8.4: A Legend in His Own Mind

"The Sixth Day of Creation" (1926) by M.C. Escher

According to Gottschall, "...we are great masterworks of our own storytelling minds--figments of our own imagination. We think of ourselves as very stable and real. But our memories constrain our self-creation less than we think, and they are constantly being distorted by our hopes and dreams" (175).

Try this experiment:
Write two separate, free-standing biographies about yourself in the past tense, third person. Use no more than 150 words in each biography.

Make both biographies true, but let one biography be a story of great successes; let the other be a story of repeated failures. Share one or both in the comment box below.  Then, if you wish, comment on the experience of writing the two posts in a separate comment.

9.1: Reality TV?

According to Gottscahll "Together with teams of editors, reality show writers (yes, writers) take raw footage and twist it into classic story lines. Extreme Makover, Queer Eye, The Osbournes, The Real Housewives of New Jersey, Whale Wars, Jon and Kate Plus 8--these and scores of other reality shows have hewn closely to the universal grammar of storytelling"  (183).

So its true confession time:  what reality shows have captivated your interest?  On a scale from 1 (pure documentary) to 10 (transparently scripted), how would you rate the "reality quotient" of your favorite reality TV show?

9.2: Gamer?

Gottschall writes: "Pick up a copy of PC Gamer magazine, and you will find that--with the exception of sports simulators--most video games are organized around the familiar grammar of problem structure and poetic justice. Marketed mainly to testosterone-drunk young males, the games are usually narratives of lurid by heroic violence."  (182)

Are you a gamer? MMOPRG? WoW? What kind of video games have you played and enjoyed? Can you confirm Gottschall's claim that most video games are "organized around the familiar grammar of problem structure and poetic justice"? In your experience, what kind of person is drawn to video games? What assumptions do people make about gamers? Which of these assumptions are accurate and which are not?

Below: Pong, one of the first video arcade games, released in 1972. The Director of the Honors Program may remember getting the home version Pong for Christmas one year. It may have been considered riveting.

9.3: Exodus to a Virtual Future

"The People of Israel Leaving Egypt" (1956) by Marc Chagall.

Gottschall reports that "In his book Exodus to the Virtual World, economist Edward Castronova argues that we have begun the greatest mass migration in the history of humanity. People are moving en masse from the real to the virtual world. Bodies will always be marooned here on earth, but human attention is gradually 'draining' into the virtual world'" (195).

Can you see signs of this exodus in your own life? Have you ever developed a friendship with someone online? Have you observed cases in which you or people you know have paid more attention to the virtual world than to the world in front of you? Do you think the threat of this exodus is overrated?

Here's a nine-minute video in which Edward Castronova comments on the value of game play.

The Storytelling Animal's Sandbox

Have a question or comment about The Storytelling Animal that had not been addressed elsewhere on this website?  Bring it to the comment box below.

The Storytelling Animal Takeaway

So you've read The Storytelling Animal now. In 100 words or less, identify the part of the book the is most likely to stick with you the longest.

What's your take away?

Don't answer this question until you've finished reading the entire book.

Welcome aboard, Honors Entering Class of 2014!

"On board of a sailing ship" by Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840)

So you're officially a college student.  And not just that, you joining the ECU Honors Program. Congratulations and welcome aboard!  You've officially arrived.  It's a brave new world.   But fear not: signs of your success are already apparent.  If you're reading this, then you made it to ECU's Honors Enduring Questions website.  That's step #1.  And better yet (step #2), you already have the book for the summer reading (You do, right?  If not, stop reading this right now, yes now, go get your book--Jonathan Gottschall's The Storytelling Animal--and then start reading this again.  Seriously.).  After taking a peek at the questions on this website (click here;  yes there ARE a lot.  Don't panic!), you may be thinking to yourself (that's called reflection, and good, too, by the way)--"What exactly am I supposed to do here?"  These questions  have a simple purpose.  They are designed to help you engage with the text (and the rest of us).  And since we certainly don't want you to feel uncertain or to approach the questions "willy-nilly" (a fun way to say without structure or system), click here to see the rules.  See you on the next post!