Being a good storyteller means developing the ability to tell really original, new, compelling stories. This often means getting out of old cultural ruts. For example a game or movie with kings and serfs (on earth or star systems), or bosses and plebians may help us understand power dynamics in our world, but it may not help us build better alternatives. A team based game that challenges power hierarchies may help us imagine that. And a team based story with a regenerative rather than extractive relationship to its environment might take us further.
- List a few games or movies that actually try to question our cultural memes and offer new ones & say briefly how they do this.
- Next, review the image below which shows a possible transition from an old story of material culture to a new story of planetary culture.
- Then make a chart of your own with two lists: 1)your own list of memes from your own experience or knowledge that you find limiting, destructive, or unhealthy. 2) create a list in a new parallel column of some possible alternative memes that could lead to healthier, generative outcomes. Your list can be more specific than the larger concepts below. This list can be very useful in creating original stories based on your values.
For example
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- expensive education & student loans—> free or low cost education
- hard to find a job—> education leads to job addressing community needs (ie in return for low cost education)
