"It's ABOUT Facebook. But it's not about Facebook. Know what I'm saying?"That quote is about The Social Network, and is from a video by Jack Howard (YouTuber, filmmaker, one half of comedy duo Jack & Dean) called My Favourite Films. I really recommend this video, by the way: there are lots of good recommendations, an infectious amount of enthusiasm for films and some interesting discussion of the different reasons we have for picking favourite films and stories. But the idea here is one that particularly struck me when I first watched it (and actually was the thing that got me to watch The Social Network for the first time) and is one that is still in my brain whenever I watch a film or watch/read/consume any kind of story. That idea is that films are really about more than what they seem to be about.
For example, Howard also says in this video "ultimately, [Jurassic Park is] about a man who's learning he's ready to become a father." On the surface level, Jurassic Park is about an island theme park where a bunch of dinosaurs escape and pose a threat to the people there. But when you look beyond that, the story is really about something much more meaningful, and that's what makes it worth telling and listening to. In his work on dreams, Freud talked about 'latent content' and 'manifest content'. Manifest content is the obvious, what-it-says-on-the-tin content- in the case of Jurassic Park, Grant having to protect the kids from the dinosaurs. But the latent content is what goes beyond that, what the meaning behind it it- which here, as Jack Howard says, is Grant learning he's ready to be a father. The manifest content is the basic factual stuff, the latent content is up for interpretation. What's The Social Network really about? Friendship. Rivalry. Betrayal. What's Beauty and the Beast really about? Embracing difference. Seeing beyond appearances and first impressions. Thinking for yourself. What's the musical Hamilton really about? Doing the best you can with life to not just take opportunities but to make them for yourself- to "not throw away your shot." Side themes of love, rivalry, parenthood, fighting for the rights of yourself and others. The 'what it's really about' could also be rephrased as the 'why it matters', or just the themes of the story, or what I like to think of as the emotional core. It's the thing that makes the story worth telling- that makes it human, emotional, relatable (not that films always have to be those of course; they can make you think rather than feel). Most of all, it's what makes a story memorable. Something can be eloquently told or completely hilarious, but if there's nothing human, real or meaningful at its core then there's nothing to make it matter.
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"After nourishment, shelter, and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world."- Philip Pullman Archives
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