On the flip side, laughter can seriously backfire, as evidenced by bullied teens who eventually fight back with weapons, to the death.
As an antidote for down-in-the-dumps characters or those paralyzed by doubt or fear, use laughter to bring them back to action. Optimism might be a reach, but you can at least get them moving again.
EDUCATION
Teaching people how to learn, to have critical thinking skills, to understand logic and cause and effect are not guarantees against falling to the Dark Side, but it is hard to manipulate people who think rather than just feel.
At least learn to recognize when you’re being manipulated, seduced, or scammed, and then if you want to go along, fine. But let the manipulator know you know what they’re doing, so even though they make the sale or get the kiss, you’ve defused their sense of power and taken away the thrill of conquest. Will they totally reform? Probably not. Have you caused a crack in their system? Maybe.
A. IN ACTION
Many cultures have myths about Teacher Gods who brought knowledge and skills, helping people move up the path of civilization. Greek centaur Chiron taught heroes Jason, Perseus, Hercules, and others the ways of war and wisdom.
Education level is a major factor in financial success and quality of life. Aid policies are moving from just giving hungry people fish to teaching them to fish and providing the opportunity to earn a fishing pole. Small business loans and mentoring help raise people from poverty to compete in markets; an originator of micro-loans won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize.
Oppressors hit intellectuals first, burn books, and close schools — for good reason. On the seal of the University of Texas at Austin is Disciplina Praesidium Civitatis: education is the safeguard of democracy.
In classical Greece a well-rounded education included Grammar, Rhetoric (public speaking), Logic, Arithmetic, Geometry, Astronomy, and Music. The Renaissance Man was expected to know all these plus a number of languages, be athletic, a great dancer, and a capable warrior. The ideal modern liberal education would include all these, but seldom does.
B. IN MEDIA
The Ageless Wisdom predicts the next battle for the soul of humanity will be on the mental planes, with those who can really think manipulating those who only feel. Some say it’s already happening.
Often the problem isn’t Evil, it’s Idiocy. In Sleeping Beauty the King and Queen breech court protocol by not inviting the wicked fairy. The expected revenge occurs. Years later the three airhead good fairies are stupid enough to leave Briar Rose alone just minutes before it was prophesied she’d fall under the spell. Hadn’t they been paying attention the last sixteen years? A little common sense would have gone a long way here.
My Fair Lady, Educating Rita, Stand and Deliver, and Freedom Writers all show how learning improves dignity and quality of life.
Erin Brockovich shows a young woman educating herself to bring and win a legal challenge against a huge business. Jeff Goldblum in Independence Day uses his techno-smarts to give the aliens a computer virus and save the world.
Though they used plenty of firepower too, the main tactic in The Matrix was using the system against itself with smart cyber-sabotage. The TV series MacGyver focused on wit as the hero saved the day with simple tools.
The Sims games teach players to create balanced lives and societies, and Spore teaches how to guide evolution and create civilizations. Serious games are a huge industry, instructing people on topics from war to medicine.
C. IN YOUR CREATIONS
Inner Drives Center of Motivation – Throat: developing the intellect.
Whether your protagonist is battling an inner Dweller, a Dark Force, or some super-powerful antagonist, show how his ignorance is a drawback.
Critical thinking skills include recognizing the framing of an issue. If you start with “homeland security,” a good thing to have, then whatever you put inside that is more acceptable to most people. Take away that frame, and it’s a different story. Show the protagonist reframing the antagonist’s stance and showing others how to resee things.
Show the sacrifice a person must make to get knowledge and acquire skills: time, friends, money, approval of peers, etc.
Most people get cocky when they’re learning new things. Put your hero through that annoying know-it-all stage.
Illustrate the joy of learning, the thrill when the lights go on in the mind.
Also show how education won’t always save the day and sometimes gets you killed, like in Nazi Germany, Communist China, and Pol Pot’s Cambodia.
DECEPTION AND DIPLOMACY
Einstein observed that you must rise above a conflict and get some insight into the larger situation in order to solve it. This scientific principle is at work in diplomacy, arbitration, counseling, and many mediation techniques.
Animals in the wild use distraction to lead predators away from their babies. Decoys are a typical combat tactic, particularly in guerilla war. Camouflage is natural deception: leopard spots, zebra stripes, faking an accent, or wearing local clothes. But it can backfire. Know how to kill a chameleon? Toss it in a box of crayons.
Propaganda and advertising use distraction and deception to alter perception and action. Making your enemy think you’re more dangerous than you really are can be effective. A military friend tells the story of a buddy of his who woke up to a knife at her throat; she deflected the rape by telling the attacker she had all sorts of STDs. It probably helped that she was wearing Army issue boxer shorts at the time.
A. IN ACTION
In Greek myth, Jason was supposed to fight a whole crowd of warriors alone. He tossed a stone in their midst, and when they turned against each other, Jason slew them all.
In WWII the Allies had an entire tank battalion made of cardboard and camo paint which they moved around by hand; it kept Nazi resources tied up in that part of France.
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter uses diplomatic skills to broker peace. The United Nations, European Union, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), African Union (AU), and other groups apply diplomacy and public policy towards development and protection of their regions.
Sanctions are often imposed to promote acceptable behavior. This carrot-and-stick diplomatic approach worked to help end apartheid in South Africa, but it seems ineffective in Burma, Iran, Korea, and Saddam’s Iraq.
B. IN MEDIA
Scheherazade deceived the wife-killing king of Persia into keeping her alive for yet another story. Legend says they lived happily ever after, and we got the fabulous tales in her One Thousand and One Nights.
Most mythologies have a Trickster who outwits stronger, more powerful enemies. Deceptively disheveled TV detective Columbo is a perfect trickster, using his shambling ways to get the guilty to drop their guard.
Laurence Durrell’s Alexandria Quartet, along with Graham Greene’s and Somerset Maugham’s stories (many made into films), revolve on deception and back-channel diplomacy. Duplicitous love, lust, and power are usually involved.
Most spy stories, but not James Bond - that’s pure action. The Year of Living Dangerously, The Tailor of Panama, The Last Emperor, Mission Impossible, and much of the Dune novels.
C. IN YOUR CREATIONS
Inner Drives Center of Motivation – Throat: mental manipulation, clever speech.
Show how the clever one came by their talent: making peace on the playground, deceiving parents, appreciating stories, etc.
Establish that the clever one often gets in trouble for speaking out or for being devious. Make it a detriment in the beginning, but it pays off at the end.
Why is secrecy essential? Show bad things happening to someone who reveals too much.
Blackmail is a battle tactic. Though they were both in the wrong, Judi Dench’s character in Notes on a Scandal used it to get Cate Blanchett to stop her illegal affair with a minor, or so she thought.
Most people see what they want to see or expect to see. Manipulate their perceptions and you alter their reality, as wa
s so successfully done in The Sixth Sense.
If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Not really, but make them think you have. Your character then becomes a rat in the pipes and can effect lots of damage, like a counter-espionage mole.
Use the “Chomsky answer” (after linguist Noam Chomsky). Q: “Who gave you those flowers?” A: “Aren’t they gorgeous? I just love yellow. What’s your favorite color?” Most people don’t notice they didn’t get a real answer; clever people catch the deflection and keep questioning.
EXPOSURE TO LIGHT
Sunlight disinfects. Exposing dark doings often ends them, sometimes via shame, sometimes via public outrage.
Certain activities are more properly and politely done in private (personal hygiene, sex, and developing light-sensitive film), but when people meet in secret to decide or do things that affect others, they’ve usually got something to hide.
The press is supposed to be the instrument of investigation to bring transparency to public activities. Governments and special interest groups often try to control the media; when they succeed, people usually suffer. The Internet provides such universal access and transparency that it’s difficult to keep anything private anymore (more’s the pity sometimes).
Sometimes therapy helps people shine light on their own Dwellers, revealing formerly unconscious actions. Hypnotherapy can also be effective but is not totally reliable because of suggestibility.
A. IN ACTION
The Watergate political scandal and trials of the early 1970s brought down American President Richard Nixon (All the President’s Men), and most major players served prison time. The Iran-Contra hearings of the 1980s exposed the U.S. government’s illegal involvement in selling arms to Iran and sending the money to Contras in Nicaragua. Major players went unpunished, including President Ronald Regan and V.P. George H.W. Bush.
After the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain went down, “transparency” was all the rage in early 1990s international politics. Storytellers feared the end of the Cold War meant we’d have no major conflicts to write about anymore… what were we thinking?!
When gigantic energy company Enron’s duplicitous illegal dealings were revealed, the entire house of cards crashed, taking with it one of the (formerly) most prestigious accounting and consulting firms in the world, Arthur Andersen.
Pedophile scandals have rocked but not ruined the Catholic Church.
B. IN MEDIA
Some sex offenders, prostitute’s johns, and other criminals get unwanted exposure on billboards, the Internet, and TV shows such as America’s Most Wanted.
Exposure didn’t end wrongdoing, but Jack Nicholson’s detective work in Chinatown revealed water theft on a major scale and incest on a tragic personal scale. LA Confidential exposed police corruption, The Insider exposed tobacco company corruption, Prince of the City exposed justice system corruption, and Silkwood exposed industrial corruption. Beyond Honor exposes female genital mutilation in America.
Documentaries are effective light sources to shine in dark corners. The Smartest Guys in the Room explores the Enron energy scandal, Who Killed the Electric Car? questions the anti-green manipulations of big oil and big auto, and Michael Moore’s films Columbine and Fahrenheit 911 pose questions about America’s gun culture and administration complicity and incompetence in the 9/11 events. Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth raises awareness about climate change as well as business and government’s resistance to dealing with it.
C. IN YOUR STORIES
Inner Drives Centers of Motivation – Sacral and Lower Solar Plexus: corruption over money, sex, and power. Throat: intellectual detective work is required to expose it.
Give your protagonist early suspicions, but then have them release the doubts as an antagonist makes reasonable explanations. Then have a slip-up that piques the protagonist back into action.
A turncoat from the Dark Side can provide the crowbar to pry up the lid on wrongdoings. Reveal why they’re defecting: revenge, money, cutting a deal with the D.A., or an attack of conscience.
Like lifting a rock and watching the creepy-crawlies scramble, lifting the lid on dark doings provides action and heated dialogue with denials, finger-pointing, squealing on comrades, turning state’s evidence, payoffs, and deaths.
Show a seemingly innocent bystander who knew about the dark deeds but kept quiet; how do they justify their non-actions? Did they actually condone it? Were they afraid of whistle-blowing?
Whistle-blowers and investigative reporters are heroes of exposes, and Time magazine’s 2002 People of the Year. But show how some people do public good for private gain.
Remember, anyone attempting to hide their activities will use decoys and have plausible deniability (a good alibi).
Show the difference between “doing good” versus “being seen to be doing good.” Governments often publicly pledge millions for aid and assistance, then never actually release the funds.
NONVIOLENCE
A folktale warns not to wrestle with the tar baby because you’ll just get caught up in the mess. Given the typically violent aspects of human nature, nonviolence stands out as a unique defense against the Dark Side, sometimes against bullies, usually against war or oppression. Aggression often depends on resistance for excitement and fulfillment; refusal to engage can sometimes defuses that aggression.
It takes moral courage to stay nonviolent in a conflict situation and that offers a rich opportunity to explore your characters’ philosophies, hopes, and weaknesses.
A. IN ACTION
Some Buddhists and all Jains refuse to harm any living thing. Quakers, Amish, and Jehovah’s Witnesses philosophically resist violence. In many countries Conscientious Objectors can get non-combat assignments, and some are totally excused from military service.
Mahatma Gandhi transformed a Hindu philosophy of peace into a sweeping political movement that helped free India from British rule in the late 1940s.
Early Vietnam antiwar protests were characterized by sit-ins, love-ins, and blossoms-into-gun barrels as Flower Power helped bring American war power to a halt.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. urged nonviolent means for the American Civil Rights Movement, though followers didn’t always hold that line. South Africa’s Nelson Mandela lived nonviolent resistance at great personal cost, and Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi still does. Many former Israeli soldiers are turning officially nonviolent and leading a growing peace movement for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Conflict Resolution is a real profession, using nonviolent techniques.
B. IN MEDIA
Pat Barker’s award-winning Regeneration novels about shell-shocked (now called PTSD) World War I soldiers under psychiatric care delves into the complexities of nonviolence, honor, and the horrors of war.
Friendly Persuasion is about a Quaker family affected by the American Civil War. The biopic Gandhi documents the inner and outer workings of India’s great national hero. Cry Freedom is about black antiapartheid, nonviolent leader Steve Biko.
Some come to nonviolence because they’re sick and tired of being mired in violence. In the BBC series Cadfael an English Crusader becomes a peaceful, mystery-solving monk. Tom Cruise plays a real-life wounded Viet vet turned war protestor in Born on the Fourth of July. In The Mission Spanish knight and slaver Robert De Niro tries to become a nonviolent monk in penance for killing his own brother, but when the pressure is on, takes up the sword, this time to defend the innocent. At the core of the exceptionally violent Passion of the Christ is Jesus’ nonviolence.
C. IN YOUR CREATIONS
Inner Drives Center of Motivation – Aspirational Solar Plexus: concern for the greater good, & Heart: self-sacrifice.
Developmental psychology notes the stages we grow through, some of which include verbal or physical violence necessary to break into our next phase, like chicks pecking through a shell or butterflies struggling out of the cocoon. Most people come to nonviolence after having had at least some personal experience with violence. T
he more dramatic you make that difference for the individual, the greater your character’s arc. Gandhi’s history is interesting that way.
Institutional violence doesn’t always respond to nonviolence, but the individuals involved and the politicians behind it sometimes will. Show your character trying to influence two or more of these, with varying success, like convincing one captain not to attack a village or one politician to confront the party line. See the drama and tragedy of this approach in Schindler’s List in the interactions between Liam Neeson’s Schindler and Ralph Fiennes’ Nazi.
Nonviolence can devolve into crazy-making, passive-aggressive behavior: “Oh, that’s all right, I’ll just sit here and watch you eat,” or “Whatever you decide is fine,” and then, “Does everyone else really like this?”
The goal of nonviolence is to get the other people to see, understand, and support your point of view and then act accordingly. What happens if you get the former but not the latter. Or vice versa?
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
In the same vein but more physically engaged than nonviolence is civil disobedience. You don’t take up arms, but you turn the rules-and-tools of the oppressor against them in ways that bring attention to your cause and, hopefully, affect change. This is the Network solution, after Paddy Chayefsky’s novel and film which feature a disillusioned TV anchorman who starts telling the truth - live on air. This approach kicks in when you’re mad as hell and you’re not gonna take it any more.
Power of the Dark Side Page 18
