Homo Narrans

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We are storytelling creatures. Think about it. In our everyday lives, nearly all of our conversations are structured as stories.

“Honey, how was your day?” “It was exhausting. First I had to respond to an email from an angry customer. Then, Johnny stopped by the office and wouldn’t stop talking. Finally, after skipping my lunch…”

Or, “You’ll never believe what just happened to me! I was driving down Springfield Ave when I saw the craziest thing out in someone’s yard!”

Take just about any conversation and you can find an element of storytelling. Communications theorist Walter Fisher coined the term Homo narrans (“storytelling human”) to describe this phenomenon. Fisher argued that it was our ability to tell stories, rather than our ability to use language or logic, that set humans apart from every other creature in the world.

Indeed, we certainly love stories. Not only are our conversations filled with narrative storylines, but we have made novels, tv shows, and motion pictures into multi-billion dollar industries. Even our Scriptures are primarily narratives rather than theological essays. Stories are powerful forces that can transform our thinking, inspire us to be better, and open up our imaginations.

However, any powerful tool can also be misused. The political and societal polarization we are facing in this country today is, ironically, also a product of storytelling. When groups of people create narratives while being isolated from those who are different from them, those narratives grow and form an echo chamber that reinforces our existing biases. Pretty soon, those stories change into myths we believe about outsiders that have little resemblance to reality.

In contrast, the primary pathway to empathy and human understanding is through hearing the stories of others. I suspect if we spent less time sharing memes on social media and more time sitting down with people we disagree with to listen to their experiences and testimonies, we would find ourselves becoming less angry and more humble. It is easy to dismiss words on a screen, but it is harder to dismiss a story when told by a human face.

As an example, the primary moment that changed my perspectives about racism was not a book or logical argument, but was a meal during a seminary retreat. During that meal, I listened to several of my black classmates recount their own personal stories of discrimination, some as recent as the day we left for the retreat. No longer was this an academic or political debate because now the issue had faces and names. I gained new understanding that day.

With that in mind, let’s get sharing. What's your story?

"The Crossing" and Israel

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I recently watched the pilot episode of ABC's new sci-fi drama "The Crossing," created by Jay Beattie and Dan Dworkin. The show definitely holds some potential, and it will be interesting to see if it ends up being binge-worthy or a flop. However, I am intrigued to continue watching how the show develops because the opening episode seems to be developing some interesting themes. In particular, it seems to be setting the stage to use the Old Testament story of the people of Israel as a motif within the show.

If you haven't seen previews for the show or the pilot episode yet, the basic premise of the show is that a rural sheriff (played by Steve Zahn) discovers hundreds of bodies that wash up his Washington beach, including a few dozen survivors. Federal agents quickly gets involved and shut out local officials. As the story unfolds, the survivors disclose that they are refugees from the future. Fleeing war and an oppressive power, they utilized a new time travel technology, but something went wrong and they ended up underwater in the ocean instead of on land. Sheriff Ellis and some federal agents have safety concerns, especially since some of the survivors warn of "others" who have special abilities, some of whom may have crossed over earlier.

In watching the first episode, I couldn't help but notice a number of similarities between the story of these refugees and the story of Israel in the Bible. For starters, the show's title appears to reference the time travel event in which the refugees "crossed" back into the past by passing through the ocean. This event itself could be seen as a powerful biblical image, a group of oppressed people passing through the waters (Pacific Ocean/Red Sea) to escape their oppressors.

Furthermore, like Israel, hope they have entered a "promised land." One refugee describes the America of the past (our present day) as a much more ideal and free place than the one the left. For these refugees, 2000's America may seem like a land full of milk and honey. However, just as in the Pentateuch, the post-oppression journey is not an easy one. Those journeying to freedom find themselves to be small and powerless compared to their neighbors. And like Israel, the refugees in the crossing appear to be entering a wilderness period as the federal government only moves them into temporary housing in the middle of the woods.

I don't know if the show's writers are aware of these similarities or not, but one final piece makes me suspect they are. Less than five minutes into the show, Sheriff Ellis has a conversation with a little girl he pulled from the water a few hours earlier. When she tells him her name is Leah, the sheriff remarks, "That's in the Bible, isn't it?" Interestingly, the girl responds with a blank stare, confused about what a "Bible" is.

It is this line that made me start to pay attention to the biblical themes in the episode. Indeed, as I listened to the names, there definitely seems to be a pattern--all the refugees have biblical names: Leah, Hannah, Rebecca, Caleb, Thomas. Even the names themselves seem to be significant. For example, in the Bible Leah is the daughter-in-law of Rebecca, whereas the show's Rebecca takes on a mother role to the girl Leah. Likewise, the one refugee who seems to be skeptical, self-interested, and perhaps "doubting" is named Thomas.

The only exception to this rule (so far) is a refugee named Reece, who incidentally is different from the others, being the only one to demonstrate special powers and the only one not rescued on the beach. So perhaps her lack of a biblical name is also significant. In contrast, Sheriff Ellis also has a biblical name as his first name is Jude. Perhaps this is an indicator that he will be an ally to the refugees.

The show is clearly poised to deal with a number of social and political issues. For instance, the first episode already has touched on our treatment and views of refugees and immigrants, something our country has been dealing with in real life. Of course, it's hard to determine what directions a show will go and what themes will develop simply from the pilot episode, but if the above allusions are intentional, this show may end up conveying some really potent messages by way of biblical imagery. Perhaps these refugees will find themselves on a similar journey as Israel--oppressed and killed because of their identity, a miraculous escape through water to safety, only to face trials and tribulations in the wilderness as they journey towards a promised land of freedom and prosperity. And with superpowers apparently to play a role, one wonders what "giants" they may find in the land along the way.

Update:
Sadly, ABC recently made the decision to cancel the show after its first season. It would have been interesting to see how the show developed over time given that a number of biblical themes seemed to persist throughout the first season. For example, the trend with biblical names continued consistently, the city where most of the plot takes place is called "Port Canaan" (an invented city name), one character is healed with the blood of another character, and there are numerous references to religion or churches both in dialogue and architecture. Who knows? Perhaps another network will pick it up one day.

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