Collide Magazine

I’ve noticed a storytelling device become more and more popular lately, and I’m not sure if I like it. I’m also not sure what it’s official name is, so I’ll refer to it as “fake realism.”

Remember The Blair Witch Project? Part of what made that movie so scary is that the marketing and presentation of the film claimed the story was true and the footage was real. They weren’t. The effective, however, was undeniable—fake realism pulled the audience into the story.

At Comic-Con a couple of weeks ago, the producers of Lost staged a fake realism stunt as a cool way to tease the upcoming season. The footage shown wasn’t obtained by a crazed fan who managed a security breach, and we all know that, but by pretending it was we get a little extra thrill.

While on vacation last week, I noticed two interesting examples of fake realism. The first was in the popular/polarizing Christian book, The Shack. The author, William Young, begins the book by insisting that the story is true and was told to him by the protagonist, Mack. In fact, Young even writes himself into his story as a character, lending credibility and adding another layer to the fake realism illusion. The story, of course, is just a story. According to Wikipedia, Young acknowledged that the titular shack is a metaphor in a later interview. Even so, the effect on the reader is powerful.

The second example from my vacation was the Cirque du Soleil production, “O.” Obviously, the production is a fantasy tale full of odd characters and creatures. But the introduction (circus spoiler alert!) leveraged fake realism to draw the audience in. A seemingly nervous and randomly-selected audience member was dragged up onstage by a garish clown and asked to read from a paper. He stumbled over his words as he asked us to turn off our cellphones, to put away our cameras, and postpone our cigarette smoking until after the show. Then, to our surprise and dismay, this unsuspecting lad was yanked 60 feet in the air by a wire as we gasped. Once he joined the cast in swimming, dancing, and acrobatics, we realized we’d been had—fake realism at its finest.

In churches, we use fake realism all the time. How many sermon illustrations have you heard about precocious kindergartners who tell their Sunday School teachers something funny/insightful about Jesus or heaven? I hate to break it to you, but that little kiddo is made up, the fictitious product of some “1,001 Preaching Stories” website. The deception seems harmless enough—it’s not as if the audience actually grows attached to the imaginary child—and besides, it serves the noble purpose of illuminating an essential spiritual mystery.

That said, I’m still not sure how I feel about fake realism. While I admire its effect when properly used (Blair Witch, Cloverfield, Life of Pi, etc.), it also bothers me a little bit. When I pick up a book from the Fiction section of the bookstore, I understand that the narrative I’m about to read is a figment of someone’s imagination. But when the author attempts to blur the line between fiction and nonfiction, I believe he or she flirts with deception, which can result in a hurt, angry, betrayed, or confused audience. Remember the public outcry over James Frey’s embellished memoir, A Million Little Pieces? The story, by all accounts, was phenomenal, but when it was discovered that he’d played fast and loose with his artistic license and made some parts of his journey through addiction more interesting he crossed a line with readers and left many of them furious (the most notable of which was Oprah, who gave Frey the business on her show).

Fake realism is a powerful device at your disposal if you’re a storyteller, regardless of whether your medium is a sermon, a blog, a song, a short film, etc. All I can say is, be careful. Great stories are an effective way to communicate, but eventually the curtain will get pulled back (think The Wizard of Oz). If you’ve achieved engagement or entertainment without maintaining a sense of authenticity, your message could be lost amid audience reactions you never anticipated.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 11th, 2008 at 2:59 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.