The Global Influence of American Cinema:
An Argument for More Effective Storytelling
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The film industry around the world is influenced by one country more than any other place because the birth of cinema is the United States of America. Hollywood is the capital of the film industry as an undisputed fact. And America of course places its spin on things, as an Enneagram 3 country it is obsessed with image and achievement.
Another fact that is interesting is that the film industry is perhaps more inconsistent and therefore remains more undiscovered than any other industry. Airplanes, for example, are quite reliable. They have a necessarily strict track record because there are lives on the line. The more that is at stake, the more all industries take their precautions seriously.
The film industry is the modern equivalent of the stories around the campfire industry, which of course has been around since the dawn of humanity. Storytelling is unique to the human species. This is a massive evolutionary benefit because we can convey experiences in more than just one note. While animals can convey the resulting energy of their experiences (in their excited behaviors) there is a nuance that only exists within storytelling which only humans take advantage of.
This is our superpower, and yet in storytelling school, we are kindergarteners because the real purpose of storytelling is only rarely used. And it’s rare that an effectively life-changing movie ever comes out. If the airplane industry had those stats, it would be unacceptable. This suggests that the answer might be in making the film industry internationally recognized as having stakes as great or greater than life or death industries.
This industry should be taken as seriously as anything else we use for our evolution. The popularity of cinema should be evidence that we are literally worshipping stories because of course it’s not the story that is needed but it is the alchemy that happens inside of the audience which humans are actually longing for.
This alchemy happens within the realm of our feelings. This is the realm in which the deepest truths can be realized. When we recognize the vast difference between feelings and emotions it becomes more apparent that simply feeling strong emotions is not a useful goal to have in storytelling. If it doesn’t increase their level of self-awareness, it’s wasting their time.
The whole point of storytelling, including the light-hearted and comedic, is to make it so that people are genuinely more free and more wise than they were before they came in. Oftentimes, the price of freedom is at the cost of our comfort. Horror movies and the like take advantage of this and create traumas in the name of getting out of our comfort zones. It takes the ability to See what is actually going to benefit people to get this equation right.
When freedom is not the goal, what is the goal? And then that raises the question – “Why did I have any goal other than freedom?” And “Was that goal actually my own idea, or was that planted in me and forced upon me?” And, “D”id I actually give consent to adopt a secret predatorial fixation?” Usually, the answer is yes, storytellers gave their consent to being taken over by self-serving forces in the name of survival. At a very young age.
Becoming aware of our own inner predator trains us to stalk our inner parasite. Otherwise, the parasite uses the evasive maneuvers of the predator and we remain blind to our survival fixation. If a storyteller is satisfied just to “make people feel something” (namely an emotion) perhaps they can find their own parasitic vampirism in this approach? Perhaps they can attune to how they are being siphoned by a thought-form. Maybe they can see that they are defending an inner war and a worthless idea in order to keep their pride intact. It is far more inconvenient to acknowledge than just keeping the show going and carrying on with “how things are done”.
This self-denial is rampant, especially in the storytelling industry. The parasite specifically identifies fame as being a place of safety. The industry is so “exclusive” to participate in, and it has a lasting impact and a legacy on so many millions of people. This makes people feel important to work in the film industry. And so the film industry is a natural magnet for self-importance.
Self-importance is caused by self-pity and self-pity is creating massive distortions in the rationality of our entire society. We are actually worshipping rationality. Meanwhile, rationality is a completely fluctuating universe. It simply demonstrates the belief system of its user. If one person looks through blue glasses and they see a blue world and they say I see a blue world, they’re not wrong. And if another person looks through red glasses and sees a red world and says I live in a red world they’re also not wrong. So they have differences because they have different perspectives but the actual reality is so all-encompassing that it’s not anywhere close to either of these apparent two options.
So now we’re at a crossroads where we can either aim our storytelling to trigger emotions and trap people in their pre-existing biases, or we can aim to place people in touch with their true feelings. Our answer reveals what we are driven by. If we are driven by our emotions, we are covertly wanting to keep validating emotions.
This attachment is actually the cause of our suffering, it is not the emotions themselves.
By default, people experience their emotions through the prison of self-pity. Feeling our emotions can be useful and healing, but it’s not useful without proper guidance. This can be easy to misunderstand. Passivity keeps us trapped, while genuinely surrendering our attachments is an engaging and participatory activity. It is giving our identity over to the unimaginable – the unknowable. It is an energetic movement, not just an idea.
As storytellers, it is our responsibility to create the best possible product we can by completely extricating our own parasite from all stories we venture to tell. This is how we embody the impeccability of a true storyteller.
The world awaits American cinema’s greatest act.
