My story is better than your story
In 1959, William Castle produced The Tingler, a B-movie horror film staring Vincent Price. Castle had earned a reputation as a showman with his previous films due to his crazy promotions, such as insuring the audience for $1 million in case of death by fright, and he needed to top himself. In his autobiography, Step Right Up! I’m Gonna Scare the Pants Off America, Castle described pitching The Tingler to Vincent Price:
“The character you play has a theory that the ‘Tingler’ is in everyone’s spine. Usually, people who are frightened scream, and screaming keeps their ‘Tingler’ from growing. Judith Evelyn will play the part of a deaf-mute who runs a silent movie theatre. Experimenting, you scare the hell out of her. Because she can’t utter a sound — is unable to scream — her ‘Tingler’ grows, crushing her to death. You operate, remove the ‘Tingler’ from her spine, and keep it in a glass jar in your laboratory. Then it escapes and gets into the silent movie theatre. We’ll then make believe that the theatre is where the picture is actually playing. The ‘Tingler’ will attack the projectionist and then get onto the screen. It’ll be a movie within a movie. Audiences seeing it will think it’s loose in the theatre they’re in. We’ll put your voice on the sound track and after the lights go out . . . you announce that the ‘Tingler’ is loose in the audience and ask them to scream for their lives…. All hell will break loose.”
“Do you think it’ll work?” Vinnie asked.
“I know it will.”
The movie folding in on itself was an audacious gamble at the time, but Castle took it even further — he had every third seat in the theaters playing The Tingler wired with buzzers to give the audience a shock. He turned the audience into participants. If you went to see The Tingler, you walked in to see William Castle’s story, but you walked out with your own story to tell, because Castle turned you into a (minor) character in the Tingler myth. “The Tingler went into my theater and I felt it in my spine!”
This is a powerful way to think about constructing narratives online. Instead of thinking about how you will tell your story, think about how you can give people a piece of the story to tell.
This requires the storyteller to put the audience at the center, to give them an active role. It’s not something that comes naturally to traditional storytellers, because it requires ceding some control over how the story is told, but when done right it can be very effective on many levels.
“My” is powerful, and my story is better than your story.
December 29th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Since I’m reading the autobiography right now, your post just show how retarded some marketers are regarding the prootion of movies with efficiency. I wish I could feel the Tingler.
Thanks for the post !
Didn’t know W. Castle before.
December 29th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
This is a great post! I love the story and how Castle thought about the whole viewing experience, not just the product on the screen. I doubt legal would allow anything like that to happen today.
December 29th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Adding emphasis doesn’t make a thesis (or even a good point). If you’re a student, I could probably direct you to some interesting work that might help you develop something worthwhile.
Also, you should add “[Emphasis added]” when you emphasize another’s words.
December 29th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Daniel,
I didn’t add emphasis to anyone’s words in this post except my own, but I removed them just for you since they didn’t really add anything. It’s not an essay, it’s a blog post.
December 30th, 2008 at 12:49 am
Mike, thx 4 the post. Nice little piece of perspective on the early B-Movie scene, i wished i could have seen the movie w/ that audience. I also appreciate your perspective about framing online narratives. The opportunity to cede a bit of story control sounds like both a blessing & a curse. When experiencing a good story I’ve always taken a bit of solace that I was inside the storytellers mind, the whole thought of multiple storytellers just rocks my world. What are some of keys 2 doing it right? I would def like 2 hear your thoughts.
Cool challenge & evolution of storytelling 4 sure. Peace
gc
December 30th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
This is a terrific piece. One of the things that we don’t get enough time to talk about at Campfire is the potential of multiple dimensions of storytelling. For instance with True Blood we extended the story into other channels, but at the same time, gave part of the story over to others, like sci-fi bloggers, vampire fans, etc.
At the same time recognizing heros like William Castle is great because we don’t pay enough attention to the pioneers who came before.
We owe a lot not only to William Castle, but other great promoters like PT Barnum (“Without promotion something terrible happens… Nothing!”), Bill Veek (St. Louis Browns owner who once held a “Grandstand Manager’s Day”, where the fans managed the team with placards from the stands) and Mike Todd (”Around the World in 80 Days” producer who once created “the Flame Dance” at a World’s Fair - in this spectacular number, gas jets were designed to burn part of a dancer’s costume off, leaving her naked.)
February 10th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
I love William Castle!
A pretty good documentary on Castle is out and about. It’s called ‘Spine Tingler.’ Check it out. Yea, the ‘Step Right Up’ book is good, too.