Well, it looks like I am not alone in taking a particular interest in the “How to Tell a True War Story” chapter. As some of you have mentioned, I thought O’Brien’s contrasting of absolute truth and personal emotions was insightful and intriguing.
In “How to Tell a True War Story”, O’Brien discusses how absolute truth and purpose in a story are not as relevant as the overall impressions of those who experienced the event. O’Brien ends the chapter by saying “a true war story is never about war. It’s about sunlight….It’s about love and memory. It’s about sorrow” (85). O’Brien is saying that the actual truth behind a story is not what matters. What really matters are the emotions involved in the story: what the storyteller feels and what the audience feels.”
Although O’Brien was specifically talking about war stories, I believe this philosophy applies to all forms of communication. O’Brien’s philosophy that gut-reactions are more important than absolute truth can be clearly seen in how society reacts to music, movies, and advertising.
A quick survey of the iTunes Top 10 songs serves as proof that the emotions evoked by music are more important that truth or morals. With all due respect to the Black Eyed Peas and Britney Spears, when the most popular songs in America have choruses that state “Lets Do it, and do it, and do it, and do it, and do it…” or , “1, 2, 3 Peter, Paul & Mary Gettin' down with 3P, Everybody loves Countin”, I would find it hard to argue that absolute truth is the most important aspect of music. Now I would also find it hard to argue that these type of songs aren’t fun, or that they don’t evoke positive emotions. Maybe “Party in the U.S.A.” has changed someone’s life somewhere, but I feel pretty comfortable assuming that these songs are popular for the emotions they evoke and not the wisdom and personal insight they spread.Surveying this weekend’s box office results also supports O’Brien’s theory. All of the top-10 box grossing movies from this past weekend were classified as either thriller, children’s, or comedy. Not to say that these movies can’t have deep and profound morals, but the mere names of the categories suggest otherwise. Thrillers are literally meant to “thrill” the audience. Comedies are supposed to make you laugh. Children’s movies, while occasionally containing some sort of moral or message, are usually dumbed down enough so that their targeted demographic will enjoy and understand them. Obviously this is not always the case. I thought Wall-E ingeniously incorporated an important message into a film that still holds massive appeal to the younger generation. Yet, movies like Wall-E are an exception to the predominant conventions of appealing to the audience’s emotions more than their personal beliefs.
Finally, advertising is another realm of communication that exemplifies O’Brien’s philosophy. For example, iPod and Apple advertisements have become extremely iconic throughout the past decade, but why is that? I doubt it’s because of the “absolute truth” contained in the ads. The early iPod advertisements merely showed shadowed figures dancing on colored backgrounds, iPod in hand, to up-tempo, fun music. Obviously Apple isn’t trying to pound you with a list of logical reasons to buy their product, they are merely instilling emotions in you that will hopefully make you want to buy their product. These ads are fun and cool to look at. They aren’t based on technical specifications or product features, they are based on emotions
Using these examples found in music, movies, and advertising, Tim O’Brien’s theory seems to hold up quite well. O’Brien states that absolute truth is practically irrelevant compared to the feelings and emotions conveyed by a story, and I believe that these examples prove that this theory doesn’t just apply to war stories but actually applies to all forms of communication.
The Things They Carried isn’t just a collection of fictional stories about the Vietnam War, it is also a statement on rhetoric. “How to Tell a True War Story” is an extremely relevant chapter on how emotions can outweigh absolute truth in effective rhetoric. Jay Heinrichs’ also acknowledges in Thank You For Arguing that even the soundest logic needs to be accompanied by effective ethos and pathos. Communication isn’t just stating facts, and both Heinrichs and O’Brien affirm that emotions are an integral part of rhetoric.
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