A Day in the Life of an Ancient Egyptian Doctor:
The Ted Talk I chose was very unique from most that I have previously seen. It was solely an animation, the story was told through this animation, while addressing the main idea that not everything in life can be fixed but you can learn from your experiences. The story revolves around one main character, a doctor, named Peseshet. It follows her in her day to day activities, hence the title "A day in the life." Although she is a doctor, she also has the job of teaching adolescent children in the ways of becoming a scribe. When the story first unfolds, the audience learns that Peseshet is on her way to the House of Life, which is where she teaches at. Before she can be on her way to that, though, she has a stop to make. One of the workers in the town had shattered the bone in his arm and she was asked to help in the healing process. Peseshet stabilizes the arm and is then on her way. Before she could make it to the House of Life, she was stopped by a woman in the street who's son had been stung by a scorpion. Peseshet utters a spell and then cuts out the poison. She finally arrives at the House of Life and teaches her class. When she leaves, she is approached by another woman. This woman has a large lump in her arm. Peseshet had read hundreds of texts and knew there was nothing she could do for the woman and had to deliver the bad news.
Although the summary I provided above goes in chronological order of what happened throughout the video, I think that the importance is maintained throughout. The author is a strategist. By starting with the seemingly important encounters that Peseshet has with patients, it helps the audience to understand the reliability everyone places upon her. By utilizing the logistics behind medicine, the audience can relate to everything that is happening, making the video both increasingly more intriguing and also relatable. Pathos was the dominant technique used by the author. When hearing anything about other people suffering from injuries, it triggers an emotional response. The author of this Ted Talk made a point to include many techniques to strengthen their point they strove to drive into the audience's brain. This could be because they had been through an event in life that triggered them to change their outlook, or simply because they wished to empower the members of the audience.
I also found it interesting the way that the author chose to tell the story. I know that I already touched on the animation but I wanted to go more in depth into the significance of it. Most Ted Talks consist of a speaker, or sometimes multiple, that stand in front of a group of people and tell their story. By using an animation, it starts out seeming less personal, but to me, it was more interesting. Being able to see the story unfold is what draws the audience in. I think the author did this on purpose. I believe that the author thought that his story would be best told through an animation, rather than him or her standing in front of an audience. And I think this was the right choice. Imagine this story being told to you by a single person, it would honestly be kind of boring. By showing the hypothetical story unfold, with more hypothetical characters, it actually helps the story become more personable.
The plot twist at the ending was very sad and made me, personally, realize that life is full of surprises. You cannot help everything that happens in life but it will continue to go on. It is similar to the saying about learning from your mistakes. You have to learn from the events in life that you cannot change. One would assume that the lump in the woman's arm is presumably cancerous. I had a close family friend that had a lump in her breast and it turned out to be cancer. It was heartbreaking and horrible to watch her go through the therapy and all of the pain that is caused. So anytime cancer could be a possibility it becomes an instant emotional trigger for me.
I originally chose to watch this Ted Talk because I saw that it included animation, different then all other Ted Talks I have watched, so I became intrigued to find out what it was about. When reading that this blog post was to focus on story telling, I thought it would be different to analyze something that was not one person talking directly at the audience. Little did I know that a simple animation could tell a story that would go way beyond the concept of a doctor helping a patient. It helped me to realize that life is full of things that you cannot control. This was the simple message brought about by the story being told. There is deeper meaning that I interpreted, that because life can throw so many surprises at you and that you cannot fix everything, you have to live life to the fullest. A simple lump in your arm can lead to your death. A simple car ride to school can change everything. There were so many messages that I gain from this Ted Talk. I know I have already stated many of them, and even though this part is not required, I wanted to list them below.
- Live life to the fullest: It can all end in one moment
- Learn from your experiences: Mistakes, unexpected events, they will all help you grow
- Made good choices: Although life can change instantly, do not make choices that will make the unexpected evermore increasing
The author of this story did an amazing job telling a story that offered a meaningful concept but also left much interpretation open to the audience. I know that what I felt the story meant is not the exact same as what someone else could, so I encourage everyone to take 5 minutes of their time and watch this Ted Talk.
