With my wife, I’ve recently been watching a bunch of DVDs of an older science fiction television show called Babylon 5 created circa the early 1990s. As a writer, I’m a big fan of big stories, stories that dare to paint a large canvas and tell their stories intelligently and coherently. I especially enjoy stories where characters grow and change over time because, well, that’s how life works. No one’s ever static. Everyone’s always changing because of some external or internal force. I have yet to meet someone who’s the same person year in, year out. Babylon 5 does this extremely well.
Babylon 5 also changed the landscape for, not only episodic sci-fi television, but other different genres as well because instead of having an idea and making up stories to fit it week in and week out, the creator had a master five-year plan and it shows. There are episodes where things are seeded and you don’t know what it is or what it looks like, but you discover down the line there was a reason for that item, event, or person and it pays off later down the line. LOST is a current example of a show that does this well and definitely owes its storytelling heritage to Babylon 5. (I recommend watching both, by the way. They’re good yarns.)
Both of these shows employ a literary device called Chekhov’s gun to great effect. Essentially, the rule of Chekhov’s gun says that if you introduce a gun in the first act, then before the conclusion of the story it should be fired. Otherwise don’t put it there.
That’s also how life works, isn’t it? I’ve been thinking about how Chekhov’s gun applies to our lives a lot this week. There’s nothing in our lives that’s introduced to us that doesn’t have an ultimate effect at the end. I’ve often heard the phrase “I/we never saw it coming” applied to tragic events, but the truth is, everything’s always planted somewhere. For example, a spouse commits infidelity? That didn’t happen overnight. There were thoughts, events, ideas, things that were introduced or transpired and then nurtured and grown until the culmination of the sad act. If something happens to us, like being the victim of a drunk driver, there were things planted in the driver’s life that led him to that point in his life where he collided with yours.
Sometimes those human collisions are gentle, other times, not so much. Either way, they send us off in different, unexpected and unforeseen directions, stuff we could never have plotted ourselves. Whatever road we are on, we must always be aware of the “Chekhov’s guns” in our lives and keep God’s ultimate salvation plot in mind. (Don’t think God has a plot? Read the Bible — the scale and the scope puts any novel or episodic TV show to shame.) If negative people, thoughts or ideas are introduced in our lives, toss them out rather than allowing them to stay and cause negative events — because they will. Likewise, foster only what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy and those things will stay in your life.
– Matt
Chekhov's gunforeshadowingGodlifestory
Everything Is Planted Somewhere
July 31, 2008
Calvary
Comments Off on Everything Is Planted Somewhere
Matt
With my wife, I’ve recently been watching a bunch of DVDs of an older science fiction television show called Babylon 5 created circa the early 1990s. As a writer, I’m a big fan of big stories, stories that dare to paint a large canvas and tell their stories intelligently and coherently. I especially enjoy stories where characters grow and change over time because, well, that’s how life works. No one’s ever static. Everyone’s always changing because of some external or internal force. I have yet to meet someone who’s the same person year in, year out. Babylon 5 does this extremely well.
Babylon 5 also changed the landscape for, not only episodic sci-fi television, but other different genres as well because instead of having an idea and making up stories to fit it week in and week out, the creator had a master five-year plan and it shows. There are episodes where things are seeded and you don’t know what it is or what it looks like, but you discover down the line there was a reason for that item, event, or person and it pays off later down the line. LOST is a current example of a show that does this well and definitely owes its storytelling heritage to Babylon 5. (I recommend watching both, by the way. They’re good yarns.)
Both of these shows employ a literary device called Chekhov’s gun to great effect. Essentially, the rule of Chekhov’s gun says that if you introduce a gun in the first act, then before the conclusion of the story it should be fired. Otherwise don’t put it there.
That’s also how life works, isn’t it? I’ve been thinking about how Chekhov’s gun applies to our lives a lot this week. There’s nothing in our lives that’s introduced to us that doesn’t have an ultimate effect at the end. I’ve often heard the phrase “I/we never saw it coming” applied to tragic events, but the truth is, everything’s always planted somewhere. For example, a spouse commits infidelity? That didn’t happen overnight. There were thoughts, events, ideas, things that were introduced or transpired and then nurtured and grown until the culmination of the sad act. If something happens to us, like being the victim of a drunk driver, there were things planted in the driver’s life that led him to that point in his life where he collided with yours.
Sometimes those human collisions are gentle, other times, not so much. Either way, they send us off in different, unexpected and unforeseen directions, stuff we could never have plotted ourselves. Whatever road we are on, we must always be aware of the “Chekhov’s guns” in our lives and keep God’s ultimate salvation plot in mind. (Don’t think God has a plot? Read the Bible — the scale and the scope puts any novel or episodic TV show to shame.) If negative people, thoughts or ideas are introduced in our lives, toss them out rather than allowing them to stay and cause negative events — because they will. Likewise, foster only what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy and those things will stay in your life.
– Matt
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Chekhov's gunforeshadowingGodlifestory