Change the story to change the world: Theory as myth
Surviving notes from a 1957 colloquium with DeMille, scientists and media technologists
Preface. These notes were converted into a mixed-media performance at last year’s festival. The son imagined that his mother participated in this secret meeting during which DeMille and various artists and technologists discussed how media technology might be a force for good. The meeting was held at a private resort in the Pocono mountains of Pennsylvania. This would have taken place shortly before or after his mother married.
After five-thousand years of civilisation, human nature remains horrific
What might be done?
Religious strategies are clearly insufficient
They foster care and concern for in-groups while promoting exploitation of out-groups
DeMille: Traditional myth is no longer functional
Arts and humanities can transform consciousness
Revising mythic narratives can transform societies
DeMille: How might these transcend human nature?
The golden calf massacre is a case study in revising myth for transcending human nature
Film was a 20th century myth-making technology
DeMille: Film can help people transcend human nature
Immersive film experience strengthens the psychological impact of myth
Networks of theatres will replace churches
DeMille experimented with form, content and ritual engagement
First experiment: The Ten Commandments, 1923
He changed the golden calf episode from an act of men to an act of God
Goal: To avoid repeating the horrors of the Great War – never again
Debated: Is an ‘act of god’ a more functional myth
DeMille: Yes
Practicality: A murderous rampage is unworkable for a family movie
The Second World War and the Holocaust
The State of Israel – and perpetual conflict thereafter
Changing the story did not change the world
Reflective practice suggests trying again
DeMille’s second experiment: the 1956 version
Removes the modern-day parable
Increases the immersive experience with VistaVision and Technicolor
Retains the ‘act of god’ massacre in the golden calf episode
DeMille opens the movie himself and (paradoxically) claims accuracy
Outcome: Partial success
Most Jews surveyed believed the 1956 version is biblical
He successfully changed the myth for perhaps millions of people
Jewish-American children engage the new myth as a birthday ritual
[See: Goldstein, L. M. (1960). Cinematic scripture: A 1958 survey of Jewish audiences and the Golden Calf narrative, American Jewish Historical Review, 12(2), 97–114.]
Television is challenging the mission!
TV is a lower-impact medium, shaped by economics of advertising
[Note: DeMille died January 1959; over 85% of households had television]
Film was a limited technology
Film can indeed be psychologically and emotionally powerful
Largely in the service of entertainment, commercial capitalism and related power structures
We need a new medium – new tools for transforming consciousness and human nature
DeMille initiated a clandestine gathering, December 1958
The purpose was to envision technologies that assist in creating functional myths and rituals
They discussed recent advances in computers and neuropsychopharmacology
Proposed strategy: Alter consciousness by integrating immersive film and pharmaceuticals
Only a handful of artefacts exist from that event
We need to change human nature – not just reflect on human nature
An intentional community emerges and converges upon three questions:
How might the old myths have led to the Holocaust?
How might new myths avoid the next Holocaust?
How might emerging technologies help to embed functional myths?
Hypothesis: The golden calf myth perpetuates human evil
The Sinai myth shaped the evolution of Western Civilisation
Conquer, colonise, control, exploit, cannibalise
Secularisation, globalisation and relativism undermined mythic efficacy
Amythia exacerbates the horrific consequences of dysregulated death anxiety
Why did DeMille change the massacre from an act of men to an act of God?
Perhaps the biblical version simply offended him
His revision might reveal profound truths about human nature and evil
We create gods who then order us to kill our families
We obey our creations
Never again
Never again
Reflective practice suggests that we
Try again
Try again
