1141: What's Titanic About?

Why does Rose Walker CHOOSE to go into the water?

Yesterday, I described how two video games – animated pixels on a screen – stopped me like a slap to the face.

They MADE ME care.

How?

Perhaps you cracked the case?

I stopped because both those moments WERE ABOUT ME ... about who I was in that game (and in life).

They were about identity.

In The Icarus Deception, Seth Godin nails the connection:

Myths aren’t about gods (real ones or imagined). They are about us. They are about humans acting human but doing it while wearing the cloaks of gods, of legendary figures. Myths highlight the very best of ourselves (and sometimes the worst).

In 1997, Rose Walker and Jack Dawson sailed into cinemas and became (haha) a titanic success. But, if you step back a little, it's kind of surprising that the movie was ever made.

"A ship sails across a flat sea, hits something, then everyone dies."

But of course, Titanic isn't about the ending – EVERYONE KNEW IT ANYWAY. It's about two people drowning in the roles the world has forced on them.

It's about identity. Who they are AND who they want to be.

That's why we care. That's the key insight for business storytellers. Little cuts deeper into our souls and psyches than who we are.

So if we want people to care, tell them a story about identity – who they are and who they could be.

Just DON'T tell them the whole story ... that's for next time...

Nick

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