Last week I went to Universal Studios. It was, no surprise, awesome. Would definitely recommend if you like roller coasters, cool experiences, and stories.
I’m not just talking about the stories they build the parks around. Like Harry Potter, How to Train Your Dragon, and Jurassic Park. When you step into those parks, it is like you are stepping into another world. (which is the point, I think) A story so immersive you feel like you are really there.
I am also talking about the stories they build into every single ride. Or most of them, anyway. There were plenty of 4D rides where it feels like you are going on an adventure with the characters. Those were some of my favorites. But even the roller coasters had a story to go with them. A story which started while you were waiting in line, and continued throughout the ride.
For example, on my favorite roller coaster, the line meandered through what looked like Hiccup’s workshop, with notes and plan scattered all over. As we got closer to the ride, it is revealed we aren’t going on a roller coaster, oh no, we are going to ride dragons with Hiccup as our guide. Even the safety signs are part of the story.
I thought it was very clever of the ride designers to create the ride like that. For one thing, it makes the sometimes very, very long lines easier to bear because there is so much to look at while you are waiting. For another thing, it makes the rides feel more immersive, like they are an extension of the experience of the park, and not just a cool ride plopped in the middle of Hogsmeade.
It showed the different ways we can tell stories. Storytelling isn’t just confined to words or to film. There are more ways to tell a story than at first even I imagined. I would never have thought to tell a story through safety signs and objects, but then I was confronted and enchanted by it. I spend much of my time surrounded by the written stories, it was refreshing to be told a story in such a tactile way.
It makes me wonder what kinds of stories I could tell using my home and classroom. If storytelling can be so tactile, what story could I bring into my classroom? What story could I tell with my bookshelves?
In a way, I think my home is telling a story about me, whether I mean for it to or not. The prominent bookshelves tell the story of a lover of books, and the large kitchen tells its tale of hours spent cooking and baking. The question is, can I be intentional about the stories my home is telling to the people who enter it?
Food for thought.
I hope you are having a lovely day.
Shaina Merrick
The Beauty of a Story 