Spoiler alert: Your life is not a major motion picture and you’re not the lead in the hero’s journey narrative. Yet, it’s become an integral part of the “American dream,” to imagine yourself as Tom Cruise, being a maverick and saving everyone’s butt.
It’s a familiar trope, trotted out again and again in western storytelling – the man goes out, the women stay at home, and he returns triumphant and beloved. The net result of this constraint is an endless stream of formulaic prequels, sequels and spinoffs.
It’s an entitled mindset, based in white colonialism that’s ultimately narcissistic and exclusionary. It extols individualism and masculinity in ways that diminish the feminine as mere plot devices, and glorifies improbable and flawed methods of problem-solving and heroism.
It bolsters the belief that one person can perfectly embody a social movement, or be the unflawed romantic partner, or the single best ally, not recognizing that all of us working and organizing together is a lot more powerful than putting all our hope in one leader to come forward and save us all.
As an alternative, the collective journey facilitates the exploration of new ways of analyzing, telling stories and participating in narratives. This mode of progressive storytelling involves shifting the focus from the individual to one who embraces and encourages connectedness. It’s a more respectful approach than the “monomyth” hero model that glosses over the elemental differences that make cultures, religions, tribes, nations, groups and individuals unique.
In selecting films for the 2023 qathet international film festival, our programmers looked for stories that expand the narrative of what it means to be human, to exist in the world, and to collectively experience the journey. Satisfying humanity’s thirst for engagement and community is a challenge that all cultural institutions such as ours must strive to quench.
Building social bonds within the community, and fostering the development of processes that address barriers of inclusion, is the compass that guides the film society toward addressing our collective needs. In this scenario, individual resilience is lifted by the shared experiences that we create together.
Gary Shilling is executive director of qathet Film Society. qathet international film festival will run March 3 to 12, 2023. For information and tickets go to qathetfilm.ca.
