Mythos & Anecdote: Meaning and Truth in Film (and also in life)... well, the human condition, really

In today's video I want to talk about this idea of mythos and fact, or mythos and "anecdote." We might say that when those two things "touch" it generates powerful emotion in film (and in life).
I know that may seem a little obscure but trust me, it's worth exploring.
If you would like to join me on the journey through the seven basic plots, the lecture videos are linked below:
What is Rags to Riches? • What is the meaning of...
Introduction to the Seven Basic Plots: • On Writing - The Seven...
Rags to Riches (Lecture): • The Seven Basic Plots:...
Overcoming the Monster Part I: • On Writing- The Seven ...
Overcoming the Monster Part II: • On Writing -The Seven ...
Voyage and Return Part I: • On Writing - The Seven...
Voyage and Return Part II: • On Writing - The Seven...
Voyage and Return Part III: • On Writing - The Seven...
Voyage and Return Part IV: • On Writing - The Seven...
I was inspired by @youthnation1 and @PaulVanderKlay and @JonathanPageau in making these videos

[@sameash3153]

Profound lecture, and an excellent structure for delivering the points.

[@darioscomicschool1111]

Can't Wait to See this!

[@craigrutherford3279]

I think of Ordet by Dryer as another example of the powerful moment when Mythos breaks into the anecdotal.

[@sameash3153]

Regarding the true believer, the true skeptic, the skeptic that wants to believe, et al., I am meditating on a quote from theologian Walter Ong, "to believe in God is to look for a response from Him." In that scene where the skeptic scientist turned ghost hunter calls out "is anybody there?", she is looking for a response, she already believes, or wants to believe as you put it. One who thought it was nonsense wouldn't expect an answer. Expectations and anticipations are a central part of belief. You can't lie or fake an anticipation, you either are or are not looking for something. When you flinch, even though you can rationalize that you mistook something innocent for something else that could hurt you, the body in that moment *believes* it is in danger. There we have the "meaning" versus "anecdote" dichotomy, on a central nervous level.

[@justinsmorningcoffee]

Wow man, that is SO profound. Yes, “belief” (in this sense) maybe does involve looking/expecting. So in your example, the *meaning*is “danger” and the *anecdote* is “something moving quickly towards me in the corner of my eye.” When you flinch you are acting upon the anecdote-as-threat, or anecdote-which-means-threat (we might say). And so when you are more intently “expecting” (let’s say at one of those scare mazes they have at Knots Berry Farm), you are looking harder, expecting that scare and so when a noise happens, the reaction to it is even bigger. But even here we have this sense of - the anecdote can either be correct in it’s “pointing” or incorrect - that is to say, the noise that makes you jump is either denoting a threat or it’s not. This is the idea that somehow meaning and fact need to match up, and when they do, then THAT is truth. (In other words, match both from the bottom and the top) I think maybe the mistake of post enlightenment late modernism is to say that the anecdote is always “true” even (or perhaps especially) without the meaning component. But perhaps here we could say (with Herzog, I think) that the fact that is disconnected from meaning is not so much true, in any meaningful sense, but rather, irrelevant.

[@resistancepublishing]

In the middle of what Werner Herzog was saying, I got the idea that this video is saying is that there’s a difference between physical and spiritual that is at the heart of every story. Separate but the same. I could be wrong. Just my own opinion on this whole concept

[@justinsmorningcoffee]

🤔