Are humans inherently good or inherently bad? This is a question asked by droves of people throughout every age of humanity. The answer to this question has also informed the social, political, and economic systems of the world, along with religions the world over. As a filmmaker, I’ve recently been thinking about the core structure of the stories being told by filmmakers and pondering whether or not, when viewed as a whole, they reflect an answer to this question. These stories are coming from humans, so they must reflect something about humans. Do the stories we tell act a commentary on the good or bad aspect of human nature? If it is true that art imitates life, then within the films and stories we consume(which are about humans), there must be some indication of the nature of humanity.
The stories from films that we know and love as well as the new stories being told by new movies being made now all have structural parallels. In other words, there is a basic structure that most films made in the Western world, follow. This has been known for sometime and these parallels can largely be traced back, and are often credited to, Joseph Campbell, author of The Hero with a Thousand Faces in 1949. Campbell’s book was revolutionary when it was published because it provided a lens through which all human storytelling could be viewed. In short, Campbell’s book outlines his idea that the same baseline story has been told since the inception of storytelling. Going back to the first cave paintings(discovered in the Chauvet cave in France), one could argue that his theory could be applied to the stories being told on the walls of that cave.
Along with bringing a new lens through which to view the stories we tell, Joseph Campbell’s theory was viewed as a goldmine by Hollywood production companies and distribution studios and was used as such. This idea that a formula could be applied to something as lucrative as movies was extremely tantalizing to these entities and they embraced a more formulaic approach to storytelling in the films they produced from that point forward. However, as corporate as their motivations were, the powers that be in Hollywood did, inadvertently most likely, begin to cultivate a sort of through line or "so what?" point to storytelling, at least within the realm of cinema. That through line was the idea that people go to the movies to see good humans, or heros, and follow their struggles for success. This has often been ridiculed or dismissed by many moviegoers today as bland homogenization. However, one cannot deny the sort of interconnectedness that storytelling has gained from the embrace of Campbell's ideas. At the root of his ideas is the simple idea of the hero's journey. The hero's journey is the name Joseph Campbell has given to the idea of story itself and his notion of the optimal story. A flow chart that Campbell created to showcase this theory explains in very basic terms what a story needs to be successfully received by an audience. Most importantly, a story needs a goal-oriented character who overcomes incredible odds. If modern science is any indicator, it would seem Joseph Campbell's assessment of human receptiveness of particular story elements, such as a protagonist overcoming a goal and succeeding, is accurate, for his assessment is most definitely in line with what seems to be true human nature. It seems that we are innately wired to receive joy from the success of others within our species.
Recent anthropological evidence uncovered within the remains of ancient pre-human when considered in tandem with chimpanzee and Bonobo ape behavior suggest that humans are not only the most naturally altruistic species on Earth but it is that altruism that led the species to being far more advanced than any other species on the planet. A report by Scientific America synthesized the study done by a collection of researchers, spanning over various fields:
"If human nature is simply the way we tend to act based on our intuitive and automatic impulses, then it seems that we are an overwhelmingly cooperative species, willing to give for the good of the group even when it comes at our own personal expense."
It would seem that the stories being told do indeed reflect our human nature accurately. For humans are, by nature, cooperative, self-sacrificing, and at their core, good.
This is an issue that comes up pretty frequently in my life, besides the fact that I play Dungeons & Dragons where the classic alignment chart comes into play & gives players an inherently good/bad attribute. I mean, even instinctively, we try to determine how good or bad anyone is, even if they are just strangers. Before we walk up to anyone, we try to discern their nature. I would like to & overall do agree with humans being generally good, but I always remember the existence of people who actively do bad things. This does bring up the question of if everyone does start out good, but if certain things, that are bad enough in quality or quantity, happen to someone, these are why they become bad people.
ReplyDelete-Science & the Public Intellectual
Joseph Campbell’s take on the elements that comprise a good story have been hugely influential in the industry that both you and I love. That being said, it’s still extremely difficult to write a story that can appeal to the masses even with this rough recipe for success (for lack of a better way to describe it). That being said, I agree with his most fundamental points he makes- good stories reflect human nature. We all need something to identify with and grab onto!
ReplyDelete