So anyway, today I went back to my story class and had a conversation with Brian McDonald and felt some motivation to learn things again. For those who don't know, Brian McDonald is a man who speaks of stories as if they're his first language. He understands stories at the most fundamental levels. He has a lot of wisdom to share, and I'm very lucky to be able to learn from him. So after class I decided to sit down and read the second of his books that I'd recently bought, called The Golden Theme. This is an informative book and not a screenplay, but it had enough effect on me that I want to include it in this blog.
The Golden Theme
Brian McDonald, 2010This entire book is an argument for the basic underlying purpose of storytelling. I'm not going to explain everything here because it would take an entire book to do so, but essentially he gives a lot of examples and evidence to prove his hypothesis that every single story is trying to tell us the idea that "we are all the same."
Stop reading. Soak that in for a moment. We are all the same.
Why do we listen to stories? Why do we read them? Why do we watch them? To learn from them. We get important information from stories that we can apply in our own lives. We understand through stories that there are others like us, and others that we can learn from. We understand that we are not alone.
The job of a storyteller is not to be stylish or clever or draw attention to himself. The job of a storyteller is to relay the truth. And the truth is that, despite cosmetic or menial differences, human beings are all human beings. We all experience life. We all cry, we all worry, we all laugh and sing and love. We all die. The job of a storyteller is to tell how we are all the same.
When I finished this book, I cried.
Brian McDonald is not just talking about stories. That is the primary purpose of the book, yes--how to make stories appeal to people. But he's also talking about life and how to enjoy it. We all live, and we all die, and we are all the same. Respecting and loving other people--having empathy--is understanding the golden theme. Being ruled by selfishness and having prejudice is going against it. Those people who lack understanding of the golden theme are portrayed as villains in stories, and those who understand it are considered heroes. This is true of stories because it is true of life. Stories come from life.
I have been trying to understand these ideas of equality for many years now. I get a lot of value out of being part of the world. I've always felt most happy and at peace when I feel like I'm part of something greater than myself. For instance, being a student at a big university. I love it because I share something in common with a massive group of people. I love people. Really, I do. And I've been struggling with the ideas of being good to people and loving them even if they do not return it, because that is what gives life value.
This book has helped me understand that my philosophy of life is not unique. It's not something I've come up with on my own, and it isn't strange or unusual. And you know what? That comforts me. I like knowing that the way I look at the world is shared by other people. I like knowing that others are the same as me. And isn't that the whole idea of the golden theme? That we are all the same?
Perhaps I'm getting a little too philosophical here. What I'm trying to say is that this book validated my views of life and made me understand what it is to be a good person. Yes, it also taught me the universal truth behind storytelling. But to me that is secondary.
Everyone needs to read this book and learn what Brian McDonald has learned. What I have learned.
