Latest / The Imperfect Impulse w/Bree O'Connor / S 2 Ep 1: Rules of the Universe

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S 2 Ep 1: Rules of the Universe · The Imperfect Impulse w/Bree O'Connor

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Hello and welcome to season two of The Imperfect Impulse with
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Brie O'Connor.
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SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Brie O'Connor.
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SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for joining me.
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Whether you are popping into the series now or were a listener
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through the first
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SPEAKER_00: season,
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SPEAKER_00: welcome,
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SPEAKER_00: welcome.
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SPEAKER_00: So first season,
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SPEAKER_00: we did a lot of general talk about getting started,
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SPEAKER_00: the things that hold you back,
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SPEAKER_00: general knowledge,
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SPEAKER_00: food for thought,
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SPEAKER_00: self-awareness.
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SPEAKER_00: A lot of those themes are going to be sprinkled throughout season two,
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but I am going to make a concerted effort to talk about the
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specific nuts and bolts
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SPEAKER_00: of creation.
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SPEAKER_00: Today, I want to talk about rules of the universe.
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SPEAKER_00: So we talked about this a little bit last season,
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SPEAKER_00: I think once or twice,
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SPEAKER_00: but I think this is a great place for us to start.
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SPEAKER_00: In every social context, there are rules.
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SPEAKER_00: There is a set of understood behaviors.
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We just know that when we're at Grandma's house that we take
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off our shoes and that
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we are polite and we don't bring up politics or religion or
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whatever the rules at
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SPEAKER_00: Grandma's house are.
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We know that when we go to our best friend's house that you can
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expect certain things.
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SPEAKER_00: You speak a certain way quite often with a best friend.
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SPEAKER_00: You'll have years of shared language,
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SPEAKER_00: pop culture references,
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SPEAKER_00: inside jokes,
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SPEAKER_00: things that work only with that person.
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SPEAKER_00: So these are all rules of the universe.
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We flow in and out of these rules without giving them too much
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thought unless we
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SPEAKER_00: feel unfairly constricted by these rules.
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SPEAKER_00: Now,
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SPEAKER_00: when you are creating,
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it's helpful for you to bring the rules of the universe into
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your consciousness.
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SPEAKER_00: There's certain body language that helps you conform to the space.
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SPEAKER_00: There's certain words that you use or don't use.
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SPEAKER_00: You know, you generally don't swear at your priest, things like that.
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Now when you're creating an entirely new universe you still
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need to have rules in place.
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We know in the Star Wars universe that we can hear the engines
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of these giant
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SPEAKER_00: spaceships because in that universe sound travels in space.
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SPEAKER_00: So they aren't just social rules, but physical rules as well.
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SPEAKER_00: The layout of the space impacts the way that you move.
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SPEAKER_00: You move differently on a football field,
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SPEAKER_00: whether you're playing or not,
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SPEAKER_00: than you do in a doctor's office.
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SPEAKER_00: There are certain constraints that you have to manage.
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SPEAKER_00: So in the context of storytelling,
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SPEAKER_00: as a writer,
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SPEAKER_00: you absolutely need to construct these universes through behavior,
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SPEAKER_00: very consciously.
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Because as soon as something steps out of the norm,
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your audience will catch it.
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SPEAKER_00: or if you don't have a well-constructed universe,
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you are gonna find that it is absolutely impossible for you to
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figure out how a
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SPEAKER_00: character is going to behave.
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SPEAKER_00: If suddenly you decide, oh, you know what?
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SPEAKER_00: I need them to fly.
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SPEAKER_00: There's no other indication in this universe that people can fly,
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SPEAKER_00: but I'm just going to have this character fly for no reason.
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SPEAKER_00: Your audience is going to lose trust in you as a storyteller.
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SPEAKER_00: That's important whether you are a writer, actor, director.
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SPEAKER_00: or dancer or, you know, what have you.
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You have to be attuned to the realities of the universe and
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what is possible and impossible.
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SPEAKER_00: Now, that doesn't mean your character can't fly.
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SPEAKER_00: On the contrary, characters break the norms of the universe all the time.
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SPEAKER_00: What's fun about breaking the norm of the universe,
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once that you've established it and the audience is acclimated
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to how things are
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SPEAKER_00: navigated in this universe,
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SPEAKER_00: then when you break the norm,
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SPEAKER_00: you're going to have to explain it.
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SPEAKER_00: And there's a million different explanations.
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It could be that this particular character has powers or this
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character is
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SPEAKER_00: resisting or rebelling in some way.
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SPEAKER_00: Something strange has happened.
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Maybe they took a potion and they're behaving oddly because
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something has disrupted
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SPEAKER_00: their internal system.
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SPEAKER_00: In any case,
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SPEAKER_00: the rules of the universe still apply,
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SPEAKER_00: but you are going to have to explain why in this one instance...
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SPEAKER_00: someone is willing or able to defy these rules.
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SPEAKER_00: Often it is in that moment where your story lies.
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So let's take a deeper look at this if you're looking at a
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prison camp and certain
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SPEAKER_00: behavior is expected and enforced in the prison camp.
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SPEAKER_00: And someone decides to defy the rules and escape.
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The rules of the universe still apply and that character is
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going to have to figure
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out how to defy those rules in a way that hopefully ensures
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their survival.
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SPEAKER_00: In a less dramatic,
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SPEAKER_00: well,
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SPEAKER_00: actually no equally dramatic,
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SPEAKER_00: but in perhaps a less action-oriented sequence.
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If you have a devout fundamentalist family and there is a
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member of this family who
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SPEAKER_00: feels compelled to defy the practice...
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SPEAKER_00: either because they have an internal need,
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SPEAKER_00: perhaps they are,
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SPEAKER_00: their identity does not conform with the strict social structure,
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SPEAKER_00: or maybe they've
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fallen in love with someone who has a stronger pull than this
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strict social structure.
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Or perhaps they've discovered some truth about this social
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structure that they
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SPEAKER_00: didn't know before.
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SPEAKER_00: I am personally geared toward these,
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these sort of escape narratives is pretty much every example
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I've given you has
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SPEAKER_00: been a breaking free example.
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But there are other,
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you know,
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excuses for transgressions of the structure.
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SPEAKER_00: And your job
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SPEAKER_00: as the storyteller,
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is to examine what is the difference of the rules of the
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universe and that
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SPEAKER_00: behavior.
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in order for us to create believable and coherent structures
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whether our universe
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is a completely fictional fantastical world in there your world
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building has to be
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SPEAKER_00: spectacular if you're constructing a whole new world
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You have a bunch of different rules to construct other than
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someone who's working
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in more of a realistic form and needs to just acknowledge
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social rules that we
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SPEAKER_00: already collectively know exist.
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The trick here is telling your audience straight up the rules
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of the universe is
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SPEAKER_00: exceedingly dull.
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And if you give somebody a giant monologue about this is how
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the world works here.
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SPEAKER_00: I mean, sometimes that
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SPEAKER_00: is a source of humor.
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SPEAKER_00: Every rule is meant to be broken.
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SPEAKER_00: For example,
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the entire opening of Mike Judge's Idiocracy is about
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explaining the rules of the
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SPEAKER_00: universe.
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SPEAKER_00: He goes through this hilarious narration
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about how the world got this way while this our poor
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protagonist has been in a deep
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slumber for hundreds of years and suddenly he wakes up in a
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world where everyone is
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SPEAKER_00: a damn idiot.
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SPEAKER_00: What Mike Judge does in explaining this universe,
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he establishes the role of the narrator as a distant voice that
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has grander
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SPEAKER_00: knowledge and is our guide through this bizarre universe.
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SPEAKER_00: The narrator has such a twisted and rather dark take on the proceedings.
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SPEAKER_00: useful but as an avatar for our experience in this world.
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SPEAKER_00: That is one exception to the monologue about how the world works.
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SPEAKER_00: Most of the time,
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it is important for you to display the rules of the universe
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through behavior of
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SPEAKER_00: the characters.
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SPEAKER_00: For example, there's a wonderful Rowan Atkinson sketch.
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I'm going to try and link all these things so you can take a
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look at them if you're
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SPEAKER_00: not familiar.
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SPEAKER_00: But there's a wonderful Rowan Atkinson sketch in which he is bored and
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SPEAKER_00: and in church.
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SPEAKER_00: His behavior sets up the rules of the universe brilliantly.
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We know from his behavior that he is supposed to be reverent,
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focused,
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and quiet.
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SPEAKER_00: And his character is none of these things.
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His character is infantile,
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easily bored,
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and one instance really desiring a hard candy.
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So his physical humor brings us into a recognizable world that
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he creates with his
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SPEAKER_00: own response to an empty space.
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SPEAKER_00: I mean, he sits at a pew usually when he does this bit.
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So we have that bit of structure,
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but everything else is constructed by how he responds.
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He doesn't tell you,
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I'm in church and I'm supposed to be focused and reverent and
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quiet.
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SPEAKER_00: We see the social pressure by his response.
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SPEAKER_00: If we walk into a hospital, we are numbed by...
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the activity and hum and the of the machinery and the bouncing
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of sounds of beeps
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and whirring from different machines and our own circumstance
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of illness or injury
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SPEAKER_00: however in the emergency room someone screaming
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SPEAKER_00: While not necessarily out of the norm, it is a jarring experience.
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And everyone who is in that space is thinking about how that
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screaming impacts them.
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SPEAKER_00: Not only your nervous system and how you respond to it as a human being,
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SPEAKER_00: but also as a patient,
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SPEAKER_00: oh,
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SPEAKER_00: I guess that screaming guy is going to need way more attention than me.
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SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to be here for a while.
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SPEAKER_00: And how do I feel about that?
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SPEAKER_00: And how does how I feel about that manifest itself in behavior?
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SPEAKER_00: Do I go to sleep and accept my fate?
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SPEAKER_00: Do I hit the call button a million times because I want attention?
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SPEAKER_00: Do I just sigh loudly?
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SPEAKER_00: Do I cry?
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SPEAKER_00: What do I do?
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When I am faced with the rules of the universe and my personal
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circumstances and
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SPEAKER_00: how they interact with one another,
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SPEAKER_00: that is often a source of conflict.
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I think we've gotten to a point where we can start exercising
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our awareness of the
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SPEAKER_00: rules of the universe.
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SPEAKER_00: And here is my,
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SPEAKER_00: you know,
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exercise for the day for the week is for you to strengthen your
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awareness of the
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SPEAKER_00: rules of the different universes you inhabit on a daily basis.
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How does your physical environment dictate how you move through
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that space?
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How does the emotional dynamic and sense of emotional safety
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dictate how you
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SPEAKER_00: express yourself in that space?
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SPEAKER_00: Is your behavior in line with everyone else's?
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SPEAKER_00: Is your behavior different?
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SPEAKER_00: And why?
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SPEAKER_00: there is a really great experiment.
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SPEAKER_00: Once again,
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SPEAKER_00: I'll try and link this in the,
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SPEAKER_00: in the notes,
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a person who is the subject of the experiment and they go into
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a waiting room and
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SPEAKER_00: there are a few people ahead of this person.
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Now everyone in the waiting room,
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except for the,
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the subject of the experiment,
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knows the rules of the universe and the rules of the universe
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are that every few
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minutes according to some external cue they just stand they
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don't make a fuss about
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SPEAKER_00: it they just all stand
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for a few seconds and then sit back down as if nothing had
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happened and after a few
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moments of establishing this pattern of behavior where there
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are people ahead of
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SPEAKER_00: the of the subject
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and people who enter after the subject and they all know the
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rules so randomly they
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all stand and they watch what the subject does invariably the
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subject will begin to
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SPEAKER_00: stand along with the crowd now what's interesting about this is that
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SPEAKER_00: One by one,
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these people who are in on the experiment get called into the
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office and they
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SPEAKER_00: disappear from the waiting area.
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New people are slowly introduced and they watch to see if the
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original subject will stand.
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So essentially that person has to enforce the rules of the
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universe and usually
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they do that's just what happens with human nature it is it is
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a feature not a bug
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it it serves a purpose for us evolutionarily speaking but it is
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always worth
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SPEAKER_00: examining
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SPEAKER_00: What norms are we upholding in different spaces and why?
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This is frequently the inner turmoil of characters in large
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ensemble pieces.
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SPEAKER_00: How do I relate to this space and this group?
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It is incumbent upon us as artists and storytellers to find out
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the truth for
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SPEAKER_00: ourselves in these spaces.
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SPEAKER_00: That's it for this week.
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SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.
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SPEAKER_00: I hope you'll return.
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SPEAKER_00: We have a lot to talk about in Season 2.
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SPEAKER_00: And if you are interested in the broader context for this work,
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SPEAKER_00: go on back,
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SPEAKER_00: listen to Season 1,
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SPEAKER_00: and hopefully you'll find something of use.
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SPEAKER_00: Please feel free to comment,
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SPEAKER_00: share,
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SPEAKER_00: reach out,
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SPEAKER_00: and check out the show notes for as many links as I can add.
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SPEAKER_00: Okay.
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SPEAKER_00: I'm Brie O'Connor.
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SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening to The Imperfect Impulse.