Hero Homework #12

Movie Magic

Film and television are extremely powerful communication mediums, extremely powerful persuasion mediums. The viewing experience can have a profound affect on the viewer, sub-consciously as well as consciously. It can shape your beliefs, attitudes, assumptions, expectations, and values. 

And without you even knowing it.

But once you know how the trick works, you can never be fooled by it again – unless, of course, you want to be.

I’m going to recommend three films to you. Two of them are classics. The other, well, isn’t.

I want you to watch these three films, and I want you to be a good audience. That means, with the two classics, both of which were shot in black and white, I want you to let yourself watch them as if you were seeing them at the time they were made. I know you’re much more cinematically sophisticated than those earlier audiences, what with computer-generation now, and so on.  But some pretty fine music can be played on a very old guitar. So focus on the music, not the guitar. Let yourself be the audience of that time and that place.

The other thing it takes to be a good audience, is to willingly “suspend disbelief” and let the movie take you on the ride it’s trying to take you on. Experience the feelings the movie elicits. Don’t fight it or force it.

What we want to discover from this experience is what you feel during the film. There are no right or wrong feelings. You feel what you feel. Then, afterward, you can go back and examine HOW the film-maker elicited those feelings from you. The idea is to identify the “tricks of the trade” so you won't be quite so easy to trick.

Years back, I attended a workshop with Michael Hauge (Writing Screenplays that Sell) and, among the many things I learned over that week-end, I remember two in particular.

1.     The screenwriter’s job is to elicit an emotional response in the viewer.

2.     The audience must identify with your “hero” within the first 10 minutes of the film. Within the first 5 minutes would be better. The first minute, would be excellent.

To identify with the hero means that you will experience emotion through that character. There are specific ways in which the writer/film-maker gets you to immediately identify with the hero:

1.     Sympathy - Create sympathy for the hero by showing that he/she is the victim of undeserved misfortune

2.     Jeopardy – show that the hero is in danger of losing something of great value to him/her

3.     Likability –

a.     Show that he hero is kind or good natured

b.     Show that the hero is well-liked by other characters

c.      Show that the hero is funny

  

Then you can give your hero qualities for strengthening that empathy and identification. Such as:

·      A high level of skill in something

·      Living or working in a familiar setting

·      Having familiar flaws and foibles

·      Being in touch with his/her own power

·      Power over other people

·      The Power to do what needs to be done, without hesitation

·      The Power to express feelings regardless of others’ opinions

·      Superpowers

·      Serving as the eyes of the audience

The three films I want you to watch are:

·      Birth of a Nation, Dir. DW Griffith, 1915 - 190 min

·      Triumph of the Will,  Dir. Leni Riefenstahl, 1935  - 110 min

·      The Blood of Heroes, Dir. David Peoples/Guy Norris, 1990  - 102 min

After you feel whatever you find yourself feeling during each of these film, go back to my list of tricks and see if you can find when and how the film-maker started to manipulate your emotions.

Don’t feel bad about it. Your emotions are hard-wired in. They come "naturally," without any effort on your part. It’s thinking  --- critical thinking, that is -- that's  an acquired taste, and has to be learned, requiring both time and effort.  

By becoming aware of your feelings and how those feelings are elicited, you will, to some degree, inoculate yourself against being manipulated. 

You may never be "trick-proof."

But at least you won't be such an easy mark.

 aac

Hero Homework #11

Counterfeiters

Counterfeit money looks like real money --- as long as you don’t look too close.

Similarly, a counterfeit argument seems like a real argument until you analyze it more closely.  A counterfeit argument is called a “fallacy.” A fallacy uses poor or invalid reasoning.

Two of the most common fallacies are the appeal to authority, and the appeal to popularity. In the former, one argues that an assertion is true because of the position or authority of the person asserting it.  In the latter, one argues that an assertion is true because many people believe it to be so.

Example:

Appeal to Authority

"It's true because my fencing master said so."   

You may substitute for "fencing master" any authority figure: Teacher, President, Priest, Police Officer, Judge etc. This argument assumes that the vaunted authority is a competent authority about this particular issue, that the authority figure never lies, and never makes a mistake.

Appeal to Popularity

"9 out of 10 beer drinkers prefer X Brand of Beer."

I like to call this one the "69 million Germans can't be wrong" fallacy. That was the population of Germany in 1939. I assume you know what they were wrong about.

The appeal to authority has a flip side that's also very common: the ad hominem argument in which one argues that an assertion is false because there is some "flaw" in the person asserting. In the ad hominem attack, one entirely avoids discussion of the issues in question, but attacks the character of the opposition instead. Name-calling, the standard Facebook  is the simplest example.

Example:

A offers irrefutable evidence that the the earth is not flat, but round.

B responds by calling A  a heretic, an idiot, a "conspiracy theorist," a communist,  a "liberal," a "nazi" or a homosexual.  

Whether or not any of these things is true about A, it does nothing to refute A's assertion about the shape of the earth.

Sometimes, the appeal to authority and the appeal to popularity combine to form what I call  the “settled science” fallacy in which one argues that an assertion is true because many authorities believe it to be true.

Below are a few examples:

Your hero homework: Listen. 

Listen to the news. Listen to people having discussions about various topics.  Can you identify these fallacies when you hear them?

Do you ever catch yourself making these counterfeit arguments?

If so, STOP DOING IT.

aac

For more on fallacies go here.

Hero Homework #10

Paratus Pro Quisquam

The thing that keeps most people from taking action when it’s time to take action is that they have no expectation of success.  Without that expectation of success, they have only fears of failure, injury and embarrassment.

A hero, at the moment of action, has an expectation of success, can imagine it, visualize it.             I think you can cultivate that, cultivate a can-do state of mind. Most people find excuses for failure. A hero finds reasons to succeed.

Nothing breeds success like success. That is, success brings an expectation of success.  Good boxing trainers know this well. The bring a novice fighter along slowly matching him (or her!) against less challenging opponents first to build up the fighter’s confidence, the fighter’s “expectation of success.” Only then does the trainer progressively include more challenging opponents.

When Muhammad Ali declared “I am the greatest!” he wasn’t saying that for the public, or for his opponents. He was planting that belief  and reaffirming it in his own mind. In addition to being the GOAT, Ali was a natural sport psychologist.

How does one develop a can-do attitude, or what I sometimes call a “superior will?”

That’s easy. Establish a history of success.

Here’s how:

Start with something easy.  Do 50 push-ups. J    Start with one on day one. On day two, do 2. On day 3 do three, and so on for 50 days.

Or  meditate for 5 minutes every day for 21 days.

Or fast for 24 hours.

Or…well, it doesn’t really matter what it is you choose. The point is, you SAY you’re going to DO something, and you DO IT.  No matter what. No exceptions, no excuses.  The most important thing you have is your word, and you should always keep your word – especially to yourself.

Then try something you’ve never done before. Learn another language. Learn to play a musical instrument. Write a sonnet. Bake a cake. Build a coffee table. Fix an engine. Learn a magic trick.

The more things you do, the more you will realize that there’s really nothing you can’t do, if you set your mind to it. You begin to expect success.

Your next hero workout:

Make a promise to yourself and keep it. DO what you SAY you’re going to do. Challenge yourself, and meet that challenge. Then do it again with another challenge, a little harder one. Create for yourself an expectation of success. 

Do it. We need every hero we can get.

-aac

IMPOSSIBLE IS JUST AN OPINION.

– Muhammad Ali

The Superior Will

Don't look for excuses to fail.

Look for reasons to succeed.

aac

The Musician's Martial Art

The Musicians’ Martial Art

                                     

Above is a portrait of Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint- George, sometimes called, “The Black Mozart.”  It is interesting to note that, while he was a brilliant composer and celebrated violinist, this portrait depicts him holding, not a bow, but a fencing foil.  You see, Saint-George was not only one of the finest musicians of his era, he was also the most formidable swordsman of his day.  Some would see those accomplishments in arts and arms as contrasting.

We view them as complimentary.

Those qualities that contribute to superior musicianship – sensitivity, passion, concentration, and a patient, persistant attitude – are also traits of the superior swordsman.

As a teacher of “Classical Fencing,” I have for many years observed that my best students have nearly always been those who were excellent musicians -- and those students have reported that the practice of fencing enhanced their musical abilities.  As a musician, myself, I had found it so, yet I was still a little surprised to learn that it was true for others, and not only for me.

If you're a musician who has studied classical fencing, I’d like to hear about your experience.

Drop me a note.

Maybe even 8 bars.

aac

Love Potion #9

Has this ever happened to you…?

You’re driving along a very familiar road, maybe  a route you typically take to work or school, but your destination this time is someplace else. Without thinking you take a wrong turn, taking you toward your usual destination rather than your actual destination.

I’ve done it.

That’s  the power  --- and the danger of auto-pilot.

Auto-pilot can be a valuable, even life-saving thing. But, as my students have heard me say many times, any “strength,” taken to an extreme, becomes a weakness.

Howdy, Padnah. Welcome to paradox country.

The beauty of auto-pilot is that you can perform physically even when your mind and/or emotions are pre-occupied.

The danger of auto-pilot is that it may negatively influence your situational awareness -- you may miss subtle cues in the environment that tell you this situation is different from the “routine” situation for which auto-pilot is both adequate and appropriate.

You have to know when and how to switch auto-pilot off.

This week's workout is to encourage you to turn off your autopilot and observe your surroundings in a thoughtful way. 

Use ALL of your senses.   

What do you see in your surroundings? 

What do you hear, both near and far away?   

What do you feel? 

What scents are there?   Scent is closely related to taste – you may literally find a “flavor” to your environment. 

You may notice the smell of a restaurant you didn't know was there, music you’ve never heard before, the view from the bridge you drive over, or the anguish of someone in need.

Reinforce what you learned by sharing your insights with a friend. By being mindful of your environment, you are practicing an important trait of the everyday hero.

Your new Hero Workout:

On the way to and from work or school, use all five senses to take in information about your surroundings.

Share what you notice with a friend.

-- aac

 

Hero Homework #8

 Asking for Help

I’ll tell you right up front, this is a hard one for me. Bad history. 

As a rule, I’d rather bleed to death than ask for a band-aid. I’m greatly disinclined to give an enemy the satisfaction of hearing me beg for mercy. Doesn’t matter whether that enemy is a particular individual, or just a situation. That’s a chink in my armor, and I know it.  I’m working on it.

Asking for help may sound simple. But it’s not an innate ability at which all people excel. Asking for help is a skill that can be developed through practice. Everyone differs in the situations in which they feel comfortable asking for help.

This exercise encourages you to step outside of your comfort zone – almost always a good thing, in itself -- and ask for help in situations where you would normally avoid doing so. 

In two experiments, social psychologist Tom Moriarity (1) demonstrated the importance of asking for help in order for observers to feel personally responsible for your well-being. In the first experiment, New Yorkers watched as a thief snatched a woman's suitcase in a restaurant, when she left her table. 

In the second, they watched a thief grab a portable radio from a beach blanket, when the owner left it for a few minutes. In each experiment, the would-be victim (the experimenter's accomplice) had first asked the soon-to-be observer of the crime either "Do you have the time?" or "will you please keep an eye on my bag/radio while I'm gone?" 

Asking for the time elicited no personal responsibility and almost all of the bystanders stood idly by as the thief took off. However, of the people who had agreed to watch the victim's property, almost every bystander intervened. They called for help, and some even tackled the runaway thief on the beach!

The encouraging message is that we can often convert apathy to action and transform callousness to kindness just by asking for it. The mere act of requesting a favor forges a special human bond that involves other people in ways that materially change the situation. It makes them feel responsible to you and thereby responsible for what happens in your shared social world.

 -aac

adapted from the Heroic Imagination Project

(1) Moriarity, T. (19975) Crime, commitment, and the responsive bystander: Two field experiments.  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31, 370-376