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Lesson 11
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Sunil Pappu’s Living Metaphors
“What I learned doing this assignment is…to use living metaphors as a transition to the new ways from the old ways.”
A. SHOULD WORK, BUT DOESN’T
Old Way: Daisaku’s friend comes to him desperate to find answers.
SWBD Challenge: He trusts Daisaku but what he’s seeking is a new way of life. Daisaku tries to convince him, but he has no real solution. He fails his friend who decides to join one of the spurious religions that crop up right after the war ends in Japan that misleads young people.
Old Way: Toda wants to restart his businesses after the war and takes advice from his politician friend to time the launch of his new venture.
SWBD Challenge: Toda’s business ventures fail despite getting the timing right. He realizes that he needs to first rebuild the Soka Gakkai organization and then focus on his businesses. Toda regularly holds evening guidance sessions after his office hours and even takes study lectures in the morning for his staff before they begin their work. They hit their first subscription milestone in record time.
Old Way: Toda steps down as President of the Soka Gakkai to protect the organization from his business failures.
SWBD Challenge: Daisaku worries that he no longer has a mentor but Toda tells him he will always be his mentor even if he is no longer the President. Daisaku vows to reinstate him and rebuilds his businesses after dropping out of night school. Toda repays his business debts and is reinstated as Soka Gakkai president.
Old Way: Soka Gakkai members rally outside the Osaka detention centre while the police harshly interrogate Daisaku on false election charges.
SWBD Challenge: Daisaku is released after he makes a false confession to protect his mentor Toda. The lawyers see his case as hopeless. Daisaku continues to fight the case in court for over four years and finally proves his innocence and gets acquitted of all charges two years after his mentor has passed away. Daisaku vows to always carry his mentor in his heart and fight against injustice.
Old Way: Mistrust between US and Russia during the cold war as they begin the arms race and the space race.
SWBD Challenge: The regular channels of communication increase their misunderstanding and mistrust and the rhetoric becomes increasingly hostile on both ends during the cold war and leads to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Old Way: Daisaku steps down as President of Soka Gakkai to appease the Soka Gakkai leadership and the Nichiren Shoshu Priesthood
SWBD Challenge: Nichiren Shoshu priests impose more restrictions on the members and ban Daisaku from public appearances trying to create a rift between him and the Soka Gakkai members. Daisaku feels helpless as he can’t see the members’ pain and suffering and writes songs, and poems and even plays the piano to members who wait outside the building trying to catch a glimpse of him at the window. He finally launches a counterattack and meets pioneering members all over Japan and creates a new groundswell of resistance as members fight back the priesthood in their local communities.
B. LIVING METAPHORS
Old Way: Daisaku’s friend seeks answers that Daisaku cannot provide and both feel lost and helpless.
LM Challenge: Daisaku writes a song about his friend titled “Morigasaki beach,” reminiscing their time together. The beach represents their youth and hope while beyond the sea lies a vast world, they must journey each in their separate ways. He wishes he had the answer he has now to give his friend and tell him about the path he took. It is the right path and wishes he knew about it then. He searches for his friend after many years and reunites with him.
Old Way: Soka Gakkai members in Yubari are intimidated by the Coal Miners Union to vote for the union candidate in the local elections.
LM Challenge: The Soka Gakkai members and their families are ostracized and ridiculed by their community. Daisaku rushes to support them and reminds them about Daishonin’s exile on Sado Island. Yubari is their Sado Island and they stand strong and remain undefeated. In the end, the Union apologizes, and they get their jobs back and win the trust of their community.
Old Way: Soka Gakkai members save up to sincerely contribute to the building of the Grand Reception Hall at the head temple.
LM Challenge: The High priest destroy the buildings constructed from sincere members’ contribution on flimsy pretexts. The Members continue to support the temples despite harsh treatment for being Soka Gakkai members. The Grand Reception Hall represents their sincerity and commitment to the harmonious unity of the priesthood and laity.
Old Way: Berlin Wall is erected diving the world into two.
LM Challenge: The hostility on both sides leads to the separation of many families who are trapped on opposite sides of the wall. The world because increasingly divided as nations take sides to create a new geopolitical landscape. Daisaku vows to bring the Berlin Wall down and conducts dialogues with world leaders on both sides and brings them closer eventually bringing down the Berlin wall after 28 years.
Old Way: nuclear weapons are necessary as a deterrent.
LM Challenge: Nuclear states oppose the treaty to ban nuclear weapons. Numerous summits and proposals are signed but the nations are entrenched in their positions. Soka Gakkai partners with the NGO, ICAN and uses powerful personal stories of the Hibakusha who have experienced the tragedy of nuclear weapons first-hand. The nuclear weapons ban treaty is supported by more than 150 countries and requires the nuclear states to join for it to be passed into law.
Old Way: Soka Gakkai members wait for their mentor’s instructions
LM Challenge: Daisaku asks youth to lead a song “Song of Comrades” for their mentor but they are scolded. Daisaku makes them practice the song again and again and sing aloud so their voices reach their mentor. The song is a metaphor for their determination to win for the sake of their mentor. Another time they make a little to carry their mentor and get scolded that they would lose in battle if they were to carry such a large litter. Toda confides in Daisaku later that he is moved by their sincerity but it’s still too big to be of practical use.
Old way: Daisaku drops out of night school to support his mentor’s business
LM Challenge: Daisaku is constantly humiliated by creditors and he feels lonely and defeated. Toda starts taking private tuitions for Daisaku and quizzes him about the books he is reading. Daisaku proudly calls it “Toda University.” He goes on to hold dialogues with thinkers and philosophers in various fields and at a lecture in Harvard declares that 99% of everything he is today is because of his mentor. He receives more than 200 honorary degrees from the world’s renowned universities and institutions.
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Deb’s Living Metaphors
What I learned… I think I did assignment 10 with a vague, general sense of how things might play out (which maybe was a little too broad). For today’s assignment, I tried to be more specific – concentrating only on my main character. Again, it’s not about being perfect or profound, it’s in learning how to challenge the old ways in my story through “living metaphors” and “should work but doesn’t.” I also went back and reviewed/revised my original structure – this helped me see the story clearly again, which helped with the brainstorming.
Old: Narcissism: My behavior is an expression of myself and does not affect those around me. There are no consequences.
Challenge: What we do/don’t do impacts the lives of those around us.
Brainstorm ideas (How it might play out in my story)
Should work but doesn’t: Every time Jack does something selfish or self-serving it backfires.
Living metaphor: Jack’s father, Bram is a living metaphor of an accident – Jack’s actions unintentionally cripple Bram for life. Bram’s injury is a direct consequence of Jack’s actions.
Old: My happiness is everything.
Challenge: Happiness is elusive and not guaranteed.
Brainstorm ideas (How it might play out in my story)
Should work but doesn’t: Jack finds that everything that used to satisfy him (act 1) has become a burden to him. Or what he thought would make him happy doesn’t.
Living metaphor: The object of Jack’s quest (what he thinks will make him happy) is clouded in darkness and obscurity (a vast wasteland) – a place where he doesn’t think happiness can be found.
Old: It is enough to be a good person and live a moral life and do good works.
Challenge: What constitutes good? What is your measure of morality and do you really meet that standard? What happens when you fail to live up to that standard – who will pardon you?
Brainstorm ideas (How it might play out in my story)
Should work but doesn’t: Jack does a good deed for someone but is met with disdain. Jack keeps the rules but doesn’t get rewarded.
Living metaphor: Jack’s vehicle (which he meticulously cares for) breaks down and will not run.
Old: To get what I want, I must appease the higher powers with my thoughts, words, and actions.
Challenge: Our lives are not what we make it – and we can’t manipulate a god or The God – just like we can’t control the weather.
Brainstorm ideas (How it might play out in my story)
Should work but doesn’t: Jack looks to his superiors for approval, he usually gets the go-ahead for everything he wants to do – but for this quest – he is met with resistance and rejection. Also – his altruism has left him poor.
Living metaphor: Jack literally makes an idol out of (???) and “prays” to it – but something happens and the idol is destroyed. (In other words, what he puts his hope in is shown to be fallible).
Old: The things of this world are enough and satisfy all my needs – if I can just obtain them.
Challenge: This world is not enough. Something is wrong – something is missing. We will never be satisfied with the things the world can offer.
Brainstorm ideas (How it might play out in my story)
Should work but doesn’t: Jack’s relationship with his wife slowly deteriorates.
Living metaphor: Jack’s father – who was once strong and vibrant – is now disabled and dependent.
Old: To maintain my belief in God and my success in this world, I must live a double life – acknowledging God to get what I want, but doing what pleases me with no regard for God’s will.
Challenge: We cannot be our own god and give lip service to the true God. We must constantly put to death our own will.
Brainstorm ideas (How it might play out in my story)
Should work but doesn’t: Jack manipulates others through gifts and flattery but what he obtains is fool’s gold.
Living metaphor: One leg of his journey will be in a boat where he will encounter a storm; his boat will be “a wave on the sea, blown and tossed by the wind” – precarious and unstable.
Old: If I give up my wants, needs, and will, I will lead a dull, unfulfilled life, and then I will die.
Challenge: It’s in losing your life that you find true life.
Brainstorm ideas (How it might play out in my story)
Should work but doesn’t: Jack will do anything to save his own “skin” but when his son’s life is in danger, he must sacrifice himself to save him.
Living metaphor: The people Jack meets in the desolate place live rich, deep, and vibrant lives.
Old: I do not sin; therefore, I do not need to be forgiven.
Challenge: We all fall short – are wretched and unworthy of anything good and need forgiveness. It is the most precious treasure and worth more than all the wealth this world can hold.
Brainstorm ideas (How it might play out in my story)
Should work but doesn’t: Jack’s unwillingness to confess his sin blinds him and keeps him from making progress on his journey. He finds himself right back where he started.
Living metaphor: Jack’s son Able has a hamster that runs on a wheel… always running but never getting anywhere. Or – one of Jack’s associates (who he goes to for help) is incarcerated, yet, despite overwhelming evidence, claims his innocence.
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Bob Kerr: LIVING METAPHORS
What I learned in this assignment is that by digging deep into my story there were “Ways That Should Work , But Didn’t” and “Living Metaphors.” This realization will strengthen the script when I start writing it.
5 WAYS THAT SHOULD WORK, BUT DIDN’T.
OLD WAY: Football is everything to scholarship athletes.
The Challenge is returning to football will heal all wounds.
a) When players are dressing for their first practice, after the plane crash and a week of attending funerals, the visual reminder of empty lockers is emotionally too difficult to focus on practice.
b) As players are back in their dorm rooms, a place of refuge and relaxation, they are interrupted by family members coming to pick up the belongings of the deceased. This is an emotional trial they are unprepared for and it takes their mind back to the reality of the plane crash.
c) As players resume attending class, they experience a solitude among a crowd as no one wants to bother them. This isolates them.
d) Players are practicing in shorts and tee shirts because they don’t have enough equipment to go full pads. One more reminder that they lost so very much in the plane crash.
e) Players hear the Head Coach, Bob Seaman, address the squad for their first practice. His speech started out with ” We’ve buried our dead…” Hardly a motivation to resume football activities.
5 LIVING METAPHORS
The Challenge is the transformation to the NEW WAY of hope and victory.
a) New gear arrives from surrounding colleges as well as manufacturers. They can now practice in full gear.
b) Freshman QB shows up wearing white shoes. It is a new beginning.
c) Freshman QB shows off his arm strength and pumps hope into the rebuilt offense.
d) The trip to Little Rock, Arkansas is on a chartered large commercial jet. Much safer than the plane that crashed in the mountains.
e) There is no media coverage of the squad as they leave for Little Rock. The media is treating this as business as usual.
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Mary Albanese’s LIVING METAPHORS
What I learned from this lesson was…. Metaphors have always confused me. I use them, I have noted, but analyzing them has always given me a headache and makes me feel like my 8<sup>th</sup> grade teacher is yelling at me to be more cleverly insightful. So it was very helpful for me in this lesson to get a formula for applying them, in the specific structure of “This thing/person/whatever X___________ is a living metaphor for my story’s profound truth as it challenges the old way of thinking that _________________________.
SHOULD WORK BUT DOESN”T
1. Even with the whole class running interference for Heather, she still can’t make the goal.
2. Heather tries to trick Julie into delivering her paperwork for Mr. Guth but it doesn’t work.
3. Their football game impresses the student body but for all the wrong reasons.
4. Heather walks again but can’t “fix” her mother’s inability to love her.
5. Beau has what all high school boys wants but doesn’t succeed.
LIVING METAPHORS
1. Anna’s meltdown is a living metaphor that challenges the idea that Maddie is always right.
2. William’s election to class prez and coaching job challenges the view that options for disabled kids are physically limited.
3. Anna’s self-congratulatory empire is a used car sales job, challenging the view that her way is better than the rest of them.
4. Guy’s presence is a living metaphor that challenges the idea of who has value.
5. The football game is a metaphor that challenges the idea that they can’t be noteworthy.
6. Heather’s annoying terrier-like persistence becomes her superpower, challenging the idea that others should be allowed to define/doubt your self worth.
7. Heather’s goal to chase fun is not sad but life-affirming, challenging the idea that others get to make you deny your worth.
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Sharon’s Living Metaphors
What I learned doing this assignment is… that I do automatically build into my script a LOT of these, but it’s worth highlighting them MORE so they become a little more overt and support the key message more. Careful to not become too ‘on the nose’, tho!
Upon second review, I did wonder whether I didn’t do this deeply enough, or explicitly enough. But we’ll see….!
5 Should Work but Doesn’t Challenges
– Thinking with her head, relying on stats – she gets the same results – until she trusts her gut instinct, then she gets a result
– When Beta is still acting old way and not really planning – she knocks herself (Alpha) out to tie her up and get her to stop – and then realises that it didn’t work last time, so why would it this time?
– Disconnecting power should stop the Black Hole – but it doesn’t, it keeps growing
– She wants to document it all and test it etc., but she doesn’t have the time!
– She continues to hide – but she needs to show herself to make sure it’s different to the last time
– She tries to stop the time machine from being made – but that doesn’t work
– She tries to give herself advice before she goes back – but spaghettification ruins that
– She keeps going back to fix it (whatever ‘it’ is) – but the only way to fix it is to go forward
– Kappa tries to break the device, but Omega can fix it (until the last minute)
– Kappa rips up the letter, declares she’s going to live her own life. But then she’s back. Still!
5 Living Metaphor Challenges
– The burning rats – a metaphor for the future of mankind, and also a comparison to the past (of the rats)
– The watch – signifies success! And also damage that will come with it – challenges her to step up and start to claim her destiny
– Appearance of the Silver Cannisters – and what’s she’s needing to do with them, including trust the instructions
– The appearance of Black Hole Hawking Radiation
– Exploding lightbulbs – she must create an alternative solution
– Firing the fire extinguisher elements to stop the fire, but it goes into the black hole instead
– The key/ not being able to get inside, whereas later she breaks in anyway
– She keeps going back to fix it – but the only way to fix it is to go forward
– The spare parts Omega keeps bringing out – it’s all happened before
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ASSIGNMENT 11
Susan McClary’s Living Metaphors
What I learned doing this assignment is:
Some of the challenges can be seen in multiple ways with aspects of Should Work but Doesn’t, Living Metaphor, Questions and Counterexamples.
Brainstorm at least five of each of today’s challenges that you can put in your screenplay.
Go through your story outline or script and brainstorm the following: – 5 Should Work, But Doesn’t challenges – 5 Living Metaphor challenges
With each, tell us the Old Way and the Challenge, and how you think it might play out in your story.Should Work But Doesn’t Challenges:
1) All Pets except one will not eat their food. GG goes online to look up what to do. All articles/videos talk about stress and abandonment syndrome. He plays pet de-stress music for them, and talks to them quietly and assures them that their “Daddy” will come home soon. This does not work.
(what does he do? he checks on all their foods and it is all vet foods, but not that healthy. Then goes to the pet store and buys them the best, healthiest foods for each type of pet)
2) GG gets a phone call from his X and she asks him when he will turn into a human being so he can come home? His old way is to be nice and not insult her. This of course doesn’t work, so hangs up on her.
3) X calls back because even though he has distanced himself, and she again starts screaming at him so he tells her to kiss his furry ass. She’s stunned. That shuts her up for a while.
4) Challenge trying to find out what each individual pet requires e.g. Parrot squawking all night long. Old way: put treat in cage, Parrot goes in, close cage and cover it. Makes things worse. Resolves when GG brings Parrot cage into bedroom with him. (also if Parrot is inside he needs to move it back to open area of house where he is working on the computer during the day)
5) Brother keeps calling and checking up on GG and how the Pets are doing. GG give him an extensive list of everything he is doing for them, but it doesn’t help calm his know-it-all brother. GG refuses to call brother’s partner and calls a pet psychic instead. (which also doesn’t work)Living Metaphor Challenges:
1) Puppy creating a Stonehenge made up of puppy papers, piss and doody in living room metaphor for other people ritualistically crapping on GG in his relationships with them.
3) Dogs dig under Safflower’s Fence and try to eat her pet Koi metaphor for some people causing trouble for GG and other people in his life.
4) Listening to eat pet as if he was that pet, hearing the dog like he is a dog, a cat like he is a cat, a parrot like he is a parrot etc., metaphor for doing that with people… watching what they do, and listening to what they mean and not necessarily what they say instead of thinking that they are thinking like he does and doing what he would do in a situation.
5) Pets destroying Safflower’s fence metaphor for GG needing to get behind people’s facades, and also GG needing to take larger action. -
Ray’s Living Metaphors
What I learned doing this assignment is how to add subtle changes that make the audience more willing to change.
Should Work – But Doesn’t
1. Eve tries to figure out everything on her own, but everything fails until she trusts in God.
2. Ava doesn’t trusts adults, only children. In the end, Caleb was the one that she should not have trusted.
3. Kane follows the devil and constantly sabotage Eve and Ava’s efforts and loses everything.
4. Eve tries to warm Ava up, but Ava turns against her until the dolls show Eve how to gain Ava’s trust.
5. The cook tries to get Eve and Ava out of the house and almost get put out herself.
Living Metaphors
1. The dolls are living metaphors that bring about the change in Eve and Ava.
2. The company is a living metaphor that gives Eve a new purpose.
3. Ava’s belongings are a living metaphor that Kane uses to turn Ava against Eve.
4. The good dolls are a living metaphor that comes to help Eve start the business.
5. The bad dolls are a living metaphor that help Kane sabotage Eve’s business.
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Gordon’s Living Metaphors
What I learned: This exercise, at least for me, was hard. But it helped me appreciate the deeper meaning underlying certain scenes. Thank you.
The principal “old way”:
Jess avoids returning home to face family scorn. He does so to the extreme such that he has put himself in self-imposed penance by flying horrifically dangerous humanitarian missions, to help a culture and people afar from his home.
Five challenges to Jess’s “old ways” that should work but don’t really work:
1 Jess’s opening phone call with his wife. He conveys, “just six more months.” Meaning, he needs to stay another six months before coming home. But she’s not having any of it. She is not letting him get a word in edgewise before she hangs up. The CLICK from the disconnected call is followed by his expression of worrisome guilt.
2 On their first mission together Augie inquires of Jess, “[w]hy are you here?” The question lingers and is a challenge that really conveys, “why the f%$# are you not with your family?” To which Jess dances around the subject until turning it back on Augie (a method of avoidance which is one of his “old ways”), conveying in essence, that Augie has yet to understand the importance of their missions.
3 There is a locker room scene where Jess is breaking up with Greta who is his convenient lover while away from family. But he’s not ending the affair or sending Greta adieu to straighten out his own life. Rather, he sends her away when learning she is the sister to the bomber who killed his friends. This break up is the challenge. But he finds a reason other than the truth of why he should break it off. The “old way” is his creating a rational reason other than one based in the truth behind the breakup.
4 The dangerous components of the missions, when being bombed and shot at, are strong motivators to return home. These challenges fail when Jess negotiates directly with the mercenary pilots flying for the enemy, to have them not shoot at Jess and his planes. Or to be poor marksmen when shooting, thus missing their targets. Instead of leaving because of the danger, he modifies the danger into something more tolerable.
5 The final mission. Here Jess accepts the new forbidden cargo. But if he does so he risks everything. If caught he could never return home. He justifies his decision to fly the mission with the forbidden cargo because this time, this particular payload could make a big difference in turning the war in favor of the nation he supports.
Five living metaphor challenges:
1 Jess’s marriage is the airplane that he and crew fly nightly. It is beat up, torn apart, riddled with holes. Yet somehow, it still flies.
2 The missions are Jess running from his marriage. They come with frightening turmoil, some for which he knows he must apologize.
3 The affair with Greta is a roller coaster ride. It’s exciting one moment, frightening the next, with the final “drop off the cliff” moment occurring when he breaks it off with her.
4 The locker room scene is a tug-o-war with Jess’s emotions. When he makes Greta leave, he discovers his powerful love for her and is even more torn over the decision of leaving to return home versus staying. After his and Greta’s intimate verbal moment in the locker room where he finds this “love truth” within himself – that he loves Greta much more than he thought until that very moment, he is internally torn apart when watching her leave the room. He is experiencing the classic tumultuous broken heart emanating from the unraveling of a triad love affair.
5 The war is the world stage where Jess, in the leading role, is tasked with the uphill battle to save an entire culture.
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