Stories That Mean Something
So for the last month or so, Mike and I have been watching the Firefly DVDs. Now that we’ve seen them and the movie, we can now join in on the “what a fantastic show, what idiot cancelled something that good???” outcry. I like good stories – stories that go deeper than mere entertainment, that take the time to explore the human condition. Stories that ask questions and in doing so run up against the mysteries of the universe.
Of course, most of these good stories fall into the SciFi/Fantasy realm. There is something about that genre that allows for the unknown to be explored and tested. And there is something about those of us who are drawn to those stories that allow for them to be lengthy tales. Part of the magic in something like Lost for example is the convoluted drawn-out path the story has taken. Having cut our teeth on epic tales like Lord of the Rings or three part stories like Star Wars, we want worlds we can enter and stay for awhile. That’s why I think Deep Space Nine is my favorite Star Trek series – we got to see a continuing story of a community unfold. So it was sad to get caught up in the Firefly story and have it cut short before it even really began.
But it made me wonder why so many of us within the emerging church are caught-up in these sorts of stories. During the spring it seemed like every person on my twitter page was watching Lost as the mystery unfolded and deepened. I wonder if in part it is our affinity for these ever-developing stories that brought us to the emerging conversation in the first place. Too many faith communities act as if the story is over – as if the story of our faith was merely a static event of the past that holds no mystery or wonder for us now. That sort of story isn’t engaging or alive and can only be entered into in the most perfunctory of ways. But those of us who had an inking that there is some sort of epic tale unfolding around us and who believe that God in all his mystery is still at work in the world wanted to join our friends at a campfire and tell better stories. And we find ourselves watching together the good stories like Lost, or Firefly, or Lord of the Rings, or The Matrix because in them we see glimmers of the stories we want to affirm we are a part of. Or as Sam says in Lord of the Rings, “Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why.”
So what stories hold the mystery for you? What are the good stories you watch or read that go deeper than just entertainment?
julieclawson(at)gmail(dot)com 
This reminds me of the backyard Bible club I took Emma to last night. They made gospel bracelets for the craft, and the person presenting what each colored bead meant actually forgot (or had no clue) what the green bead stood for. For her (and for many “evangelistically” focused church traditions) the only important part is the “Jesus died on the cross for your sins, so believe in him now”. Growing into the life of faith and service in the Kingdom of God barely enters into it – it’s just a non-essential after-thought. Which strikes me as just kind of sad and rather boring. After all, if my kid “prays the prayer” when she’s four, then she’s pretty much done (assuming one believes that you can’t lose your salvation). She’s reached the climax of her spiritual journey, and the rest is just biding time till she dies or Christ returns. Of course she can help get others to “pray the prayer” too, but even that is just sort of optional, not essential. Like you said, there’s no sense of being caught up in a grand story that one can live into. It’s just “here’s something that happened a long time ago, believe it and now you’re done.” Ugh… there’s no mystery or beauty or poetry in that, and certainly nothing to live one’s life by.
Firefly, of course. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Angel.
And, more recently, True Blood, Dollhouse and Supernatural.
All of these shows are scifi or fantasy. Most deal with the supernatural, as well. I like them because their stories “feel” real – not in the sense that I actually believe there are vampires or reavers or other monsters running about (or, if there are, the Slayers in Toronto have been keeping them well in check.
)
But these stories do touch on deeper truths. There is evil in the world, but there is also a great deal of good.
wow – forgot the green bead. Granted in the official CEF curriculum what one talks about for the green bead is going to church, reading the bible, praying, and giving money to the church. As if those actions like magic rituals can make one grow in the faith.
Lydia – we love Dollhouse too, and have True Blood on the way from Netflixs. And I am truly having a hard time thinking of any non- scifi/fantasy stories that connect on this same level.
veronica mars is a show i go back to again and again. three seasons of a nancy drew-like girl who deals with her issues of abandonment and distrust for humanity, all through the veil of high shchool and then college. not sci-fi at all!
true blood, of course, the teenager in me also loves the Twilight books for their take on faith and love. oh, and Dexter. you have to love Dexter, you can’t not – serial killer with a sense of morality!!
There was this little obscure show called Tru Calling that was simply amazing. Every episode had new and thought provoking ideas about death, after life, spirituality and so on. It starred the actress from Dollhouse Eliza Dushku so all you Dollhouse fans might want to check it out. Her character works in the city morgue and she has the power to hear the dead ask for help and then her day rewinds and starts again. She then has to piece together who the body was that needs her help and try to alter their day to help them avoid their demise. She cannot come right out and tell them they are going to die. It truly was brilliant.
Another really well written and unique show that got cancelled because it was actually smart was Wonderfalls. I think you can buy it on Amazon though.
Wow, you’re blog readers have good taste! My suggestions are already here. Buffy and Angel are amazing. And they’re by the same person who did Firefly. Wonderfalls is really good too, I wish I could have seen how the writers were going to develop the story (they only made ~11 episodes before it got canceled).
Battlestar Galactica comes to mind immediately. Truth is I’m trying to cut down the TV watching, but I am reading a ton of sci-fi right now.
I have my own theory why this stuff resonates. I think deep down we know that the world is not as it should be, and is not as it will be, so we are drawn to “other-worldy” stories.
Julie, I think you are talking primarily about the power of “myth” to convey truth. These stories affect us in ways that even good “realistic” fiction often doesn’t.
As I’m sure you know, in addition to writing mythical stories Tolkien and Lewis wrote well about the unique nature of myth. Tolkien’s essay “On Fairy Stories” is the classic treatment of the idea. Lewis’s “On Stories” and several of his other essays deal with it as well.
From one of Lewis’s reviews of Lord of the Rings:
“The value of myth is that it takes all the things we know and restores to them the rich significance which has been hidden by ‘the veil of familiarity’… If you are tired of the real landscape, look at it in a mirror. By putting bread, gold, horse, apple, or the very roads into a myth, we do not retreat from reality: we rediscover it. As long as the story lingers in our mind, the real things are more themselves. This book (LOTR) applies the treatment not only to bread or apple but to good and evil, to our endless perils, our anguish, and our joys. By dipping them in myth we see them more clearly.”
I’m not a huge fan of the sci fi or fantasy genres, broadly speaking. I like those kinds of stories when they are really good but there is so much crap out there in both genres that something has to be really highly recommended for me to check it out – and then it’s some of my favorite kind of reading. I don’t watch a ton of TV or movies so can’t answer your question well on that front. But my partial list in these genres would include:
BOOKS/AUTHORS
Tolkien
MacDonald
Lewis
L’Engle
Ursula K. Le Guin
JK Rowling
Juliet Marilier
Dune (Frank Herbert)
Book of the New Sun (Gene Wolfe)
Beowulf
MOVIES
Star Wars Eps IV-VI
The Matrix (the first one)
There must be more in the movies/tv category but I can’t think of any right now. From what I’ve heard I’m sure Lost would qualify and I’d get sucked in if I started watching the Season 1 dvd’s, but I’ve never watched an episode.