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Story Lab 6, Modernism
The Story moving in place; adjusting to change




6. Story Moves from One Place to Another.
   The removal from one place and origins to a new place and reality.
   Breakdown of the old, making of the new: Post-modernism. (syn-thesis)
   Creating a new story: The confluence of cultures and stories. (adaptation)
   The metapor of the body updated and transformed by technology;
     the microscopic meets the far terrestrial in simultaneity.


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The Text



Introductory Remarks

Part of this is the idea that change is forced on "the system"
(us, them, etc) from without -- or possibly in the history of
ideas -- change comes in the form of revolution from within).

In general, evolution comes from exterior forces, revolution
comes as part of resolving internal conflict.

In the case of "moving from one place to another", we get a 
whole new env and as such, new stimulae, necessities, and
skills. Next, comes the breaking down of the old, and the
making of the new (adapt or die). This goes back to Hegel's
equation:

    Thesis (the extant) pervades the system,
    "problems" are percieved, thus, the thesis
    causes its "anti" (opposite) to come into 
    existance: Anti-thesis (the proposed solution(s)).

    Out of this "conflict" comes a "new age" or
    the syn-thesis (the process of synthesizing).

Thus:    Thesis + Anti-thesis --> Synthesis

Of course there are alwasy that remember the "good old days"
-- the reactionary element that doesn't want to evolve/change/move.
And thus the old plus "maybe we could just change/move a little"
(reaction against change) and of course some one offers up a
bit of snake oil -- new lamps for old; new wave (new age) that
allows (or at least offers) the reactionary a seemingly new way
of dealing with the new era -- in reality it's just the same old
confinement loaf but with a new, improved ZESTIER (but, not too
much so) SAUCE!!!

Finally, it become apparent that in order to "survive" (or not)
one must make a radical change (or not).  Thus, 2001: A Space
Odyssey, etc.

Thus, we (this file) begin by looking at the basic ideas of
change how they manifest themselves. In Asimov's "Foundation"
these would be the short-comings of the 60_000 year old
Galactic Empire; ie, his thinly disguised break down of the
600-year old Roman Empire.

In Niven's "World out of Joint" (World out of Time??) one of
his primary postulates is that a system eventually stagnates;
ie, "the state" finally conquers the human spirit and a
reign of peace enuses. Further that the *only* way that 
"the system" can fall is by external influence; eg, the
huns invading Rome. This theme is explored in music in
The Jethro Tull's "Thick as a Brick" as well as in 
Aprin's  "Myth Concpeptions" (as i recall the ??title??).

Regardless, the primary problems are as follows:

1) Once a system achieves equilibrium (even a dynamic
   equil), it begins to be vulnerable to *any* change.
And of course change is practically in-escapable. 

2) Stories at this point are usually the "cautionary
   tale" (eg, Bradbury's  ??title?? "what world?").

3) As the change becomes more apparent, the story tends
   to become explanatory as to what IS happening. 

4) Eventually, these stories will evolve into the "new
   wares" -- attempting to reconcile people to change.
In some cases, the stories are reactionary Polyannaism;
qv, Twain's "Huckleburry Finn" ??sp?? or the movie 
"Little Orphan Annie" (the sun will come out tommorow).

5) Finally, the old context of the story becomes confused
   and lost. Without the symbols and their meanings, it
is not clear what a (many) element of a story means. For
example, Adam (Old Testament; Genesis) naming the animals 
is at first mis-read, and then totally ignored; eg, many
Christians today have no idea what that passage means
-- they no longer need the "bridging story", they have 
a "new" story -- the ressurection.

6) Inevitably, the waves of change simply destroy or at
   least sweep-asside those still clinging to the old
story (the reactionary response; or rather lack there-of).
And those that embrace the "new story" -- the story as
transforming way, the hero's journey, etc. They are 
saved by the story and progress onward, and in the end
struggle forward -- and yet survive.