Wise Storytelling

 I want to get more precise about the kind of storytelling we want to do, so that we can evangelize it, and so that we know how to talk about it internally and with others.

There's a certain quality I want to isolate, which is a story that is wholesome, yet mature and smart. Dark things can happen and they're dealt with, but the overall tone and theme is never bleak or nihilistic.  It's often also aimed at children and families, but it's never bland or saccharine. Examples: Pixar movies, Miyazaki films, Avatar: TLA, Stardew, Hades, Portal, and this weird kids' band called the Okee Dokee brothers. Most Pratchett. Most of The Muppets material.

It's a type of storytelling that's adult without being edgy, and childlike without being reductive. Smart, wholesome Storytelling. Wise Storytelling. 

I'm still working my way through what it is, but I think I have a better handle on what it isn't, so let's start there. A lot, a LOT of fantasy/scifi/genre material is casually nihilistic, so much so that we're numb to it. (Especially in games imo, where the writing is often second rate to begin with, and tends to pull tropes off the shelf without much thought.)

The whole village (or planet!) was wiped out, as a throwaway line that fails to meaningfully impact the characters for the rest of the story. A casually abusive and faceless corporation that you work for, where the callousness or soullessness is never addressed. NPCs that are expected to die, and whose lives or deaths have no impact on the game. The unearned sex scene.

A lot of this boils down to using tragedy, or bad conditions, or sex, for its immediate shock value, or humor, or stimulation, but then forgetting to follow through on the impact or consequences of the thing.

So, I guess a big part of Wise Storytelling is carefully considering the consequences of the events in the story, and being really honest about them. Another important thing is separating the setting from the characters, drawing a line between a gray world and the warm folk who have to live there.

The world shouldn't be perfect, it's not all rainbows and butterflies. But I think it's the attitude towards the world, and how characters treat the ones they're close to, that makes the difference between a bleak and a wise world. For example, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind presents a quite bleak and frightening world in one sense, but the loving relationships and earnest attitudes of the characters fight back, tonally, against the setting.

Ankh Morpork is described as an objectively terrible place, but the Watch is wholesome as heck, because Vimes makes it so. (And Carrot, of course, but he's kinda extra.) But Vimes is a cynical bastard, and has to be dragged down the right path every step of the way. He never sets out to make the Watch wholesome, it's just that every decision point, his conscience forces him, against his habits, history, and instincts, to do the decent thing.

The wisdom here is in showing positive examples of how to live well in an ambivalent or even downright terrible world. Full Metal Alchemist comes to mind as another good example.

Another important pillar, I'm going to say, is requiring characters to stay true to themselves, especially when they're making mistakes or have something to learn. Zuko's arc is solid gold: he earns every step of his journey.

If you look at the family dynamics in Coco, compared to Encanto, on the surface it's the same arc. Family comes to terms with kid's differences, learns to not be so uptight. But I think that Coco pulls it off much more successfully, because the whole  journey of the movie is about Imelda learning the truth about Hector and then finally coming to forgive him for abandoning her. Along the way, Imelda is true to herself. She doesn't just fold; she has to be dragged the whole way. There just isn't that moment in Encanto. It's, oh our house fell apart, I guess I shouldn't have been so uptight, sorry.

This is getting out of control so let me see if I can summarize it.

Wise storytelling is wholesome and mature. It's stories are about fundamentally decent-hearted people. It can tackle tough, dark, and emotional issues, but it has to be honest about them. It should have humor and tenderness, but it's important that these things don't wipe away the setting or the consequences.  Characters are true to their core natures. Nihilism is forbidden. Good Characters in a Gray World is what we're aiming for.