The Challenge: Be Entertaining without Lying about it

| January 10, 2013


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Could Grover Cleveland be the greatest US President we ever had ?
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The most boring and unmemorable Presidents of the United States were the best Presidents we ever had.

They should be the most remembered, but are not.

This is simply a symptom of how we are taught and perceive reality – in other words, how we are conditioned to believe the mirror image of reality.

Reality is the mirror image of actual reality.

It is “perceived reality” as opposed to “genuine reality” that is exercised and believed by the general public. Success and failure many times hinges upon perceptions.

Why do we remember certain Presidents ?

Public educators seem to dwell on and pound into young minds a select list of certain American Presidents while skating over or omitting completely the others.

What is the purpose of this “selective education” and “selective history” in public education ?

Could it be a purposeful selection to stealthily impose a certain aspect of personal opinion or could it be just a natural selection of
perception ?

It’s called “selective memory”.

Of course we tend to remember the good things of our past; that is quite normal. Just as Citizen Kane uttered the name of his favorite boyhood toy upon his death. “Rosebud”.

It is also quite normal that stories of our heroes become larger than life as time goes by. That is also quite normal.

However – there is a point where a story and personality goes from harmless heroic exaggeration to pure slanted propaganda.

Hollywood has always been the master of glamorizing our heroes.

Nothing wrong with glamorizing our heroes.

Gary Cooper as Sargent York is a wonderfully fantastic experience. When I first saw this movie as a teenager, it was almost a religious experience for me. I was extremely inspired by the story and character of the movie.

The real Alvin C. York may have not been a Gary Cooper – but Gary Cooper was no Alvin York either.

This is the magic of cinema:

Cinematic storytelling enhances an experience just as salt enhances flavor.

Too much “seasoning” destroys the purpose and is harmful.

It is also a tremendous responsibility for film makers to not betray the trust of the audience.

For quite some time we as an audience have been bombarded by documentaries that are not documentaries, “scripted reality” shows, fiction that is presented as fact and slanted propaganda presented as historical fact by way of the narrative feature. Even opinion and what might happen presented as news and fact. This is the problem.

Legendary stories such as the exploits of Pecos Bill are merely modern mythologies and are quite fun and entertaining. This does not make them wrong if they are held to what they are.

Popular fiction becomes popular because these stories are based on a lining of truth. Fictional characters are believable because they are based upon real human nature.

No one wants to watch a boring movie. No one wants to read a boring book.

The challenge of those who make media is to be entertaining without lying. Even in narrative fiction.

This is the proper responsibility to our audience. To simply be honest.

Category: Tony Rollo Blog

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