Greetings from the messy desk of the editor,
Are we really still here? It hardly seems possible after the events of this year, and yet March 2020 is swiftly becoming just another memory. Somehow, ‘global pandemic’ is no longer the tagline for the next Hollywood blockbuster, but instead the normalised backdrop of our everyday lives. And yet, with the US flirting with civil war to the west, and China writing the sequel to 1939 in the east, you could be forgiven for thinking that we are living inside a story. A story that the show runners have got bored of and are trying to wrap up in all haste so that they can move onto something new…
A ‘turning point’ is a familiar term from the world of story craft. Any given story often contains several turning points, but the most powerful occurs at the midpoint of the story and represents a transformative cruicible through which the protagonist must pass. Prior to this point, the protagonist is reactive, bouncing back and forwards between the consequences of their unconscious actions. The ‘turning point’ forces the protagonist to confront themselves, and in doing so find a new direction from which to pursue their goal. This motif can be found in a thousand, thousand human stories, transcending all times and cultures. It is written into our cultural DNA, programmed into us, perhaps even by the structure of the birth experience itself. This is the place from which we look out upon the world today.
Here we stand, amidst flames and pestillence. The consequences of our collective unconscious actions are written large upon the world in letters that even a blind man could see. But can we learn from them? Have we the courage to deny the fears of our forebears and set a new course for humanity, a course that does not create luxury for the few at the expense of the lives of the majority? The stakes have never been higher and, as in any good story, the hero’s success is far from assured, but what if we were to succeed?
What an epic tale that would be.
So sit back, grab some popcorn and enjoy the ride. I present to you “Vendepunkt”.
Dominic Munton
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