Like a movie (Milestone 3)

 

I’ve finished the first pass through the transcripts, and have a long list of themes that I want to look at in detail. As a small example, several people talked about feeling like having been in a movie:

"It's ... we don't really remember doing it, but it's almost like watching a movie, and then forgetting you starred in it." — Zach

"You see it in movies, and you see it, that... it's more dramatized in movies, but when you see it firsthand and you experience it, it's much like the movies, but it's real life. It's almost like digital. It really is, and not to mention the fact that there were no lights. Everybody had the lantern, so you saw shadows, soft shadows. Like, if you will, a film noir. That's just how, 'cause all you saw hands, people walking back and forth, the water sloshing under people's feet." — Shelter occupant

I don’t know that there is any deep significance in this for present purposes, but offer the following stray thoughts,

1. One way of thinking about changing mindsets through experiential learning is that we are trying to help people learn to “re-write the movie” as it plays out.

2. Even if people don’t consciously re-write the movie as it plays out, it is critical always to bear in mind that memory is an avid and enthusiastic editor. (NOTE TO SELF: Review literature on flashbulb memories to understand implications for research reliability more clearly.)

Thanks, — Susanne

Prepare to re-write your movie.