Star Wars and Back to the Future Show How Movies are Still the Stories that Shape our Tribes

This week has seen mega hype surround the release of the new Star Wars trailer and Back to the Future day. And whilst perhaps we've shifted some of our viewing over to high rating, high production TV like Game of Thrones, House of Cards, Breaking Bad or Mad Men...so that movies aren't having the influence the once did, the adage still runs true: narratives shape our lives.

Once upon a time we used to sit around the campfire and hear the stories that allowed us to make sense of the complexities of life. Giving frameworks to questions like:

What is good?
What is evil?
Why do we exist?
How do we exist?
What happens when things go wrong?
How should I act to remain a member of this tribe?
What might I do that sees me evicted from this tribe?
and on and on...

So as we remember one great movie and wait in anticipation for another episode in a mega successful saga, it's good to pause and remember that movies do have an immense influence on how we see the world and our expectations of it. There's another great post here that unpacks this even more if you want to read more...