Dialogue

When it comes to assessing what's important, what's really important in life, we often overlook the most obvious and simple things. One of those things is our ability, however imperfect, to communicate with each other, so here's a short communication about this from me to you.

Descartes said "I think; therefore I am," concluding that the only thing we can ever be 100 percent certain of, is our own existence. We don't know how we exist, whether we're inhabitants of material bodies, brains in vats, or NPC's in an elaborate computer-simulation, we don't even know if our memories or other persons are real. But we do know, without any doubt, that we exist in some form; the fact that we're conscious ensures of that truth. This single truth doesn't leave us with much room to manoeuvre though. To gain exponentially more wiggle-room we have to make just one additional assumption, and that is that the other persons are real too.

This enables us to compare the sensory information confined in our individual minds through communication. It enables us to start looking for truths about the universe we inhabit. If not the truth, at the very least we can arrive at some shared truths. This, in my opinion, is our most powerful tool to make sense of the world. This tool of conversation, and its power, aren't appreciated nearly enough. The pen really is mightier than the sword, for its effects are deeply felt and long lasting. Our conversations about the world and each other shape our model of that world, they shape our beliefs, and our beliefs in turn shape our actions and behavior.

We all know this, or at least I believe we do, but we don't often stop and think about it. If you know me at all through my daily blogs, you're well aware that I'm somewhat of a film addict. Now I love the modern action and sci-fi films as much as any other, but some of the best cinematic moments are found in dialogue, and I believe that this artistic depiction of dialogue reminds us on a subconscious level of its true power. I say this because it's the dialogue that hits us on a deep emotional level, and can surprise us by teaching us something we already knew deep down but weren't able to articulate or admit to ourselves. Some of the best films I've ever seen are almost exclusively made of conversations. For example, 12 Angry Men, a 1957 American courtroom drama film with Henry Fonda and Jack Lemmon is filmed almost entirely in the one room with the 12 members of the jury deliberating the case of an 18-year-old impoverished youth accused of stabbing his father to death.

The Man from Earth is a 2007 drama science fiction film with a plot as dull as they come;

Professor John Oldman is packing his belongings onto his truck, preparing to move to a new home. His colleagues show up to give him an impromptu farewell party: Harry, a biologist; Edith, an art history professor and devout Christian; Dan, an anthropologist; Sandy, a historian who is in (unrequited) love with John; Art, an archaeologist; and his younger student Linda.
_{source: Wikipedia}

They just talk, but during their conversation we learn that John Oldman really is a very, very Old Man who is essentially immortal and slowly but surely reveals that he's in fact the man who became the inspiration for the Jesus story. No action at all in this film, just a conversation between professors who at the end leave with various reactions, some believing the story and others convinced that John needs professional help.

I'd like to leave you with one of my all time favorites when it comes to strong dialogue and it's from the 1999 film The Big Kahuna. In it we're introduced to three sales representatives, two of them well seasoned in the craft of selling the products of an industrial lubricants company, played by Danny DeVito (Larry Mann) and Kevin Spacey (Phil Cooper), and one young man from the company's research department played by Peter Facinelli (Bob Walker). Again, this film is almost entirely made of conversations between these three men. Throughout these conversations we learn that Larry and Phil are old friends and that the "young gun" Bob is a very religious man. They are together on assignment to sell the product to various representatives of other companies, but to one potential client in particular, referred to as "the Big Kahuna," the one sale that could ensure the financial future of their company.

In the beginning of the film Bob and Larry have a short conversation about character, in which Bob compliments Larry with having a face "with character." Bob then asks if Larry thinks his own face has character, but Larry dismisses the question; Bob is still very young after all... Never in the film do we hear any conversation with the sales-targets, only between the three protagonists, and at the end of the sales evening we learn that "the Big Kahuna" never showed up. Or did he? Bob says he had a conversation with a man who talked about his dogs the whole evening, and that the conversation ended up being about belief and religion. The three men somehow find out that this man was the Big Kahuna, and that Bob was given an invitation to a party later that evening. So the two seasoned sales reps decide to send the young Bob to that party with just one goal; to ask the Big Kahuna to contact them so they can still make the deal.

When Bob returns, he admits that the product never entered the conversation, that they talked all evening about God, Christ and religion. Phil gets mad at Bob and leaves the room, as it turns out that Bob was the one who started talking about religion again instead of trying to sell the product, to make the sale that could save their parent company. After Phil has left the room, Larry has one last thing to say to young Bob, and that scene is linked below. Above is the preceding scene, just to set up some of the context. If you haven't had the pleasure of seeing this film yet, or the two mentioned earlier, do yourself a favor and watch them to remind yourself about that most powerful of tools we have; conversation, dialogue and debate, the power of the pen. Or the power of the sales-pitch ;-)

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