What Is a Story?
There are ideas so basic, so recognizable and ever-present, that I find myself at a loss for words when asked for an explicit definition. How do you define love? What is “easy”? How do you explain what it means to be kind? I’m not sure I understood this phenomenon until I became the father of a three-year-old. These days explaining basic, everyday concepts is a relatively common occurrence in the Lundin home, and it’s made me think a lot about how to we comprehend and understand the universal and underlying ideas of human culture. What lies at the center of those things we all know? What’s essential about the essentials?
Let me get to the point. What makes something a story? Let’s explore the question by watching this short, three minute ad from Apple.
This is not a typical ad. Besides the fact that its running time is six time longer than usual, there are several interesting things to note. Products are shown, but never overtly named, discussed, or described. There is a clear sales pitch—Apple products help you collaborate easily on many common, knowledge-worker tasks—but it is never stated. It’s not a conventional ad for a company that wants to sell you thousands of dollars of devices. But it’s compelling. It makes its point in a way that resonates with its target audience. Because it’s a story.
Not just a series of events
In its most basic sense, a story (or narrative) is a telling of a series of events that are related to each other in some way. And because it is a series, it necessarily has a beginning, a middle, and an end.
Now, even the most casual observer will notice there are a several common characteristics of a story missing from this starting definition. There is no mention of acts, conflict, plot points, resolution, setups and pay-offs, or any of the other features common in narrative storytelling. All of these features are important to stories, to be sure, but they are additions to the most basic form. There are many more elements in the best stories, but at its heart a story is simply a series of events that are unified in some way.
While the initial definition above will suffice for our current purpose, it’s not complete. What other elements of a story are basic enough to be universal?
There are stories without characters (strictly speaking) but it’s certainly the exception. The characters in a story are the agents who propel the series of events forward. Today we primarily understand stories through the characters. As a result, many people understand character to be more foundational than plot (and then disagree with the definition above). It’s an understandable point. But, as Aristotle argues in Poetics, the oldest surviving work of literary theory, plot (the series of events) is the primary defining characteristic of a story. And I agree with him. A piece of work with no plot—no movement, conflicts, challenges, or events—may be something, but it’s not a story.
The final element of a story is theme. The theme of a story is the main idea the story conveys. Some say the theme of a story is simply the main topic of the story, or the big idea it wrestles with. I believe that is too simplistic. A theme is not a topic, a theme is a statement.
For example, many people would say that the theme of the Harry Potter series is “love.” That is certainly the main topic of the series, but it’s insufficient to call it the theme. The story of Harry’s struggle against Voldemort is not simply about “love.” It has more meaning that some simple declaration of the importance of love. No, the story has a specific point to make. The theme of Harry Potter is, “Love is the most powerful magic there is.” Now, that is a theme. That is a point worth making.
Back to work
So, let’s get back to the short film. What makes this ad a real story? And more than that, what makes it an effective story? Let’s look at the plot, characters, and theme.
First up, plot. In three short minutes we see a full story with a beginning, middle, and an end. This is a basic three-act structure: The first act is exposition that sets up the world of the story. The second is struggle and conflict, and the third resolves the conflict.
It starts with the team leader exiting an elevator with a coffee stain on her shirt. She is happy and determined. Soon it’s clear the coffee stain is a harbinger of opportunity: after a minor fender-bender in the parking garage her team has a new chance. Round Box is back.
Immediately the team jumps in to meet the challenge. This is the middle, the second act. The team works together, faces challenges, and even handles Mike in Finance. Watch carefully and you notice small “try-fail cycles” where the team succeeds, then fails, succeeds again, and fails again. Mike in Finance makes a second appearance—an example of setup and payoff. This continues until they complete the mission: they have a prototype and a presentation. A late-night cab ride closes the action, and sets up the final “confrontation,” the opportunistic presentation to the boss.
In this film—like most short films and fiction pieces—the resolution is brief, and not fully on-screen. We see the team wake up and get ready. The tension builds (notice the tone of the score and how the pace of editing speeds up), they walk through the office prepped and dressed for the show. The team is clearly confident, and when the elevator button is finally pushed you don’t even need to see how the presentation goes. Because you already know. That’s a great, tight plot in three minutes.
Next, let’s look at the characters. In such a short piece there’s not a lot to work with, but the writers here were up to the challenge. In the four team members we have recognizable personalities—uncannily recognizable for many of us. The young leader is optimistic, she’s always looking for the advantage and to move forward. She wants the team to succeed, and she wants to make a mark. The other three are, to varying degrees, doubtful. They need to work together because no one person could do it all. And so they do. It’s a simple character arc. I mean, it has to be, it’s a simple story. But it’s effective. Compare their facial expressions from when the challenge is laid before them to when they head to the elevator, victorious.
Not a word is said in the end, but the looks on the characters faces are clear. Sure, they are nervous for the big meeting, but they know they did their best. The team went from doubtful to confident. They end their journey determined to succeed.
Finally, we have theme. Now, the theme is not too complicated. In one sense, the theme is clear: Apple products help you collaborate well as a team. Of course that’s the theme, it is an ad after all. But I’d argue there is another, less commercial theme in this short film. The story is about teamwork. All the tools in the world can’t solve this problem unless the team comes together and trusts each other. It’s simple, and maybe even a bit cheesy, but it’s an honest-to-God meaningful theme. “The best teams trust each other.” Not bad for an ad.
So what is story? In the end it’s a simple formula that’s hard to produce.
Story = plot + characters + theme.
It’s universal
“Story” is an incredibly broad idea. In fact, it’s like life. Every human life on earth begins, goes on for some time, and then ends. Just like stories do. Stories are universal, because our lives are stories. From the earliest days of humanity, knowledge was passed down orally as stories. Our first understanding of the relationship between God and man was recorded in the Bible as stories. They are all around us, and even in our own heads. We can’t understand who we are without the narrative—the story—that we tell ourselves. Because they are universal, because stories are the language we speak, we all need to understand what a story is, and how it works.
Because when the time comes to tell the world something that matters—something that really, truly matters—it’s important that they can actually hear it.