A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words

The art of storytelling has been around forever. It’s the easiest ways to pass down traditions, lessons and to just give pure and simple entertainment. Unfortunately, most people think that storytelling has to be written down and have dialogue, like a book, a movie or a television show. In reality anything can tell a story. If you look at it hard enough and keep yourself open minded a simple graphic, still frame or singular photo can tell a whole story.

1. Rocketman Film

This film is all about the tumultuous life and career of Elton John the extremely famous english musician. The movie is semi autobiographical but many parts of the film are created to be overly fantastical so the audience not only gets to see what it was like at the time, but also see what Elton was feeling. This scene and especially this shot tells the entire story of the performance. As he is singing Crocodile Rock for the first time at the Troubadour for a huge crowd him and everyone in the crowd begins to float. In this photo Elton is floating showing us that in real life he wasn’t floating but it sure felt like it at the time. He was on top of the world, living his best life. I also like to think that the sparkly star shirt further shows him reaching for the stars as he floats up into the stratosphere.

2 . 1917 Film

The movie 1917 is the first war movie in a long time that isn’t about the fight, but about stopping the fight. That is why this particular still from the movie gets me every time. It tells the story of the whole movie one shot. The main character is running the opposite direction of the fight, with no weapons and no protection. He clearing isn’t fighting so it makes you ask the question “What is he dong?”, “Where is he going?”. And to someone who hasn’t seen the movie they can predict that he is trying to get to someone or someplace as fast as he can and with great urgency, and that description right there is the whole movie. It gives you the feeling of panic and the want to sit on the edge of your seat wondering if he’s going to make it to his destination in time.

3. Star Wars Poster

The Star Wars movie poster is one those posters that uses the stylized, graphically designed tactic to promote the movie, but favorite part of the poster is that it still tells the story and sets the setting for the movie up perfectly. It tells us that these to male and female characters are the good guys, fighting in the light, as they are the only things fully lit up on the poster. As the bad guy of the story looms in all black and darkness in the background. This poster is the pinnacle of one of the principles in storytelling, which is that it plays off of our knowledge of archetypes, the hero and the villain.

4. The Help Poster

This is another of a poster, going for a more abstract look, but still capturing the story of the movie perfectly. The whole film is about racism and overcoming people’s prejudices and unkind bigotry. Showing the two white women in pretty pink dresses and fancy flats getting to sit on the bench vs the black women who are in maid uniforms and beat up sneakers who are standing shows the problem of segregation and racism at hand. But having the middle women, Emma Stone, sit in the middle and face forwards shows how conflicted she is and shows that she’s not like the other women who’s facing away from everyone else. The pink dresses also help tell the story of what time period it is and what exceptions women have at that time. Women were supposed to be proper and pretty and nothing much else.

5. La La Land Film

Another Emma Stone movie, La La Land is all about relationships and how at certain points in your life choosing between a relationship and your dreams is very crucial and that even thought a certain love might feel great it might not be the right time for it. In this specific shot I see a story that so many people could tell from their own personal experience. Ryan Goslings character, Seb, is showing Stone’s character, Mia, jazz for the first time. It’s his passion and he is so invested and happy talking about his love and she is just lost, but is still listening and to me that is the best description of love. Both parts of the relationship might not like the same things but as long as you support each others dreams and passions then it’s bound to be a healthy and happy relationship. And many times in the relationship the other partner ends up beginning to like the other partners things. Like Mia in this case who eventually fell in love with Jazz just like Seb.

6. Women at a Window

This piece of graphic artwork speaks volumes to me. The relevancy the picture has to me tells the greatest story. How much of our lives to we send staring out the window with our head in the clouds daydreaming. We use our bodies to go from place to place, day in and day out, working, running like a machine and wasting away like a flower in the wind, but our heads are always somewhere else. I personally feel like this is me at least once every day, dreaming about my future or just a fantastical world far away from reality.

7. Distracted on a Train

This photo tells the perfect story of what is happening to today’s society and to the possible death of storytelling. The dichotomy between the couple on the train and the poster behind them is a perfect coincidence. The grandparent telling a story to the younger generation is how stories are passed down, but with the invention of new technology there is less and less verbal communication and human connection and more time spent looking down in our worlds on out devices. The pure authenticity of the photo truly makes you feel the story. The view that this person had on the train is similar to what any of us would see on a train today.

8. From Boys to Men

This painting tells the story of boys growing up. Young boys start their lives out wanting to roll in the mud, play with their buddies and their toys. Create fake battles and pretend they are the protectors of the whole universe, then as they begin to grow up they meet girls and their whole worlds change. And in this picture it’s the story of the “the boys” coming across their first female magazine and becoming memorized and no longer caring about the fake guns and games they were playing before it.

9. War becomes Peace

This painting tells the story of growth and progression in my eyes. Having the little girl swing on the gun of a tank smiling shows that no matter what with time things can change and heal. War can stop and peace and happiness will prevail. At the same time the picture can also tell the other half of the perspective which is that even with time and healing there will always be remains of our past to teach us not to make the same mistakes again. Instead of tearing the tank down and getting rid of it and forgetting the hate and the violence keeping the take up and using for something so fun and happy is a constant reminder to never let that hate get so bad that it starts another war.

10. Lie to Me Music Video

For my final image, it’s a still shot from the music video “Lie to Me” by 5 Seconds of Summer. The song and music video overall is very heavy and dark, but this particular still from the video tells a lot. The song is all about a boy hoping that the next time he sees his ex that if he asks her if she ever actually loved him she’ll just lie to him, because he doesn’t think he can actually handle the truth. In this shot the story is of a the boy sitting in the back seat of a racing car all by himself in the middle of a dark crater, showing that he has no control, no control over his life or his love, and he’s all alone, there’s no one there to help him out. In the back of the photo (even though it’s hard to see) there is another racing car coming full speed towards him and he isn’t even flinching. He’s so consumed by sadness that he doesn’t see his impending doom or “rock bottom” about to hit head on. The whole video is very powerful and when you know the real story behind the actual singers real life, it hits even harder, but this image in particular tells a story of true sadness and the feeling of powerlessness.

After examining countless photos and stills and thinking about the stories they each tell, I can see so much clearer that with enough thought, a story can be anything and come from anything. But I’ve learned that each story and each perception of the pictures are extremely personal. The story that I see in these photos is always going to be different then anyone around me or from the original artist. Some things will remain the same, like the main themes and symbols, but the feeling that I get from it or what I take away from the story will specific to me and my experiences in life. And to me that’s the most interesting part of story. Everyone can see, hear and feel the same story, but the take away will always be different.