Shekhar Kapur: We are the stories we tell ourselves

150,339 views ・ 2010-04-01

TED


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:15
So, I was just asked to go and shoot this film called "Elizabeth."
0
15260
3000
00:18
And we're all talking about this great English icon and saying,
1
18260
3000
00:21
"She's a fantastic woman, she does everything.
2
21260
2000
00:23
How are we going to introduce her?"
3
23260
2000
00:25
So we went around the table with the studio and the producers and the writer,
4
25260
2000
00:27
and they came to me and said, "Shekhar, what do you think?"
5
27260
2000
00:29
And I said, "I think she's dancing."
6
29260
3000
00:32
And I could see everybody looked at me,
7
32260
3000
00:35
somebody said, "Bollywood."
8
35260
2000
00:37
The other said, "How much did we hire him for?"
9
37260
2000
00:39
And the third said, "Let's find another director."
10
39260
3000
00:42
I thought I had better change.
11
42260
2000
00:44
So we had a lot of discussion on how to introduce Elizabeth,
12
44260
2000
00:46
and I said, "OK, maybe I am too Bollywood.
13
46260
3000
00:49
Maybe Elizabeth, this great icon, dancing?
14
49260
2000
00:51
What are you talking about?"
15
51260
2000
00:53
So I rethought the whole thing,
16
53260
2000
00:55
and then we all came to a consensus.
17
55260
2000
00:57
And here was the introduction of this
18
57260
2000
00:59
great British icon called "Elizabeth."
19
59260
2000
01:06
Leicester: May I join you, my lady?
20
66260
3000
01:18
Elizabeth: If it please you, sir.
21
78260
3000
01:21
(Music)
22
81260
3000
02:05
Shekhar Kapur: So she was dancing.
23
125260
2000
02:07
So how many people who saw the film did not get
24
127260
3000
02:10
that here was a woman in love,
25
130260
2000
02:12
that she was completely innocent
26
132260
2000
02:14
and saw great joy in her life, and she was youthful?
27
134260
3000
02:17
And how many of you did not get that?
28
137260
3000
02:21
That's the power of visual storytelling,
29
141260
2000
02:23
that's the power of dance, that's the power of music:
30
143260
3000
02:26
the power of not knowing.
31
146260
3000
02:29
When I go out to direct a film,
32
149260
2000
02:31
every day we prepare too much, we think too much.
33
151260
2000
02:33
Knowledge becomes a weight upon wisdom.
34
153260
3000
02:36
You know, simple words lost
35
156260
2000
02:38
in the quicksand of experience.
36
158260
4000
02:42
So I come up, and I say,
37
162260
2000
02:44
"What am I going to do today?" I'm not going to do what I planned to do,
38
164260
3000
02:47
and I put myself into absolute panic.
39
167260
3000
02:50
It's my one way of getting rid of my mind,
40
170260
3000
02:53
getting rid of this mind that says,
41
173260
2000
02:55
"Hey, you know what you're doing. You know exactly what you're doing.
42
175260
2000
02:57
You're a director, you've done it for years."
43
177260
2000
02:59
So I've got to get there
44
179260
2000
03:01
and be in complete panic.
45
181260
2000
03:03
It's a symbolic gesture. I tear up the script,
46
183260
2000
03:05
I go and I panic myself, I get scared.
47
185260
3000
03:08
I'm doing it right now; you can watch me. I'm getting nervous,
48
188260
3000
03:11
I don't know what to say, I don't know what I'm doing, I don't want to go there.
49
191260
3000
03:14
And as I go there, of course, my A.D. says,
50
194260
2000
03:16
"You know what you're going to do, sir." I say, "Of course I do."
51
196260
3000
03:20
And the studio executives, they would say,
52
200260
2000
03:22
"Hey, look at Shekhar. He's so prepared."
53
202260
2000
03:24
And inside I've just been listening to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
54
204260
2000
03:26
because he's chaotic.
55
206260
2000
03:28
I'm allowing myself to go into chaos
56
208260
3000
03:31
because out of chaos, I'm hoping some moments of truth will come.
57
211260
3000
03:35
All preparation is preparation.
58
215260
2000
03:37
I don't even know if it's honest.
59
217260
2000
03:39
I don't even know if it's truthful.
60
219260
2000
03:41
The truth of it all comes on the moment, organically,
61
221260
3000
03:44
and if you get five great moments
62
224260
2000
03:46
of great, organic stuff
63
226260
2000
03:48
in your storytelling, in your film,
64
228260
2000
03:50
your film, audiences will get it.
65
230260
2000
03:52
So I'm looking for those moments, and I'm standing there
66
232260
2000
03:54
and saying, "I don't know what to say."
67
234260
2000
03:56
So, ultimately, everybody's looking at you,
68
236260
2000
03:58
200 people at seven in the morning
69
238260
2000
04:00
who got there at quarter to seven, and you arrived at seven,
70
240260
2000
04:02
and everybody's saying,
71
242260
2000
04:04
"Hey. What's the first thing? What's going to happen?"
72
244260
2000
04:06
And you put yourself into a state of panic
73
246260
2000
04:08
where you don't know, and so you don't know.
74
248260
3000
04:11
And so, because you don't know,
75
251260
2000
04:13
you're praying to the universe because you're praying to the universe
76
253260
3000
04:16
that something -- I'm going to try and access the universe
77
256260
3000
04:19
the way Einstein -- say a prayer --
78
259260
2000
04:21
accessed his equations,
79
261260
2000
04:23
the same source. I'm looking for the same source
80
263260
3000
04:26
because creativity comes from absolutely the same source
81
266260
2000
04:28
that you meditate somewhere outside yourself,
82
268260
2000
04:30
outside the universe.
83
270260
2000
04:32
You're looking for something that comes and hits you.
84
272260
2000
04:34
Until that hits you, you're not going to do the first shot.
85
274260
2000
04:36
So what do you do?
86
276260
2000
04:38
So Cate says, "Shekhar, what do you want me to do?"
87
278260
2000
04:40
And I say, "Cate, what do you want to do?" (Laughter)
88
280260
3000
04:43
"You're a great actor, and I like to give to my actors --
89
283260
3000
04:46
why don't you show me what you want to do?"
90
286260
2000
04:48
(Laughter)
91
288260
2000
04:50
What am I doing? I'm trying to buy time.
92
290260
2000
04:52
I'm trying to buy time.
93
292260
2000
04:54
So the first thing about storytelling that I learned,
94
294260
2000
04:56
and I follow all the time is: Panic.
95
296260
2000
04:58
Panic is the great access of creativity
96
298260
3000
05:01
because that's the only way to get rid of your mind.
97
301260
2000
05:03
Get rid of your mind.
98
303260
2000
05:05
Get out of it, get it out.
99
305260
2000
05:07
And let's go to the universe because
100
307260
2000
05:09
there's something out there that is more
101
309260
2000
05:11
truthful than your mind,
102
311260
2000
05:13
that is more truthful than your universe.
103
313260
2000
05:15
[unclear], you said that yesterday. I'm just repeating it
104
315260
2000
05:17
because that's what I follow constantly
105
317260
2000
05:19
to find the shunyata somewhere, the emptiness.
106
319260
3000
05:22
Out of the emptiness comes a moment of creativity.
107
322260
3000
05:25
So that's what I do.
108
325260
2000
05:27
When I was a kid -- I was about eight years old.
109
327260
2000
05:29
You remember how India was. There was no pollution.
110
329260
3000
05:32
In Delhi, we used to live -- we used to call it a chhat or the khota.
111
332260
4000
05:36
Khota's now become a bad word. It means their terrace --
112
336260
3000
05:39
and we used to sleep out at night.
113
339260
2000
05:41
At school I was being just taught about physics,
114
341260
2000
05:43
and I was told that
115
343260
3000
05:46
if there is something that exists,
116
346260
2000
05:48
then it is measurable.
117
348260
3000
05:51
If it is not measurable,
118
351260
2000
05:53
it does not exist.
119
353260
2000
05:55
And at night I would lie out, looking at the unpolluted sky,
120
355260
3000
05:58
as Delhi used to be at that time when I was a kid,
121
358260
3000
06:01
and I used to stare at the universe and say,
122
361260
3000
06:04
"How far does this universe go?"
123
364260
2000
06:06
My father was a doctor.
124
366260
2000
06:08
And I would think, "Daddy, how far does the universe go?"
125
368260
3000
06:11
And he said, "Son, it goes on forever."
126
371260
3000
06:14
So I said, "Please measure forever
127
374260
3000
06:17
because in school they're teaching me
128
377260
2000
06:19
that if I cannot measure it, it does not exist.
129
379260
3000
06:22
It doesn't come into my frame of reference."
130
382260
3000
06:25
So, how far does eternity go?
131
385260
2000
06:27
What does forever mean?
132
387260
2000
06:29
And I would lie there crying at night
133
389260
3000
06:32
because my imagination could not touch creativity.
134
392260
3000
06:35
So what did I do?
135
395260
2000
06:37
At that time, at the tender age of seven,
136
397260
2000
06:39
I created a story.
137
399260
2000
06:41
What was my story?
138
401260
2000
06:43
And I don't know why, but I remember the story.
139
403260
3000
06:46
There was a woodcutter
140
406260
2000
06:48
who's about to take his ax and chop a piece of wood,
141
408260
3000
06:51
and the whole galaxy is one atom of that ax.
142
411260
4000
06:56
And when that ax hits that piece of wood,
143
416260
3000
06:59
that's when everything will destroy
144
419260
2000
07:01
and the Big Bang will happen again.
145
421260
2000
07:03
But all before that there was a woodcutter.
146
423260
2000
07:05
And then when I would run out of that story,
147
425260
2000
07:07
I would imagine that woodcutter's universe
148
427260
3000
07:10
is one atom in the ax of another woodcutter.
149
430260
3000
07:13
So every time, I could tell my story again and again
150
433260
3000
07:16
and get over this problem,
151
436260
2000
07:18
and so I got over the problem.
152
438260
3000
07:21
How did I do it? Tell a story.
153
441260
3000
07:24
So what is a story?
154
444260
2000
07:26
A story is our -- all of us --
155
446260
3000
07:29
we are the stories we tell ourselves.
156
449260
3000
07:32
In this universe, and this existence,
157
452260
4000
07:36
where we live with this duality
158
456260
2000
07:38
of whether we exist or not
159
458260
2000
07:40
and who are we,
160
460260
2000
07:42
the stories we tell ourselves are the stories
161
462260
3000
07:45
that define the potentialities
162
465260
2000
07:47
of our existence.
163
467260
2000
07:49
We are the stories we tell ourselves.
164
469260
3000
07:54
So that's as wide as we look at stories.
165
474260
2000
07:56
A story is the relationship
166
476260
2000
07:58
that you develop between who you are,
167
478260
4000
08:02
or who you potentially are,
168
482260
2000
08:04
and the infinite world, and that's our mythology.
169
484260
3000
08:07
We tell our stories,
170
487260
3000
08:10
and a person without a story does not exist.
171
490260
3000
08:13
So Einstein told a story
172
493260
3000
08:16
and followed his stories and came up with theories
173
496260
3000
08:19
and came up with theories and then came up with his equations.
174
499260
3000
08:22
Alexander had a story that his mother used to tell him,
175
502260
3000
08:25
and he went out to conquer the world.
176
505260
2000
08:27
We all, everybody, has a story that they follow.
177
507260
3000
08:30
We tell ourselves stories.
178
510260
2000
08:32
So, I will go further, and I say,
179
512260
3000
08:35
"I tell a story, and therefore I exist."
180
515260
2000
08:37
I exist because there are stories,
181
517260
2000
08:39
and if there are no stories, we don't exist.
182
519260
2000
08:41
We create stories to define our existence.
183
521260
3000
08:44
If we do not create the stories,
184
524260
2000
08:46
we probably go mad.
185
526260
3000
08:49
I don't know; I'm not sure, but that's what I've done all the time.
186
529260
3000
08:52
Now, a film.
187
532260
4000
08:56
A film tells a story.
188
536260
2000
08:58
I often wonder when I make a film -- I'm thinking of making a film of the Buddha --
189
538260
3000
09:01
and I often wonder: If Buddha had all the elements
190
541260
4000
09:05
that are given to a director --
191
545260
2000
09:07
if he had music, if he had visuals, if he had a video camera --
192
547260
3000
09:10
would we get Buddhism better?
193
550260
2000
09:12
But that puts some kind of burden on me.
194
552260
2000
09:14
I have to tell a story
195
554260
2000
09:16
in a much more elaborate way,
196
556260
2000
09:18
but I have the potential.
197
558260
2000
09:20
It's called subtext.
198
560260
2000
09:22
When I first went to Hollywood, they said --
199
562260
2000
09:24
I used to talk about subtext, and my agent came to me,
200
564260
2000
09:26
"Would you kindly not talk about subtext?"
201
566260
3000
09:29
And I said, "Why?" He said, "Because nobody is going to give you a film
202
569260
2000
09:31
if you talk about subtext.
203
571260
2000
09:34
Just talk about plot
204
574260
2000
09:36
and say how wonderful you'll shoot the film,
205
576260
2000
09:38
what the visuals will be."
206
578260
2000
09:40
So when I look at a film,
207
580260
2000
09:42
here's what we look for:
208
582260
2000
09:44
We look for a story on the plot level,
209
584260
3000
09:47
then we look for a story
210
587260
2000
09:49
on the psychological level,
211
589260
2000
09:51
then we look for a story on the political level,
212
591260
3000
09:54
then we look at a story
213
594260
2000
09:56
on a mythological level.
214
596260
2000
09:58
And I look for stories on each level.
215
598260
2000
10:00
Now, it is not necessary
216
600260
2000
10:02
that these stories agree with each other.
217
602260
3000
10:05
What is wonderful is,
218
605260
2000
10:07
at many times, the stories will contradict with each other.
219
607260
4000
10:11
So when I work with Rahman who's a great musician,
220
611260
2000
10:13
I often tell him, "Don't follow what the script already says.
221
613260
4000
10:17
Find that which is not.
222
617260
2000
10:19
Find the truth for yourself,
223
619260
2000
10:21
and when you find the truth for yourself,
224
621260
2000
10:23
there will be a truth in it, but it may contradict the plot,
225
623260
2000
10:25
but don't worry about it."
226
625260
2000
10:29
So, the sequel to "Elizabeth," "Golden Age."
227
629260
3000
10:32
When I made the sequel to "Elizabeth," here was a story that
228
632260
2000
10:34
the writer was telling:
229
634260
2000
10:36
A woman who was threatened
230
636260
3000
10:39
by Philip II
231
639260
2000
10:41
and was going to war,
232
641260
2000
10:43
and was going to war, fell in love with Walter Raleigh.
233
643260
2000
10:45
Because she fell in love with Walter Raleigh,
234
645260
3000
10:48
she was giving up the reasons she was a queen,
235
648260
2000
10:50
and then Walter Raleigh
236
650260
2000
10:52
fell in love with her lady in waiting,
237
652260
2000
10:54
and she had to decide whether she was a queen going to war
238
654260
2000
10:56
or she wanted...
239
656260
3000
11:00
Here's the story I was telling:
240
660260
3000
11:03
The gods up there,
241
663260
2000
11:05
there were two people.
242
665260
2000
11:07
There was Philip II, who was divine
243
667260
3000
11:10
because he was always praying,
244
670260
3000
11:13
and there was Elizabeth, who was divine,
245
673260
2000
11:15
but not quite divine because she thought she was divine,
246
675260
2000
11:17
but the blood of being mortal flowed in her.
247
677260
3000
11:20
But the divine one was unjust,
248
680260
3000
11:23
so the gods said,
249
683260
2000
11:25
"OK, what we need to do is
250
685260
2000
11:27
help the just one."
251
687260
3000
11:30
And so they helped the just one.
252
690260
2000
11:32
And what they did was, they sent Walter Raleigh down
253
692260
3000
11:35
to physically separate her mortal self
254
695260
3000
11:38
from her spirit self.
255
698260
2000
11:40
And the mortal self was the girl
256
700260
2000
11:42
that Walter Raleigh was sent,
257
702260
2000
11:44
and gradually he separated her
258
704260
3000
11:47
so she was free to be divine.
259
707260
2000
11:49
And the two divine people fought,
260
709260
2000
11:51
and the gods were on the side of divinity.
261
711260
2000
11:53
Of course, all the British press got really upset.
262
713260
3000
11:57
They said, "We won the Armada."
263
717260
3000
12:00
But I said, "But the storm won the Armada.
264
720260
2000
12:02
The gods sent the storm."
265
722260
2000
12:04
So what was I doing?
266
724260
2000
12:06
I was trying to find a mythic reason
267
726260
2000
12:08
to make the film.
268
728260
2000
12:10
Of course, when I asked Cate Blanchett, I said, "What's the film about?"
269
730260
3000
12:13
She said, "The film's about a woman
270
733260
2000
12:15
coming to terms with growing older."
271
735260
3000
12:18
Psychological.
272
738260
2000
12:20
The writer said "It's about history, plot."
273
740260
3000
12:23
I said "It's about mythology,
274
743260
2000
12:25
the gods."
275
745260
2000
12:27
So let me show you a film --
276
747260
2000
12:29
a piece from that film --
277
749260
2000
12:31
and how a camera also --
278
751260
2000
12:33
so this is a scene, where in my mind,
279
753260
2000
12:35
she was at the depths of mortality.
280
755260
3000
12:38
She was discovering what mortality actually means,
281
758260
3000
12:41
and if she is at the depths of mortality,
282
761260
3000
12:44
what really happens.
283
764260
2000
12:46
And she's recognizing the dangers of mortality
284
766260
2000
12:48
and why she should break away from mortality.
285
768260
3000
12:51
Remember, in the film, to me,
286
771260
2000
12:53
both her and her lady in waiting
287
773260
2000
12:55
were parts of the same body,
288
775260
2000
12:57
one the mortal self
289
777260
2000
12:59
and one the spirit self.
290
779260
3000
13:02
So can we have that second?
291
782260
2000
13:04
(Music)
292
784260
2000
13:06
Elizabeth: Bess?
293
786260
2000
13:10
Bess?
294
790260
2000
13:13
Bess Throckmorton?
295
793260
2000
13:20
Bess: Here, my lady.
296
800260
2000
13:22
Elizabeth: Tell me, is it true?
297
802260
2000
13:24
Are you with child?
298
804260
3000
13:28
Are you with child?
299
808260
2000
13:30
Bess: Yes, my lady.
300
810260
2000
13:32
Elizabeth: Traitorous.
301
812260
3000
13:35
You dare to keep secrets from me?
302
815260
2000
13:37
You ask my permission before you rut,
303
817260
3000
13:40
before you breed.
304
820260
2000
13:42
My bitches wear my collars.
305
822260
2000
13:44
Do you hear me? Do you hear me?
306
824260
2000
13:46
Walsingham: Majesty. Please, dignity. Mercy.
307
826260
3000
13:49
Elizabeth: This is no time for mercy, Walsingham.
308
829260
3000
13:52
You go to your traitor brother and leave me to my business.
309
832260
3000
13:55
Is it his?
310
835260
2000
13:57
Tell me. Say it. Is the child his? Is it his?
311
837260
3000
14:00
Bess: Yes.
312
840260
2000
14:02
My lady,
313
842260
2000
14:04
it is my husband's child.
314
844260
3000
14:09
Elizabeth: Bitch! (Cries)
315
849260
3000
14:12
Raleigh: Majesty.
316
852260
2000
14:14
This is not the queen I love and serve.
317
854260
3000
14:22
Elizabeth: This man has seduced a ward of the queen,
318
862260
3000
14:25
and she has married without royal consent.
319
865260
3000
14:29
These offenses are punishable by law. Arrest him.
320
869260
3000
14:33
Go.
321
873260
2000
14:39
You no longer have the queen's protection.
322
879260
3000
14:43
Bess: As you wish, Majesty.
323
883260
3000
14:46
Elizabeth: Get out! Get out! Get out!
324
886260
3000
14:53
Get out.
325
893260
2000
14:55
(Music)
326
895260
3000
15:16
Shekhar Kapur: So, what am I trying to do here?
327
916260
3000
15:20
Elizabeth has realized,
328
920260
2000
15:22
and she's coming face-to-face
329
922260
2000
15:24
with her own sense of jealousy,
330
924260
2000
15:26
her own sense of mortality.
331
926260
2000
15:28
What am I doing with the architecture?
332
928260
3000
15:31
The architecture is telling a story.
333
931260
2000
15:33
The architecture is telling a story
334
933260
2000
15:35
about how, even though she's the most powerful woman
335
935260
2000
15:37
in the world at that time,
336
937260
2000
15:39
there is the other, the architecture's bigger.
337
939260
3000
15:43
The stone is bigger than her because stone is an organic.
338
943260
2000
15:45
It'll survive her.
339
945260
2000
15:47
So it's telling you, to me, stone is part of her destiny.
340
947260
3000
15:51
Not only that, why is the camera looking down?
341
951260
3000
15:54
The camera's looking down at her because she's in the well.
342
954260
3000
15:57
She's in the absolute well
343
957260
2000
15:59
of her own sense of being mortal.
344
959260
3000
16:02
That's where she has to pull herself out
345
962260
3000
16:05
from the depths of mortality,
346
965260
2000
16:07
come in, release her spirit.
347
967260
2000
16:09
And that's the moment where, in my mind,
348
969260
2000
16:11
both Elizabeth and Bess are the same person.
349
971260
3000
16:14
But that's the moment
350
974260
2000
16:16
she's surgically removing herself from that.
351
976260
3000
16:19
So the film is operating on
352
979260
2000
16:21
many many levels in that scene.
353
981260
2000
16:23
And how we tell stories
354
983260
2000
16:25
visually, with music, with actors,
355
985260
3000
16:28
and at each level it's a different sense
356
988260
2000
16:30
and sometimes contradictory to each other.
357
990260
3000
16:34
So how do I start all this?
358
994260
5000
16:39
What's the process of telling a story?
359
999260
3000
16:42
About ten years ago,
360
1002260
2000
16:44
I heard this little thing from a politician,
361
1004260
3000
16:47
not a politician that was very well respected in India.
362
1007260
3000
16:50
And he said that these people in the cities,
363
1010260
3000
16:53
in one flush, expend as much water
364
1013260
4000
16:57
as you people in the rural areas
365
1017260
2000
16:59
don't get for your family for two days.
366
1019260
3000
17:02
That struck a chord, and I said, "That's true."
367
1022260
3000
17:05
I went to see a friend of mine,
368
1025260
2000
17:07
and he made me wait
369
1027260
2000
17:09
in his apartment in Malabar Hill
370
1029260
2000
17:11
on the twentieth floor,
371
1031260
2000
17:13
which is a really, really upmarket area in Mumbai.
372
1033260
2000
17:15
And he was having a shower for 20 minutes.
373
1035260
2000
17:17
I got bored and left, and as I drove out,
374
1037260
2000
17:19
I drove past the slums of Bombay,
375
1039260
2000
17:21
as you always do,
376
1041260
2000
17:23
and I saw lines and lines in the hot midday sun
377
1043260
2000
17:25
of women and children with buckets
378
1045260
3000
17:28
waiting for a tanker
379
1048260
2000
17:30
to come and give them water.
380
1050260
2000
17:32
And an idea started to develop.
381
1052260
2000
17:34
So how does that become a story?
382
1054260
2000
17:36
I suddenly realized that we are heading towards disaster.
383
1056260
3000
17:39
So my next film is called "Paani"
384
1059260
2000
17:41
which means water.
385
1061260
2000
17:43
And now, out of the mythology of that,
386
1063260
2000
17:45
I'm starting to create a world.
387
1065260
2000
17:47
What kind of world do I create,
388
1067260
2000
17:49
and where does the idea, the design of that come?
389
1069260
3000
17:52
So, in my mind, in the future,
390
1072260
2000
17:54
they started to build flyovers.
391
1074260
3000
17:57
You understand flyovers? Yeah?
392
1077260
2000
17:59
They started to build flyovers
393
1079260
2000
18:01
to get from A to B faster,
394
1081260
2000
18:03
but they effectively went from one area of relative wealth
395
1083260
3000
18:06
to another area of relative wealth.
396
1086260
2000
18:08
And then what they did was
397
1088260
2000
18:10
they created a city above the flyovers.
398
1090260
2000
18:12
And the rich people moved to the upper city
399
1092260
3000
18:15
and left the poorer people in the lower cities,
400
1095260
3000
18:18
about 10 to 12 percent of the people
401
1098260
3000
18:21
have moved to the upper city.
402
1101260
2000
18:23
Now, where does this upper city and lower city come?
403
1103260
2000
18:25
There's a mythology in India about --
404
1105260
2000
18:27
where they say, and I'll say it in Hindi,
405
1107260
3000
18:30
[Hindi]
406
1110260
4000
18:34
Right. What does that mean?
407
1114260
2000
18:36
It says that the rich are always sitting on the shoulders
408
1116260
3000
18:39
and survive on the shoulders of the poor.
409
1119260
2000
18:41
So, from that mythology, the upper city and lower city come.
410
1121260
2000
18:43
So the design has a story.
411
1123260
3000
18:46
And now, what happens is that the people of the upper city,
412
1126260
3000
18:49
they suck up all the water.
413
1129260
2000
18:51
Remember the word I said, suck up.
414
1131260
2000
18:53
They suck up all the water, keep to themselves,
415
1133260
2000
18:55
and they drip feed the lower city.
416
1135260
2000
18:57
And if there's any revolution, they cut off the water.
417
1137260
2000
18:59
And, because democracy still exists,
418
1139260
3000
19:02
there's a democratic way in which you say
419
1142260
3000
19:05
"Well, if you give us what [we want], we'll give you water."
420
1145260
3000
19:08
So, okay my time is up.
421
1148260
2000
19:10
But I can go on about telling you
422
1150260
2000
19:12
how we evolve stories,
423
1152260
2000
19:14
and how stories effectively are who we are
424
1154260
3000
19:17
and how these get translated into the particular discipline
425
1157260
2000
19:19
that I am in, which is film.
426
1159260
2000
19:21
But ultimately, what is a story? It's a contradiction.
427
1161260
3000
19:24
Everything's a contradiction.
428
1164260
2000
19:26
The universe is a contradiction.
429
1166260
2000
19:28
And all of us are constantly looking for harmony.
430
1168260
2000
19:30
When you get up, the night and day is a contradiction.
431
1170260
2000
19:32
But you get up at 4 a.m.
432
1172260
2000
19:34
That first blush of blue is where the night and day
433
1174260
2000
19:36
are trying to find harmony with each other.
434
1176260
3000
19:39
Harmony is the notes that Mozart didn't give you,
435
1179260
3000
19:42
but somehow the contradiction of his notes suggest that.
436
1182260
2000
19:44
All contradictions of his notes suggest the harmony.
437
1184260
4000
19:48
It's the effect of looking for harmony
438
1188260
2000
19:50
in the contradiction that exists in a poet's mind,
439
1190260
3000
19:53
a contradiction that exists in a storyteller's mind.
440
1193260
3000
19:56
In a storyteller's mind, it's a contradiction of moralities.
441
1196260
3000
19:59
In a poet's mind, it's a conflict of words,
442
1199260
2000
20:01
in the universe's mind, between day and night.
443
1201260
3000
20:04
In the mind of a man and a woman,
444
1204260
2000
20:06
we're looking constantly at
445
1206260
2000
20:08
the contradiction between male and female,
446
1208260
2000
20:10
we're looking for harmony within each other.
447
1210260
2000
20:12
The whole idea of contradiction,
448
1212260
3000
20:15
but the acceptance of contradiction
449
1215260
3000
20:18
is the telling of a story, not the resolution.
450
1218260
2000
20:20
The problem with a lot of the storytelling in Hollywood
451
1220260
2000
20:22
and many films, and as [unclear] was saying in his,
452
1222260
3000
20:25
that we try to resolve the contradiction.
453
1225260
3000
20:28
Harmony is not resolution.
454
1228260
2000
20:30
Harmony is the suggestion of a thing
455
1230260
2000
20:32
that is much larger than resolution.
456
1232260
2000
20:34
Harmony is the suggestion of something
457
1234260
2000
20:36
that is embracing and universal
458
1236260
3000
20:39
and of eternity and of the moment.
459
1239260
2000
20:41
Resolution is something that is far more limited.
460
1241260
4000
20:45
It is finite; harmony is infinite.
461
1245260
3000
20:48
So that storytelling, like all other contradictions in the universe,
462
1248260
3000
20:51
is looking for harmony and infinity
463
1251260
3000
20:54
in moral resolutions, resolving one, but letting another go,
464
1254260
3000
20:57
letting another go and creating a question that is really important.
465
1257260
4000
21:01
Thank you very much.
466
1261260
2000
21:03
(Applause)
467
1263260
3000
About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7