Tag: Han Solo

self-reliance

Missing From the Story

Pete Huryk

MissingStories are an integral part of our society and have been for thousands of years.  Whether the Odyssey, the Bible, Star Wars or Romeo & Juliet, the stories of the present and past have almost all been intended to tell us something.  Not particularly something about the past although many are historical in nature.  More often than not, stories are trying to tell us something about the human condition.  Although a form of entertainment, they can also be instructive.

Characters are not just imaginary people to play make believe for us real humans.  They represent a myriad of possible traits, life courses and mindsets.  Whether Han Solo, Jesus, the Lorax or Hector, each one offers the gift of possibility.  The idea of a life slightly different from our own.  They offer themselves up in front of us on the screen or the page in order for us to judge them and their value.  At that point their power or lack there of is left up to us.

What’s missing from the story is you.  If you only admire the heroism of Han Solo or the kindness of Jesus but never transfer it into your own life, then these characters truly are lifeless.  However, if you’re willing to take up their plight from the page, then they truly do live.  It is not enough for heroism, kindness and love to exist in movies and books because evil and hatred are alive in the real world.  So if you truly love a movie or book, then show it by becoming an actor.  A person who acts in the stead of those imaginary people.  The world is waiting for your story to be told and you’re the only thing that’s missing.

Act today!

Pete

Uncategorized

Story Stacking (A Star Wars ripoff story)

Pete Huryk

StarWarsThe trilogy is not truly the king of cinema but rather stack-able stories.  There’s no magical power to the number three.  The key component to the greatest movie series is the way that the stories fit together and one movie can be catapulted based on the strengths of its predecessor.  While I’m a huge movie fan and have been since my childhood, there is something that’s missing from the great movies that are being released today.  Kids aren’t stacking them into their own lives.

Han Solo was my guy from about 4 until 10 years old.  In the VHS culture of the day, my brothers and I would watch Star Wars and then play Star Wars for hours afterward.  I was Han Solo for hours on end and it gave me a chance to wear his overconfident skin for a while.  His character was stacked onto my personality for a bit and I’m sure that some of it stuck.  After Han, there was Rocky Balboa.  I never climbed in a ring or drank a cup of raw eggs but I got up at 6 am religiously and ran.  Training for events or just life became part of my stroy.

While I think that the present day movie technology puts the 70s and 80s to shame, the greater shame is that since Iron Man’s mask is so readily available in the store, kids don’t need to wear his skin.  Everything is prepackaged and fabricated to perfection so much that a young person is always separated from their heroes by a layer of plastic that none of the residue rubs off.

The human race has reached its place in the world through the stories that we tell ourselves.  Thousands of years ago it started with a group of cavemen believing that they could collectively beat a saber tooth.  Then a man told himself that steam could move machines.  Now children are being told the most elaborate stories of all time but they are not stacking them like they used to.  The story is a ceiling rather than a staircase.  So if you are young or have contact with young people, stack those stories and attach them to your soul or the soul of someone else.  It’s not just entertainment.  It’s ENTERtrainMENT.  A new world you can enter to train your mental image of yourself.  So if you go out to the movies, be sure to go out afterwards and wear something new.

Enjoy!

pete