Emotional Intelligence in Filmmaking

Today, we have the pleasure of speaking with the consultant on the fundamental mechanics and anatomy of diversification, inclusion, and intuitive intelligence, Carla Mahnken Woolf. Insights abound regarding what we can include in our entertaining films of all genres to make them more constructive and healing.

Sylvia: Carla, you recently posted the Albert Einstein quote, “Logic will get you from A to Z. Imagination will get you everywhere.” Can you explain what is meant by that?

Carla: Einstein understood the linear limitations of logic in 3-dimensional thinking. He relied on imagination and intuition to help him think outside-of-the-box. He also felt very unsettled regarding the accepted and unchallenged scientific standard of his era, which upheld that differing separate laws governed the basic forces of energy and matter. He was certain that something needed changing to convey the interconnectedness of the universe. His thinking introduced us to the curvature of spacetime, in addition to energy-matter as one interdependent entity.

Sylvia: At the conscious media movement, we believe that the films and stories we watch daily impact our lens of perception. So much of the media currently produced has a detrimental effect on society. What would you like to see changed in the films being made?

Carla: Probably, one of the hottest topics today everywhere is the theme of "Diversification" and "Inclusion". The question is, are we open to the "inclusion" of "diversity" in everything we do? Films rely on communication, dialogue, and of course, body language and images, because films are audio-visual presentations. However, the conversations are what really set the tone for the story, the thematic sequences, the relationships, and the character motivations. The logical approach, then, is to use language so as to flex and prepare the brain for new information. In other words, let's use the parts of speech to introduce messages that can convey new knowledge or creative, beneficial concepts. We take speech for granted so much that we have overlooked its genuine purpose, which is to code our brains for unlimited intelligence and altruistic behavior. The human brain is entirely developed by emotions. The brain loves gaining emotional knowledge and literacy. Diversification is the first requirement for Emotional Intelligence, while this is also our first foundational cognitive process. Therefore, an allowance must be made for the flexibility of all emotions, especially where children are concerned. This is how we "optimize" our brain's authentic potential. To give a simple example, we might be observing a scene in a movie where a parent notices a child getting too close to the stove. Nearly anyone can anticipate what the adult is about to say, which typically would be "Don't touch/don't go near the stove". But a Neuro-linguistically correct, or cognitively correct direction, would be, "Stay away from the hot stove -- if you are really curious about what's going on there, I will pick you up at a bit of a distance, so that you may see the food cooking". In another instance, a child might say something about his new teacher in school. Rather than the parent saying the rhetorical "You don't mean that", or "Too bad, that's life", effectively denying and dismissing the child's feelings and sensitivities, it would be more emotionally literate to say, "You are more than welcome to dislike your new teacher, but you are there to learn, so give yourself the opportunity to listen, and grow your skills to match your growing body. You may one day want someone to give you a second chance at getting to know you and like you too". [Notice the omission of negations -- those unconsciously used descriptions that completely undermine the main part of speech in any language, i.e., the Verb; the word that the brain is most interested in processing.] The flavor of the dialogues deserve change, and the messages in conversations with children warrant a bit more time and value, rather than being glossed over or truncated with responses that are redundantly predictable and consequential. People want what is best for their children, and the power-packed influences of the media can also inspire adults to transform the manners in which we also speak with one another. Perhaps we will soon be looking at a doubly valuable transformation in the discussions we witness, both between adults and between children -- on the silver screen and in the hearth of our homes, and in the soul of our classrooms.

Carla Mahnken Woolf is president at Cognitively Correct Inc., New Jersey, and author of Connecting the Dots. Her informative Podcast, Got Brain, can be found here.

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Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed by the interviewees do not necessarily state or reflect those of CMM