:
And The Marvel Symphonic Universe. And Edgar Wright - How to do Visual Comedy. Or maybe just pick and choose yourself. Or watch all, haha.
The Play That Goes Wrong
9 mins
Hilarious. Also, some interesting notes in the comments about how you have to know the rules well in order to break them in a funny manner like this. Thank you Bipin for sharing this with me!
// Readings
The Ultimate Guide to Visual Storytelling
Lawrence Yeo | MoreToThat | 23 mins
In this Guide, Lawrence first makes a case for visual storytelling. Especially in this day and age. Then he details how to go about it.
A high level outline:
1. Select an idea
2. Define the Problem and the Takeaway
3. Create the Visceral Journey
4. Simplify the message visually
// Stories and Poems
Tsumiki No Ie
Directed by Kunio Kato | 12 mins | Short Movie
Actually a short movie but keeping with the wide definition of story we are using today, why not?
Warning: This movie is a feels trip. A beautiful feels trip.
We Have Not Long to Love
Tennessee Williams | 1 min
We have not long to love.
Light does not stay.
The tender things are those
we fold away.
Coarse fabrics are the ones
for common wear.
In silence I have watched you
comb your hair.
Intimate the silence,
dim and warm.
I could but did not, reach
to touch your arm.
I could, but do not, break
that which is still.
(Almost the faintest whisper
would be shrill.)
So moments pass as though
they wished to stay.
We have not long to love.
A night. A day....
Succinct. Heavy. Beautiful.
// Music
I actually missed this section last week. Apologies, haha.
Malinda Herman Official
Hands down the Best thing I watched/listened to this week! For some reason, I was on the verge of crying when I first watched it. It just felt so pure. I could almost feel my anxiety, my worries melt away. For a moment, my muddled mind became a calm lake.
Watch her other videos too. (Try This). It’s basically therapy!
Korantemaa
Have been listening to her on loop for a couple of weeks now. Awesome compositions. Especially love her voice so much. It is soothing but also has a lovely raspiness, a zing to it.
Try this Plain Gold Ring - Cover for some loopy awesomeness. Also covers for Slow Dancing in the Dark and Breezeblocks. Ooh, and also definitely try Photosynthesis <bad-joke> plants say it’s great for life ;) </bad-joke>. Seriously :D
// Wholesome
The Dad singing the whole Spiderman Theme song, pausing after every verse for just the right amount before continuing on. #Gold
Also, the mortified look on his daughter’s face. Haha
Closing Thought
The sunset was a beautiful orange today. Not sure if it was indeed more so than normal or if I just noticed it today. Still, it was blissful, sitting there on the terrace (actually, on the top landing with the water tank), watching the sun go down. Houses fading into silhouettes before finally—all dark.
“If this isn't nice, I don't know what is”. Indeed.
Thank you for reading. See you next week.
With Love,
Bijay
It had been a very very long time I hadn't heard of Tsumiki No Ie. Thanks for sharing that. Kinda brought some memories... Always takes me somewhere... The memories also connected to another short story "Paperman"...