“Thank you, Mr. Lucas, and Serena Williams”
On August
20, 2022, I climbed out of my comfort zone, took a huge chance, and wrote to filmmaking luminary, George Lucas, asking what he thought
of “The Force of Life” as a new genre in literature and film. He has not responded to my letter.
Yet.
I’m hoping he will eventually write back. Yes, I’m an eternal optimist.
In my letter, I asked the following questions: “Do you believe in:
1. Reincarnation?
2. Life-Altering Love? (When encountering someone you’ve known/loved before in a past life.)
3. The interconnectivity of everyone/everything in the Universe?”
In my letter, I said that if
he answered "YES" to any of the
above questions, then perhaps he
would be interested in starting a new
genre of storytelling, which focuses on these elements. I let him know that I’ve tentatively named this new genre, "Force of Life"
storytelling. I
arrived at this idea
after decades of receiving
feedback and rejections from editors,
contest judges, or potential literary agents. I’ve summarized
their most consistent comments below:
1. Your writing has a unique and intricately developed
emotional core. It’s
fast paced, easy to follow,
with an engaging literary
style, well-developed characters, but an overall lack of conflict.
2. Your writing demonstrates refined talent,
imagination, and
thought-provoking nuances such as the possibility of reincarnation as a viable, scientific reality.
But your story does not follow the typical
paradigm where the protagonist has a goal, want, need, or desire.
This goal should force the hero to go on a literal, figurative, or symbolic journey where they overcome obstacles to
achieve their goal— ultimately helping them grow, arc, or learn a valuable
lesson.
In response, I must reject the notion
that successful storytelling requires the formulaic paradigm
described above. That’s not the only way to tell a story.
I find immense value in writing stories that show a "slice" of life,
a moment in time, or a series of
related events where my characters experience intense
emotions, which elicit growth.
These AH-HA
moments, or epiphanies are enough of
a Goal, Need, Want or Desire for anyone to
strive to attain, in my humble opinion— far more valid, poignant,
and necessary as elements of storytelling than is
“conflict”— they are
literally the "point" of writing stories or making films. They allow people to connect
with universal truths, then
in turn to grow and
evolve both individually and as a society.
This type of societal
growth may well be what our American Founding Fathers envisioned when writing the Declaration of Independence. If
these Founding Fathers had not been driven to seek drastic societal change, they
would never have rebelled against the
monarchy, and declared their
independence, stating, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…
Life, Liberty, and the pursuit
of Happiness.”
Monumental societal change is also
what I imagine Lincoln
envisioned when
choosing to devote his presidency to preserving the union and ending slavery.
He could no longer accept the “rules”
that allowed one human being to own another human being. He believed in a better way of life for all people, regardless of their skin color. Today,
this belief seems obvious. But just 157 years ago, this type of thinking was groundbreaking. Revolutionary.
Certainly “way outside the box” for
millions of Americans.
Our society is still evolving from the end of slavery and the push for racial equality for
all people everywhere.
In fact, over the
past few decades, the American public has evolved to the point
of becoming more socially conscious, diversity
driven, and LGBTQ+ accepting, by legalizing same-sex
marriages among other milestones. Likewise, our society
has become more open to women's
rights as a direct
result of the Suffragettes in the early 19th and
20th centuries.
The feminist movement starting
in the 1960's has evolved into the recent #MeTooMovement, giving
credence to women’s rights with a
louder roar than ever before, notwithstanding the occasional setback like overturning
Roe v. Wade. Incidentally, I believe
this will not be allowed to
stand, as the majority of Americans do not support this decision.
This makes me believe modern day
storytelling is on the verge of evolving
as well. This is my main point—which evolved while considering the following quotes:
1.
"People
who don't know anything tend to make up fake rules, the real
rules being considerably more difficult to learn."
~~ Aaron Sorkin
2.
"The rules are all in a 64-page
pamphlet by Aristotle called
"Poetics." It was written about 3,000 years ago, but I promise
you, if something is wrong with what you're writing, you've probably
broken one of Aristotle's rules." ~~Aaron Sorkin
As you may have guessed, I disagree
with Mr. Sorkin.
I've
often wondered why some writers today blindly
follow 3,000-year-old rules. I’m not saying
Aristotle was wrong. I’m saying that people evolve. Societies evolve.
Words and ideas evolve. When faced with a choice of following rules that have stopped
evolving— or
following my instincts in a manner more relevant to our times— I'd choose to write my own rules and my own truth. That is the height of authenticity. Therefore, I reject
Mr. Sorkin's quotes about "fake rules" or “Aristotle’s rules.”
In
fact, the second part of my thesis is this: I posit a new genre,
which does not require
CONFLICT, created by OBSTACLES, leading to a journey, an arc, and a life lesson. Instead, I propose a character driven genre which includes
the elements of Reincarnation,
Life-altering Love (induced by
meeting souls you've known and loved
in past lives), and the connectivity of everyone and everything
in the Universe, all of which can cause
ah-ha moments of profound
"knowing" and "evolving"
as humans. These elements are far
more relevant in today's world, than CONFLICT.
The US political turmoil found in the 2016 and 2020 elections,
the January 6th insurrection, and all
the Black Lives Matter protests of recent years
are proof that conflict is broiling
in our society. Conflict has infiltrated
every aspect of modern life. It’s too much, and it is NOT healthy. I believe conflict is outdated as the optimal mode of storytelling. It is also outdated
as way of living life. It’s no longer the be all, end all,
ultimate point of storytelling, or more importantly, it’s not the point of "life in general."
What would life look like if
conflict could be replaced by love and peace? I’m certainly
not the first thinker to voice this
opinion. Consider this:
“Love and peace of mind do protect
us.
They allow us to overcome the problems that life hands us. They teach us to survive…to
live now…to have the courage to confront each day.” ~
Bernie Sanders
What would it take to replace our
conflict-driven, strife-oriented, warlike mindset with the timeless
wisdom of treating everyone
(including nature, animals,
and the environment) only the
way you’d wish to be treated yourself? Can you imagine
a world like this? If you can imagine it, you can achieve it. If you can dream it, you can become
it. This is not a new concept.
Consider
John Lennon’s IMAGINE: “Imagine all the people
Livin' life in peace
Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people Sharing
all the world…”
I asked George Lucas these questions in my letter to him:
“Is the kind of
love and peace John Lennon described in “Imagine” even possible?
Don’t we need this
genre now more than ever?”
The jury is still out on whether
Mr. Lucas will respond.
So, while waiting for his response, I wrote another letter to a different superstar whom I’ve
also never met. This time, it was a “Thank You” note to Serena Williams,
whose recent article in VOGUE magazine hit home for me. It is titled “Serena Williams Says Farewell to Tennis On Her Own Terms—And In Her Own Words.”
Her writing resonated so strongly with
me because she gives herself permission
to break the rules and do
something unexpected. She says in so
many words,
“I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, toward
other things that are important
to me.”
She goes on to say in VOGUE, that she didn’t reach her goals, but
she’s okay with that:
“There are people who say I’m not the GOAT because I didn’t pass Margaret Court’s record of 24 grand slam titles…
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want that record. Obviously, I do. The way I see it, I should have had 30-plus grand slams. I had
my chances after coming back from giving birth. But I didn’t get there.
Shoulda, woulda, coulda. I
didn’t show up the way I should have or could have. But I showed up 23 times, and that’s fine. Actually,
it’s extraordinary. But these days,
if I have to choose between
building my tennis résumé and building my family,
I choose the latter.”
Because
I’m nearing retirement age myself,
I take comfort in her thoughtful writing about her retirement from tennis. I’m also reminded that I have failed to reach my goal of earning my living as a writer.
I’ve also failed to realize
my dream of
becoming a parent, which is something
I wrestled
with when younger but gave up in favor of pursuing my writing goals. But at
what cost? I’m too old to start a family now. Maybe I’ll never be a Pulitzer winning author. However, my writing is evolving. Improving. What I have to say is valid. It has merit. It may even be valuable
to others. Especially if successfully starting this new genre.
I don’t need accolades.
Waking up
early and putting
my thoughts down on paper gives my life
meaning and purpose. And that is enough.
It’s enough because someone as phenomenally successful
as Serena Williams has done the very same thing. Learn.
Grow. Evolve. Accept her limits. And live by her own rules. But what I love most about her is that she kept on. She persevered against many challenges, and she triumphed.
The quote below from her VOGUE article
contains some of her most poignant reflections:
“I want to be great.
I want to be perfect. I know perfect doesn’t exist, but whatever
my perfect was, I never wanted to stop until
I got it right.
To me that’s kind of the essence of being Serena: expecting the best from
myself and proving people wrong. There were so many matches I won
because something made me angry, or someone
counted me out. That drove me. I’ve built a career on channeling
anger and negativity and turning it into something
good.
My sister Venus once said that when someone out there says you can’t do
something, it is because they can’t
do it. But I did do it. And so can you.”
Then she goes on to say:
“I’d like to think that thanks
to
me, women athletes can be themselves.
They can play with aggression and pump their fists. They
can wear what they want and say what
they want and kick butt and be proud of it all.”
In essence,
she realized that through her
“rule-breaking,” she could
emerge as a leader— not only in
tennis and fashion,
but also in her investment
firm which champions
women of color as entrepreneurs.
In response, I can only say: “Thank you, Serena Williams…for making it okay— even admirable— to dream big, accept your limits,
but above all, recognize and embrace your own value. And if someone
says it can’t be done, do it anyway.”
So, I took her advice about doing it anyway if someone says it can’t be done, and on November
16, 2022, I wrote yet another
letter to Mr. Lucas, saying the following:
…the reason I’m writing you again today, is to re-iterate
my questions listed above, and to ask you to join
my invitation to create a new genre of literature and film called: “Life Force” storytelling, based on the core tenants of reincarnation, life-altering love, and the interconnectedness of everyone and everything in the Universe. It seems you share these storytelling tenants,
based on “Star Wars” alone. However, perhaps the one tenant this new genre would not include is the focus on conflict-driven action.
Our culture is overloaded with
conflict. The media, television,
movies, the nightly news, and especially social media, are all flooded with conflict, hate-speak, bullying and the like. It is so pervasive
and destructive, and it has become the norm instead
of the aberration. Our society
is plagued with everything from school shootings to opioid addiction to homelessness, to name a few crises which directly result from being bombarded with conflict in the airwaves.
It is up to us, as writers and critical thinkers,
to stop this madness, and offer instead
an alternative to centuries of conflict-driven, war- centered, strife-oriented content.
As storytellers, we must lead the way in turning
our collective unconscious toward a hopeful,
peaceful, and light-
oriented future reality that we help
to bring about.
You are the pinnacle of Hollywood
content creators. With more accolades, honors,
and success than most ordinary people will ever understand. But I remember
this quote, from years ago at the Oscars with your Thalberg Award
acceptance speech
where you said: “All of us who make
motion pictures are teachers, teachers
with very loud voices.”
That quote touched
my soul in ways I’m just now beginning
to comprehend. I do not have a voice as loud as yours. But I can whisper in your ear and spark an inspiration to ignite the genre of “Force of Life” storytelling. You and I can create content that focuses on The Force. That spreads hope, love, and light. Without so much darkness being glorified
in all matters of stories and
media content.
In conclusion, I offer my humblest
thanks and gratitude
for what your ideas
and stories have inspired in me. Because of the ideas in your movies,
I’m able to relate to the Universe in a Force of Life mindset,
which allows me to visualize
a future where people
are elevated to a higher
plane of existence.
Where the concepts
of reincarnation, life- altering love brought on by recognizing souls you have known and loved in past lives, and the interconnectedness of everyone and everything in the Universe are foremost in the minds and hearts
of the global population. We can lead the way to a future that was dreamed of long ago and far away.
Melissa L. White
Melissa published a short fiction collection in 2012 titled, “On
the Green Earth Contemplating the Moon,” available on Amazon and Barnes &
Noble. In addition to writing novels and short fiction, Melissa is also a
produced screenwriter. Her latest film, Catch the Light, premiered
in Mumbai, India in June 2019. Most recently, her biopic screenplay about the
life and work of female artist, Georgia O’Keeffe, was a Finalist in the ScreenCraft
True Stories Screenplay Competition 2020, and a Finalist in the Chicago
Screenplay Awards Contest 2021, and a Finalist in the NYC International
Screenplay Contest 2021. Her LGBTQ+ Rom Com screenplay, Modern
Marriage, won 4th Place in the Writer’s Digest
Screenwriting Contest in 2021.
Some of Melissa’s recent publications are listed below:
Oyster River Pages - Special Issue 5.2, Jan. 4, 2022
"Breaking Bread."
See my story, “Small Victories,” here: https://www.oysterriverpages.com/fiction-52/small-victories
Litbreak Magazine – Summer 2021, August 22, 2021 – “The
Road Back” (Novel Excerpt)
https://litbreak.com/the-road-back-novel-excerpt/
Litbreak Magazine – Summer 2021, August 22, 2021 –
“To See a Huge World Outside Us” (Essay) https://litbreak.com/i-radiate-love/
October
Hill Magazine - FALL 2017 - Volume 1, Issue 2, pg. 56 – “Streets of Gold in the
City of Angels” https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9-HqfzHYMRCcWxpX2xZaTFsSUE/view?resourcekey=0-MeiGx3yqZOCtLwqMBXIPpw