MOVING PICTURES

With the arrival of the 20th century, storytelling moved into another sphere. Previously, the story was recounted orally or through the written word. Early on, the two forms had merged into drama, but with the arrival of moving pictures, the scope and availability of dramatic storytelling increased.
In the ‘movie,’ a new magical form of storytelling was with us. But was this a good thing or a bad thing?

THE STORY SO FAR

The beauty of the early mystery plays which paved the way for the acceptance of Christianity was that they provided perfect symbols for society to see. The ancient Greek dramatists had realized this even earlier, and in this way, drama had been a force to shape society in line with the powers-that-be. What a hierarchy wanted could be portrayed in drama, and thus becoming the way people acted and thought.
The novel had broken this hold on society. The beauty of the novel is that it was a personal experience between the writer and reader. Further, words, in themselves, are insufficient to truly provide a powerful symbol.
Hence, the novelist could only convey certain impressions to the reader. The picture could only be completed by the reader’s mind, putting mental images to what was going on. And in this way, a novel educated by forcing the reader to think about the actions, and equally about the consequences. In this sense, the novel was truly moralizing because the reader had to work such things out for himself.

THE MOVIE

In the movie, all this was to be again reversed. In the movie, there is no need for mentation; there is only concentration on the pictures, allowing the person to again be influenced by the pure picture images.
Symbolism had returned to storytelling in the same way as it had been used in myth. And it is no coincidence that Hollywood eventually became a major force in the Globalisation of the world.
With potent symbols of the American Dream going before it, Hollywood paved the way, culturally, for the arrival of globalization. Which prompts the question: did we ever leave the wider meanings that influenced us in the spiritual, or does the story still grip the human psyche, conditioning us to how the hierarchy wants us to be?

TELEVISION

We can consolidate this opinion by looking to the smaller screen – the television. At the heart of globalization we have capitalism and the need for powerful companies to sell their products. If television did not influence us into actions and ideas, advertisers would not clamour to advertise their products. However, drama has become much more malignant in this modern world.
In recent decades a new drama-form has become popular. This is the Soap Opera. Unlike all previous drama, there is rarely an absolute conclusion to a story because the characters are on-going. Hence, it is rare that an absolute morality is placed on a character’s actions.
In this way, morality itself is subverted – an influence made even worse by the simple fact that, in drama, a bad guy is infinitely more interesting than a boring good guy. And when we add another factor to this equation, the Soap Opera becomes the most influential drama ever created.

THE NEW BIBLE?

The success of the Christian oligarchy during the Middle Ages was due mainly to the fact that the Christian story was on-going throughout the year and daily through prayer. There was never a moment that the story was not hammered home, literally controlling a compliant population.
In the Soap Opera we have the identical mechanism at work. In becoming an almost daily drama, we become involved with the characters like never before, and as such their influence upon us becomes total. It is no coincidence that, increasingly, some people’s lives go on to ape the Soap Opera they watch, with morality diluted along the way. Soap characters are, in effect, Biblical in their power and influence.
It is arguable that this situation did not come about by accident. The success of global capitalism lies in its ability to subvert local culture by imposing a consumer free-for-all, devoid of morality.
And there is no better way of subverting the reality of a previous moral story – i.e. a local religion or sense of nationhood – than by showing examples of life through a counter, but appealing, symbolism. Our supposed freedoms identified in the modern story appear to be, good reader, as enslaving as they ever were.

© Anthony North, July 2007

See History Page for more posts in the Story of the Story.
Click Tony On, on Blogroll, for my current affairs blog.
While you’re here, why not have a look around? Check out the pages – you’ll also find sub-domains on the Blogroll. Beyond the Blog is the site that has everything.