Sporing more regenerative stories in media and entertainment, ft. Nathalie Kelley
How do we reshape our cultural appetites for change?
New year’s greetings ~
Every day, but especially during new beginnings like the start of a new year, feels like a good time to reflect on change. And this season has me wondering about the both-and of establishing new ways of being while still listening to my body.
If I want to rebuild morning rituals of mindfulness and movement, for example, but feel resistance to doing so because my body is not used to waking up an hour earlier every day, do I “listen to my body” to snooze longer, or force myself to get up even if in the moment, I really don't want to?
If I want to eat less refined sugars in my diet but get sugar cravings because my current bodily microbial community is accustomed to being fed that certain way (and will deliver related signals to my brain telling me my body wants more sugar), do I “listen to my body” or question those desires knowing that our appetites, wants, and gauges of pleasure are also shape-able and products of larger cultural conditionings?
There are parallel considerations at the ecosystem level as well. In my essay “Beings as verbs,” I explored how land conversion in West Maui and along the Hāmākua Coast have contributed to transforming their regional water cycles. The dryland grasses that have taken over many of these areas have changed the ecological community makeup of these terrains that historically held and cycled more water — thus also changing the current appetite and expressions of the land.
If we are “listening to the land” by looking at just the present proliferation of these grasslands, then the drier microclimates would not seem concerning. But for those with intentions to restore habitats, forests, and watersheds, and conserve endangered, endemic plants, it makes such work a lot more difficult — akin to going against the signs and symptoms of microbiomes that may not be aligned with the health of their larger bodies.
What this means is that we cannot “listen to the body” and “listen to the land” without contextualizing how they have been influenced — and taking a step back to assess where their “values” and “desires” come from and are oriented towards.
Today, I'd like to invite us to apply these curiosities to the world of media, storytelling, and entertainment — and interrogate the ways that these industries are thoughtlessly following and listening to “consumer demand” in order to maximize their monetary “returns on investment.”
How is this cementing our cultural appetites for narratives that reinforce status quo values and worldviews — further marginalizing the narrative changes we need to (re)learn to relate to the world differently?
I explore these questions in my latest podcast interview with Nathalie Kelley, an actress-activist of Indigenous Peruvian descent who most recently starred in Dynasty and The Baker and the Beauty.
With 15 years of experience in the entertainment industry — coupled with a deep passion for Indigenous rights, regenerative fashion, and systemic change for planetary healing — Nathalie pulls back the curtain for us to better understand some of the invisible hands shaping pop culture and the dominant narratives pushed into the mainstream.
Enjoy!
with light, green dreamer kaméa
“The algorithm can’t measure how someone feels after watching television—whether they hated it or walked away feeling inspired and hopeful about life. It’s deeply concerning to me that executives and studios are increasingly relying on these numbers.” – Nathalie Kelley
What does it mean that Hollywood and the entertainment industry are increasingly relying on consumer data to make decisions about the types of stories that get funded and produced? How might we expand our perspectives on privilege so that the things we aspire to as being “better off” are more deeply rooted in what can affirm life, community, and our interconnectedness?
If these questions speak to you, I welcome you to join me and Nathalie Kelley in our honest and heartfelt conversation as we explore the ways that the media, films, and stories we engage with add up to shape our cultural values and relationships — with each other and the more-than-human world.
“The challenge that we're facing now as storytellers in Hollywood is AI and algorithms, and what they are telling studio heads and executives about what we want to watch... Because at the end of the day, what is the goal of an executive at a studio, whether it's Amazon, Netflix, or ABC? It's to make their corporation money and to win advertisements or support from corporations. And so really, it's just about the bottom line.
But before, you might have had somebody saying, ‘Well, maybe we'll give this idea a shot because who knows? It could land on some human level.’ Now you're arguing against this data that they're showing you and they say, ‘Sorry, but your reality show about moving to the Amazon and building a regenerative ecovillage, our data is showing that that's not going to appeal to people. Our data is showing that what people want right now is shows or documentaries or reality TV about pedophilia. Do you have anything along those lines?’ That's literally what I got told when I pitched the show about the Ecovillage and the Amazon.
They've got these algorithms telling them what [people] want to watch, though most people don't. If you think about it, if you're given this huge buffet and there's this incredibly unhealthy, naughty, maybe has MSG added so it kind of tastes good food, you're going to binge on it because that's where our taste level is at culturally.
As a society, those of us that have allowed ourselves to be programmed by this consumer monoculture, have been programmed to want more — so more action, more violence, more serial killers, more exposés on pedophiles. And at some point, it's enough. Haven't we done this already? How many more of these can we do? How many more scripts about hitmen can I read?
I'm just so incensed by their lack of originality and creativity. And it's scary because now you're not even getting a chance to pitch to a human. They're just going back to their numbers and saying, the algorithm's telling us that people want this… But at the same time, I remain optimistic because I know that pendulums swing.” — Nathalie Kelley via Green Dreamer EP441.
(You can listen to this conversation here or via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any podcast app, and view our transcript and episode resources here.)
Invitations into reflection:
What types of entertainment do you most frequently engage with? How do they relate or not relate to the alternative futures you yearn for and hope that more people can feel inspired by?
I invite you to curiously follow and unravel one of your more immediate wants, pleasures, desires, or cravings. How do they relate to larger contexts such as your cultural upbringing, environment, routines, ways of living, community, social circle, etc.? And how do they align with what you would like to orient your life towards?
Alternative media is more important than ever!
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Wishing you all the things you might need for your grounding during this time ~