Litrature and Influence

Humans are, by nature, social creatures.

We evolved this way, it is one of the defining traits that set us apart from other hominid and pre-hominid mammals. Our communication skills are what gave us an advantage and took hundreds of years of evolution to develop fully. Communication and story telling was how information was passed from one generation to the next. It was how we learnt.

Nowadays, books, stories are almost limitless resources as we have collected centuries of work. However, books and writing still have a great influence on society, both fiction and non-fiction novels. An example of this is Bram Stoker's Dracula. Before this piece of fiction was released there was a great stigma surrounding the dead and in particular, the undead. The people of the time were very superstitious and would undergo great measures to ensure suspected vampires, witches, zombies and warlocks stayed in the ground. Even the Catholic church had some issues, with the people becoming uncomfortable with the "body" of Christ. Superstitious folk (who was almost everyone at the time) thought this could elude to vampirism or cannibalism. For ages after vampires were depicted as horrible grotesque creatures that brought about disease and pestilence. This description followed them into literature until one book was realised. This was of course, Dracula.

Suddenly, a creature that was feared became romanticised. They were no longer rotting and monstrous, but almost human in look and manner. Most vampire books in the modern era still hold this romantic theme. Vampire Academy, Evernight, The Vampire Lestat and of course, the Twilight saga are books which share the theme of romantic vampires with a human side.

Yet people still think literature has no effect on our society.

Another prime example is the movie Jaws which was a major hit when it was released. It inspired a fear in people of both the ocean and sharks. Sharks however kill (however comical it sounds) less people than both coconuts and bees. Sharks truly are man-eating beasts we must fear. So this movie did not only inspire fear but also the mass culling of sharks. If there was a killing by a shark, people insisted they be culled. Shark numbers are now dwindling and environmental issues tied with human interference has meant a severe decrease in their numbers. There are also multiple shark themed horror films for us to watch. Such as Deep Blue Sea, Great White, 2-Headed Shark Attack, Bait, Shark Night, Swamp Shark, Ghost Shark, Shark Attack, Sharknado and the list could go on. (Many of the movies have names so ridiculous I couldn't bring myself to type them down.)

Literature totally has no influence.

All of William Shakespeare's work is now considered iconic. His play-writes are constantly adapted and re-adapted especially his most famous piece, Romeo and Juliet. His writing is so famous almost anyone who hears his name knows who he is and knows at least the name of one of his plays.

Plays like Romeo and Juliet have for many shaped their definition of love and romance (ironic, considering that really was not the original point of the play). We have seen the same storyline again and again. A boy and girl fall in love then are separated by family or other division between them and strive to be together, often ending in tragedy. The setting may change, for instance they might be in the wild west amongst dust balls and gun fights, or in medieval times, or modern era, but the main theme stays true.

Shakespeare and his plays have not only influenced film, song and writing but also the way we speak. Many modern phrases or slang came from his works. For instance, the "green-eyed monster." A Term used to describe someone who is jealous. "Love is blind," meaning we often fail to see shortcomings or faults in those we care about. "Break the ice," when talking about striking conversation. "Method to his madness" and "laughing stock" are two more phrases you would probably recognise.

I could continue on, but instead I will give you homework. Think about what information you read and see and hear and think about where it came from. Take note of what influences you and try and notice what influences others. Because we are always processing and taking information in, even subconsciously. It does not matter if the writing if fictional, because lore, myth and fiction has been the basis of our society for as long as records show.

That's it for now.

Resilience

Pain and the way we accommodate it are both unusual things.

All people are different when it comes to being hurt and therefore the levels of tolerance vary. This goes for both physical and emotional/mental pain. If you were to punch someone in the arm, depending on who this person was you could make them cry, bruise or hurt them. On the other hand, they could brush it off and hardly feel a thing even though you punched them just as hard as the other person.

If you were to yell or swear at someone, they could laugh and not care or swear back - getting angry rather than hurt. Either this or, you might not know it, but you could be leaving them with a sunken feeling in their stomach and a hollow pain in their chest as they take what you said or did to heart.

Personally, what I find differentiates physical from mental pain is how it effects us over time. Your body hardens and callouses, your skin thickens and you become used to pain. Whereas with mental pain, the blows tend to get worse the more prolonged they are. Each insult, each argument chips at your mental shield until it all comes crumbling down.

In an attempt to keep themselves safe I have seen people isolate themselves, shut off their emotions or hurt others in return. All of these things only cause a different kind of pain. If you're alone, who will be there when you need help? If you don't feel anything, when will you be happy again? Why hurt others, when all you are doing is spreading the pain?

Resilience, just like pain, is different for everyone. Building up mental resilience is hard and for those with mental illnesses can seem almost impossible.  To build up resilience you need to let some of the pain out. To share how you feel. To express yourself. To go talk to a friend and vent and talk about the problem, to find a solution to the problem if possible and fix things, to distract yourself until you're calmer with music or television. Or you could express yourself, draw something, paint something, or even write something as I am now.

Just know that whatever bad has happened, it is not permanent. It will end someday and so will the pain it has caused.