Narrative Lego
The Stories that built us.
As part of my MA, I’m doing a module on experimental writing. It’s all very thought provoking and out there looking at redaction, narrative jumps, books within books etc.
For the assignment I’ve decided to do something based on an episode of television I consider to be both a quintessential example of its series and a great example of experimental writing. That is of course, the Star Trek TNG episode Darmok (S5E2)
A brief background to the episode. The Enterprise is called to a planet where some mysterious aliens (the Tamarians) have asked to mee them. The Tamarians have a language that the universal translator has some issues with. It can make the words English, but the syntax has no sense. For example, throughout the episode the Tamarian captain keeps saying to Picard,
“Darmok and Jalad, at Tanagra.”
This is English, excepting the alien names and place, but it makes no sense as a sentence, except to the Tamarians. Annoyed that the Enterprise doesn’t understand them, the Tamarians beam Picard and their captain down to the planet by themselves and prevent the Enterprise from interfering.
During the episode, Picard and the Tamarian captain must fend off a lethal beast on the planet and Picard comes to understand that “Darmok and Jalad, at Tanagra,” is an allegory that references a story of two enemies or strangers that come together against a common foe. This realisation shows that the Tamarian language is entirely in allegory, and that makes it almost impossible to understand without an understand of their history and stories.
Picard tries to counter with the epic of Gilgamesh.
The episode ends with Picard returning and the Tamarian second in command stating ship,
“Picard and Dathan (the Tamarian captain’s name), at El-Adrel,”
Indicating a new, shared allegory by which the two species can continue to talk. This thread is picked up in Lower Decks where the USS Cerritos has a Tamarian security officer, indicating an advanced level of understand and cooperation between the two.
I’m planning on writing some sort of story where all the characters speak in allegory of English stories and epic poems (I’ve kept it to English purely because of the amount of work involved in a 5k word assignment. If I pick it up later, I might go further).
This meant trying to make a list of the intrinsic stories and epic poems that people would understand the meanings of.
It’s left me with,
· The Arthurian Romances, using Le Morte d'Arthur, The Once and Future King, and the movie Excaliber, the last of which is something special if you haven’t seen it.
· Robin Hood, using the Errol Flynn Adventures of Robin Hood and lit sources which I have yet to work out, possibly Ivanhoe. I’m open to suggestions.
· Beowulf, using the Seamus Heaney translation as it’s the one I have, and I’m tempted to use some of 13th Warrior as its also a great movie.
I had considered also using Paradise lost, but I’m not sure if it’s something as intrinsic as the above and probably wouldn’t give rise to a common understanding. I am on the fence about Chaucer. I’ll maybe use Dickins.
It had me thinking, what stories are important to you as a person? What stories made you who you are today?
For me - and this is off the top of my head – I can probably say the following.
· Star Trek TNG Peak Performance S2E21. The Quote “It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness, that is life.” Is life altering. Essentially its “Shit happens,” but via the lens of Picard and its something that helps lessen the sting of rejection.
· Preacher Issue 9. Another amazing quote, and one of the last things Jesse’s dad says to him. “You gotta be one of the good guys son. Cause there’s way too many of the bad.” It’s something I’ve told my own kids (sans accent), and it explains why Jesse fights so hard.
· Billy Elliot. As someone who comes from the same type of mining village as Billy (a 10 min drive) and whose creativity wasn’t nurtured or even thought of as an option for a career, I feel this movie.
· The Guards series of books by Terry Pratchett. As someone who has gone through their own experiences with alcohol from both sides, Vimes as someone who struggles daily with his former vice and stays to what he thinks is right no matter the cost is something to admire.
· In a similar vein the character arcs of Leo McGarry and Josh Lyman in The West Wing. Both suffer tremendous traumas and they come together to help each other out.
I’ll leave you with the story said by Leo to Josh, then repeated back in another episode that shows how important support is.
“This guy’s walking down the street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep he can’t get out. A doctor passes by and the guy shouts up ‘hey you, can you help me out?’ The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole and moves on. Then a priest comes along, and the guy shouts up ‘Father I’m down in this hole can you help me out?’ The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on. Then a friend walks by. ‘Hey Joe, it’s me can you help me out?’ And the friend jumps in the hole. Our guy says ‘are you stupid? Now we’re both down here.’ The friend says, ‘yeah but I’ve been down here before, and I know the way out.’”
Let me know the stories that made you.