An Ugly Truth

I want to dedicate this month´s editorial and blogs to an element of storytelling. This element is in so many masterpieces of art. It is on the TV and in the movies. It´s also in blogs, books, sculptures and paintings. It is an ugly truth of history and present day found in biographies, dramas, science fiction and mysteries, among other story genres. This element drives stories to a frightful crescendo and explodes them into tragedies. It leaves the emotionally intelligent reader and viewer troubled or even devastated.

The first example of this archetype takes place in the American south in a small town in Maycomb, Alabama during The Great Depression. Scout Finch along with her brother Jem and father Atticus, who is a lawyer, live through a particularly traumatic event involving the kangaroo trial of Tom Robinson. This is a powerful book dealing with lies, injustice, racism, denial and murder. The name of the book is “To Kill A Mockingbird” and it was written by Harper Lee.

The next example is a French classic film called “Jean de Florette” released in 1986. It´s the story of conniving ambition, lies, deception, clannishness and murder. In spite of Jean Cadoret´s intelligence, good intentions and hard work ethics he is targeted by his neighbor and the whole town looks away as he and his family suffer a terrible fate. This story really is about a town that sticks together to commit a horrible crime on an innocent man. Keep in mind that the mayor and police are nowhere to be found.

The last example is the Danish film called “Jagten” (“The Hunt” in English) released in 2012. It tells the story of someone unfairly accused of a serious crime. What makes this more tragic than most stories of the murder of an innocent man is the fact that the whole town turns to savages.

Have you guessed the name of the monster? This archetype that has whole towns and groups of people colluding to commit crimes like fraud and murder. This archetype that will have “pillars of the community” stay silent and test the good samaritans. I call it the “Lynching Archetype” where an individual or family is targeted and doesn´t stand a chance at justice. In many cases they might not even know they are targeted before it´s too late. This is unfortunately a powerful story element because it´s so prevalent.
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