Humans:
narratives creatures.
Ebinum Brothers
In the middle of 1987, at the age of 5, Kanzi ended up on the cover of the New York Times. A group of scientists went visiting him in Georgia (US) and were astonished by Kanzi’s grammatical mastery. A few years before, he already dominated about 50 words in English and used them to spontaneously declare abstract states of mind, whether to express that he was upset for arguing with his mom or to announce he would do something “bad” and take somebody else’s belongings without permission. Around the mid 90s, he would hear the phrase “Put on the monster mask and go scare Linda” and immediately respond, having fun doing so.
Today, at 39 years old, Kanzi is fine: he lives with his family but does not communicate as often — only when he’s willing to. However, the lexigrams (his communication tools) are kept close.
Kanzi changed a series of concepts science had on language and interspecies communication, which made him the most famous bonobo monkey in History.
Kanzi is a character of a story of a different story within another story. His is about what we build as a species and the concepts that support us: as humans, we try to assume protagonism in our relationship with nature, but apes have a way to always bring us back to our animal origins. Kanzi’s story is yet part of another one: science (which, due to its development throughout time, transforms us on several occasions). On the other hand, the history of science is part of homo sapiens evolution and helps us understand the timeline of human history which, up until now, still happens.
Kanzi is a character of a story of a different story within another story. His is about what we build as a species and the concepts that support us: as humans, we try to assume protagonism in our relationship with nature, but apes have a way to always bring us back to our animal origins. Kanzi’s story is yet part of another one: science (which, due to its development throughout time, transforms us on several occasions). On the other hand, the history of science is part of homo sapiens evolution and helps us understand the timeline of human history which, up until now, still happens.
HUMANS ARE A NARRATIVE CREATURES THAT CONSTANTLY REWRITE THEIR OWN STORIES
as a result of every minute script changes. Unlike Kanzi, a living being whose communication surpasses species, we use language to bring meaning to things we do not comprehend.
We’re not just storytellers as we seek, mostly, narrative experiences. It’s the narrative that moves us because it provides its interlocutors an emotional response caused by structuring. The story is what happens to us; the plot is the reason why it happens; and narratives are forms of telling such things.
We live in a reality where “how” something happens is as important as the thing itself. Through technology and aimed with editorial tools that grant us some authorial autonomy, we are able to greatly expand the ancestral habit of creating and telling stories. There is no scientific consent over the reasons that led us into doing such a unique act — the exchange of an ordered and reproducible sequence of facts or knowledges for languages — although there is a recent theory about it: telling stories probably permitted every individual in different societies to know the rules of the game, therefore granting the ability to learn how to work together for a common goal while avoiding conflict. By telling things, maybe we wish to count on the help of those around us.
The present times (post-all-unpredictable-things) defy storytellers to create narratives that move people away from subjective inertia. We’re drowning in individualized versions of reality, where, despite the many authors and leading characters in the world, there is also a speech war in which the communion for differences is being defeated by control and personal subjection. In a time where truth is relative and facts are irrelevant, one can’t help but wonder: what type of narrative could survive cacophony and bring sense to people? MAGMA starts from such cultural tension and proposes to help agencies, brands and companies in conceiving and producing narratives for stories through a transforming and polyphonic approach.
We are aware that there is a reframing of myths that guided us as a society so far, but, at the same time, we believe that there are signs of change that can help visually represent this new reality for brands and organizations. MAGMA believes that stories must be transforming. We are a team of narrative strategists with deep experience in the most diverse segments of the audiovisual industry worldwide. Our goal is to encourage creative and strategic partnerships for extraordinary visual narratives.
