Once upon a time, there was a big jamoon(fruit) tree on the bank of a beautiful river And a monkey lived on it. Monkey ate a lot of jamoom and shared it too.
One day a crocodile comes to mokey. He asks for the jamoon and monkey shares the jamoon. They become good friends until one day crocodile had an urge to eat monkeys heart. Crocodiles Logic was “jamoon is very sweet and monkey eats it everyday hence heart of the monkey would be tasty.”
Crocodile calls monkey home. Monkey agrees and jumps on crocodiles back. Half way into the river crocodile disclose its idea. Monkey being smart says ‘you should have told me. I have left my heart on the tree. Let’s go back and get it’.
Crocodile turns around and when they reach the tree monkey jumps amd climbs the tree and says ‘I am so sad. You have betrayed me. I will no longer be your friend’. Moral of the story according to the book was be intelligent and you’ll have no trouble
Now. After listening to the story, who’s side would you stand by? What is the story telling us? And if given a chance to be a character what would you like to be,?
When I asked my self this question I choose monkey. My reason being that I would rather be a smart monkey than a not so witty, ungrateful, powerful crocodile.
Thought behind the story for me was not ” be like monkey ” but it is “don’t be crocodile”. Literally speaking don’t be bad. Its a subtle and sublime message that is incripted in the story.
In any story, Its not the character but what we see in the character that we hate. It’s about the punishment of the villain rather than the win of the hero or underdog that we cheer for. It is about the win against the unfair treatment rather than anything else.
I recently saw an interview of a WWE Superstar. He says that if its all about fighting that would not sell tickets. It is the narative and fight between contrast, good vs bad, weak vs strong, that sells ticket.
People want to see the bad guy get beaten or punished for what they have done. They want to see big, strong, mean guy get humiliated by the small guys.
we cheer for our hero’s and underdogs for the inspiration that they give us to confront our own bad situation. To stand up, to make a difference, and to be awesome in our own life. Not because they are smarter or stronger or anything else. We stand for justice that is served.
This one for the justice that it goes down in my memory slate.
