How Natural Spaces Tell a Story
Mountains, deserts, forests, and more have all been apart of great storytelling.
The outside world is full of breathtaking beauty, inspiration, and endless opportunities for adventure. While many see our natural lands through these lenses, there is also a uniquely human element we assign to these spaces of sublimity.
Whether it be the ocean, mountains, or deserts — all of these natural spaces have been used in human storytelling since the dawn of time. Whether it be the cedar forests in the Epic of Gilgamesh or the open ocean world of Finding Nemo, humans have always used natural spaces to craft their narratives.
John Truby is an American screenwriter and director who has consulted on the scripts of over 1,000 films in his three-decade-long career. In his book The Anatomy of Story, he highlights the many ways in which the world of nature is used in human storytelling and how important it is in crafting meaning-making.
“The meaning we take from physical forms and spaces seems to be deeper than culture and learning; it seems to be part of the human psyche. This is why it has profound effects on the audience.”
Each natural space intersects with characters and symbolism to support what makes a great story. Using the help of Truby’s work in storytelling and looking through some of the many seminal works of fiction, here are how our awe-inspiring natural landscapes have been shaped and used to celebrate the remarkable human narrative.
The Desert
An endless array of sand or ice makes up the desert environments. These harsh places are not for the faint of heart. The extreme emptiness and lack of life play an essential part in telling a story.
Like humans, stories also have their toughest times in the desert. Since it is such a hostile environment, it can be a place of tremendous character growth or change; as a way for characters to harden and strengthen their emotional and physical abilities. For others, it can be an isolating place of oppression.
In George Lucas’s famous Star Wars, one of the first environments we encounter our main character Luke Skywalker, is in the desert. Skywalker is introduced as a boy who is isolated and hidden away. The desert can be seen as a symbol of his oppression, an environment that makes him feel alone.
The desert is an alluring landscape that has shaped tremendous character growth in our storytelling. It is a place of change, confinement, and even death. Deserts prove to be one of the least forgiving natural spaces.
The Forest
The forest holds abundant life and different shades of green everywhere you look. In the right light, a forest is a place of existence. With nature abounding among the tall canopies, it can bring a sense of inner peace.
Like many natural spaces, a forest is also a place of escape. Many characters seek the solace of the forest for enlightenment or wisdom. Other characters may look at it as a way of escaping the norms of society to fulfill their innermost desires and indulgences. The forests can also be a place of fairy tales, youth, and wonderment. Many classic fairy tales revolve around mythical and magical figures that emerge from a forest setting.
Forests, however, are not always happy and enchanting places. Darker woods exist in our human narratives. These forests can represent ominous storytelling elements such as becoming lost, hunted, or preyed upon. In The Wizard of Oz, a haunted forest initiates fear and doubt in the main character Dorothy. In the forest, she is separated from her friends and brought over to the evil witches castle. The forest is thus the setting for the calamitous pivot of the narrative.
Forests can be either a magical or spine-chilling place. It is often a symbol of fantasy elements and escapism but holds a dark and foreboding atmosphere. These many nuances of the forest make it a valuable tool in enhancing the story world.
The Jungle
Like the forest, the jungle represents nature and life. However, unlike the forest, jungles are often not associated with fairy tales and magic. Instead, jungles are a place where nature dominates.
Probably the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet are in tropical jungles. The climate allows so many different forms of nature to survive. In storytelling, jungles are a primal place, a place where nature retains dominion over humans. Jungles surround and suffocate you. You feel like a stranger in the home of many exotic and sometimes dangerous plants and animals.
Jungles are also a symbolic form of primitivism. In many narratives, the jungle is associated with how humans and species once lived before colonialism. The wildness and primitive nature are a symbol in many famous books and movies, including Heart of Darkness, Tarzan, and The Jungle Book.
The Ocean
There are many ways in which the ocean has played a part in the human narrative. In our minds, we often think of the ocean as two distinct worlds: the two-dimensional world of the ocean surface, and the three-dimensional world of the ocean deep.
On the surface of the ocean, we have similar symbolism to that of the desert and the plains. The surface is that of a vast flatness that is devoid of many natural features. The only element to the ocean surface is the salty water that is too saline for human consumption, making the ocean surface not only abstract but a hostile and challenging place to live. From the ocean surface, we have many tales of survival, hardship, and hopelessness.
When we dive into the more bottomless ocean, we are now free-floating in a three-dimensional world of freedom, exploration, and life. John Truby explains that this free-floating quality of the ocean often leads the human mind in the fascination of a utopia.
“This weightless, floating quality is a common element when the human mind imagines a utopia, which is why the ocean deep has often been the place of utopian dreamworlds.”
Think of movies such as Disney’s The Little Mermaid or Pixar’s Finding Nemo. Both of these films depict the underwater world as a vast network of life and community. It mirrors the world of our dreams. As bright and carefree as these stories are, they also are not without their challenges and dark places.
Since the open ocean is so vast and deep, it is not free from the many pockets of murkiness and mystery. The deep ocean can be a despairing graveyard that is unimaginable beyond its cavernous depths. The many layers of the deep ocean can contain creatures and secrets unknown to us and only talked about in legends. Some examples include the mythical ocean creatures of the Kraken or the Aspidochelone.
The ocean is a place of many stories that depict both a paradise and a dark underworld. It will be a natural space that allows human storytelling to shape and use our imagination, perhaps more than any other of the natural areas.
The River
Rivers lend themselves to storytelling like no other. Since a good story involves a character changing on some type of journey or set of challenges, rivers are the perfect natural space to exhibit that physically. Rivers hold symbolism that drives meaning into character development. The article below details specific examples in literature and film where the river coincides with quality storytelling elements.
The river is similar to that of a road. As the character follows the path of a river, they may change emotionally, physically, or morally. The route of the river signals changes both in and out of something for a character in a story. In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, the river goes deeper into the jungles of Africa and tells the story of how the characters slowly leave civilization behind to pursue the enigmas of primitivism.
The Mountain
Mountains are a place of inspiration for many outdoor enthusiasts. It is a place that numerous choose to conquer and face their challenges. It is also highly known as a natural place of beauty where one can find themself. These philosophical elements can also be seen in storytelling.
Since mountains are so high, they are a way for characters to show their strength and perseverance if they can make it to the top. It is also another form of escapism where characters can go to receive better clarity and understanding. John Truby describes the mountain world quite succinctly:
“[the mountains]…is where the strong go to prove themselves — usually through seclusion, meditation, a lack of comfort, and direct confrontation with nature in the extreme. The mountaintop is the world of the natural philosopher, the great thinker who must understand the forces of nature so he can live with them and sometimes control them.”
The mountain environment is only for the adventurous. It is rough, rugged, but rewarding. Many characters go to find enlightenment on the top of the mountains. A high mountaintop is of great importance to Jewish and Christian believers of the Bible. In the old testament, prophets would take off to the mountains so that they could communicate and be closer to God. Mount Sinai is where Moses receives the Ten Commandments and establishes God’s sacred covenant with Israel.
The mountains of stories can also be contrasted in a negative light. With their sheer height and exigent nature, they are a place where domination and social hierarchy persist. Evil villains make their home on the mountaintops and look down on the simpletons in the lowlands. If there is one natural environment that can highlight unfair class differences, it can be in the mountains.
These majestic towering landscapes of the earth will continue to be a part of human narratives and spirituality as a place of challenge, seclusion, and enlightenment. The stark and demanding nature of the mountains makes them an ideal natural space for stories of determination, endurance, and social contrast.
The Plains
In complete contrast to the mountains, the plains are flatlands. They can range from the plains of Africa to the American prairie. The flatness is similar to the abstractness of the ocean but can symbolize a place of freedom and justice.
Like deserts, plains are commonplace in old American western stories. They show that characters have the freedom to go about the land as they please. However, if a conflict arises, the plains can be swift at administering proper impartiality. Even if there is a violent nature, there is also a sense of right and wrong.
Plains are also depicted in stories as places where the common ignoramus folk live. Unlike in the mountains, people in the plains are the lowest on the social hierarchy. They are easily swayed and led by the supposed superiority of the mountain elites.
Freedom, equity, and social contrast define the plains in storytelling. The vast openness makes it a perfect palette for characters looking to obtain freedom and a sense of purpose with the land. This vastness plays a critical role in narrative character development so crucial to excellent storytelling.
These are just some of the many places in nature used to tell stories. It’s vital to remember that although these backgrounds make excellent tools for the raconteur, they are not the only tool. To craft a captivating story, one also needs to consider the characters, plotline, themes, and so much more. Good storytelling is a skill that takes diligent practice.
Story worlds are also not exclusively made up of elements in the natural world. Cities, roads, buildings, and many other forms of human edifices also set the stage for a great story. The master storyteller delicately and skillfully weaves various components of these together into a more compelling narrative.
Let’s continue to celebrate and cherish not only the intrinsic value of natural space but how it also has an integral part in telling our story.
