Thoughts on the Power of Story

 

"So many people forget that the first country that the Nazi's invaded was their own."

Dr. Abraham Erskine, Captain America: The First Avenger

From Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn:

"[I]t was not only the Jews who were captives under Hitler. The entire German nation was a captive, including his enthusiastic supporters..."

"...Even if you weren't personally captivated by the story, you were a captive all the same, because the people around you made you a captive. You were like an animal being swept along in the middle of a stampede..." 

"...the people of your culture are in much the same situation. Like the people of Nazi Germany, they are the captives of a story."

Most people will object at this point that they have never heard the story of our culture. They will probably deny the possibility that there is one.

"...That's because there's no need to hear of it. There's no need to name it or discuss it. Every one of you knows it by heart by the time you're six or seven. ...And you hear it incessantly, because every medium of propaganda, every medium of education pours it out incessantly. ...It's like the humming of a distant motor that never stops, it becomes a sound that's no longer heard at all..." 

Most people at this object in a way that generally boils down to the statement that they do not believe you at this point.

"Belief is not required. Once you know this story, you'll hear it everywhere in your culture, and you'll be astonished that the people around you don't hear it as well but merely take it in." 

Studies have shown that we remember information better when it is transmitted by story. Studies have shown that we are more persuaded by narrative. Authors know that they have to pay careful attention to make sure their fiction meets people's expectations for a story, or their fans will turn on them like rabid dogs.

Stories are powerful things, mysterious things. Joseph Campbell noted that the same story structure keeps appearing through history and called it the Hero's Journey. Hollywood noticed that certain story formulas keep working no matter how obvious they are. World Religions rely upon certain story elements with such regularity that a 'Madlibs' game could be made of such elements.

People will die for a story.

People will kill for a story.

People will work for forty years with no future for a story.

People will keep trying things that didn't work yesterday if the story tells them that this way should work.

What's Your Story?

Doesn't seem like such a harmless question now, does it?