If you’ve wondered why the battered reporter on the coast riding out the hurricane is such a weirdly compelling scene, here’s why ... 1/n
In a previous life, i was a PhD student in adult education. I studied adult learning & development. My research framework was narrative inquiry, studying adult learning through the prism of a story arc in the learner and the narrative artifacts people make and leave behind. 2/n
(I promise I’m getting somewhere with this) 3/n
Anyway, suffice it to say, i learned a lot about the structure, purpose, giving-and-receiving, and role of story. 4/n
One reductionist truism of story that is not true but actually kinda true in the way that reductionist truisms are is this: there have been only two stories ever told - 1. A person sets off into adventure, and 2. A stranger knocks on the door. 5/n
In the first type, the protagonist seeks change and runs toward to unknown. These are the adventurer story archetypes. 6/n
In the second type, the unknown is thrust upon the protagonist. The tension that drives the narrative comes in the form of the barbarian at the gates. 7/n
These are the two stories, the truism goes. You can mess with the details, scenes, names, places and so on, but these are the two stories. In the first, the known seeks the unknown. In the second, the unknown invades the known. 8/n
I should pause here and assert, even though it’s obvioys to us all, that story is the most profound vehicle for learning and inspiring that we’ve ever come up with. We are wired, after hundreds of generations, to learn through and from story. 9/n
Try this sometime: tell a group of people “have a story”. And watch what they do. Half of them (at least!) will literally physically ready or reposition themselves to better receive it. We all instinctively know what to do when we hear “once upon a time” 10/n
Anyway, the Battered Hurricane Reporter on the Coast combines the two major elements of the only two stories ever told. He/She is literally standing at the edge of the known, satisfying our instinctive desire for the adventurer to seek the unknown 11/n
At the same time, just over the horizon, a monster lurks. The unknown is about to invade the known. It’s EVEN MORE COMPELLING if it’s dark (admit it, you somehow know this to be true) 12/n
And that’s how the objectively silly scene of some hapless guy/gal being buffeted in a rain slicker hacks our generations off storytelling to keep our eyes on the scene. It combines Indiana Jones with the monster under your bed 13/n
Please be safe and be compassionate and be a person of action and care in the face of this terrible storm. /fin
