Tell me about your life

The video I choose regarding storytelling comes from The School of Life: 

How to narrate your life story – 5 minutes

   The story of a life depends on who’s telling it. We tend to be harsh narrators of our own lives. This is a universal activity as we are writing them in our minds every day, even if we aren’t publishing an autobiography. We create new stories that weave their way into who we are, where we are going, and why events happened. The darker side of the story tends to appear at night when our optimism has been drained from the day. We should still recognize as narrators that our lives can be meaningful, despite failures, unlike Macbeth who viewed life as nothing and just a tale told by an idiot. We shouldn’t degrade ourselves to that level because our failures help us grow, and shows us that we don’t know everything. This is because we are neither perfect nor the sole author of the story. There are many external factors and to some extent, with insight and compassion, we can make our story more meaningful and different out of the same material. We are able to realize we are doing okay despite all our struggling.

   The speaker’s purpose for this more philosophical outlook on narrating our life story is to recognize that because it’s our story and events that have happened, we as narrators have the ability to control how we tell the story. This includes how we’ve grown rather than the negativities that failure temporarily brought us. The speaker is a voice over and is given no introduction, but his tone of voice and accent (gotta love the British) is reassuring and trusting to the audience. This is accomplished by both his calm narrative tone and the presentation with cool colors of doodles, representing each of his points. One that was significant and highlighted throughout the video was a reference to the Shakespearean tragedy known as Macbeth. He quotes Macbeth from the end of the play: “[Man] struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more. [Life] is a tale told by an idiot, full of sounds and fury, Signifying nothing.” This was a clever way to dismiss the more negative viewpoint on life. It was done by showing how life can, with a better perspective, have much more meaning. It is essentially up to us because we are our own narrator. I believe pathos was a clear technique used in the video when more personable examples were used to create a more inclusive environment, referencing common life struggles which also tied to a great use of logos to provide further evidence. This included reference to not knowing what to do with our lives professionally and going through a succession of failed relationships that left us confused and hurt a lot of people. This was also used to attract the audience emotionally because we can all relate to similar situations. The speaker then swiftly brings out the optimistic outlook that all of that was ok and that reassures the audience: “We needed the career crisis to understand our working identities; we had to fail at love to fathom our hearts because no one gets anywhere important in one go. We can forgive ourselves the horrors of our first drafts” I think the whole video explores and provides a lot of helpful advice because we are all struggling narrators adding to our draft.

   I picked this video instead of a TedTalk because it made an impression on me when I watched it last month. When this assignment was made, I thought this would be the perfect time to share its important message. Regarding the point of telling our own stories, that we have a darker/deeper outlook during nighttime, I can say this is true for me. Whether I’m having a late-night conservation with a friend or not, I find myself in a darker (literally and metaphorically) world where my positive thoughts have left me from the day. What’s left is for me to contemplate the negativities, not only in my life but in the world, and the more philosophical side of various concepts. I’m able to think this way because I don’t let myself ponder those thoughts I have during the day. To a small extent, I repress them to be reemerged at night for deeper thinking. I think it is important to let yourself be alone and think, even though for me it causes unintended introspection and contributes to my sleep deprivation (sidenote/funfact: I did my EE topic on this ironic subject). I also made the connection to the gothic novella of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, after the reference to Macbeth: I think to some extent, storytellers, who have a great imagination, can develop some of their stories from something that makes them afraid. Fears are basically stories that branch out into imaginative scenarios that we tell ourselves and react to in a more frightened way. The novella of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is based on the fear that humans aren’t truly good and could have an undesirable evil side or voice. This applies to Macbeth when he finds that his life is ultimately meaningless after hearing the news of his wife’s death. This could be a reflection of how Shakespeare felt, as evidenced by the tragedies he faced throughout his life. I think life shouldn’t be viewed as meaningless because we can control how we tell it based on our emotions, reactions, and facts. The meaning of life can be whatever you want it to be!