By Tanya Batson, Staff ReporterIN WHAT was to be a discussion of what makes a great story great, the issue of cultural integrity in all forms of storytelling soon took over. The discussion, a seminar put on by the Calabash International Festival, took place at the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts, Mona, on Saturday afternoon.
Saturday featured three publishing seminars, held consecutively at the centre. The seminars are a part of the lead-in to the 'Calabash International Literary Festival' which will take place at Treasure Beach in St. Elizabeth in May.
For this purpose, the festival's organisers brought together a publisher, a choreographer, a playwright, a poet and a director early last Saturday afternoon. Each, in their own right, has played a significant part in the growth of Jamaica's storytelling tradition. The seminar, titled 'What Makes a Great Story Great', was the second of the three seminars.
'What Makes a Great Story Great' was hosted by poet Kwame Dawes, the programmer for the three-year-old 'Calabash Festival', who has also published 14 books.
His panel was made up of publisher Mike Henry of LMH Publishing; Artistic Director and founder of L'Acadco, L'Antoinette Stines; playwright Basil Dawkins and Perry Henzell, the director of Jamaica's most acclaimed film, The Harder They Come.
Retaining cultural integrity is one of the major issues facing the world as it moves toward globalisation. Almost as an offshoot, varying cultures have seen the global threat as a call to arms to protect their indigenous stories. So it was not surprising that it soon took over a discussion on the assests of a great story.
At the start of the discussion, each panel member explained his or her idea of the essence of a great story. For Henzell, a good story comes from invoking thought and emotions. "You have to set out to make people laugh, to make people cry and to make people think. The story is just an excuse to do that," she said.
He added that in the film industry this can become very dependent on the cast. Unfortunately, he is very disappointed with local casting. "If I would have a criticism of Jamaican film, it is that the casting doesn't make you care enough to carry it across the world," he argued.
The issue of cultural relevance first reared its head with L'Antoinette Stines' contribution. Stines also pointed to the importance of the cast or, in her case, the dancer. She noted that the dancer must understand the story in order to translate the message into the dance.
Stines had begun her dance company while living in Miami, but returned to Jamaica because she was having trouble giving a true reflection of Jamaica. "I want to reflect my people," she said, explaining the motivation behind her work. She argued, however, that something seems to get 'watered down' from the Caribbean story when it is recreated away from the islands.
For Basil Dawkins, the essence of a story is that it should be engaging. He went on to say that a good story should have the same effect as an Anansi story did in his childhood. Not only should it make promises of great things to come, but it should deliver something 'bigger than that which was promised'.
Dawkins also pointed to the issue of the importance of the story's relevance. He noted that when writing a story, he is cognisant of the fact that people have other things to do with their money and so it must be culturally or socially relevant. To illustrate, he pointed to his latest play, No Dirty Money, which speaks to the problem of the drug mule, a topical issue in today's Jamaica. Dawkins revealed that the story was born out his own anxiety, despite his innocence, whenever approaching ports of entry.
This specificity, he argued, takes nothing from its universal relevance. "I think the more time you spend making sure your story speaks to somebody in your society and be honest to the story, the more it becomes universally relevant," he explained. Perry Henzell agreed with this dictum and indicated that that is the value found in The Harder They Come.
Henzell urged therefore that we need to remain true to our stories. "Don't sell out! Don't sell out! Don't sell out!" he advised. His advice also include the marketing of the product. Henzell noted that 30 years after The Harder They Come was released he has trouble breaking into his largest potential markets (Brazil and South Africa) because his distributors attempt to market it as a cult film.
L'Antoinette Stines was adamant in her stance to retain cultural integrity. She noted that stories lose their essence when translated to another cultural space. To explain, she noted that 'Belly to belly back to back...' is not the same as 'Abdominal to abdominal, vertebrate to vertebrate...'.
On the other hand, Mike Henry noted that varying interpretations would not harm the essence of the story. He argued that producers would be better served if they simply sold their rights around the world and allowed the stories to be retold to suit the varying cultures.
Henzell noted, however, that had he simply sold Harder They Come to Hollywood he would be without a career.
