CHAPTER TWO : ACADEMIC INTEL
JOSHUA How would you define the term storytelling ?
AMNON “ Storytelling ” is really 2 terms . If you really want to focus on it as a single compound word like that ( which of course it is ), I can tell you that oral storytellers really don ’ t like that people working in written or electronic media call themselves storytellers , because “ telling ” in the true sense is something that only happens in a live space . Films etc are only “ storytelling ” in a metaphorical sense ( I think metaphors are very real , so I am on the fence on this one .)
JOSHUA How has your definition of storytelling changed throughout your life ? Did anything specific impact or initiated any of these changes ?
AMNON I didn ’ t really get interested in Story per se until I got out of film school and decided too few people understood my films , and that if I really learned how to tell a story my work might be more accessible . But then I fell in love with the craft of screenwriting , realized it was all about Story — and it just deepened from there , a 30 + year journey .
JOSHUA In your lifetime , have you seen the process and delivery of storytelling evolve ? Do you feel these changes threaten the longevity of storytelling ?
AMNON Well of course it ’ s evolved enormously . Last night I watched the just-restored One-Eyed Jacks , Marlon Brando ’ s one directorial credit . Brando was clearly a visionary ( he also spent $ 6 million on a supposed $ 1.5 million budget in his quest to achieve his vision ) and you can see in it the meeting of old Hollywood craft at its peak ( a la 1950 ’ s ), and intense psychological realism that really only fully came in in the 70 ’ s , In fact the film was simply not understood at the time ( 1960 ) as a result , but now everyone is ( rightly ) freaking out that it ’ s a masterpiece . In my opinion , one of the 3 best westerns of the 60 ’ s — the other two are by Sam Peckinpah ( Ride the High Country and The Wild Bunch ) who I realized when I saw it learned alot from Brando ’ s film . That ’ s a fairly microcosmic answer to your big question . ultimately redemptive power of revenge / violence , which is one of the most common underlying themes in the stories we ’ ve told for the last while ( and especially in certain film and novel genres ). Yet this is the kind of thing that changes as the human experience evolves , you could say as we come to understand through stories the things we are doing . Interview person who is brilliant in this territory is Jordan Peterson who looks at it in terms of belief . As what human ’ s beliefs change , stories will change . Oral storytelling will never be lost and I think will have more of a resurgence in the future ( it was pretty much lost in the west for a generation or two but began a slow resurgence in the 1970 ’ s ).
I also think the split we ’ ve had for the last 500 years or so ( it took a few hundred years to come but really got going in the early modern era ) between stories as things we live (“ real ”) and stories as things that people invent (“ made up ”) is now starting to heal itself and BioS is motivated by my sense that this has the potential to be a powerfully positive , transformative factor in the culture , in our lives , in the word . But we need to get more conscious about our relationship to stories for this to take a truly positive evolutionary direction . This relates phenomena such as social media though there it often has a negative manifestation ; in reality TV it is downright toxic . But that is basically an anti-story version of this real , deep-time evolutionary thrust .
You can explore Amnon Buchbinder ’ s online interactive documentary by visiting www . biologyofstory . com
JOSHUA What elements of storytelling do you believe will remain consistent throughout time ?
AMNON If it ’ s Story it will always be “ the revelation of a meaningful pattern in life that is beyond our control ,” But platforms in which stories are told will come and go . Themes , even at the most mythic level , will also slowly evolve . For example referring once again to One Eyed Jacks , while not it ’ s main dramatic theme , the narrative is premised on the
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