Stories Lead to Truth

“Castle” is another whodunit, procedural mystery show. It is a descendant of “Moonlighting” with the spirit of “Murder She Wrote.” Rick Castle, mystery author playboy, is teamed up with Detective Kate Beckett when he uses her as inspiration for a new sleuth in a series of books. It is the mutual attraction and sexual tension that keeps him working in this partnership for years, but He actually proves to be quite helpful on the cases.

The conceit is the same as the one that fueled the success of Jessica Fletcher. The idea is that a storyteller is adept at making connections and seeing the “plot” of a murder mystery.

There is a lot to that. Life is a tapestry of stories. All of the seeming randomly interconnected lives and events in the world manage to tell thousands of stories every day. Some are mundane and routine and forgotten the moment they happen. Some go unobserved, even by the people involved. Sometimes the connections are never made and great stories are never recognized.

In any case, people who recognize that the stories are being told, highlight some of them to help the rest of us understand life better. When they do have insight as well as the storytelling craft, they can help us understand truth better. In the case of Castle, he exposes wrongs but there are other truths that stories expose. Purpose and meaning, the way lives can impact the world for good or evil, stories teach.

It may just seem like entertainment, but the business of telling stories is very important.