Summary Of Ted Talk By Julian Friedman

Julian Friedman in the TED talk, “The Mystery of Story Telling”, asserts that a writer must make his or her audience his or her number one priority. Friedman supports his claim by explaining the short falls of writers through his own eyes, citing his own experience as an agent, as well as the eyes of George Orwell, speaking on the motivation of writers according to Orwell, and even Aristotle, talking about how modern writers diverge from the Aristotelian formula for storytelling. The author’s purpose is to inform the listener, presumably a writer, in order to help writers create a more effective and engaging story. Friedman speaks in a knowledgeable yet casual tone for a wide audience of writers of all natures. In every TED talk, there are
inevitably several moments that stand out above the rest. Several lessons that will stick with me come through Friedman’s comments on human motivation, the structure of a narrative, and the lack of success of many European movies. The first moment that stood out to me is the moment Friedman transitioned into talking about human motivation. The first thing, specifically, that he explained in the broad topic of motivation was the drive for writers. I found this insightful, yet I am also skeptical, however Friedman cites George Orwell as saying his main motivations was that of “sheer egoism”. This idea both scares and intrigues me. Ideally mankind would not ever do something out of selfish ambition and yet so much of mankind’s actions are out of pure egoism and pride. The second moment that stood out to me from this TED talk was when Friedman spoke of the structure of narratives, citing Aristotle. This was one of his key points in his speech, and it could not be easier to remember; Aristotle said to start with pity, an emotional appeal, then build despair, and finally to release these emotions with a happy ending. Every movie I have ever watched suddenly made sense when I heard this. The applications of Aristotle’s method for narratives are what make it memorable to me. The final moment that stood out to me was when Friedman spoke on the topic of European movies. This, again, was a widely spoken about topic in his speech, but one specific part made the entire thing stick. American movies are more popular because they leave parts out. They give the audience a chance to piece together what is happening and engage themselves. European movies do not do this. I now understand why I find British and French movies so taxing to watch. This made me believe the speaker more and give Friedman my full attention. Therefore, the three moments that stood out to me from this TED talk took place when Friedman talked about motivation, the structure of narratives, and European movies. Julian Friedman’s TED talk, “The Mystery of Storytelling”, and chapter five of Everyday share abundant amount of information.
To start out, the first full page of chapter five states that “Readers are, above all, actively involved in what they read; if they can’t be active, they can’t read that well” (Roskelly & Jolliffe, 126). Friedman relates this idea to the success of American movies over European movies. He states that because American movies have shorter scenes, which are prone to leaving out small details, audiences are filling in the blanks and paying closer attention. Meanwhile European movies, which leave no detail in the introduction and conclusion of a scene to the imagination, bore viewers more easily. More information from the TED talk can be found in chapter five. Take, for example, page 135’s section on how writers constantly, whether consciously or unconsciously, adapt their writing for their audience. Friedman, in the beginning of his speech, speaks of how a good writer makes his or her audience his or her number one priority. Everyday Use also has a section on aesthetic reading in chapter five, and Friedman speaks about how to make the reader enjoy him or herself. As one final example to show that chapter five and this TED talk have similar content, look no further than page 130’s diagram of a triad of the reader, the text cues, and the text itself. Triads are not uncommon in this book, an even more similar one to what Friedman mentions is the Aristotelian rhetorical triangle, however, this is not located in chapter five. Friedman cites a triad of the writer of a story, the characters in it, and the audience who reads it. The key similarity between the two triads is the audience. While Friedman and the authors of everyday use differ on the connection between the audience and the story itself, both agree in explicit terms that the reader is a part of this. All of the above proves to be similar content between Everyday Use chapter five and “The
Mystery of Storytelling”.