Home » Good, Evil and Such: A Romance

She could not take it anymore, so she blew his head off... And the audience cheered!

Story Dynamics are complex. There are so many levels of filtering and interpreting of story elements that only an academician would pretend to debate a formulaic approach.

...She had to, He was bad and she was good. And the audience knew it. They knew it long before she allowed herself to admit it...before she knew what she had to do about it. She had no choice, even though they were lovers.*
 

"Stories work, or don't work partly because they play into the physical makeup of how the human animal is designed, biologically intuitive; Good vs. Evil being only one part of this mode."

I picked up on this idea the other day while reading an interesting book**. I know what some might be thinking, "Do folks in the country really read books?" Well, if it satisfies such citified bias, I was really just flip'n through some pages a bit, sans pix.

But in any event, this notion of storytelling's appeal, being related to a hard-wired' physiology, made some sense to me about the universality of story structure. Much of story design, it seems, is a similar matrix of how we perceive and think. Go figure!

Based on this writer's perspective, we perceive the input around us, cognitively process and store events in memory, in a more automated way than we might admit. While in memory all our filtered input is continually being stirred up a bit, settling into contrasting-moduled, data bins- just part of our makeup.

Of course, if you think that this is an easy way to gain acceptance of your stories to audiences, thus fame and fortune, there may be too many variables of input and output to make it viable on any grand scale.

Still, we are storytellers because we are curious and, perhaps in some small way folks who like our stories are stimulated by our curiosity. So, there may be something to learn from this hard-wired notion regarding Good/Evil, as well as Simplification/Exaggeration and Equilibriums.

The author suggests there are biological, hard-wired dynamics that come into play influencing storytelling; one being the nature of Good and Evil. You don't have to be a famous, published author to experience this. Storytelling is a process that everyone is engaged at every moment of every day (even when we sleep). It is just the way we human animals live our lives; within a story-based matrix.

These non-creative aspects of story structure fit within the framework of how we intuitively see, hear, think and remember things. The storyteller's creativity may just be the icing on the cake, albeit a most important element, defining the initial appeal, giving variety of perspectives and satisfying taste of the story told.

A basic principle of Storytelling, or any creative endeavor for that matter, is one of Simplification and Exaggeration. Subconsciously this process is also naturally how we filter perception of stimuli, cognitively process it and store in as memory. The Simplification/Exaggeration process is based on a Contrasting Trigger, likely an intuitive asset for efficiently streamlining and managing the wealth of stimuli we constantly are exposed to and, likely tied to some primitive defense mechanisms.

While in memory those selective ingredients continue to be processed in particular ways, assumingly both by general and individualized mixing influences, gravitating toward opposing spheres of thought. This innate process functions as one of Exaggeration and Simplification. One aspect of sorting is into Good or Evil, or other terms defining positive/negative connotations.

Also in the human animal's hard-wired programming is the need to both consciously and subconsciously try to balance the difference between what has been organized into things of a contrasting nature, like Good and Evil. It's part of our biological imprint to seek Equilibrium; similar to the flow of story structures. It is in the genes of the human animal, as well as in all animals and forces of nature, to attempt balance, reconciliation or equilibrium in all matters (relationships, weather, tectonic plates, religion, politics, herding, comets, etc.).

Yet, Life is very stingy in offering reconciliations. Reality often takes its sweet time in executing such. That is why Storytelling is so valuable. It satisfies a basic need/desire usually unfulfilled in most life events; to reach a consensus, a goal, a conclusion that may be long in coming, or never in life. Storytelling satisfies that need as well as it can. Even if it only seems to be a Virtual Equilibrium, such interactions of stories can have a real net effect. Storytelling is where we experiment with strategies that we might later incorporate into our reality. Or, as real as we are able to sense!

In visual storytelling, the physical designs of story characters (vehicles and enablers of the story), as visually depicted, take into consideration this human bias for graphic features that universally present Good or Evil characteristics- stereotype in other words; characters that Look and Act the part for clarity. In literature this description may be defined by words and progressions of deeds, as described by the author. But the reader will immediately begin to visualize' the physical appearance of each character based on their own memory and experiences.

Of course there are exceptions: I find it interesting that in traditional fairy tales the Evil Queen was often a real babe! (I think I know why!)

Traditionally, it is most valuable for the storyteller to distinguish clearly the roles of characters relative to their contrasting natures, physically as well as personality. An exception is when the author wishes to play with the audiences mind and misdirect our natural tendencies to stereotype characters. But in the end, usually all is resolved and good/bad natures are revealed-unless of course the author wishes to depict Evil as the Protagonist!

Now, this is where things might get a bit controversial: If storytelling relies somewhat on an integrated perception of good and evil, then folks (audiences) naturally have a bias toward certain characteristics in characters (i.e. facial designs (especially in the eye area); not just a learned bias.

Because it is difficult to tell a story without depicting one story player as Evil (unfairly perhaps) and in order to have balance (toward the ultimate story equilibrium) you need to present a contrasting player as Good (exaggerated perhaps). Stereotyping is an intergal part of storytelling genre.

A simple case study, if you are interested, is to plot characters in television commercials. The story structure will often be simple: INTRO: Someone (A) has a problem, CONFLICT: A Solution is presented by (B), perhaps initially rejected by (A). RESOLUTION: Problem has been solved-usually (A) has been transformed or convinced by (B).

In the simplest terms, (A) is Antagonist, (B) is Protagonist; Good or Bad as defined in the loosest terms. Try it. You might end up plotting a profile of culturally accepted stereotypes. It is an interesting exercise. Then you can ponder in your own terms the relationship between story appeal and hard-wired nuances. if it is in your interest.

To take this discussion a dangerous step beyond mere storytelling, some of these ideas might suggest why it is so difficult for human animals to resists being biased toward others. Education is a very powerful force in guiding a culture into acceptable norms but, is it always a conscious rationale; the first intuitive instinct might be toward a bias then, consciously countered by learned behavior.

The writer asks: When you walk in a crowd and scan folks coming toward you at a distance, how do you process and catelogue each; dismiss some while others set off a trigger for more conscious scrutiny. Most just slide, but for some, a trigger is activated for either extreme: caution or pleasure. Stories rely on these kinds of innate and learned triggers. 

Who are the friends you choose to have? Why? If someone else chooses friends for you would that work? Why not?

Any ways, I was poking around this thing called a 'book' the other day and thought someone might find this topic stimulating- either for Good or Evil.

Enough Said!

* Now you know one reason why I don't write Romance!

** "The Visual Language" by P.D. Curasi (c) PD Curasi 2010