[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:14.00,0:00:16.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Emily Dickinson said over a century ago
Dialogue: 0,0:00:16.00,0:00:18.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that there is no frigate like a book to take us lands away,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:18.00,0:00:20.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it's true.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:20.00,0:00:24.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When we pick up a book, turn on the TV, or watch a movie,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:24.00,0:00:28.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We're carried away down the currents of story into a world of imagination.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:28.00,0:00:31.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And when we land, on a shore that is both new and familiar,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:31.00,0:00:34.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,something strange happens.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:34.00,0:00:36.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Stepping on to the shore, we're changed.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:36.00,0:00:40.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We don't retrace the footsteps of the authors or characters we followed here:
Dialogue: 0,0:00:40.00,0:00:43.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,no. Instead we walk a mile in their shoes.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:43.00,0:00:47.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Researchers in psychology, neuroscience, child development, and biology
Dialogue: 0,0:00:47.00,0:00:50.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are finally starting to gain quantifiable scientific evidence
Dialogue: 0,0:00:50.00,0:00:53.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,showing what writers and readers have always known:
Dialogue: 0,0:00:53.00,0:00:57.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That stories have a unique ability to change a person's point of view.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:57.00,0:01:00.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Scholars are discovering evidence that stories shape culture
Dialogue: 0,0:01:00.00,0:01:03.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that much of what we believe about life comes not from fact
Dialogue: 0,0:01:03.00,0:01:06.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but from fiction, that our ideas
Dialogue: 0,0:01:06.00,0:01:08.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of class, marriage, and even gender
Dialogue: 0,0:01:08.00,0:01:12.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are relatively new, and that many ideologies which held fast for centuries
Dialogue: 0,0:01:12.00,0:01:17.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were revised within the 18th century, and re-drafted in the pages of the early novel.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:17.00,0:01:21.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Imagine a world where class, and not hard work, decide a person's worth.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:21.00,0:01:24.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A world where women are simply men's more untamed copy.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:24.00,0:01:28.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A world where marriage for love is a novel notion.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:28.00,0:01:32.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well, that was the world in which Samuel Richardson's Pamela first appeared.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:32.00,0:01:36.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Richardson's love story starred a poor, serving-class heroine
Dialogue: 0,0:01:36.00,0:01:40.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who is both morally superior and smarter than her upper-class suitor.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:40.00,0:01:42.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The book, challenging a slew of traditions,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:42.00,0:01:44.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,caused quite a ruckus.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:44.00,0:01:47.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There was more press for Pamela than for Parliament.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:47.00,0:01:50.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It spawned intense debate and several counter-novels.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:50.00,0:01:52.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Still, for all those who couldn't accept Pamela,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:52.00,0:01:55.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,others were eager for this new fictional world.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:55.00,0:01:58.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This best-seller, and all its literary heirs,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:58.00,0:02:01.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, and yes, even Twilight,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:01.00,0:02:05.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Have continuously shared the same tale, and taught similar lessons
Dialogue: 0,0:02:05.00,0:02:07.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which are now conventional and commonplace.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:07.00,0:02:10.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Similarly, novels have helped shape the minds
Dialogue: 0,0:02:10.00,0:02:12.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of thought leaders across history.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:12.00,0:02:14.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Some scholars say that Darwin's Theory of Evolution
Dialogue: 0,0:02:14.00,0:02:17.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is highly indebted to the plots he read and loved.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:17.00,0:02:19.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,His theory privileges intelligence,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:19.00,0:02:23.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,swiftness, and adaptability to change- all core characteristics in a hero.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:23.00,0:02:26.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Whether you're reading Harry Potter or Great Expectations,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:26.00,0:02:29.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you're reading the kind of plot that inspired Darwin.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:29.00,0:02:32.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Yet recent studies show that his theory might not be the whole story,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:32.00,0:02:36.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,our sense of being a hero- one man, or one woman, or even one species
Dialogue: 0,0:02:36.00,0:02:40.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,taking on the challenges of the world might be wrong.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:40.00,0:02:42.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Instead of being hard-wired for competition,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:42.00,0:02:45.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for being the solitary heroes in our own story,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:45.00,0:02:48.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we might instead be members of a shared quest.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:48.00,0:02:51.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,More Hobbit than Harry.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:51.00,0:02:54.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Sometimes, of course, the shoes we've been walking in can get plain worn out.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:54.00,0:02:58.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,After all, we haven't walked just one mile in Jane Austen or Mark Twain's shoes,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:58.00,0:03:01.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we've walked about a hundred trillion miles in them.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:01.00,0:03:04.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This isn't to say that we can't read and enjoy the classics,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:04.00,0:03:06.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we should travel with Dickens,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:06.00,0:03:08.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,let Pip teach us what to expect from ourselves,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:08.00,0:03:12.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,have a talk with Austen and Elizabeth about our prides and prejudices.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:12.00,0:03:14.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We should float with Twain down the Mississippi,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:14.00,0:03:17.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and have Jim show us what it means to be good.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:17.00,0:03:20.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But on our journey, we should also keep in mind
Dialogue: 0,0:03:20.00,0:03:22.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the terrain has changed. We'll start shopping around for boots
Dialogue: 0,0:03:22.00,0:03:25.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that were made for walking into a new era.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:25.00,0:03:29.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Take, for instance, Katniss Everdeen and her battle with the Capitol.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:29.00,0:03:32.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Can Hunger Games lead us into thinking about capitalism in a new way?
Dialogue: 0,0:03:32.00,0:03:37.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Can it teach us a lesson about why the individual should not put herself before the group?
Dialogue: 0,0:03:37.00,0:03:40.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Will Uglies reflect the dangers of pursuing a perfect body
Dialogue: 0,0:03:40.00,0:03:42.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and letting the media define what is beautiful?
Dialogue: 0,0:03:42.00,0:03:45.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Will Seekers trod a path beyond global warming?
Dialogue: 0,0:03:45.00,0:03:48.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Will the life and death struggles of Toklo,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:48.00,0:03:51.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Kallik, Lusa, and the other bears chart a course for understanding animals
Dialogue: 0,0:03:51.00,0:03:53.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and our place in their world?
Dialogue: 0,0:03:53.00,0:03:56.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Only the future will tell which stories will engage our imagination,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:56.00,0:04:00.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which tales of make-believe we'll make tomorrow,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:00.00,0:04:02.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but the good news is this:
Dialogue: 0,0:04:02.00,0:04:05.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There are new stories to venture in every day.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:05.00,0:04:09.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,New tales that promise to influence, to create, and to spark change.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:09.00,0:04:12.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Stories that you might even write yourself.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:12.00,0:04:15.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I guess the final question is this:
Dialogue: 0,0:04:15.00,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what story will you try on next?