Learning from a Story: Hereditary

A look at how people learn from stories, specifically targeting tragedies.

'Hereditary' Director: Ari Aster DOP: Pawel Pogorzelski

When I title this 'Learning from a Story', I don't intend to breakdown this film and pull out the directing, writing, and cinematography techniques to explain it's genius and the lessons to be learnt. Instead I am specifically talking about how tales successfully teach an audience, using (mainly) Hereditary as an example, 'Learning from a Story'.

I will be covering an overview of the whole plot so spoilers will be frequent. I would advise watching 'Hereditary' (2018) before reading any further as to understand my explanation in full. It will make greater sense with prior knowledge.

I've written a story, the details of which don't matter, all you need to know is that I have a character whom I love and I'm keeping them from falling, and their world exploding. I know that the story is completed when I let them fall, but I can't let go because... they don't deserve it, yet its what must happen. I must let go and let this character fail and fall.

As humans we learn from failure, we see this in many films where the protagonist faces challenges, falls down, and gets back up after learning a lesson and overcomes the antagonist. We, as an audience, watch this and experience a kind of catharsis, but like the characters, do we learn anything? Do we change our life styles or think on issues when a film brings it up?

For some people the 'Rocky' films may have inspired them to exercise harder and never give up or 'Do the Right Thing' may have turned heads to look at racism, but do we change our behaviour? Though I'd like to believe it, film rarely has this impact.

I find tragedies particularly strange. They leave you with a sinking feeling, yet release a catharsis of a separate feeling I could only describe as a Thank-god-that-that-isn't-my-fate' feeling.

Hereditary is my favourite horror film of the last decade. Not just because the first time watching I was paranoid of seeing naked strangers lingering in my safe home, but because after my third viewing, I was left with a strangely positive vibe.

Here's an overview:

Hereditary follows a grieving family after the death of their daughter Charlie. Throughout the film they slowly collapse and become wrapped up in the death, until they are ultimately weak enough to be hosts for the demon, King Paimon, at the hands of a cult.

No one likes losing, it's instinctive. Films that show us a failing, drive us to avoid such a fate. When the subject of this failure is over something as brutal and real as grief, we can put the failure into our own lives, understand it, imagine it, and swear an oath to avoid that fate learning a lesson from the story.

With Hereditary my first viewing left me feeling quite hopeless as they all failed. After, it grew on me and I came back a second and a third time, I understood that I'm not going to let grief take over me; not because I believe a Demon and it's cult could possess me, but because I've seen the metaphor of what inner demon's can do. The more tragic the outcome and the harder it hits the more it imprints on us.

Another example to finalise my point with a more universal story:

If Romeo and Juliet had avoided their fate, there would still be the feuding on Varronian streets because the Capulets and Montagues learnt no lesson as nothing would've been lost as a consequence.

In a film we then feel that loss without losing anything, after all we could just rewind and watch the film's beginning in 'happy land' if we wanted.

If Romeo and Juliet had avoided their fate, there would still be the feuding on Varronian streets because the Capulets and Montagues learnt no lesson as nothing would've been lost as a consequence. So when you're writing a story. Think about your themes and if you can't bare to let a character go, but you know its the right path, for the sake of our world let them go and teach us a lesson.