Workshop: Discover
Words That Sing
“Natural worlds like
the island, mountains, forest and ocean have an inherent symbolic power. But
you can attach additional symbols to them to heighten or change the meaning
audiences normally associate with them.” John Truby
Just as we have a variety of traits for our character to
keep them from being one-dimensional, so we also need to build a web of
symbols, says John Truby, “in which each
symbol helps define the others.” The symbols can be attached to the story
overall, the world setting, actions, theme, and characters to name a few. For
example, the story symbol unifies the story theme under one image. So it helps
to identify a central story image, or the single line that then connects all
the main symbols to its premise, according to Truby.
“The Odyssey: The
central story symbol in the Odyssey is in the title itself. This is the long
journey that must be endured.”
Network: The network
is literally a television broadcasting company and symbolically a web that
traps all who are entangled in it. ”
Once we identify the symbol that best unifies our story
under one image, then we look for ways to repeat it by varying the details in
some way. Look for categories, Truby says. One example he gives is from A Streetcar named Desire.
“Stanley is referred to
as a pig, a bull, an ape, a hound and a wolf to underscore his essentially
greedy, brutal and masculine nature. Blanche is connected to a moth and a bird,
fragile and frightened.”
The variations may also be disparate actions but at the
heart all contain a common thread. For example, the movie Green Dragon has an abundance of metaphoric symbols that on the
surface are not at first recognized as connected. However the common ground is
creativity built into everyday activities.
The staff sergeant takes photographs throughout the camp
setting to keep a record of the historical circumstances and of the people who
have been impacted. But it is through the photos that he himself comes to term
with his own secrets and need for healing. A young refugee woman sews, and an
elderly general plants a seed. An
orphaned refugee boy and an American volunteer cook paint a mural and find hope
in death. Each one finds a place of healing in creative actions.
The movie Avatar
is an excellent study for the aspect of symbol connections within nature.
Within each of the natural settings is a combination of breathtaking beauty and
nail biting danger. Plus overlaying this exquisite world is a poisonous
atmosphere, at least for humans.
Another is the lovable WALL*E where instead of humanity
bringing rescue to a struggling world, they themselves are the ones in need of
rescue. Both these movies use familiar images that then turn viewer
expectations upside down and engage the audience into new perspectives.
Action Steps:
1. Choose a central story image
that undergirds your story theme.
2. Now write up a verbal word or a
visual image or music tone that could be a silent backdrop to the world
setting, specific actions, central theme, for both your main character and
another key character, whether they have a positive or negative purpose.
Share: What has become your main premise that links all your
puzzle pieces?
Read deep, marcy
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