Passionate Theme of the Day: Cinematic-Poetry

“This may be the most important moment of your life. Commit to it.” ~V from V for Vendetta

“There’s no certainty - only opportunity.” ~ V

“Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici.
[translates] By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe.” ~Evey Hammond & V

V: “Would you… dance with me?”
Evey Hammond: “Now? On the eve of your revolution?”
V: “A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having!”

Today I stumbled across Copybloggers post, The Hollywood Way to Online Business Success. He talks about the connection between being a screenwriter and being an entrepreneur. Essentially, he shows how using a screenplay format, one can write a compelling business story.

I love stories. I devour books. I eavesdrop on airplanes. I lean back to catch what the person behind me in the grocery check-out line is gossiping about. I also love to weave a good, long tale myself. Throw in a cold beer and an active audience and it’s on! (Which also explains why I’m a blog-o-holic - tho I don’t recommend drinking and blogging...that’d be dangerous).

Some of Copyblogger’s cinematic recommendations:

Hook
This is the element of a movie and a business that makes it unique.
Plot
Plot is where the meat of the story takes place, and in business, this is where you live your big story.
Characters
In these days of the micro-business, you’re definitely the bankable star that needs to carry the flick, but the people you employ and contract with are also characters in your business story.
Action
In film, action is what characters do, while dialogue is what they say. In business (especially online), actions speak louder than words when it comes to how you treat your customers and clients.
Dialogue
While action is key, the dialogue can make or break a film or a business. Thanks to blogs, we can now speak and listen to our customers and prospects.

This post applies to the design and script of our lives as well. So why was it so interesting for me to run across this post today? Because I’ve been chewing on some cinematic-poetry the past few hours as I’ve just shown my Junior level media class the film V for Vendetta.

For those who haven’t seen this film…a little background can be found by doing a Google search or checking out the IMDB. I had a field day reading the reviews at Rotten Tomatoes too!

Here’s one reviewer’s recap, just so we’re all on the same page:

"Can a terrorist be a hero? If you answer no — if you blanch just seeing the question in print — keep far, far away from V for Vendetta, a gravely unsettling dystopian saga about a masked revolutionary bent on destroying the British Parliament.
…Finally, the script: It’s intelligent, literate, even talky, focused on character over mere exploding buildings and crammed with allusions to Faust, The Count of Monte Cristo, Tchaikovsky’s 1812 and Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. Fanboys will tell you the Beethoven is a nod to the Latin numeral five, or “V,” rendered in Morse code during the piece’s opening theme (dit-dit-dit dah). Well, why not? This is an erudite terrorist we’re talking about, a truly educated man. And maybe that’s the most heroic thing of all.”

What is it about this film that captures my heart a little bit more every time I see it? I dig the plot, relate to the characters, am mesmerized by the action (I love the final fight scene with V in slow-mo-ninja-stealth mode) and the poetic, often times Shakespearean dialogue, (and I didn’t much like Shakes when I had to read him in college).

This film makes me think not just about the obvious…the political overtones and references to the current state of U.S. affairs. But it makes me think about how these themes apply to our lives. What if it could actually benefit us to play terrorist once in a while?

Now before the internet Big-Brother tracks me down for using the word terrorist on my blog, hear me out. Couldn’t our personal state of affairs have gotten a little off track and it makes more sense to follow the advice of V when he says, “A building is a symbol, as is the act of destroying it. Symbols are given power by people. A symbol, in and of itself is powerless, but with enough people behind it, blowing up a building can change the world.”?

What if that building were an old behavior that no longer serves our purpose? How bout an old friendship, relationship, job that no longer makes sense in the present? Perhaps a perspective that doesn’t feel good to justify our stance on it anymore? What if, as V says, “You wear a mask for so long, you forget who you were beneath”?

In what ways could owning your inner V help you uncover more of your true greatness? Sometimes we chip away at old habits, limiting beliefs, played out relationships, purposeless careers, passionless partnerships – how might blowing the whole thing up in a blazing inferno create the jolt you need to snap out of it? What if you were to take a stand for what you really wanted? Not simply accept what is easy. Or safe. Or familiar (let’s forget about how familiar dysfunction can feel).

My challenge for you today is to write down one limiting belief, one worn out habit, one played out scenario, or all of the above on a piece of paper and burn it. The visual created by seeing something literally go up in flames can be a powerful and soul-stirring event. (NOTE** I am NOT encouraging anyone to really blow anything up! It’s all about the symbolism here folks).

Sometimes the villains live in our heads already and can be best described in the words of my good friend Cheryl as, “Those bullshit little terrorists in your head that are threatening to bomb your brilliance”. Bomb those little bastards right back! Isn’t the state of your soul worth fighting for? Isn’t it time to take a stand for the BIGGEST, baddest-ass, BEST life YOU deserve?

Hook, plot, character, action, dialogue...which way would you write your screenplay differently today than you did yesterday?

In the beautiful words of “Valerie”, another character in the film V…
“What I hope most of all is that you understand what I mean when I tell you that though I do not know you and even though I may never meet you, laugh with you, cry with you, or kiss you, I love you.”

Viva La Internal Revolucion,
Kam