Joyful Jubilant Learning

Star Wars: Learning The Grand Narrative

It's 1977.  I'm 11 years old.  I'm at the cinema with my friends.  As far as I recall, it's the first time I've gone to the pictures as a 'grown up', without my parents.

The film is Star Wars.

The opening sequence rolls.

From that moment until now and, I suspect, until my dying day, I was enthralled.  I still get goose bumps as soon as I hear the music and I must have watched the film 2 dozen times (not to mention playing and replaying the LP of the soundtrack...)

I know Star Wars isn't an arty film.  I know some people are surprised when I name it as my favourite. (This is partly because my mind goes blank when asked my favourite anything - book, film, place, meal - just blank. It's only Star Wars that sticks.)  I've been to lots of film classes and learned about plot, structure, genre, narrative - but it's Star Wars that stays resolutely stuck in my mind (body, heart, soul).

In later years I've learned more about how and why Star Wars 'works': explanations of heroic archetypes and the nature of the hero's journey.  (You'll find it all in The Writer's Journey by Christopher Vogler). 

And this has helped me understand more about how story functions, and why narratives matter.

But it's never entirely explained to me why I love this film so much. 

I think it was partly my age, on the threshold of adulthood. 

Partly the new ground that Lucas broke with this film.  The loving attention to detail, the perfectly drawn characters, the explosive effects. 

Story told on a huge, heroic scale.

All of which means that every time I hear the music, see a movie clip, or settle down once again to watch the opening sequence roll...I'm lost again.

Falling into that remembered sense of possibility and adventure.  The call to action.  The invitation to set off and explore this wondrous universe.

Do you have a favourite film that's stayed with you over the years?  What have you learned about its impact? About the film, or about yourself?

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The author Joanna Young is a writing coach who lives and works in Edinburgh.

You can read more of her work at the Confident Writing blog.  This month she's writing about powerful writing; stay tuned for next month's focus on writing with purpose.

You'll also find Joanna on Twitter @joannayoung

Treats at the Movies

JJLers; please join me in welcoming Candace Malone of our Ho‘ohana Community with her first guest posting for Joyful Jubilant Learning!

Now when it comes to the movies, I’m all in, all genres, all the time, Popcorn, Snowcaps, Cherry Coke
and all!

When I think of learning and the cinema 3 of my favorites come to mind; Love and Basketball, The Truman Show, and Ocean’s Eleven.

Love & Basketball

I’m really into sweet family love stories and Love & Basketball is just that. It stars the beautiful Sanaa Lathan as Monica and very “pre-House” actor Omar Epps as Quincy; both wanted to be professional basketball stars since they were kids and neighbors. Quincy is the neighboring child of a B-Ball Giant while Monica has to work hard to establish herself, and Quincy is born with natural star potential.

As the two struggle to reach their goals of playing professionally, they must also deal with their love/hate feelings for each other. The two become close friends throughout their turbulent adolescent years to eventually becoming lovers as young adults. The sports love duo separates from each other after Quincy’s ego is altered by Monica’s love for basketball while playing in college. Monica rises to the top and becomes a professional player overseas while Quincy struggles in the U.S. The tear-jerker prism of the movie occurs when Monica returns home due to feelings of isolation and an undying love for Quincy. She must choose between playing basketball her passion/career or fighting for her love, Quincy for which she must sacrifice her, job, status, and ego. She asks Quincy to play her (basketball) for her heart.

So what’s there to learn?

Sometimes you have to sacrifice in order to be happy. “What and How much of yourself are you willing to share with others?” When you know exactly what you want you have to take time out, refocus, direct your life, make sacrifices and fight for what you believe in. Whether, its your career or family, you have to take a chance on what you love.

Ocean’s Eleven

You all know the story of Ocean’s Eleven and seen the screen version with Sammy or Clooney, 12 or 13. A chop-chop group of thieves and shady characters are brought together by one man, Clooney (Ocean) to rob a Vegas casino, owned by his true love’s (Roberts) new husband. Besides Clooney and Pitt’s debonair looks the all-star cast ensemble is a creative genius thievery crew, that manages to provide humor, drama, and the occasional “how did he do that?”

So what’s there to learn?

What I like to call Stone Leadership, think the children’s classic, Stone Soup. Ocean (Clooney) was able to assemble a high functioning team, with each member having input, a unique talent, and buy-in on the project while sharing his vision. LOL, they shared it long enough to make a sequel. Just because someone in your group or work team does things differently to get the job done, don’t write them off, embrace their creative juices and make it work for the mission of the organization.

The Truman Show

Now as far as The Truman Show, starring Jim Carrey, I have one sentence of learned wisdom: Investigate! Investigate! Investigate! When you have a major hunch or gut feeling about something you gotta dive deeper into it. You never know what the outcome may be. Everything is not as it seems. In the Truman Show, Truman was living in a Hollywood reality-show created microcosm from childhood to adulthood unknowingly until he noticed several unique patterns in his environment and investigated by asking questions, listening to stories, and evaluating the behaviors of those around him.

So what’s there to learn?

Always research and evaluate before committing to anything.

I could go on and on but lastly, I’ve learned that buying my favorite treats at the cinema, you know $4.00 cokes, etc. is not being fiscally responsible, nor is enjoying my butter laden popcorn helping my fitness goals, lol!

---Candace Malone

Candace Malone is a "Gen X/Y cusper," Human Resource Development Practioner in Maryland who enjoys volunteering with women & children in her community and is an advocate for mental health services.

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Editor's note: The movie links we have offered here will take you to The Internet Movie Database --- Mahalo to JJLer Dwayne Melancon for the tip!
[Photo credit: “Jujyfruits” on Flickr by Darwin Bell]

What have you learned from the movies? You can get published on Joyful Jubilant Learning too! ~~~ May Details here

Movie nights, Learning Opportunities and Wise Wizards

Movies can be so special.

In our family, we don’t watch a lot of television. But we do have frequent ‘movie nights’, which we all love.  Late in the afternoon after a busy day my youngest child, who is 10, sometimes asks “Can we have a movie night Mum?”

Last weekend, he and I were the only ones home and he was feeling a little bit low, so I suggested an afternoon movie. What a treat! We popped some popcorn and snuggled together on the couch. We’d watched the Home Alone series the weekend before, so what to watch now?

It was a toss up between Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings. Harry won.

After that first afternoon, we watched our way through all the (released) Harry Potters over the course of the week… with and without other members of the family. And had great discussions about important life stuff as a result.

Watching movies with our kids can give us some great opportunities for those little chats, can't they?

It's not all about wands and spells, the magic lies in the wisdom and life lessons... Here's a few of my favourite magical Potter-y gems:

It is not our abilities that show what we truly are, it is our choices
    -    Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Now is the time that we must choose between what is right and what is easy
    -    Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to your friends
    -    Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

It does not do to dwell on dreams, Harry, and forget to live
    -    Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

Working hard is important, but there’s something that matters even more - believing in yourself
    -    Harry in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

We have all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the power we choose to act on. That’s who we really are
    -    Sirius Black in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

What is your favourite quote from a movie?

Has a movie changed your life?

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                     This has been a contribution to our theme for May - Learning from the Movies! 
Post author, Karen Wallace believes that wizards are very wise beings indeed. Coming from a muggle family, she loves to learn from those wise and magical beings who can see straight to the core of the matter. You can read more of her search for magic, and love of quotes, at The Clearing Space and at the online magazine The Calm Space.

You can get published on Joyful Jubilant Learning too! ~~~ May Details here

 

Art imitates life

As I pondered this month’s Learning at the Movies theme, I thought of a few of my own “rules” I’ve developed about movies:

Pretend there is no Godfather III

The first two Godfather movies were awesome and made a huge impression on me. However, when I saw the third one I was tremendously disappointed. I’m not even linking to it on IMDB. The problem is that this dud of a movie has now tainted the trilogy forever, at least for me. I’m hoping they come up with a way to unreleased it and release a different movie in its place.

What I learned: Past performance is not always an indicator of future results – each project requires my dedication, creativity, hard work, and a compelling story so it doesn’t taint my past success.

Careful with the accent

Some actors try to use accents that aren’t their own and do it very poorly.  Some can get away with it such as Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, Forest Whitaker, and Hugh Laurie to name a few. Most can’t.

What I learned: Be careful trying to be what you’re not.

Just for the record: Adam Sandler’s accent in The Waterboy in no way resembles any Cajun accent I’ve ever heard – and, as a half Cajun from Louisiana, I’ve heard a lot of them.

Avoid movies with Mario van Peebles in them

The first time I remember seeing Mario van Peebles in a movie, it was Highlander III. He was just not believable in his role in that movie, and that was one of the primary reasons I didn’t like that movie (OK, maybe it was a bad story but I find it convenient to blame Mario).

I’ve now seen him in quite a few other movies, and can’t stand watching him.  It’s not that I think he is such a bad actor – it’s just that I can’t get past my initial negative perceptions of him for ruining the Highlander family of movies for me.

What I learned: Making a bad first impression can limit my future success, and make it easier for people to “typecast” me in a way I may not deserve.

Kevin Costner is not good in everything

I really enjoyed the first few Kevin Costner movies I saw. One day, though, I was watching one of his movies and it just seemed like he was playing the same character, the same way, over and over again. Eventually, I couldn’t see the character – only the actor. Not a good thing.

What I learned: I don’t want to play the same character all the time. I need to move outside my comfort zone and develop new skills and to expand my repertoire in life – at work, home, etc. – to keep things interesting.

A corollary: Just because Kevin Costner is the star doesn’t make the movie good, and just “being the boss” doesn’t mean your ideas are all great ones.

Beware Russell Crowe and Mr. Hyde

Russell Crowe is an amazing actor. The Insider, A Beautiful Mind, Master and Commander, Gladiator, Cinderella Man, 3:10 to Yuma… the list of great movies he’s made goes on and on. He is also famous for lots of stupid outbursts and inappropriate behavior off the screen – and he has fallen out of favor in his career at various points due to his negative PR.

What I learned: Don’t let my strengths make me blind to my weaknesses. I can be awesome in one part of my life, but that doesn’t mean I can get away with being lousy in another part of their life – eventually, “being lousy” will negatively impact “awesome.”

Weird works for Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp has played some unusual roles: Jack Sparrow, Donnie Brasco, Sweeney Todd, Gilbert Grape, Edward Scissorhands, and more. He made them all work and I believed every one of them – sometimes I’d describe myself as “captivated” by his characters. Not many actors could pull off that range, but he clearly can.

What I learned: Sometimes daring, unexpected choices can pay off. Have the confidence to put it out there – but give it your all when you do.

It’s not just star power

I was watching Primer the other day, and I really enjoyed it. This is a movie full of unknown actors from an unknown director, and it was made for about $7000 (yes). It is also really good, doesn't look cheap, and was very well received (it won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival), and has become very successful on DVD.

What I learned: You don’t need a “star” on your team or a huge budget to achieve awesome results. Any team can be wildly successful if they have a great idea, strong commitment, and the ability to work together toward a common goal.

These are just a few things I’ve learned from the movies. What about you – got any parallels between the movies and real life to share?

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Dwayne Melancon is the author of Genuine Curiosity, where he is always on the lookout for new things to learn.

Pangea Day is May 10th

When we decided on this month's theme on film and learning from the movies, we had honestly forgotten about Pangea Day coming this month, yet what a perfect fit!

I will quickly point you back to our archives today:

Added to the JJL Calendar: Pangea Day 2008

Add the Saturday May 10th celebrations to your calendars as well!

Pangea Day came to be when visionary documentary filmmaker, TED Prize winner, and Pangea Day founder Jehane Noujaim spoke to an audience of “the world’s leading thinkers and doers” at the 2006 annual TED Conference, and unveiled her inspiring wish to change the world through the power of film.

You can go directly to the site for a few short trailers, and for the broadcast information:

Pangea Day 2008.

Quick thoughts: What if we were to have an open-mic kind of conversation here at JJL on our film-inspired learning triggers while the 4-hour internet broadcast is scheduled? The 4-hour program begins at 18:00 GMT ---there is a handy time converter there at the Pangea Day site so you can check what time that will be where you are :)

Going with Heart: The King of Hearts

One of my favorite movies of all time is the King of Hearts from 1966.

Here is the summary from a Wikipedia entry on the film:

This 1966 film, directed by Philippe de Broca, stars Alan Bates as Charles Plumpick, a kilt-wearing Scottish soldier who is sent by his commanding officer to disarm the bomb. When Plumpick enters the town, he unknowingly leaves the door to the insane asylum open while being chased by the Germans. When the Germans have left the town, all of the inmates leave the asylum and playfully take over the town. The adorable lunatics coronate Plumpick King of Hearts with surreal pageantry as he frantically tries to find the bomb before it goes off. The film ends with the question of who is more insane, those in the asylum or the soldiers on the battlefield.

I love the movie because it is romantic, charming, and carries a powerful message in a gentle and loving way.

I loved the blurring of the line between insanity and sanity and that things are not always as they seem. The movie resonates with findings from social cognitive psychology that mentally healthy people do not face reality.

Research from Dr. Shelley Taylor and others have found that mentally healthy people do not face reality! They buffer reality with 3 positive illusions: unrealistically positive views of the self, illusions of control, and unrealistic optimism.

I believe Dr. Phil is off base at times when he cajoles us to: Get Real!

Frequent readers of this blog will identify that this film fits with my signature story. Click here to read the post on signature stories and Don Quixote.

Keep both your heart and mind open and you might just find a very rich kingdom of living and loving both inside yourself and connected to your relationships.

If you get a chance, give yourself the royal treatment and watch the King of Hearts.
~ Post by David Zinger

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JJL Editorial Postscript:
David's own website (www.davidzinger.com) is devoted to work engagement and he is working hard to foster higher levels of authentic employee engagement that will be of benefit to all.

Click here to visit and join the exciting and growing network David founded for people interested, involved, or engaged in employee engagement.

Click here for more from David here at Joyful Jubilant Learning. His last article for us was on our April theme of Digital Learning: 4 Zingers in Digital Learning.

You can get published on Joyful Jubilant Learning too! ~~~ May Details here

Surprised by joy

I am a C. S. Lewis fan not because I understand all that he writes but because I don't. He makes me think and I appreciate any author who can do that. In his autobiographical work Surprised by Joy, he writes of his pursuit of "joy". Through a painful childhood involving a horrendous schooling and abandoning father he learns valuable, lifelong lessons.

The book's last two chapters focuses on his journey from atheism to theism and from theism to Christianity. Lewis ultimately discovers the true nature and purpose of joy and its place in his own life. In fact, at the end of the book, he points out that the pursuit of joy has lost all meaning since he met its Source (there's a great lesson there, too).

During his writing of this work, he begins a penpal relationship with Helen Joy Gresham who lived in New York. According to Wikipedia, "She was an American poet and writer, a radical communist, and an atheist before converting to Christianity in the 1940s." Ultimately, they marry and he is "surprised by Joy". Soon after their marriage, she dies of cancer, leaving Lewis to finish rearing her two boys from a previous marriage.

What does all this have to do with movies? One of my favorites is Shadowlands which tells this endearing love story. It is filled with marvelous lessons that everyone needs to hear and learn. Perhaps the most thoughtful is at the end of the movie. Lewis and the two boys are walking across a shadowed pasture land (powerful imagery); as you see them walking away, a closing summary lesson is presented:

Why love, if losing hurts so much? I have no answers anymore: only the life I have lived. Twice in that life I've been given the choice: as a boy and as a man. The boy chose safety, the man chooses suffering. The pain now is part of the happiness then. That's the deal.

~ Dean Boyer

JJL Editorial Notes:
Read more from Dean here at Joyful Jubilant Learning! Most recently he has written:

• Teaching with the heart of aloha in a digital age
• A Celebration of Children
• Children and Their Books

Change it up!

When my kids were younger I was quite a sucker for Disney movies, for besides being pretty good TV for my children (other than the occasional miss), they proved to be a goldmine for complementary management lessons I could take to work. Carefully chosen video clips are great for spicing up an otherwise run-of-the-mill staff meeting.

A favorite scene for me was in the Mighty Ducks movie about a group of young misfits finding camaraderie and their youthful purpose as an emerging hockey team. In this particular scene their errant coach is m.i.a. for a crucial game, and they convince their school-assigned tutor to pretend she is their coach so they won’t have to forfeit the game.

As you might imagine, she has no clue about hockey and just slightly more about coaching them, but she recognizes a downhill slide when she sees it, and gestures helplessly as the game deteriorates.

“This is not working! What do we do?” she asks a benched team captain in desperation, and he replies, “Just stand up there where they can see and hear you, and yell, ‘Change it up!’”

She looks at him as if to say, yeah right, that will help, but not having any better ideas she fills her lungs and screams, “Change it up!”

Almost instantly, players scramble to change positions and try a different play sequence. The tutor still doesn’t really understand what’s going on, but she’d mustered the momentary confidence to direct them, and in fearlessly changing course, trusting in her direction, the players snap out of the auto-pilot of their losing streak’s grip. The game starts to turn in their favor, and soon victory is theirs.

As the saying goes, “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” If you want more, or you want different, you’ve got to “Change it up!”

Describing the scene has become a favorite way for me to explain to managers about the positives that can come with change. The movie was pretty popular, for heads would nod and there would be smiles in remembrance as Disney would deliver a great analogy for me time and time again. The best way to look at change is with that expectancy of shift; change makes things happen. The change itself is rarely good or bad; what makes it appear one way or the other is the way we humans handle it.

There’s two kinds of change

There’s bad change, and there’s good change. Here’s the rub: The exact same change can be either one or the other depending on our point of view about it. Normally it seems to work something like this:

When change happens TO us, and gets imposed on us, causing us to be reactive, we think of it as bad change. It shakes up our sense of security, and makes things unpredictable. We scramble to do the best we can, but it’s pretty stressful.

On the other hand, good change is change we intentionally and deliberately CHOOSE; we use it for the catalyst it has the potential to be, so we can get more than we’ve gotten before. We “Change it up!” on purpose. The phrase we usually use for this good change? Strategic Initiatives. Initiative.

Bad change is imposed and involuntary. Good change is initiated and championed.

With bad change people react as victims. With good change, they take actions they choose as leaders.

Change is going to happen one way or another. So choose it. Design it. Plan it. Execute it.

Ho‘o — make things happen.

Ho‘ohana — make things work, and make ‘em work your way.

If the Mighty Ducks could do it playing a seemingly hopeless hockey game, so can you.
~ Rosa Say

Postscript: This posting has been newly edited from another which originally appeared at Talking Story with Say Leadership Coaching. You can click over there to read comments and a trackback by JJLers Chris Owen and Dean Boyer.

What have you learned from the movies? You can get published on Joyful Jubilant Learning too! ~~~ May Details here

Post author Rosa Say is the author of Managing with Aloha, Bringing Hawaii's Universal Values to the Art of Business, and she currently writes for Managing with Aloha Coaching, Value your Month, Value your Life.

Rosa also serves as the managing editor of Joyful Jubilant Learning; her letter for 2008 can be found on our About Page.

For all of Rosa's writing aggregated in just one place, visit her Tumblr, Ho‘ohana Aloha.

A Word a Day Keeps Your Mind at Play

As the final, (and one day late) post in the theme on digital learning tools I share a simple yet powerful one.

One of the most powerful tools in our learning toolbox is vocabulary.  Having a broader, deeper and bigger vocabulary correlates with intelligence, communication effectiveness, thinking prowess and success.  When we know more words we are able to think in more nuanced ways.  When we have a broader vocabulary we can share ideas more specifically and effectively.

I'm not suggesting we expand our vocabulary in order to impress people or "throw some words around", but rather that when we expand our vocabulary (and any reader of Rosa's work should understand this quickly) we enable new ways to think and interact with the world around us.

So, I've quickly given you the case for an expanded vocabulary, and there are a variety of ways to make that expansion happen.  Readers Digest has famously given readers a way to Increase Your Word Power for many years.  There are in numerous books on vocabulary building in any bookstore (often including some in the very discounted remainder area).

But this post is about digital tools you are thinking - so let me share the two I use.

A Word a Day.  Each day more than 600,000 people receive an email from Wordsmith.org.  That text email shares a word of the day (big surprise), history, usages and an example in a sentence.  Often the words for a week will follow some kind of theme.    This week's theme is words derived from the names of mythical creatures.   Today's word?I've been a reader for many years (I'm guessing far beyond ten) and I love the service.  I don't remember every word and some of the words are a bit academic and obscure - and while they are all interesting, they don't all lend themselves to frequent usage.  This is why I also read,

sphinx (sfingks) noun - A mysterious, inscrutable person.

Another word from this week?

argus (AHR-guhs) noun - An alert and observant person; a watchful guardian.

Will I believe I can use these words in conversation or written communication in the coming days?  Absolutely!

Daily PowerWord.  Produced by Success.bz these words tend to be a bit more practical at times.   A recent example?

Credible (KRED-uh-buhl) adj. - believable

Which leads to my next point.  Sometimes you will know the word (with either service). This is actually great!  How many times during a day do you read an email that reinforces your intelligence?

Seriously, there will be days when you know the word you receive from one of these services (or another of their like-minded brethren), and that is one reason I subscribe to two different services.

Reading the words each day is valuable, taking these tools, like many we've learned about this month, and applying them to our lives is another thing.  These services do a great job of leading you to the trough of greater vocabulary - it is our opportunity then to drink of those words, use them and make them a part of our vocabulary and our lives.
~ Kevin Eikenberry

Kevin Eikenberry is an author, speaker, trainer, consultant and the Chief Potential Officer of the Kevin Eikenberry Group - a learning consulting company.  He is also the author of Remarkable Leadership - Unleashing Your Leadership Potential One SKill at a Time. You can read his blogs here and here.

More from Kevin here at JJL.

You can get published on Joyful Jubilant Learning too! ~~~ May Details here

May at the Movies!

May is here, and we are so ready!

How about joining us at the cinema, for a matinee or late night show in May?

Whichever time of day you might choose, the popcorn will be fresh and buttery rich, and the company even better ...

In May, come with us to the movies!

This month we will be swapping stories about the learning we have done from movies.

I mean really, what could be more fun than that?

Movie audience found on Flickr by rpb1001.

I'm thinking we'll be in for some surprises... movies are so diverse, yet they are something which are pretty universally experienced. They are magical, mystical, mythical, mania-creating... just about every adjective you can think of can describe a movie that someone, somewhere, has seen and enjoyed.

But what have we learned from them?

Get Published on Joyful Jubilant Learning! Got a story to tell longer than what you want to squeeze in the comment boxes? Get published here on JJL as a Guest Author! What have YOU learned from the movies? Write your contribution to our month's theme, and send it to our Community Mailbox, with a short bio so we can introduce you to the community properly (you'll see what others do here). Essays for this month will be accepted up to May 21st for the publishing spots we still have available. This month's calendar: May 1 through 24: Learning at the Movies May 25: Rapid Fire Learning (We are the Digital World: Rapid Fire Learning for April 2008 and past index) May 26 through 31: Special Attractions

 

How about a little warm-up?

If we started a course called Learning from the Movies 101, which one would you add to our curriculum, and why?

...For instance, I think Dwayne might put his hand up and volunteer another crazy learning connection from Hysterical...

Remember Zombies?

Dwayne got us from this:

"The widow haunts an old lighthouse, and her spirit sweeps the town with a ghostly beacon from time to time. When the beacon shines on the unsuspecting people of the town, Captain Howdy appears, kills them, and turns them into zombies."

All the way to this:

"When it comes to lighthouses with constructive beacons, there are two simple guidelines: Seek one, and be one."

Good one, Dwayne.

So let's warm this month up with a fun start:

Scroll down to the comment box, and share one of your movie favorites with the rest of the Ho‘ohana community!
~ Rosa Say, managing editor, on behalf of the JJL Authors Hui

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Photo Credit of the Del Mar in Santa Cruz, California: "The Karate Kid" on Flickr by diebmx.