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It all depends on how you look at it. And it’s so true. We are all faced with problems in our lives.
But it’s how we view those problems that makes all the difference. Do we find ourselves overwhelmed? Or do we adjust our lens, refocus our view and take a different perspective? There is a power in taking a step back, taking a moment and finding a way to reframe. To see the challenge as an opportunity; to see the struggle as a pathway; to see sunshine where otherwise we might see clouds; finding empathy for others when starting as adversaries.
Rolling! Action! Cut! We’re probably all familiar with these filmmaking terms that have made their way into our everyday vocabulary. But there’s a lesser- known phrase that filmmakers use to describe an image that allows the audience to see things from a different perspective than perhaps the character on screen is seeing. It’s a compositional technique called a ‘frame within a frame.’ From a technical perspective, it’s using visual elements within a frame to make a specific shot visually compelling. From a storytelling perspective, it’s used to create connections between the audience and the characters and quite literally frame how they interact with the world. It’s used to build empathy for a protagonist, or dislike for an antagonist. But most importantly, a frame within a frame allows the audience to see things from the perspective of another. It’s a technique that some directors and screenwriters refer to as ‘the connector,’ creating empathy in spaces where it may not have existed before.
Yet why is creating empathy on screen so important? And how does it have a real-life application? It’s fair to say, empathy has become a bit of a zeitgeist within our vernacular these days, and while we may think it’s just a fuzzy feel-good word of the moment, there’s real power in what empathy can create. As the writer Roman Krznaric states “empathy is, in fact, an ideal that has the power both to transform our lives and to bring about fundamental social change.” When we take a moment to not only see things from the perspective of others, but understand and share the feelings, perspectives, and experiences of others, we can establish meaningful connections with those around us. And with those connections, we find common ground that can create positive momentum that leads to positive change. Empathy goes beyond sympathy, which is simply acknowledging another person's feelings.
I’m reminded of the story of man named Clairborne Ellis who was born into poverty right before the Great Depression in 1927. His father lost his job following the crash of 1929 and, finding it hard to put food on the table, his resentment turned towards African Americans as being the source of all his trouble and joined the KKK. Following his father’s death, Clairborne ended up following in his father’s footsteps, eventually becoming the leader of his local KKK branch. But this all changed one day in 1971, when he was invited to a series of community meetings about tackling racial tensions in schools. Thinking he was simply going to shoot down any calls for easing the tensions that were still being caused by full integration across American schools at that time, he was shocked when the woman he was meant to partner with was an African American woman named Ann Atwater whom he claimed he “despised”. Yet the more he listened to Ann, the more he realized they shared many of the same problems as two individuals born into poverty. As he said, “I finally began to empathize with her pain and see her as a human being. It was like being born again.” On the last and final meeting, he tore up his membership card to the KKK in front of the whole town of a few thousand people and later became a labor organizer for a union with over 70 percent African American membership. He and Ann would be friends for the rest of their lives.
It’s easy for us to dismiss, even at times dehumanize those we may disagree with or who we feel with odds at. But when we frame things differently, when we make the effort to see the whole picture, we can overcome a lot and be better off for it, as we saw in the case of Ann and Clairborne.
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