Once Upon A Time, there was a family who laughed and cried every time they got together. They recalled the good times and the bad by physically acting out hilarious situations of the past. They playfully picked on their children as they described (in detail) events of distant childhood that made the rest of the family smirk and chuckle with amusement while the kids in the spotlight jokingly rolled their eyes. They verbally remembered touching moments, and laughed when someone broke the sentimentality with a shocking yet uproarious remark. This family belong to none other than yours truly. Stories were the backbone of family gatherings, and many of my memories revolve around the fam circled around, sharing tales of their daily occurrences, trying to "one up" one another in the quality of our storytelling. This fascination of stories sparked my immediate interest in the title of the TED talk, The Clues to a Great Story.
The speaker in this TED talk, Andrew Stanton, started off his whole discussion with a humorous story about an Irish man telling how people identified him by his one wrongdoing (f**king a goat). This immediately shocked people, but drew them into what he might say next. He used this shock-and-awe technique to prove how he thought a good story should should be like. He said that stories should give the audience a promise that it will be worth their time. Whether it be a hook beginning, or simply a "Once Upon A Time…" A story is constantly changing and evolving. Change is fundamental within a story because it reflects life, which is never static. However, Stanton says that a story should always have a theme. The theme of a truly epic story is to invoke wonder upon the viewer. This is one of the greatest gifts that a storyteller can give.
A story should have one common goal. That goal could be to tell a joke, to provide meaning in our everyday lives, to confirm our understanding of human nature, or even to bridge connections between people who are uncommon. We can learn to love others by hearing their stories. We can discover what makes people "tick" by determining what values and experiences they express through their characters.
Stanton says that a story should construct anticipation and uncertainty, making the audience work to guess the information (without letting on that you are making them work for it). It gives the audience something to look forward to, and makes them feel more involved. Going along with this, although not mentioned in this TED talk, the viewer of a movies is often given the lens of the main character as opposed to an omniscient view, so that he/she can experience the story alongside the character.
Stanton gets his ideas across with the use of ethos, logos, and pathos. Firstly, he utilizes ethos with the fact that he is one of the writers of the great Disney movie Nemo. I was immediately drawn into what he had to say because I adore this movie ("HE TOUCHED THE BUTT!"). Secondly, he uses logos by providing the evidences that I have afore mentioned, as well as showed movie clips that embody his evidences including some snippets of Nemo and Wall-E. Lastly, he uses pathos by telling his story of how he was a premature child and how he used his experiences through the character of Nemo. This helped the audience connect with him.
One quote by an author Neil Gaiman truly sums up what is being said in this talk. It is just this: "The one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live as only you can."
A story is unique to the storyteller.
What will your story be? Where will it begin and where will it end?
I love this blog post and connection to Finding Nemo, one of my favorite movies! You did a really nice job analyzing what the speaker said in his TED talk, it was really easy for me to understand. Through your analyzation of the text and the inclusion of the final quote by Gaiman I was challenged to think how I told my personal story. In addition, you grabbed me from the beginning with the way you introduced the TED talk by connecting it to your family! Do you think we use more logos, pathos, or ethos when we tell a story? Or does it depend on the story we are telling? Awesome job with this blog post!!
ReplyDeleteThis was a really cool post, Marin! It was awesome how you took what he said and analyzed the implications of his message. Usually these talks deal with the speaker’s story, but this is interesting because the speaker explores the power of the story and how everyone can evoke it. His credibility comes from the fact that he is a professional storyteller, but I like how you brought up that he uses pathos, stories from his own childhood, to capture his audience. The best stories are the ones to which people can relate.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your analysis! It was interesting and still successful at getting your point across. I also really liked how you started your blog with the story of why you chose the TED Talk rather than summarizing it right away. This made it a lot more interesting to read. The main points you identified from his talk are not only well analyzed but also really good advice. How do you think ethos, logos, and pathos play in to the elements of good story-telling that you mentioned in the beginning? For example, do you think his technique of shock and awe is more related to logos or pathos?
ReplyDeleteLOVED reading this- thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI really loved reading your post, Marin! By opening with the story (your story) in the beginning, I was immediately hooked. I never realized how much thought can go into creating an interesting story. I liked the way you summarized Andrew Stanton's points while incorporating some of your own points! I thought the connection you made to movies and how we, as viewers, feel as if we are experiencing the story alongside the characters, was really clever. It makes me wonder if movies that may try out another point of view are just as successful as ones that stick with the third-person perspective. I can't think of any movies off the top of my head that use a different point of view (such as first-person) throughout the entire film... weird! But great post!
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