I have loved fiction for as long as I have had the mind to
love anything, and as a child, they molded my morals and priorities. Telling
stories and hearing them or reading them is about communicating more than just
cognitive information. Stories imprint upon us emotionally, taking hold of
something in our minds and changing us in some small way forever.
Quantitative facts are analyzed. The realness of them is of
upmost importance, and that the realness be proven, a requirement for their
claim. Facts, data, and science are tangible, their truths made plain in the scrutinizing
light of reason, and we accept them because they insist we must. And those
things would exist whether we chose to see them or not.
A story, however, must be seen or heard in order to be
true, and the truth of fiction is often different from one person to the next. A
story begs a relationship with its audience to be what it is and belongs as
much to its audience as to its creator in the telling. And fiction, especially,
seeps easily into the memory-filled crevices of our minds, because it isn’t
real, after all. So, what could it hurt?
As an atheist, I know full well the power of fiction. Even
now, fiction holds sway over the actions of most people in the world,
compelling them to kindness and cruelty alike. Religious texts are stories. The
realness of them is debatable to some, but the realness of the story isn’t why
they are so compelling. They are compelling because aspects of the story and of
the characters in the story are entirely emotional in nature. Guilt, love,
contentment, security, fear, and joy all play crucial parts in these tales and
modern fiction is no different.
We know for certain that many stories aren’t real. We know
because these stories have authors, directors, or special effects coordinators
to dazzle us with lies. We pay money to be lied to, and I’m not even
referencing homeopathic medicine, religion, or any other pseudoscience. I’m
talking about things that everyone knows for sure are fiction and leave no room
for delusions of being real in any way. I’m talking about movies, books, video
games, live theatre, or any other form of fictional narrative art. To assert
that fiction isn’t important because it isn’t real is utterly ignorant. Once again setting aside “debatable fiction,” I was struck this
morning by how relevant modern fiction has become to the very real struggles of
so many people.
“Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part One” and the entire “Hunger
Games” series is based on the struggles of fictional oppressed people in a
fictional oppressive government. I’ve read the books and have yet to see any
but the first movie, but I’ve been following the hype and excitement of
audiences throughout their releases. And it isn’t just American audiences that
are devouring these stories. International audiences love them, too. Just how
well the movies are produced, directed, and casted is, of course, important.
But I think that the story is what really gets people. People being oppressed
by their government? Who could identify with that?
The first thing that comes to mind is what has been
happening in Ferguson, Mo. The deaths of many, many young black men at the
hands of police officers frightened into action by racism or motivated to malicious
violence by the same provoked an entire city into mobilized outrage. All it
took was for one more black man to fall victim to the swiftly dragging undertow
of systemic racism for this to happen. For years, this kind of racism went
largely unnoticed by unoppressed people. For years, the mistreatment of young
black men at the hands of armed police officers was either ignored or accepted
on the understanding that these men deserved their fate, that they must have
been up to no good, or why else would our just and fair police force be targeting
them with such impunity?
It has taken too long for the unoppressed to realize that
arming people with lethal weapons and the authority to use them against a
population, often without the means to defend itself in name or body, isn’t
justice. And so what began as a nonviolent but emotionally charged, protest has
escalated into a full blown “state of emergency” with even more armed authority
figures being called in to “keep the peace.” Likening this to the narrative
presented by the “Hunger Games” movies is not a stretch, but the narrative of
Ferguson, Mo. is still being written.
However, there are other protests happening in other places
of the world that have been directly inspired by the “Hunger Games” movies. In
Thailand, PM Prayuth Chan-ocha has declared indefinite martial law. The Thai
military took over the government on May 22 and has been forcibly quashing
protests of their actions to include arresting people giving the infamous three
fingered salute from The Hunger Games. Reading about this literally gave me
goosebumps. Theater chains in Thailand have cancelled showings of Mockingjay to
avoid trouble. Students arranging free showings of the Hunger Games movies have been
arrested, and Prayuth has said that anyone showing the salute was “endangering
their future.”
You can read more about the events in Thailand here: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-30140596
Protesters in Thailand are gathering strength and courage
from something someone made up. The director of Mockingjay, Francis Lawrence,
has addressed the issue by asserting, "My goal is not for kids to be out
there doing things that are getting them arrested." However, the story has
become larger than his directorial efforts. The audience has claimed the story,
and it is now as much theirs as anyone else’s. The creators of the story can do
nothing to stop this.
Our fiction, what we read, what we write, and what is
written, reflect the times in which we live. History may be written by those in
power, but our stories tell the truths behind what happened and why. I used to
feel guilty about reading more fiction than non-fiction. Admittedly, I do read
more news and non-fiction than I used to, but the stories are really what
nourishes me and keeps me going. Our stories motivate us, and the facts that
surround us give us some sense of direction and purpose.
Every person has at least one story inside of them. Some
people have many. But the continued progress of our culture and of humanity
relies on our ability to tell these stories and on those stories being heard.
The more I listen, the more I am able to understand just how important these
things are. Whether you read books, watch movies, or go to shows, know that you
are taking part in a great cultural phenomenon that has been a tradition for as
long as humanity has thrived. In as much as I’m addressing you, I am also
reminding myself to never stop valuing the tale or the telling, or to feel idle
in doing either.
No comments:
Post a Comment