We Are The Stories We Tell Ourselves – Lectures For Lawyers – The Act Of Communication Point Of View

From Alan:

This week I bring you another remarkable and insightful talk from the TED conferences. Take some time and browse their site for the more than 900 lectures they offer….your time will be well rewarded.

For this week, I am offering Shekhar Kapur’s talk about storytelling. It is called, WE ARE THE STORIES WE TELL OURSELVES.

Those of you who have followed our work understand that story is at the heart of what we teach. Indeed, we believe story is at the heart of the way humans interact, process and understand the world. Here, a remarkable filmmaker talks about his understanding of story and how he arrives at the story he tells.

In breaking down his approach, he talks about the many levels of story: the psychological, historical and mythological. These levels are found and revealed in so many of the stories that we know from our childhood, our religious texts and of course in our films. And, they are all present within any one story and, as Kapur points out, they are sometimes at odds with one another. Finding the harmony within these levels of story is the conscious and most importantly unconscious job of the audience, the listener, the jury.

We have spoken often of the need to find the story within your case. And we have spoken often of the need to find many ways to tell that story – narrative, visual, emotional — and here, Kapur offers the idea that these various ways need not be repetitive. In other words, the visual story may be complementary to the narrative as well as illustrative. The emotional story may be underlying the narrative and even at odds with the visual. In finding the truth of each of these the truth of the whole story will be made clear to the listener….the jury.

TIP: While analyzing your case, determine what is the story you want the jury to come away with. What is the “tune you want them singing” as they leave the courtroom.

Lectures for Lawyers